collars or harness

i am a new owner of my staffy chops he is 16 weeks . when i take him out on a collar or harness he keeps pulling and chockes himself.I have looked for dog tranning classes but i cant get him into the classes for 5-6 weeks before they have a space for him .please help donna and chops

What have you done to get him to stop pulling?

when he starts to pull and he chokes i stop try to calm him down wait a moment then try again

OK. What about trying something a little different? As soon as he pulls ahead, say his name & "heel" (or whatever word you want to use) & immediately turn around & walk the other way. Don't stop, just carry on walking. As soon as he catches up with you do the same thing again so that you're going back the way you originally were! You'll need to do this several times, every time he starts to go ahead of you - it'll take a little while & it'll take ages to get anywhere, but it does work!

Or you could try holding a tasty treat in your closed fist & keep your fist by your side, just out of his reach. Every so often, stop, tell him to sit & give him the treat. Then put another treat in your fist & start again.

The way we taught Frankie to walk nicely on the lead is as follows

Everytime they pull ahead you turn around and go the other way. Trust me for the first few days you won't go anywhere fast and you look a bit silly constantly turning around and walking the other way but with a bit of perseverance we got there in the end and he now walks super on lead.

The treat method is another one. if they normally walk on the left, hold your lead in the other hand and hold a treat in hand on the same side as your dog. Again it will take a while but they do get it in the end.

Last resort you could look at a nose harnass which basically pulls their nose down to their chest if they pull ahead. We've never had to go there but a friend with a Spaniel couldn't get her to walk on lead without pulling and after 6 months bought a nose harnass and Poppy now gets it (took about 3 weeks)


Good luck and keep at it !


Frankie's Dad

Caryll wrote:OK. What about trying something a little different? As soon as he pulls ahead, say his name & "heel" (or whatever word you want to use) & immediately turn around & walk the other way. Don't stop, just carry on walking. As soon as he catches up with you do the same thing again so that you're going back the way you originally were! You'll need to do this several times, every time he starts to go ahead of you - it'll take a little while & it'll take ages to get anywhere, but it does work!

Or you could try holding a tasty treat in your closed fist & keep your fist by your side, just out of his reach. Every so often, stop, tell him to sit & give him the treat. Then put another treat in your fist & start again.

Both excellent methods

thanks for the help me and chops are trying out the advice you have been gave will keep you up to date xdx
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Please let us know how you get on with the methods given above.

good luck

Frankie's dad wrote:

Last resort you could look at a nose harnass which basically pulls their nose down to their chest if they pull ahead. We've never had to go there but a friend with a Spaniel couldn't get her to walk on lead without pulling and after 6 months bought a nose harnass and Poppy now gets it (took about 3 weeks)



Frankie's Dad

Thats what I use for marley when were on a civilised walk, it's the only thing that has ever worked with him and I've tried all the methods and lots of "anti Pull" harnesses. he hated it at first but now just accepts it and walks to heal with a slack lead, it realy is amazing.

I don't like them myself. If you have a really difficult dog then it might worth a try, but I don't like the idea of the muzzle being pulled down to the chest - it's a very unnatural position for the head & neck & could cause health problems if used too much.

Its the halti head harness i use and he cant get any leverage with it. literally within a few mins he'd given up and kept by my side, its not a constant pullling and twisting. I use a julius K9 harness most of the time which has a realy broad strap accross his chest. as half his heritage was bred to pull (and he's good at it) we run the deer trails through the woods which satisfies his need to pull and prey drive. Now just putting on the head harness is almost like he sees it as a command to not pull.