A question for you. Charlie can be pully on his lead on the way out for his walk for about 10 minutes and then settles but walks like a kitten on the way back on a slack lead. We really need to be able to walk both our dogs together as it is now taking so much time and energy. Would putting Charlie on a harness on the way out and a normal lead on the return be a cop out? David feels that it's a completely different way of walking him and he doesn't then want to undo all the hard work that has been done. David is proofing Charlie with walking Hattie too some mornings which goes ok most of the time. Any other suggestions greatly received. Thanks Helen xx
Re: Is a harness a cop out? We tried Lady on a harness for a bit when she was a puppy because she pulled, but actually all that was needed was a bit of focus on not letting her pull in the first place. She quickly got the idea as Labs aren't daft, Using a slip lead all the time now because the harness wasn't suitable for working with and I stopped her and made her walk back behind me every time she pulled and I think she got so fed up with it she got the message and stopped doing it almost straight away. Using the same technique I made her know to walk behind me when going down steep hills and she caught on to that as well really quickly. It needs to be proofed like everything else. She stopped pulling when we left the house but pulled getting out of the car for example. Good luck.
Re: Is a harness a cop out? Thanks David, we have been trying since getting Charlie (maybe not as bright as most Labs!!) to stop pulling, usual techniques are being used and are working, but that first 10 minutes are a bit difficult and it's out of the question for me to walk them both whilst he is messing around. Helen x
Re: Is a harness a cop out? Hi Helen, We use all sorts with Riley and it doesn't seem to cause any problems. We use a harness if it's likely he'll stay on his lead for a while, sometimes with a short fixed lead and sometimes with a long line. He's much, much better now but we did have recall problems and so he still goes on his lead a reasonable amount. Any other time we use a fixed or long line he'll be in his harness - for example he was doing laps of the field after his first retrieve so he went on his long line to limit his options. If we've driven to his walk and he's not going to be on his lead long or we're doing some training we'll use his slip lead. He walks well to heel on his slip lead though, we used a similar approach to David to teach him, no forward motion until he was in the right position
Re: Is a harness a cop out? Thanks for that, we have always stopped and no forward motion which he gets, but I think the excitement of that first 10 minutes or so is just too much for him. I have just taken him to the paddock and the second he pulled I turned quickly and walked back inside the gate and did this several times and when we got outside the gate he pulled just a little and I did the same and walked back along the road and home again. No slack lead, no forward motion. The look on his face was a picture it said "oh please, please take me for a walk, I promise I will walk nicely" ;D Luckily the paddock is 2 minutes from my house so I didn't look a complete looney for too long but it did the trick at least for today! Will try David's method tomorrow. Helen x
