Hello All, My six month puppy has a leather collar .... I alternate between a regular leash with the leather collar or a slip-lead for 75% of the time. Any suggestions on the best time of collar? Is the slip lead a good idea? Thanks
Hi Johnny, for a puppy often a lightweight mesh harness is a good idea rather than a collar until you have trained a good at heal walk with a loose leash. I guess if you have an issue with garbage sniffing your pup is pulling a lot. If that is the case a slip lead isn't the best. You shouldn't use a slip lead until you have a good heel with walking if at all. That is unlikely as yet. There is a recent discussion about the best collar not sure you have seen it? http://thelabradorforum.com/threads/best-collars.13855/ There are also lots of resources on the main site about leashes collars on teaching loose lead walks. I would also highly recommend The Happy Puppy Handbook if you haven't already seen it. Invaluable info. jac
I have read the Happy Puppy handbook. I would say he pulls on average 5-10% of the time on the lead...and only when some interesting garbage or piece of food is on the ground. Most of the time he isnt with 1-2 feet from me at all times. The problem is he continuously walks with his head down. I have tried the slip lead and he doesnt like it, his first instinct is to bite the thing. I think i might to resort back to walking with kibble to return to basics.
I would say absolutely stay away from the slip lead until he can walk nicely without pulling 100% of the time, no matter the distraction. This may be never There's not really any reason to use a slip lead for a pet dog, anyway. I'd agree with you that going back to basics and making your requirements stricter - that is, he gets rewarded for walking to heel with is head up and his attention on you - is the way to go. At six months, you should really still be using a high rate of rewards for good behaviour anyway - when you say "resort back to walking with kibble", I'm inferring that you have stopped treating him for walking nicely? Be aware that he is going to start going through adolescence very soon, if he hasn't already started, and that will make his environment so much more distracting and exciting for him. When that happens, you're going to have to go back several steps in all aspects of training, so now is definitely not the time to start cutting back on rewards.
Been a few days with rewards during every walk when deserved. The pulling and walking with his nose to ground ground has almost stopped altogether.
