Walking

Koda is now 9mths & continues to drag us both down the road when we walk him, literally. I feel we have tried nearly everything - collar, harness, check chain, half check chain, short lead, long lead, making him sit every few steps when he pulls, treats along the way etc. but we are getting nowhere fast and now at 17kg he has the upper hand. He will heel on corners no problem don't even need to prompt him to do so, all other behaviour is pretty good. We really are at our wits end with it as just makes morn & night walks so awful. Only two options left I see, 1) try a halti but OH reluctant as spent so much money on all other and didn't work, 2) a trainer. Thoughts? Thx in advance

Have you tried teaching a heel sit on a loose lead? Make him sit to heel, then one step and heel sit, progressing to two, three etc keeping the lead loose at all times so he stops associating the tension in the lead with walking, it's a slow process but worked for me   

Have you tried the watch me command?

I find slip lead the best I use them on my dogs, love them my uncle the behaviourist recommends them too, I use them on my customers dogs too, you can also turn them into a halti but it's nicer than a halti as I find they can irritate the eyes.

slip lead into a halti link:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-iv7uanUCZY

this is my uncle Paul daly lead walking with slip lead link:
http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=cBQVMOV76Wo

hope this helps

Great advice above, particularly heel and watch me work. Do you take a squeeky toy our anything like that with you to keep his attention on you? My two know heel work but also like a good pull - luckily treats work for us but sometimes I take their favourite toy with and that holds their attention.

A few sessions with a trainer could be a good idea if you're at your wits ends - you don't want to turn the walks into an uphill battle that neither of you look forward to.

Thx everyone. Im keen to try the heel to walk method, just need to be so patient I guess (not a virtue I possess!), bit cant imagine loose lead as he just tugs non stop. Wish me luck!!! ps he is off to 'bootcamp' when we get married in 5 wks (i know, im awful!) so if we havent sorted it by then they hopefully do!

Milo used to pull ahead then after watching a uTube tutorial I did the suddenly stop & turn in the opposite direction a soon as Milo walked a little ahead of me. As I turned he had to follow then I turned back again and gradually it seemed to click & he would watch for what I was going to do next. He's a lot better since that.

A halti really could help - only heard good things about it

Rory used to pull real bad also, we got a dog trainer in and after 1 session he was 100 times better and now 2 weeks later he walks loose lead no problems, the trainer took us right back to basics beginning with focus and attention training, then a whole day was just practising getting out the front door. I needed to get Rory's attention then walk down the hall, and back again, if he pulled at any time I turned around and walked straight back to the start and started again, then it was opening the front door, all the time walking back and forth down the hallway and at any time if he pulled I went back to the beginning, then it was front door open but not outside, then down the steps to the path and back inside then end of the road etc etc etc. after a week he now walks perfectly because he knows that he goes where I want not the other way, It was very testing because it did take him a while to get the idea but persistence paid off, no expensive harnesses, check collars just a normal collar and lead.

Shaun

Really appreciate the advice, thank you!

I have also heard great things about the halti! But it can irritate their face and eyes...is he still at home during the day? Maybe he is just so excited to get out he needs to burn off some steam before he will be more willing to listen to you?

Yup home alone during the day, that won't change for now. I've been trying the one step, sit, one step, sit, two steps, sit method but don't have the patience for it which sucks coz I want the end result! He is off to boot camp soon so I'm sure they will help. X

Hope the boot camp helps

It sounds like it would work but I don't have the patience either! Would take forever to go for a walk and cos they would have sat for most of it they wouldn't have gotten much exercise
Good luck at Bootcamp little Koda!

i would give the slip lead a go as a figure of 8 round the nose so much nicer thana halti and doesnt irritate the eyes

Thanks, am certainly open to anything at this point !

Does the slip lead work like the old choke chains ? A quick pull and then relax the lead type method?

yeah they do work similar to the choke chains i just think they are far kinder and nicer on the neck than a choke chain, the trick with a slip lead is you have to keep them nice and high up under the neck and they work brillantly

I agree - much kinder than the metal chains altho they worked okay in the right hands of course. I may try one with Milo - thanks

yeah