jack wears a face halti which he constantly tries to remove, sometimes with success. His latest anitcs involve him sitting down or lying down and wont move! he looks up whilst trying to say "but its thw halti i dont like so therefore im not walking anymore!" i have to hoik him up by the collar to get him going again, he only does this when im walking him. Does anyone else lab do this?
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! I had a problem with Charlie moving forwards at one point, it's quite a long story, but a contributing factor was a back fastening harness. The situation was different to yours - Charlie wasn't pulling but he was clearly unhappy on the harness, which he hated. I saw a YouTube clip of an excited dog being told she could go for a walk, then being completely subdued, head down, by a halti being put on. Charlie was a bit like this with his back fastening harness, it sort of took his energy away, made him quiet and I thought even a bit fearful. My solution, which I realise may not be helpful for you, was to ditch the harness. I'd just about finished with it anyway, as had been using it while we proofed our walking nicely around other dogs. I don't know what it is all about, but these devices and harnesses that constrain a dog do seem capable of having a very subduing effect on some dogs.
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! Here is the you tube clip: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsuK0mQg534 Charlie wasn't quite this bad, but the general impact was similar.
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! I'd consider ditching the head collar. Some (not all) dogs just hate 'em. How does he go on a normal collar? At our dog club there's a lady with a Wolfhound cross and she makes it wear a halti all the time, even when running in the free-run paddock. The dog spends all its time trying to wipe the halti off on everyone else standing in the paddock. The owner spends all her time bellowing at the dog for doing this... Gonna say something to her next time.
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! Well, Rachael, you said something to me (in a lovely, friendly, Rachael way ) ) and it did me and Charlie nothing but good... you tell her, she won't regret it!
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! without the halti he pulls horrendously, with it he still pulls but hes getting better, we take it off for free running but then cant always get it back on to walk home. Im considering a body harness next. all i want is for him to walk nicely :'(
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! Much sympathy - many of us have gone through our troubles to get to walking nicely! I think it's pretty tricky for lots of people. Have you see this article: http://www.thelabradorsite.com/?p=1166 ? I think I had it easy, in that I was training a very young dog, with only the start of a pulling problem, but others have been successful with older dogs.
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! Hi much sympathy from me too. We put Charlie on a front fastening harness and it made a huge difference to his pulling, so much so that my husband can walk him on a slip lead now, I lack a little confidence so I still use the harness as he is a large lad and I am a little lady Charlie would not tolerate the halti at all so we got rid of it. Good luck you are certainly not alone, many tears have been shed here too. Keep going. Helen x
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! I am with you on the pains of a dog who hates the halti, barley will stay still when it is put on him, even with the front door open he still will not move, he has to be dragged out of the house and will protest to some degree, and he will rub his face in bushes and in the grass to try and get it off. He does not wear it all the time on walks there are just certain times that he needs to wear it as he is a big heavy strong dog (37.5kg) and if he does not like something it can be a very difficult battle if he is not wearing his halti or harness, which he equally hates, and he is a big baby he will get spooked very easily and some situations he finds very scary so to prevent any accidents of him pulling over who ever has hold of the lead he has to be on his halti or harness, he does resent the harness less but still hates it.
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! Our first week with a halti....hmmm. She will put it on and if I keep moving she will leave it alone. However I have noticed she is even more nervous when walking past gardens with barking dogs. She only has it on a few minutes while we walk to the "off lead" place. She still tries to pull away but I find it easier to get her focus back on me. She walks next to me lovely without a lead.
Re: a sit down protest! whilst on walk! Blackjack....full sympathies,I have had an awful time of it.....all my own inexperienced fault There was nothing for it for us but to go right back to the beginning......and even now,when it is a lot better, I still pay for my mistakes and have to constantly remind and reward good lead walking. I used Pippas establishing a good heel position and her lead walking clicker excercises ,used a new command,we don't use Heel now,we use Walk and I tap my leg.......when I went back to the beginning again Dexter had rubbed himself under his leg so he was 2 weeks before it healed and I could use his front fastening harness....this allowed the horrific extent of pulling that I had allowed the front fastening harness to mask The statement Pippa makes that has stayed with me is.....Go cold turkey......you decide there and then there is to be no more pulling.....that is really hard especially for me in a city where dogs are not to allowed off lead in the public parks and I had a young energetic lab to be excercised.so I got a gentle Leader( halti?)and we did our lead walks on that if I couldn't drive to an off lead area...he didn't love the halti but he tolerated it,it did really help me through this horrible time( I've said it before but I really did cry about it)until I could get him back onto his harness .....but I learned a hard lesson that you can let a harness mask an area of training that you are neglecting.We will alway struggle I fear but it is a lot better,I can have short,loose lead COLLAR walks now but the minute there is a distraction Dexter will pull so its back onto the harness to remind him and me to practice more......work on this now that you have realised it's an issue...it will only get worse as they get bigger and stronger,it's time consuming but you do see results Best of luck and best wishes xxx
