Hi, our 10-month-old Labrador, Sierra, has a serious problem pulling on walks. We started walking her with only a collar and quickly found out what a mistake that was! A neighbor recommended the Gentle Leader head collar, which though not a miracle worker, made a huge improvement in limiting her pulling. The information promised that she would stop pulling in a matter of weeks, if used on all walks, but unfortunately Sierra is extremely stubborn and also very smart, and she learned that by pulling hard enough she could have her way while merely turning her head slightly towards me while walking. (The Gentle Leader works by forcing the dog's head to turn whenever they start pulling.) I could handle this, though, because although she was pulling, it wasn't so bad that I couldn't handle it with a little ol' fashioned muscle. After a few months of this (maybe three or four), some of my siblings noticed that not only was the Gentle Leader rubbing into her eyes, it was also irritating her skin. After considering walking her with only a collar, we realized how foolish that was and decided to look into a body harness. As the one who does most of the research at my house, I read up on harnesses on The Labrador site, and figured that could work. So we got a harness from a nearby pet supply store and figured that this was all over. WRONG. After about five minutes of walking with the harness I realized that she was much to strong for me too control. Before with the head collar, she could pull and pull without me experiencing much pain. This harness is a completely different story. She throws all her weight into it and practically drags me behind. It's painful and humiliating walking like that. So it was back to The Labrador site. I decided to try to train her to heel and loose-leash walk. What a joke. She's completely food-oriented and I may as well talk to a wall as try to get her to pay attention to me when I'm not holding a treat. After about two weeks of this I had to stop because between school and work there was no time. So yesterday I decided to try walking her with the body harness again, and came home frustrated and sore and ready to give up. I would truly appreciate any and all help that someone can give me with her pulling, because I am at my wits end with this puppy!
Hi there and welcome to the forum. If she is pulling when out walking, it means she is motivated to move forwards. So, all you need to do is, every time she pulls (and I really do mean every time), you stop, dead, in your tracks. She doesn't get to move again until the lead is slack. She'll undoubtedly start pulling again immediately, so, again, you immediately stop and don't move until the lead is slack. You don't need attention, or anything else, more than a slack lead. Attention can come later. Rinse and repeat. I say "all you need to do", but don't expect this to be a quick process. You say she's been pulling, one way or another, for months. That means months of reinforcement for pulling - in that pulling has let her get where she wants to be. She has learned that pulling is a great thing! So, for now, you need to only use the lead when you don't need to get anywhere and you have no time constraints. To start with, you will probably only be going a few metres, if that. After a week, you may be able to get to the end of the road. Until you've worked through the process and she knows that pulling gets her nowhere, and the only way she can progress is by keeping that lead loose, then you should be driving her to areas where she can run off-lead. It is vitally important that you're 100% consistent with this, and so is anyone else that takes her out. Be prepared to be frustrated at times, and to feel like you're not getting anywhere (literally and metaphorically), but, if you are consistent and put lots of time into this, it will definitely work. Try to fit in several five-minute sessions every day. It doesn't have to be an hour at a time - both of you will get frustrated. This article may help: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/how-to-stop-your-labrador-pulling-on-the-lead/
That sounds great. I recently tried to start doing that (stopping when she starts pulling), but if anything she'll stop for a second, get distracted and start sniffing around, as and soon as I move forward she shoots out and leaves me swinging my arms to catch my balance, or else I'll smash my face into the cement! I really do appreciate your help and will let my siblings know so that we are all on the same page.
I posted reasently about my use for the Happy at Heel harness, I don't know how to share the post but if you look go to forums on the tab and put happy at heel harness in the search box, it should lead you to it, oops no pun intended. It may be helpful to you to read through the comments. I'm really glad that I am now using it as I can focus back on the training rather than keeping upright or having painful shoulders.
I will start by telling you (in case you hadn't noticed) that you have an adolescent dog. Your cute little puppy who wanted to please you is gone and been replaced by a stroppy teenager with a taste for doing what it wants. This is no fun for the humans. A Just as Snowbunny said, consistency is everything. Dogs don't have the discrimation to think "We are in a hurry today, so it doesn't matter if I pull, but tomorrow I will have to walk nicely". I tried Gentle Leader (she spent her time trying to rub it off on my legs so there was a risk of her tripping me up), ditto the Halti. I tried a No pull harness, and found myself holding a lead with no dog on it as she wriggled out of it. We are now using a perfect fit harness. Having tried them all I would say that they only affect how we think we are doing. There is simply no substitute for training, training, training until you are bored stiff. Short sessions when you brook NO PULLING are the way to go. Never try to go anywhere with the dog or you will find yourself hurrying and allowing the dog to pull (human nature). I would also say it pays to select a training route and stick to it. Dogs have very busy noses and by keeping to the same area you are cutting down on the distractions. When I was training Molly I could have told with my eyes shut when we walked beyond our usual patch even by a few paces or used the other side of the road, such was the strength of the distraction. Finally, hello and welcome from 2 and a half year old Molly and me living near Oxford in the UK
I did the same with little Finn as Fiona has written and for us it really worked! I wanted to be the leader who decide where to go, not little Finn...even though he will try it still so now and then and immediately I stop and you see him thinking oops, I know I did something wrong... Annemarie
This really is the way to do it. We have/had a similar pulling with Coco. I have been very strict with this and he walks well for me in familiar places. OH, on the other hand, is lax with this rule and Coco pulls all the time for him. I also use a clicker to help.
