I'm wondering if anyone has dealt with this problem. My puppy is just about 6 months old, 40 lbs and strong. We had a harness that had the leash attachment on the back, and as she got bigger and stronger, she was pulling me all over the place. Now, let me say, I have a treat bag, I treat her as she walks, she walks next to me, gets her treat, then off she goes. I only treat when she is next to me. So, I switched to a front leash attachment, to stop her from pulling, and that works great for the pulling, but she hates it. We could be walking along nicely, and she just goes nuts, grabbing at the leash, trying to get away, jumping up. We spend the remainder of the walk, me just trying to get her home. I am at my wits end. Seriously thinking of not walking her. I hate to do that, as I think it is good for both of us, but not when I spend half the walk just trying to keep a hold of her, and keep her from knocking me down. Any suggestions?
Is your dog only walked on lead? I know that in some countries there are leash laws, and this might be the case. But if it is possible for you to do so the best thing to do would be to drive her to off lead exercise, and leave lead walking for only training sessions until you've cracked it. If it's possible to do this, let her run off her energy in games and exercise (engaged with you, not tearing around ignoring you with other dogs if a dog park etc. is all you have for off lead exercise) and then try to do a few minutes heel work. It's actually better to start training heel work (rather than loose lead which is a bit meaningless to a dog) off lead at first. There are loads of guides on the site about how to do this. Some dogs do genuinely hate harnesses - both of mine do, and I never use front fastening harnesses at all. I think they skew the dog round and make it awkward for the dog to walk. So if your dog hates it, and you can find some off lead space to train, perhaps dump it?
Hi @Vicki Matticks, if not possible to find an off-lead area, then use a long line and play a game of fetch with a solid ball with a diameter larger than your dog's throat [do not use a tennis ball] with your dog. If the harness changes your dog's gait, then don't use it at all. An obedience club may allow you to exercise off lead in a fenced off area should you become a member.
I know a dog that does the same thing! He is a completely well behaved angel then you get a leash on him and there goes the neighborhood. He pulls and wants to go all the places all at the same time. The off leash suggestions are a good idea if you have that ability, then as JulieT suggested using that as training time after all the crazy energy is expended.
So - there's an assumption here, which is that because your dog is leaping at and tugging on the leash when it's attached in front, that she 'hates it'. That's not really what's happening, in this behaviour. Dogs love to tug - and often love to tug even more when they are on leash because they get a bit frustrated they can't reach all the stuff they want to reach and sniff, so this gets redirected into mouthing and biting on the leash often. That doesn't mean they 'hate' the leash. It just means there is a really tuggable tempting thing waving around in front of their mouths now (which in your case was previously attached to their back and invisible...). So don't worry about your dog 'hating' this... This is also a very typical older-puppy/adolescent thing to do - bite on the leash when you're supposed to be walking. And the majority of dogs will just grow out of it. Front-attachment harnesses are great and I'm a big fan, so I don't recommend switching from that. But what you might find really helps in the short-term, until your dog has grown out of this, is getting a metal/chain leash - still with a clip on the end of it, so not a choke chain of course - just like a regular clip leash, but made of metal. You will find that most dogs really dislike biting and mouthing metal and it pretty much instantly stops the behaviour. In a few months, when your dog has matured and grown out of this tendency you will probably be able to switch back to a fabric leash and it won't happen again. This isn't a clicker-purist approach of tackling the problem directly, but I wouldn't want to see you ditch the harness for anything else - and this will help immediately. Hope that helps!
