After an incident I had recently when out walking with Harley (getting excited by young children) I brought an extendable lead for walks in the woods. I hoped it would also make the stress on my neck and shoulders would decrease. I have been using it on our daily walks to the park with limited success! So, I thought I would use the lead to walk to the local woods today.....big mistake :'(. Harley has never been really bad pulling, but today was horrendous. She put her head down and ran until the lead stopped her. I tried recall, I tried changing directions, getting her to sit and she hardly responded to me off lead she is amazing and comes every time I call her! I have decided to put her back on her normal lead and start the 'walk nicely' again. My question is; If she pulls and I stop, change direction etc do I still let her go in the park? It usually takes 5 mins to walk to the park on a good day. It might take 20-30 mins if she pulls and I do the above. Or should I turn around and not let her go into the park? Or do I find other walks away from the park and woods (this is when she pulls most). On our way home, she nearly always walks nicely! I need to address this now before she gets much bigger as my injuries are really bad with all the pulling
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Oh poor you , I remember those days , Sam was a shocker as a youngster : : I would say that even when you do the " stop , change direction " still allow her off lead but also, at some time during the day, or even just a couple of times a week , do a short onlead only walk , even if its just for 10 minutes . Sam also used to walk home from his off lead walk really nicely on his lead , this shows that its just pure excitement and anticipation that makes them pull on the way there , but by also incorporating a short on lead walk every so often , it will keep Harley guessing and it will eventually work, honestly
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Ternaya I'm sure you've read about all my pulling trials...so many people said get an extendable lead but I'd read somewhere ( possibly on here....?)!that it can exacerbate the problem as there is more slack for the dog to take control of on the walk.Chris insisted on using one and it took me bursting into tears one evening for him to realise just how frustrated I was with the pulling and what I saw as his sabotage of my training : we started to 'pull' together a bit more after that ( excuse the pun) although Chris doesn't 'manage' him as consistently as I do on a walk.I just persevered with training,using some anti pulling devices as assistance ,and if he needed to be properly exercised and I wasn't confident that he wouldn't pull,I drove him and let him straight off so he never got a chance to pull.I'd say we are pretty competent now 80% of each walk,he'll have his flash points....certain dogs he sees,cat areas,when he realises we are heading towards an off lead area but I can walk him comfortably and safely on a collar and lead for most of his walk and I can honestly say I NEVER thought I would say that!i clip him back into the harness if I can sense I'm possible going to need a bit more control or so he won't hurt his neck. I also always have treats with me and I do treat intermittently for 'Good Walk' Dexter as we are walking along nicely,most of the time now it's a piece of kibble .....I can remember the days when I would get through a whole roast chicken breast!Blummin dog! Preservere and you can fix it,trust me if I've got this far,anyone can xxx
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Oh labs are awful for this aren't they? After initial smugness (always a mistake) I realised about a month ago that too many dark, rainy winter walks had resulted in a severe deterioration of heelwork, and an unacceptable level of pulling. My problem is, I'm blessed with living really close to lovely free running heathland (yeah, OK, I know there'll be little sympathy now!) so the 'on-lead' bits are sometimes less than 5 minutes in duration. Through the winter, I tried extendable lead for off lead bits (due to sometimes dodgy recall from other dogs now thankfully much better due to targeted deployment of sausage!) and a variety of halti-type things for on-lead bits which were not helpful for me and hated by the pup. I too found the extendable lead actually encouraged pulling. The only thing that has helped is sausage for recall (!) and a combination of stop-and-sit-if-the-lead-goes-tight and clicker-for-good-walking for heelwork (I can't do the reverse direction thing, makes me feel ill!). It has definitely helped. In answer to the original query, I never gave up the off-lead stuff, because that was a reward for both of us for the heelwork effort, but did reconcile myself that it might take 15 minutes to walk 100 yards until we got off lead!