...and this is true too. Loose lead training is very boring. But when you have a loose lead it is the best thing ever.
If you have not already done it, it might help to get a thicker lead that is more comfortable for your hands, and also even consider wearing gloves (cycling globes or something) while walking. My lead is made from abseiling rope - it is quite thick, round and comfy to hold, and also won't cut into your hand or give rope burn. Meanwhile, do put every effort into never allowing your dog to pull you a single step. A zero tolerance policy is the only option. It will take a long time and be boring as the others have said, but if you stick to your guns it will work. You don't need to jerk on the lead or anything - just stop. Try to use your abdominal and core muscles and also thigh muscles to resist, rather than just your arms. Let us know how you go
I'm not sure I have any of these I concur with the lead. I had one with a padded handle which was very comfy when they were trying to pull.
Hello .At times I have had problems with Boris pulling like mad. When on our regular walk if there are to many dogs,cyclists about I keep him on thelead. The lead is approx 7 foot long and he has a bit of freedom. The other day he spotted a lab that we know walking in front of us, I could not get him to walk to heel he was just straing and trying to pull me along.what I ended up doing is every time the lead went taut I turned around Boris followed when he was in the right position I turned around and continued in the way we were going. This does make for a slow an laborious walk, but Boris started walking better and I have some days had to repeat this. Boris is now 1 year old and this morning we managed to walk past another dog with Boris off the lead walking to hee with treats being fed. Perseverance pays off,short term inconvenience of walking around in circles for long term progress. All the best with Sierra's training
These are all great ideas thank you so much! The leash we have is very thick, so for one thing it's easier to keep my grip, but if she pulls hard it leaves word-class blisters. One of us accidentally knotted it in a spot, but that knot makes a great handhold. Question: So if she's pulling, and I stop, should I start walking as soon as the leash is slack, or wait for her to look at me, or what? Usually if I stop walking she just entertains herself with something to chew or sniff, and completely ignores me. We took a training class last summer, and the teacher said to wait until she looked at me to continue. Is this good advice? I'm definitely going to try these ideas out. I'm not the most patient person ever , but if eventually Sierra will walk at heel, I'll be ever so thankful I did!! Thanks again for all your help. I'll probably be back with more questions, but I'll also let you know how it's going.
The most important thing is to be consistent. There are lots of different ways of doing but look at it this way: your dog does not know that the way to get the walk to continue is to keep the lead loose. Your dog think the way to get the walk to continue is to pull. So, your job is to communicate to your dog that has changed, and you need to be really clear about what it is that she has to do in order to get the walk to continue. It could be to stop pulling and to look at you. It could be to sit. It could be to come back to your side. Or it could be just to take a tiny step backwards and take the pressure off the lead. It's not so important as to what this is, the critical thing is that you are very, very clear what this is because your dog has to figure that out. And she has to figure that out after thinking all her life that the way to get to go forward is to pull. So you just need to be very, very clear. Any time you are not clear, change your criteria, or let your dog pull you are confusing her more. For me, I held my lead against my jacket, loosely on my hip. As soon as my hand moved off my jacket, I stopped my feet. I continued when the pressure came off the lead in my hand. That was it. No other criteria (I added those later). All I did was: hand on jacket, keep walking. Hand pulled away from jacket, stop feet.
You don't need to wait till your dog looks at you. I'd start by making it as easy as possible - that means you start walking again as soon as the lead loosens a bit. That's what you really want here - it's all about a loose lead. If, later on, you want to raise the bar and add the requirement for a sit or look at you or whatever then you can up the ante and expect one of those things before walking on. Gradually raising the criteria or expecting more is called 'shaping'. But to start with we always ask for the easiest thing or the first basic step, which in this case would just be your dog causing a reduction in tension on the lead, and nothing else.
Of course, my pup is much younger than yours and everything is different but here is something that worked for me yesterday. I had been working on the backyard with heal without a leash. Then I worked up to the point where I thought o could take her on a walk with a leash. The distractions of the cars and people were just too much. The next time, we just stayed in the driveway where things could be a little more controlled. I did that for a few days. So I took her for a walk yesterday... She really did not do much better. Then I started changing directions 180 degrees and C&T every time. Not jerking her with the leash, but the change in direction kept her attention and prevented her from getting bored. It really set the tone and she got much better. Eventually we were able to walk straight line a little more, but much of the time involved me looking like a crazy person changing directions. Also, this walk was focused 100% on her and not an easy fun "let's go for a walk." Of course this was just a sample size of one day. Tomorrow could always be a disaster.
I find the best thing to do is to make sure you are not trying to go anywhere. That way the aim is a good walk, not a destination. I still do this with Twiglet, but if we end up at a cafe, so much the better!
