Need advice on the walking aspect of my Staffy!

Ok, Ozzy is about 18 months old now, very strong. The thing is when we walk him, he pulls so bad. We have tried, a harness, a halti, a normal collar and a choker collar. The harness was good for balancing out his weight but would pull my arm off! The halti wasnt good. The normal collar he chokes himself. And the choker collar he still chokes himself, but now its leaving a "bald" line around his neck. The choker was actually recommended by the trainer when we took him to obedience. I wasnt too sure about it coz I thought it was cruel. Its obviously irritating him and it isnt fair. What should I do? Weve tried walking him, and when he pulls, turn around and walk back and basically just do that, but doesnt work and we never get far. He LOVES walks, but now its not fun for us I dont know what to do. I dont want to try any kind of "shock collar" and those electronic whistling ones sound weird. Any advice? Thankyou xx

Have you tried treats? If you take out a few sausages cut up and call him when he is pulling and when he pays you ANY mind at all (i.e. looks around or lets up on the lead at all even the slightest bit) say HEAL and treat and do this over and over and over. soon he will hopefully heal for longer and longer between treats and eventually he will be satisfied to just walk and get a treat at the end

We used to turn the other direction when Suki was pulling every time. It took us forever to get anywhere but after some time she did learn.

Hayley's advice was excellent as well and something else that we use ourselves

Don't use a check chain unless you're training, and even then only if you know what you're doing! Use either a flat collar or a half-check.

What you could also try is, as soon as he pulls turn around & walk the other way. As soon as the lead tightens say "Heel" and give the lead a little tug. As soon as he's by your side turn & walk the other way again, repeating the little tug & "Heel". Do this every time he pulls, without exception. You'll feel a bit silly & it'll take ages to get anywhere, but it does work as ecevtually he won't know when you're going to turn so he'll start watching you & walking with you.

If you really must use a check chain, make sure you're doing it properly.....
https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t3292-check-chains-how-to-use-them

He's already learnt that pulling gets him where he wants to go so you're going to have to spend a good bit of time teaching him the opposite, that he only gets to go when he's not pulling.

Have you thought about clicker or marker training? Here are a few videos to get you started if you want to look into it.

Intro to clicker training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wv1uvvqaSw&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Teaching a verbal command for where you want your dog to be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWb9_ZvsLbo&feature=youtube_gdata_player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4LoPU1g310&feature=youtube_gdata_player

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFgtqgiAKoQ&feature=youtube_gdata_player

HTH

As a side note, please, please, please don't even consider shock collars! They are not in any way aimed at getting a dog to walk properly on lead!

Time and patient and keep teaching, you will get there. I would not touch a shock collar, to my eyes they are cruel.

Thankyou very much for all your replies The youtube videos are very helpful. i might get a clicker. x

Yes clickers are great good luck!

Most of us trainers with have different methods all of the above is excellent and you will find what works for you and your dog, also agree shocker collars are not good and chokers have too be used correctly i,ve never used them, i had too walk three powerful staffs two were pullers, i would normally do the stop and turn round method but was hard with three dogs lol, so i use too make my dogs sit everytime they pulled i wouldn,t walk they soon learnt that pulling meant i stopped!! treats when they didn,t pull and it soon sorted them out good luck with whatever method you choose.

msjaffacake wrote:Thankyou very much for all your replies The youtube videos are very helpful. i might get a clicker. x

Clicker training is great, I wasn't too convinced at first but I love it. There's loads of stuff on YouTube, also have a look at http://www.clickertraining.com/ if you want more info

There's also a book that I'd always recommend on training 'difficult' dogs...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/When-Pigs-Fly-Training-Impossible/dp/1929242441/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1339444179&sr=1-1

It's full of training tips for awkward dogs, it's funny in places & it makes you realise that you're not alone!

I use an xtra fleece harness, it has a front ring which turns them into you when they pull, I also make them sit and watch me rather than what is making them pull, I.e a cat or another dog! X

We like clickers as well

i have the same problem with my pup nothing worked i'm quite persistent then 1 day whilst my other dog was off the lead just a rope lead i was swinging it about for some reason not fast or anything just dangling swinging then it caught my puppy as she was pulling she stopped pulling and i thought ooh this might work so thats what i did i looked like an idiot swinging this bit of rope about like a walking windmill but really did the trick she pulled it clipped her she stopped pulling problem solved she did try biting it at first but seems to have worked now i just wave it occasionally in front of her if she's playing up and she stops.