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! I was SO smug about my lead walking - we were just the tops at it. Then, Charlie ruptured his cruciate. Gone were his runs on the common and the park, gone his gundog lesson, his doggy play dates, his group walks, his swimming - everything. Lead walks only. And boy, we were rubbish, really, really, really rubbish. You know what? It's super easy to walk a well exercised dog up and down an empty field in front of a gundog trainer. Try a 9 month old hooligan, bursting with energy and frustration, in central London. I set aside a whole month (Christmas) for the initial attempt. We went out, and changed direction on the first pull (I was following Turid Rugass so had done the relevant preparation) and walked up and down outside my house. After 15 mins, back inside (with an upset Charlie). And hour later, out again. Same again. And again, and again. Eventually, we walked down the street. Then repeated on the next street, again, and again. Then the next street. Then we fell apart trying to walk across the park. So we stopped, went back to the streets, eventually conquered the park...Then we fell apart on the common.... Oh, I don't have any insights, really but I'd say: Do not walk to off lead areas - drive. If you can't drive, don't go. Set aside a realistic amount of time. You have to proof - each street, each new area, passed dogs, people skateboards...on and on. Maybe my experience is just not typical, and is completely out of the ordinary. I hope a bit of it helps though!
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Thanks for all your advice and tips. I am going to do a few short on-lead walks a week as you have suggested Kate, thanks for this I'm going to up my treats to high value again as you did Angela.....I think this might have an impact : I used to be smug (ish) thinking Harley doesn't pull....seems I was wrong I am going to continue with off-lead too as this is what she loves, and I don't want to loose the recall we have built up. I think proofing is the way I will start initially Julie and will drive to our off lead walks to the woods from now on
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Hi naya I know how you feel. I am trying to work on penny's heel work at the moment and I feel like I'm not getting anywhere, or everytime we make progress, a couple of days later it's all undone again. I wouldn't recommend using an extendable to teach lead waking as they do learn to pull against the lead as that's what gives the freedom of the lead extending. In fact after a bad experience resulting in me severely friction my entire palm and all fingers I do not ever use an extendable lead any more. We have had good success with a gentle leader, but you do need to be patient and train the dog to get used to wearing it. But now I can't use it anymore as it is creating tension in her neck and shoulders which is apparently transferring down her spine and exacerbating the pain in her hips. Have you tried clicker training with Harley? This has produced the best result so far with us - stop and sit when she pulls and click and treat when walking nicely how you want her to. It is hard work but will be well worth the effort you put in. The suggestion of doing some on lead only walks a couple of times a week is a good one, and one I think I'll try myself. Penny is definately an excited puller, and it sounds like Harley is too - pulls on the way there but good on the way back! I think a couple of on lead only walks mixed in with the offlead walks will keep her guessing as to whether or not she'll get off lead time.
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! We've used an extendable lead I think successfully. I don't believe Riley learnt to pull as a result but I can understand how the constant tension might encourage pulling and long leads (extendable or not) in amongst other dogs, people or trees are definitely a challenge!! Reading I think you're probably going to try other things but if you still need or want to use it my advice is always lock it off with a little spare when you want a heel walk, don't leave tension on the line. I often locked it at longer lengths only using the retracting bit when I want it at a shorter fixed length. Riley usually keeps a consistent distance though, he's reasonably predictable as young labs go. He was also not allowed to pull whatever length, when he felt it really pull I expected him to stop and walk a bit closer. We mainly used ours while we were working hard on our recall in the teenage period but my dad still uses it as he's always worried he'll lose my dog bless him.
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! I'm not sure if we maybe use our extendi-lead in a different way. When we have it in the locked position, same length as a normal lead, it works just like that. And in some ways I think the clicky noise it makes when it locks/releases a little reinforces the "be close" intention of the short lead. Then when in "safe" or "allowed" areas we allow the lead to be unlocked. We only have a 5m lead, and Lilly is almost 4, but by no means is she perfect on the lead. When loose she is often at the limit of the extend and has some tension in the lead, but mostly doesn't pull. Although I admit, she is likely to pull if her friend Toby has passed that way 5 mins before, but shortening and locking normally gets her more in control, and we would use the normal stop/reverse/sit/down commands to get attention (unless I am running late :-\ ) I wouldn't expect Lilly to use it as a "loose lead" if it wasn't on lock. Probably no help......
