Walking my staff help needed!

Hello everyone! i am in desperate need of some advice so have joined this group in the hope someone can help?
My rescue staffordshire bull terrier Bruce has had behavioural issues since we got him 18 months ago though he is getting a lot better. Our main problem with him is his lead training. He has always pulled on the lead but as he gets older this is getting harder and harder to control (particularly for me as I am not very strong!).He pulls at anything, any movement, people, dogs cats cars you name it he wants it!
I had a dog behavourist come about 1 year ago who advised that as Bruce is nervous, walking him is too stressful for him so only to do this round the house. This caused more issues as he is great round the house on the lead but even more excited when he goes out! I personally feel that this advice has set him back!
I have purchased a halti which he hates! HE pulls this off his face with such force that he scratches himself and panics so I have a harness which is fine but does not stop any of the pulling.
I train him with treats inside and he is pretty good but as soon as I get out of the front door its as through the treats don't exist! he gets so fixated on everything else! He doesn't respond to me at all and I have had comments from people whilst I try and hold him. The thing is he is not vicious in anyway he just wants to lick everyone and say hi but getting people to understand this is very difficult. So basically with very few walks he is turning into a nightmare in the house, barking chewing and grumbling for attention and it is so unfair on him. As you can all tell I am pretty desperate and can't afford another £160 for a dog behaviourist again! Please help!

Hi & welcome to the forum

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Hi Amanda, welcome to the forum from Flo & me

This isn't unusual behaviour at all and can be sorted with patience. A little surprised by the advise you were given to not take him out, what in fact you want to do is build his confidence so as not to be nervous I would have thought.

I would perhaps start with positive food based reward in short periods perhaps somewhere away from distractions and work on the "Look at me" command, when he does look at you he will be focused on the food (that your holding) and not at anything else that has his interest. This should work with the pulling on lead too. What he needs to work out is that you are far more rewarding than going over there to that nice person and giving them kisses.

I'm sure others will offer more help

Hi Amanda welcome from misty and me.

I agree with Ian, having a dog who isn't walked is just building up more issues. Misty was awful when we first got her, she had never been walked so had no idea how to walk nicely and she was terrified of everything. We took things very slowly, we never ever left the house without treats ( still don't even now). When she ' watches me' when asked she gets a treat, when she walks nicely she gets treats, if she ignores people she gets a treat and so on. She still does pull a bit so I'd she pulls then we immediately stop. She then understands when she pulls we stop, when she's calm we walk. If she carries in then we turn around and basically go in the opposite direction of where she wanted to go. It does take time but you will get there x

Hi and welcome from me and mine!

This has to be one of the most common problems, so you are not alone! And many of us have successfully retrained dreadful pullers, as Ian so rightly says with patience. In many cases lots of it!

Can I steer you towards the info sheet we have

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t66712-teaching-loose-lead-walking#1022186

You'll see from this that the focus in on teaching loose lead walking, rather than on stopping pulling. Just thinking about a problem from a positive angle on its own can often help.

If you do indeed have a dog who is worried by outside spaces - it can happen with dogs who have been in kennels a while and not walked much - you might want to try going to the same place, not going very far, and encouraging him to bumble and snuffle by throwing treats on the floor for him to find and by just sitting and watching the world go by. It may sound counter intuitive but a long training line might help, giving him space to move in instead of being restricted on a shorter lead when he wants to go places. You can even just sit on a bench while he explores around you (not today in the rain though!).

Welcome to the forum from me and Chase.

I'm new here too and a new staffy owner which also was never walked, is nervous and a lead puller.

I can't offer much advice but we worked out Chase walks better on a collar than a harness and now he's more comfortable we're slowly getting there with the loose lead training.

I also stop with a "wait" command if he pulls, sometimes right up onto his back legs, and then wait till he's calm before giving him the "walk on" command.

Not sure if that helped but I know how you feel!