Pulling on leash question.
- Thread starter Riley1112
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You can teach her the command slow down by running and then slowing down and as you slow say the command. Your dog must slow as you do so she will associate the command with slowing down. I have also heard of whenever your dog pulls to stop moving until he calms down then start and if he pulls again to stop, which can take awhile but your dog will eventually catch on. You can do the same thing as above but every time you stop you should position your dog by your side and say heel then once he is standing next to you start moving then stop when she pulls put he back at your side saying heel and then starting again give her treats when she does not pull. If she will pay attention to the treat you can also use that to keep her or bring her to your side. I myself have never had much luck teaching my dog to heel and I'm sure others will be along with better and more in depth info. Good Luck!
Have you tried a gentle leader?
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...T<>prd_id=845524441777905&bmUID=1170110965685
http://www.petsmart.com/global/prod...T<>prd_id=845524441777905&bmUID=1170110965685
A few tips:
1) Your dog is constantly trying to find effective ways to communicate with you what he wants. When he finds that his method is effective, he learns to continue using that method in the future. For example, if you're walking your dog on the sidewalk and he starts dragging you toward a tree, and then you end up at that tree, then you essentially just rewarded your dog for pulling. The right thing to do is either stop in your tracks, keep walking where you had intended to walk, or turn the opposite direction of the object your dog is pulling you towards. The goal here is to convince your dog that pulling is unrewarding.
2) You need to condition your dog to constantly pay attention to where it is that you want to go. One way to do this is to frequently change direction when you're walking. If your dog is paying attention to you, he's not paying attention to other things!
3) Some dogs (including my dog) do much better on their walks if you go the same path every time. My dog gets very excited when we diverge from his normal walk; apparently he thinks the unknown destination must be absolutely amazing. Of course, this is a double-edge sword, because then your dog becomes more inflexible to changes to his routine.
Anyway, I followed these basic steps with my dog (who used to pull so bad that both my wife and I developed shoulder problems), and he completely stopped pulling after just a few weeks. Remember, consistency is key!
Good luck,
Adam
1) Your dog is constantly trying to find effective ways to communicate with you what he wants. When he finds that his method is effective, he learns to continue using that method in the future. For example, if you're walking your dog on the sidewalk and he starts dragging you toward a tree, and then you end up at that tree, then you essentially just rewarded your dog for pulling. The right thing to do is either stop in your tracks, keep walking where you had intended to walk, or turn the opposite direction of the object your dog is pulling you towards. The goal here is to convince your dog that pulling is unrewarding.
2) You need to condition your dog to constantly pay attention to where it is that you want to go. One way to do this is to frequently change direction when you're walking. If your dog is paying attention to you, he's not paying attention to other things!
3) Some dogs (including my dog) do much better on their walks if you go the same path every time. My dog gets very excited when we diverge from his normal walk; apparently he thinks the unknown destination must be absolutely amazing. Of course, this is a double-edge sword, because then your dog becomes more inflexible to changes to his routine.
Anyway, I followed these basic steps with my dog (who used to pull so bad that both my wife and I developed shoulder problems), and he completely stopped pulling after just a few weeks. Remember, consistency is key!
Good luck,
Adam
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The gently leader or nose harness or what ever it is called works a treat for me and Minnie, although she doesn't like it much. I tried the other methods and did not find them anywhere near as effective. She does not pull at all with it on I just wish I had tried it earlier LOL. As a very tiny pup she would lie almost flat to the ground with full effort going into pulling. I did get her out of this and she does not pull continually or anything even without the nose harness but she is very strong and when she wanted to pull it was hard work to bring her under proper control quickly. We have only been useing the harness for a week or so but it really does mean no pulling. Stopping and changing direction had little effect at all for me... a pull on her lead and a no would stop her pulling hard before but did not solve it completely.