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Sorry you are having this problem, Naya, but as you can see you are certainly not alone : I used an extendable lead with great success with my previous dog, a Border Collie. It gave him extra room to run around on our walk, yet gave me control when I needed it. But there is no way I would ever use it with Simba....he is just too big and powerful, I can't imagine him getting any speed up and hitting the end of the lead, it would pull me right over. Simba is really good with not pulling on the lead, I can't take credit for that, the previous owner had him heeling quite well when I got him. However that's not to say I don't have pulling issues - i do quite a bit of pulling on my walk to haul him away from tasty bits or sniffs along the way. I am working on this with a "leave it" command, which is sloowwly working. It's really difficult to train this at the moment as it's VERY cold here right now and I can't walk without mittens, making it impossible to use a clicker or even deal with treats, etc. I'm hoping once I can bring my clicker on the walks it will improve. I hope you can find the solution that will work for you, so that your walks will not cause more issues for your neck and back! Good luck and keep us posted on your progress!
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Today I reverted back to the normal lead. I cut up small chunks of cheese (this is a high level treat for her) and off we went to the park. I only had to stop twice when she pulled . I made her sit and wait before moving off again. We got to the park in 8 minutes which is a massive improvement. In the park she was off lead, done some retrieving, sit and wait, stay, then finally 'walk nicely' next to me. Off lead she was fab. Recalled her from 2 dogs as they were on lead and 1 was in training, the other one the owner said is nervous. So pleased Harley's recall worked On the way home she 'walked nicely' the whole way She cowered when a bus went past us which is unusual, but I am so happy today. I know this is a work in progress and it's going to be a long process, but am positive that we will get there again after today. Thank you all for your tips....I will continue to bear them in mind
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Gosh am I glad to read this thread!! Most of the posts could have been written about my little horror! If I concentrate hard he will walk, to heal, no lunging. We were out for 20mins approx this morn and he didn't put a paw wrong, but tonight he may be the complete opposite. When we focus on walking I get about 2 days and then the mask starts to slip. He's 10 months and is a reasonably sized dog when he starts to pull and lunge it does start to hurt my arm. For what it's worth I tried an extendable lead in the early days and found it made things worse. I walk widge to the fields behind us (5mins max) if he's pulling he won't come off and we have done a full hour on-lead, I was advised he will learn correct walking gives benefits. I think the heal is the most difficult thing to get right, it feels like nothing I do makes much difference but I see plenty of gundogs, who's owners have little control off lead, walking well enough. I think as they get calmer it will start to sink in. I hope
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Glad to find this thread...hubby wants to back to an extending lead and I am dead against it. We are working on heel work..on lead and boy is it frustrating! I am sure we look most peculiar going round in circles, backward and forwards! Is just me but I feel soooo mean! Benson had the run around before and now we have started formal training it feels a bit like we are restricting his fun. The hardest thing is if there is another walker just in front of us, although we look for very quiet areas sometimes that just doesn't happen, so I just stand there and wait for them to disappear over the horizon. Trying to work on heel when there is another dog in front is nigh on impossible!
Re: Extendable lead not workings!! Poppy is almost two years old. Heel work is normally really quite good, but we still have a problem once there is a dummy anywhere in sight. We are working hard at only sending her for a retrieve once she is walking to heel properly, but it is not yet ideal. When we first got her we didn't realize we would be doing any gun dog training, so walking exactly to heel was never a priority, as long as she didn't pull. I wish now we'd been firmer from the very beginning - but then hindsight is a wonderful thing. I would just say, even though it may seem difficult with a young dog, it is really, really worth sticking with the heel work training. I personally think extendable leads are dreadful. Dangerous, even. The only time I have ever used one was for our old dog when he was very, very ancient and doddery, as he needed to feel contact with me all the time when we went for little walks.
