new tips needed for heel training

not having much luck teaching axl to heel his very stubbon and i refuse to give up at the mo every time he pulls or moves a head to far i stop still and making him come bk to my left hand side and sit before we move on again and it takes as ages to get any where the most he will walk nicely for is a few mins max his a little pain does not help that the other half refuses to do this and is happy to just let him pull, when i said thats not helping i was told that my oh is not goin to keep stop, starting and that if i dont like it she wont take axl out without me please help mee

Unfortunatly unless his commands are consistant with everyone he is getting mixed messages and all training will either take forever or he will never pick it up at all. Pulling is such a commen thing and easy to train if your all doing it x

yea thats what ive been saying but no one eva listens to me lol

It's perfectly possible, if a little more work, to teach the dog the two of you have different rules. How about using a harness when he's allowed to pull and collar when he's not? That will also give YOU the option of putting the leash on the harness if you're not in the mood to train.

Also - are you rewarding Axl when he's doing the right thing? If he'll walk nicely for a few minutes at a time that sounds great IMO and if you keep rewarding his nice walking and be patient like you seem to be I'm sure you'll have a wonderfully well behaved dog. Having a harness for "breaks" (concentrating on walking nicely can be hard on a little puppy brain) can make it easier for both of you. That's what I've done with Gummi - lots of rewards for walking nicely(on and off leash), harness when I don't want to train heeling and he walks very nicely even if he wanders a bit more in the harness. I do reward him for walking nicely on the harness, too, I just don't turn around if he pulls a little (and he hardly pulls at all anyway).

Let your oh read the responses here!

You both need to do the same thing or it'll take forever & a day!

I don't stop & wait, by the way, I turn 180 degrees & carry on walking. As the lead tightens I say "Heel!" and give a quick tug. Normally the dog is so surprised he'll turn & come with you. As soon as he reaches your side, offer a treat and at the same time say "Good boy, heel". This needs to be done over & over again - eventually the dog'll be confused as to which way it's supposed to be going & will start to watch you and hang back, waiting for the change of the direction. It'll take you forever to get anywhere, but it DOES work.

If you just stop, the dog'll get bored & will often just stand still at the other end of the lead waiting for you to carry on - which is no good for anyone!

We also use the turn around method. Consistency is very important though espicsally when the are young.

This is now my only issue with Charlie when we're out. His recall is great 99% of the time (other dogs within a 10 foot radius are just TOO tempting for him) but he is a nightmare on the lead. I use an ezydog cujo lead with a harness. He is so strong and pulls like a train. I say 'ah ah, back' and he'll immediately come back to my side. Within seconds though he starts pulling ahead again, he's fantastic off lead but having him on lead is getting a real problem

I've found that treats are a great way to get their attention. Anytime Suki really gets going we let her smell a treat and hold it in a fist. After we know we have her attention again we give her the treat.

I've tried that. I've tried the stop and wait. He just gets bored of that and starts sniffing around. I've tried the turn in the other direction, he just turns around and pulls that way instead!! When I turn the other way again, he turns, trots in front and starts pulling again. I'm really considering a halti but I don't like them cos they look too much like muzzles to other people and I do worry about what would happen if we came across an out of control dog and the halti stopped him defending himself. I need to sort it out soon though cos my arms just cant take much more!

Being so young, I am sure Axl has the attention span of a flea. I found that rewarding for walking nicely even for short periods helped a lot with Tyson. Above all consistency seemed to have been the key. We have worked really hard at it and now walks are a pleasure with him pulling seldom and then only when intensly excited. For the most part the leash merely rests in my hand. I did use a halti for a few weeks which also got the message accross and gave me a chance to gain confidence.