I find that backing up the same amount of distance as they just pulled you forward works pretty well, provided you do it EVERY SINGLE TIME the dog begins to pull. I also reverse direction once the dog loses sight of my knee. Combining these two teaches the dog that pulls gets it nowhere quickly, and that in order to anywhere at all, it needs to keep you in the corner of it's eyesight at the very least.
The Easy Walk Harness (by the same company that makes Gentle Leader) is good if you want to use a "tool". If your dog does not jump there's no reason to use the head collar and the dog usually accepts the no pull harnesses much better. I have used both. I'm done with them now and gave them to my next door neighbor. lol
Are there some breeds that tend to pull more? I noticed mostly herding type dog owners answered. I snatched a dog from the pound 2 weeks ago and have had a real challenging time with her...she does seem to lower herself closer to the ground on walks and with all her might she tries and forge ahead, she only weighs about 20 lbs but she is so determined on walks and pretty strong. The other thing she does that's a pain in the neck to deal with, is when she sees other dogs, she goes up on her hind legs like a horse, and gets excited (not in a good way) and growls, sometimes barks. I feel like I'm walking a small pony, but I did start doing things like not letting her lead, and going in theother direction, i just need to remember to be consistent about it. It takes alot of energy walking her and is not the joy it could be at t his point
One of my "half-dogs" is a Rottie/beagle mix...she could pull a car if she tried hard enough I bet...and she had TERRIBLE leash manners when we pulled her out of the shelter. Those are the methods I used on her and she now walks beautifully about 90% of the time. She's still having to work on not pulling when she gets excited, but is getting better at that as well.
My foster Lab is under-going the same training right now...I use this method with most of the dogs I walk at work, who would rather pull my arm out of my socket than anything else.
My foster Lab is under-going the same training right now...I use this method with most of the dogs I walk at work, who would rather pull my arm out of my socket than anything else.
I had a really hard time with this for awhile. I am not sure if I did the right thing, but it worked for us. I used a prong collar with Tosca for awhile. I resisted using it for quite awhile as I had a personal distaste for the thought. So what I did was, I kept both her regular collar and the prong collar on her. I would use the prong collar if she disobeyed my need to have her heel and not pull at all. Eventually, she got the drift that if she heeled and didn't pull (or jump on every tom, dick and harry who came by) she wouldn't be leashed to the prong collar. I know that some people feel strongly against these collars but I had reached a point where there was no way I could train her to heel and walk on a loose leash consistently. Now she never sees a prong collar and she heels well.
DeeDee, in my experience I haven't found a particular breed to pull more than others, I think it might be more of an individual thing. Bailey is/was my puller. It was FULL STEAM AHEAD when he saw another dog or person. It was very exhasperating to say the least. But he's the type when he sees another dog, he wants to play, is very friendly to other anmimals and all people. I wish he were more aloof. LOL. As he's matured (he's 22 months) he's let up quite a bit. I can see in him as he's gotten older that he tries to hold his enthusiasm down more. Chloe on the other hand (just now 7 months old) is considerably more calm even at her age, she doesn't pull at all, nor does she jump. She's very friendly but keeps her excitement down. Bailey's more of a "HEY WORLD, HERE I AM!!! WHAT'D YA THINK!!!" He's gregarious and a clownish, happy go lucky guy. I have found that a lot of it lies in the personality.
LOL! Now that part IS Chloe......."cutest thing...." When I praise her for learning something new or doing something good, she just sits there, very straight, prim. proper, ladylike, chest OUT, head cocked to the side, and she blinks and looks like she's saying to me, "Duh, I KNOW how to do it AND I do it very well, thank YOU!" That's part of how she got the nickname "Princess Prissy Pants." 
i taught buster to stop pulling so hard that everytime he pulled too much i just stopped. he could pull as much as he wanted. but i wouldn't go again untill he listened to me and sat beside me. now if we are walkng and he is too far ahead i stop and stamp my foot. he whines but he always comes back and sits at heal. so then i can command "heal" and start again.
he still pulls. he's still learning.
he still pulls. he's still learning.