Bob drives me nuts pulling on the lead. I wish I had the time to take him out on his own and do some proper training but I don't. I have to take my little boy with me and he usually runs ahead causing Bob to pull more. It drives me nuts. I stop or turn round every time Bob pulls and only move forwards when the lead goes loose but then my little boy ends up disappearing into the distance which freaks me out in case he crosses over a road or something. So the whole process takes ages. Plus my hands really hurt after we get home. I only let him off the lead once he's walked at least 10 paces nicely as he wouldn't get to run otherwise. But he knows where we are going to pulls me all the way there. We use a mekuti harness at the moment, I'm seriously considering a halti.... Anyway rant over... LOL! And breathe! Lou x
I got the dogmatic head collar for Cupar. We were using an old gentle leader. Both worked. The gentle leader I felt was riding up Cupars face. The dogmatic is expensive but for me worth it. I did the pull, stop, walk. I even tried to stay in the same street. Just when I thought we were getting somewhere, he would see something or someone and lunge. Our walks were boring, painful and not accomplishing much, I gave up and bought the dogmatic. I now have a dog that walks by my side. We still do the stop start if he does pull but at least my arm and shoulder are in one piece.
Ah Lou ,sympathies...I can remember writing something similar myself...it brought me to tears several times. My solution was all out war on it ....I haven't got little ones and I'm not working so I could really practice and practice....your circumstances are different ,your little boys safety is the priority and life with a young family is hectic but there must be something to suggest that can help you and Bob enjoy walks safely..... What are you walking Bob on?Ive used many walking aids.In my experience they only had effect in conjunction with training.If I'd have taken Dexter out of his collar and put him in a harness ,he would have just continued to pull me in a harness....I used it to keep him from being injured and to break the association he had about it being ok to pull in the collar.....but other people write about seeing a massive improvement instantly....could that help? I never enjoyed the gen con head collar and Dexter was only tolerant of it,not keen ,but for us on our training program it worked short term when I had resolved to really not let him pull and he had to be on a lead.If you tried one of those ( Jen has only just started a thread in the last few days about recommendations, it might help you choose) and introduced it really slowly,rewarding with massive treats you may find Bob will accept it and you can manage him better.... I have to say that having lived through this I would never have solved our pulling problem ( don't be under the illusion we are perfect yet.....we aren't by a long way) without taking my training back to basics,it was time consuming and slow to progress but we did.If you changed your walking equipment and kept a collar and lead just for training loose lead walking could you squeeze in a few sessions in your house and on your property....it would be a start.When we were making progress Dexter used to have his harness on and his collar....when we could walk nicely I would clip onto hi collar...if I could see a distraction coming up or an area where he was going to start pulling me I would clip him onto his harness....Big ask I know but do you have a friend that could come out on a walk with you ,even someone sympathetic with a little one the same age that could watch the children while you work with Bob? When I was worked up about it I used to look at all these people ,especially the housemaids walking down the road with dogs ( sometimes labs) that don't pull and despair about how they had managed it.....they surely didn't put in the work I had to? Also to say,there is a huge lab on my estate,he's a lovely looking dog,but he's tricky.He stares so Dexter doesn't like him straight off and he has not hesitation in throwing his weight behind a lunge to get to you.Hearsay tells me he's bitten someone as well.Hes about 50 kgs ,seriously he's huge.....he's now being walked in what I think is a halti by his very slightly built housemaid and he's trotting along with a loose lead now.I don't know how happily....his tail is out and his step is jaunty and he doesn't seem to be veering off from her,the litmus test will be us walking past him though hmmmmmmm Hang in there ,and I hope you find a way for everyone to be safe and happy xxx
Lou, is there someone that can take Bob and do some training with him on loose-lead walking, so you don't have to worry about managing him and your son?
Thanks guys... I have time at weekends at a couple of days each week - when I'm not working and Arthur is at school. So I will defo concentrate on the lead walking then. We use a Mekuti Balance Harness which makes the pulling easier to manage and it's less stressful on Bob's neck than a normal collar when he pulls. I may explore the dogmatic or halti head collars, someone mentioned these to me previously. Failing that I may give our local dog training school a shout and see if they can spend some time with us and give us some useful tips. I know the basics though, if he pulls STOP completely. When he looks at me, C&T and then walk on. Try not to overwhelm him by walking in busy areas etc with distractions. Set him up for success etc etc and build it up gradually. I KNOW all this... just trying to find the time to put it into practise in 'real life' is tough! Lou x PS we stopped using our clicker... it was just one other thing to think about carrying around with us... but I may charge it up and start using it again as it's more powerful than me just saying YES/GOOD BOY all the time I think....
