clarification on pulling... The dog kind :-)

Bit confused here,

Took Sky for a walk last night (15 weeks) and she walked nice and calm at my side. However after a while , its almost like she can smell something and the pulling begins. Now I tried the whole stopping turning around and waking the other way, but I need clarification on a few things if someone can help!?

For example sky pulls, I stop walking and say "no" I turn around but she doesn't come with me still pulling on the lead. Do I pull her gently with the lead round to my side, pick her up, or wait and wait until she comes back of her own accord!?

Last night I had to pick her up placing her at my side , naturally she sat, we walked again, and she went straight to storming ahead and pulling. I must have spent 15 minutes going around in circles on this one street! After a while of turning mind, she did start kicking off and jumping up and down throwing a tantrum, because I kept stopping, so i know it annoys her...My neighbours must think I'm deranged. Please tell me am I doing something wrong.

Don't pick her up!

The second she goes ahead of you, do an about turn & as soon as the lead tightens say "Heel" or whatever word you use, and keep going. Yes, it'll tug her a little, but she'll have to go with you.

Then, as soon as she catches up & is beside you, turn back the way you were originally going, using the same word & gentle tug. Keep that up every time she tries to go ahead, and believe me she'll get tired of it & start to walk with you to see which way you're going!

Also, try to walk fairly briskly (well, as briskly as you can with a 15 week old pup) and keep the training sessions quite short - no more than 5 minutes at a time.

When we first got Rocky he was a terrible puller, don't think anyone had ever taught him otherwise. I never did the turning round thing, when he pulled I just used to stop dead. After a while he would start whining, turn his attention to me and only then I would praise him and start to walk again. He even learnt to take a few steps backwards to slacken the lead. You do feel a bit of a p**t in front of the neighbours but he soon learnt that pulling gets him nowhere. Took about a month and now he's good as gold. I let him walk in front, I don't mind that, but as soon as the lead tightens he eases off. He's a dream to walk now.

I know it doesn't work with all dogs but you have a great chance starting young. Good luck.

I tried the stopping thing with Dempsey - he just stood there, leaning into the collar. One day I stood still for about 10 minutes & he didn't even look round!

Agree with Caryll on this. It can take alot of time and patience though but they do catch on

Caryll wrote:I tried the stopping thing with Dempsey - he just stood there, leaning into the collar. One day I stood still for about 10 minutes & he didn't even look round!

yes I must admit I was surprised it worked so well with Rocky, guess we were just lucky!

jstaff wrote:It can take alot of time and patience though but they do catch on

We would often be standing still for a couple of minutes at a time, and sometimes with only 3 or 4 steps in between each stop. Frustrating for both of us. One of us had to give in eventually and I just made sure it wasn't me! The persistence was worth it

Glad this topic os here today, was just looking because of Charlie. Sometimes he walks beautifully by my side lead slack, then other times it's as if he can't get somewhere fast enough, leaning into his collar, it must be pulling on his throat! I've tried stop and as soon as we start again he's back to it! Tried turning but he'll just pull back on the lead even more....

I'll have a go at tugging him, didn't want to hurt him really! lol. He's even worse though if we all go up the park and the children are all in front on bikes and scooters, it's as if he wants to be with them

What has worked with Blue was the changing direction/pace thing where you turn and as they get to the full length of the lead you give a little pull and say this way to remind them your making the decisions and he would come up along side.

I would do this first for about 5 mins each time we went for a walk then when in the actual walk I would slow down or speed up any time he would get distracted and give a little pull on the lead to get his attention.

He is now about 90% reliable when walking on lead and only really pulls to get to other dogs and that's because Ive been a little less strict when I'm distracted talking to the dog owners I guess.

Thanks for all advice , I'm just battling through being consistent with turning around every time she does pull...Some days seem better than others :-)

I posted this on a thread a while back.

Its really easy to train your Staffy to walk to heel.
I'll try to explain how i've done it with my last 6 or 7 babies. Hope this is easy to understand.

What you need is a length of string / washing line that kind of thing(not rope) about 1.5 mtrs long and a pocket full of your dog's favorite treats.

When walking your dog on the lead the ring on the collar will be at the back of the neck behind the ears. Tie the string to the collar on the opposite side so it trails from the underside of the neck onto the floor.
Let the string trail on the floor while walking and when your dog pulls beyond where you wish him to be just step on the string and use your command word (heel. close etc) followed by a tasty treat. Stepping on the string will stop your dog in its tracks and he will soon learn to walk to heel (couple of days). I have done this with several Staffys and it works a treat without causing any harm.

Hope this works for you.

Thanks for the advice on the trailing rope, might give that a try if it doesn't improve. The problem I have now is she is still pulling, but keeps going from left then right , stopping , all sorts. What do I do if she pulls off to the side do I stop and wait for her to come back to my side or do I turn around?!