Walking ahhh!

Koda is a shocking walker, pulls for the 1st 15 mins then walks ok. I walk him wearing a harness and metre long lead (him not me lol!) which I either pull tight so he walks by me or let loose if he's behaving. He loves being out on walks! I have tried all sorts of things incl. rewards & praise for walking well, making him sit every time he pulls (spent 7 mins barely taking more than a step literally before it was sit time!), distracting him but to no avail, he only stops the pulling when he tires. Some days he literally drags me down the road, he's 13kg at 5 months so I want to get this under control before he's twice the size & I don't stand a chance. This morning I took him for a walk I'm the rain (showers), he didn't seem to mind being out in it, didn't pull once which was a dream! Despite me falling over in the mud (!!!) I came home feeling very calm unlike any other walk we've had. Open to any advice or experience you have. Thanks

When the lead pulls tight they get used to that feeling and it becomes the norm so you need to get used to a lose lead, the heal sit really worked for me, keeping the lead lose make him heel and sit, then take one step and sit again, gradually going to two steps sit, three etc etc, practice around the house/garden as well as on walks, eventually he should walk nicely to heel. Does take time though! It worked for us xx

Howdy Bec, been having the same problems with Jed, i was exhausted by the time we got back from a walk. We have been going to training for the last 7 weeks and Jed is now finally calming down on his walks. At training we have to use a choker chain ( i am not a big fan of them but when used properly they do help), some walks we use that lead and i tell Jed "training" or i use a collar and lead, i have a harness but dont use it until he learns to walk nicely. Besides going for walks we train in the back yard and finally last week he started walking nicely with no pulling, just a gentle click of a choker chain and they soon learn that walking nicely doesnt "choke" them. When Koda starts pulling stop and make him sit everytime, again he will think "hey if i dont pull i dont have to keep stopping" Lots of praise when he is doing it right. It is also a leader of the pack thing so he has to learn that you are the leader and he cant walk in front of you. I dont know what the neighbours think of us walking round and round the garden lol but it is helping, Jed loves going to training, he squeals with delight when we get there (so cute)   

Ah that's great, thanks guys! I will try with one step, sit, and work my way up to two steps, sit, then three etc. Slow walks coming up !!   Hopefully he'll soon get sick of it though and learn if he doesn't pull he gets to walk. Oh god I hope so, he's nearly ripped my arm out of it's socket !!

What exactly are you walking him on also? I'm walking a labrador at the moment who pulls like a train and is so strong, he's pulled me into the middle of the road to try and get to other dogs! Completely untrained.. I use a wide flat collar, sturdy harness and double halti lead attached to both collar and harness to get a bit more control, and just stop dead in my tracks when he starts to pull until he settles. He's walking well now, just trying to teach the watch me command to stop him running at other dogs.

i use slip leads they are my favourite leads by far, i find i have the best control with them, millie walks lovely at my heel but if she does pull i have her completely under control. x

Have you considered using a halti or Canny Collar type collar ? We have used both on Rocky at different times with success on walks to stop him pulling.

Slip leads on a strong puller could cause serious and permanent damage to a dogs trachea. I only ever use slip leads in emergency/short term situations such as transferring dogs into kennels or catching a loose dog; I would never advise a slip lead for walking.

hey there !! ,
I am yet to take ryder for a walk outside of our backyard but from previous experience with a dane/lab
an easy walk harness was great . lead is attached at the front so
the pup doesn't want to lean into the harness like in a classic harness
the vets recommended them as this particular pup would damage is neck if we used any chocker chain methods.

other than that just the usual reward training outside everytime they go to over take that turn and walk to the left or right so they have to catch up again until they get it ...

do training for dummies was a great read !! however as much research as I did never prepared me for the real life thing !!! my goodness staffy puppies are work but it is so rewarding


adding to this :

I had a trainer come out to my house today he was wonderful and recommends martingale collars as long as they are fitted properly ,
they wont continue to tighten like a choker use them properly only using the checking method always releasing the pressure so they don't get use to the constant pressure like a choker ..

My first piece of advise Bek, would be to throw the harness away so you won't be tempted to use it again!  My 2nd would be to look into half check collars. I also think the type of lead is just as important. We used an 8ft lead, that could be easily halved, with one of these collars and once past the initial training period, never had a problem. The reason for the longer lead is to hold it in one hand and guide it, and the dog, with the other. I think a short, tight lead gives you no leeway when the dog goes. If you are thinking about looking into one of these collars, sizing is very important. The two ends should never meet when fully 'checked', otherwise it just becomes an over sized collar.
If you type Floyd in the search bar you will see pics of him wearing it, they aren't great shots of the collar, but look at my dog!!!    
The stopping and sitting is worth a try, or with a long lead ,the drop and turn method could be worth a go.
I must say, and this is risking the wrath of those Stafford owners whose dogs walk fantastic with a harness, get rid of the harness! Read the posts about pulling dogs and I bet a large percentage are using harnesses.
Well, that's my opinion anyhoo!
Pete

hi we had the same problem with mia shes 7 months now we tried a halti
harness and its worked wonders for her took us a while tried other brands
of so called no pull harness and they where just a waist of money shes now on a normal ezydog harness and walks fine now

Totally agree that whilst training walking on a harness alone is pointless, there's a reason that they're used for weight pulling and they make it much more comfortable to pull on! But once trained they're a great way to control your dogs. I'm not against half check chains and have used them myself; but my dog is reactive and will lunge/lay flat on the floor and can't move for fear, so that is not the collar for us. I've trained bis on a halti and found it to be excellent, and now that she's calmer and better trained a 4 inch flat, padded collar and 5 inch strap padded harness with a double lead attached to both gives us the security that we need, without her choking and panicking herself. For older dogs I think check chains can be useful, but I've seen so many young, energetic staffies just pull through them and choke themselves whilst still trying to pull, that they personally wouldn't be my first choice for adolescents.

Rachel33 wrote:Totally agree that whilst training walking on a harness alone is pointless, there's a reason that they're used for weight pulling and they make it much more comfortable to pull on! But once trained they're a great way to control your dogs. I'm not against half check chains and have used them myself; but my dog is reactive and will lunge/lay flat on the floor and can't move for fear, so that is not the collar for us. I've trained bis on a halti and found it to be excellent, and now that she's calmer and better trained a 4 inch flat, padded collar and 5 inch strap padded harness with a double lead attached to both gives us the security that we need, without her choking and panicking herself. For older dogs I think check chains can be useful, but I've seen so many young, energetic staffies just pull through them and choke themselves whilst still trying to pull, that they personally wouldn't be my first choice for adolescents.  

I bought a Canny collar a few weeks back but each time I put it on her she will constantly try to paw it off any advice on how to get her used to it?

chris1991p wrote:

I bought a Canny collar a few weeks back but each time I put it on her she will constantly try to paw it off any advice on how to get her used to it?

Have a look at this video, it may help with using the Canny Collar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLY6-vmKKxc

Kathy wrote:

chris1991p wrote:

I bought a Canny collar a few weeks back but each time I put it on her she will constantly try to paw it off any advice on how to get her used to it?

Have a look at this video, it may help with using the Canny Collar:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLY6-vmKKxc

Thanks don't think I was holding the lead short enough