Having a dog that walks nicely by your side when asked, or sniffs along doing his own thing but keeping the lead loose, is a joy. And it's worth getting there through proper training. If you do it now, when your dog is young you'll have a decade or more of lovely walks. You need to be completely consistent with your actions, cues and rewards, and you have to do it for ages. But it does work. You have to find a way to train though, and be able to concentrate on your dog. Even if that means that the dog gets fewer outings until you have mastered the loose lead thing, and you drive to off lead walks 3 or 4 times a week only.
Julie's right. When it comes, it's fabulous. To know that a simple walk down the road isn't going to be a challenge or a battle is liberating. I still get a little buzz when my two are walking nicely (even though they still try to pull towards exciting people etc). But it is time consuming and I can't imagine doing it with a child in tow. Driving to off-lead walks unless you're training on lead is a good suggestion. Is that at all possible?
Yes I'll start doing this from now on I think... there are a couple of places where I can just get him out the car and let him off. Thanks xx
We've found a dog trainer called Ian who will do home visits with us. His CV is very impressive so I'm feeling really excited! I called him today and he is going to speak with me next week about coming to meet us and Bob. OH and I just need to make sure we both know the correct technique to be using with Bob when we take him out. I think these sessions will be invaluable for us. He said in the meantime to get a tube of primula cheese and use that for lead walking. I will also get the clicker out and dust it off... So feeling more positive. I think we'll put the head collar on hold for the moment until we've had some sessions with Ian... and then go from there. xx
Sounds like a plan. Start small. Set a target that is tiny. Eg walk to the end of your road and back on a loose lead. And just keep trying to do that until you manage it. Then 10m further....start really small and build it up a small steps.
You've got a plan. A trainer will give you the tools and with consistency you will get there. Short sessions where you only accept the correct behaviour. Don't try to take him anywhere when there is a time pressure (like picking up a child from school) once you have that 'got to be there in your head' it is almost impossible to not get harassed and just accept the pulling 'for now''. Learning to walk nicely on the lead takes a lot of concentration from dog and human, so short bursts is best.
Thanks Molly, you've totally nailed it. Having that 'got to be there' mindset is probably what is stressing me out the most. And Bob is bound to sense my tension which won't be helping either. Short sharp bursts of lead walking required and set him up for success. x
Hope the trainer can give you some good pointers to help. When I was struggling with Mira pulling one of the things I did was divide her walks into 2 types: 1. On lead the whole time, including walking to/in places where she was used to being off lead. A lot of the pulling is because of the anticipation of getting to the exciting bit of the walk. 2. 'Car' walks where we drove to a place where she could be off lead straight from the car and get a good run. It takes a while but you will get there in the end
And stick to,the same area while you are training. The world is full of exciting distractions for a young dog. Stick to an area they know and they will find it easier to pay attention. When Molly was younger if I walked just a few feet further than our patch she'd get a whiff of something and turn into a pulling machine. We gradually extended our range bit by bit.
Hi Lou. This was us a couple of months ago (apart from the small child!). Max is now 11 months old and we're just starting to feel a bit better about lead walking. We try and do two short lead walks per day ((one 10 minutes and one for 20 minutes) and regard them as training rather than trying to get from A to B. Max also has an offlead walk first thing in the morning which deals with his excess energy each day! We've found a tube of primula has worked miracles with Max and we're now treating him every 30/40 steps whereas it was probably only 10 steps a few months ago. I also talk to him a lot to keep his attention on me rather than passing dogs, people etc. I also treat more frequently if there is a distraction in an attempt to keep him focussed! Good luck, I'm sure we'll get there in the end!
Thanks everyone, he's coming next Monday so a little bit of a wait, but I'll take all your wonderful suggestions above as well in the meantime! I start a new job tomorrow so Bob won't get any off lead walks Tues/Weds/Thurs from now on as I won't have the time during the day... He'll get a lead walk at lunchtime and in the evenings by OH which we can use for training. xx
Just try to keep in mind you don't have to go anywhere. It doesn't have to be a "walk". As you'll see from the dogs on restricted exercise due to medical conditions, it really doesn't matter if dogs don't get traditional walks for a good while. The training will work his brain and tire him out. So just ensure absolute consistency on no moving if he's pulling. It's super frustrating, but if you keep in mind you don't have to make it around the block, it's a lot easier.In fact, don't even try to go far from home, because if he walks brilliantly up to the farthest distance and then starts pulling, you'll be stuck a long way from home and needing to get back. So, just walk up and down your road to start off with, so if he does start to pull, you only have a very short distance to get back.
Funnily enough he's been much better this week - typical now we've got the trainer coming out next week. But I think it'll be worth doing anyway. I was the only one that went to puppy training in the early days so I know the technique really, we just need to make sure that OH is doing exactly the same thing as me so that we are completely consistent. So best that we both have a refresher together. I've probably forgotten some stuff too...
