Hi! Been bout a month since I last posted, but Sloan is doing unreal. I am a little worried that things are going to start going downhill fast, because how can a puppy be this good?! We were waiting to get Sloan a front clip harness, but after her second set of shots our vet okayed her to start going for walks on a trail by our house. We couldn't wait for the harness, but thought we would quickly regret taking her out on just her lead. But we were shocked! She pulls maybe 30% of the time, but is getting better on each walk. I am worried that if we don't do the harness thing, we my regret it later? But right now she is happy on her lead, and I am a little nervous to disrupt this. Any advice? Did just a lead and collar work for you from day one? Sloan is now 12 weeks, photo to follow Thanks, Heleana
Xena is 14 weeks and I wish I'd used a harness from day 1 (got one at 12 weeks). She is drawn to THE PEOPLE like a magnet and I shudder to think of the damage that would have been done to her throat with just a collar. So sorry, I'm no help, but I really hope Sloan continues to not pull! I'm just a bit envious
At 12 weeks they are still very attached to you, Millie was at least. When she reached 15weeks she started exploring more and the independence grew bigger each day.. So did the pulling. She is great at not pulling in a harness , but if she see people that talk to her in a high pitch voice (why do people do that??) she gets excited and pulls. Or when there's a butterfly , birds, squirrels or another dog (working hard on this now)! I got both for Millie , when there's a bad weather out (thunderstorm) and she needs to go out and wee she got her collar with the lead and for walks I use harness. And when people is coming over I put on the harness with a lead on to prevent her from jumping, with the collar she just strangle herself so to speak. She didn't start jump on people until she was 4months and she rarely do it now thank god (she's getting heavy 44lbs at 5 months ).
i use both collar for places I know he wont pull and when hes off lead and harness for general walking about so his neck doesn't get damaged if he does pull. Done this with all my labs its seems to be ok for them and me
I'd definitely have a puppy in a back-fastening harness like the Puppia mesh one. Their throats are just too delicate at that stage and they've not learned not to pull towards things that excite them (like people calling them over, grrrr). The pressure exerted by a puppy pulling against a collar can damage them, even if it's only the occasional pull. I also had a terrifying incident, before I got my harnesses, where Shadow was scared by a noise, slipped his collar and nearly got run over. That wouldn't have happened with a harness.
That's a great point, I guess it might get worse. Plus I never thought about harnessing her when we have company, because she does jump like crazy! It's cute now when she's under 20 lbs, but not for long! Thanks, I think I'm sold on the harness
I only used a collar and lead but I was able to drive 2 minutes to off lead areas, so we only practised walking on lead in short spurts and didn't start walking from the house until she was reliable at not pulling.
Well... here's the thing... it's actually better if they're a jumper to have the lead clipped to a collar So, what you'd do is have the lead on the collar and stand on the lead - not so tight that it's pulling them down, but with little enough slack they can't jump up. I found this a really useful way of stopping my two from jumping up at people - it simply makes it impossible for them to do it, so they give up trying. If you try doing this with a harness, it can cause a nasty twist. So I'd suggest a collar and a harness. The lead clipped onto the harness for walking but clip it onto the collar, and stand on it, if people approach. The Halti double-ended lead is great for standing on, because it's a loop, so you can drop the bottom of the loop to stand on, but still hold onto the top part of the loop. You could potentially have one end connected to the harness and one to the collar all the time, and just "manage" the dog with the appropriate end depending on the situation.
That's what I do with young dogs. Love my double-ended training leads! Worth every penny. They go to 6 feet if on lead bimbles are required. Shorten to 3 feet for loose lead training or heelwork and can do harness and collar for dealing with whirling dervishes!!!
Hi there Winnie is now 20 weeks and we went straight for a harness ( freedom no pull harness) as recommend by Pippa in an article on the main site. The harness has back and front attachment points and Winnie has been fine in it. We've started heel training without the leash and that's going well, so hopefully we can prevent the big pulling issue. From having Winnie as soon as we could take her out we did so in the woods off leash. This has payed dividends as she never wondered far and as she becomes more adventurous we've established her whistle recall and reinforce everyday. She runs like the wind back to us on the whistle. Now for embedding and proofing the heel training. Personally I'm pleased we went for the harness and would recommend. Good luck and enjoy Sloan, it goes so quickly!! Take loads of photos!!
