After a slightly nightmare experience over half term, my mother in law is now unable to have Jessie during the summer holidays. I am trying to figure out what to do for the best. My Mum has offered to have her, she is an experienced dog owner and has lots of time on her hands, but I worry Jessies's pulling towards other dogs and people might be too much. I wonder if I could find a professional dog walker to help her out whether she might be fine. But I also think she would enjoy getting out on short walks so I also wondered about getting a halti to help with pulling? Our trainer mentioned she preferred it to a harness, but I've not bothered as I don't actually find her pulling too bad, she walks fairly nicely unless she encounters people and dogs. But I'm obviously younger than my Mum. Any thoughts on this?
I would be rushing to take up mum's offer to have Jessie while I was on holiday. A dog walker as well may be a good idea, a lot depends upon what sort lf walk your mum could with Jessie, but you would want to have met them and let Jessie have a couple of sessions with them first to make sure you're happy. If she pulls, and most dogs do when they are young (it's what training is for otherwise we'd only get bored ) , a Halti as suggested by your trainer may be a good option for you and your mum as the pulling will only get stronger as she gets older so best to prevent it when young. If you go for the Halti I would ask the trainer to help get you started as you may need to desensitise Jessie to the Halti before she can wear it for walks. Let us know what you decide
My mum looks after Mole when we are away but I do get some help with a dog walker too as he is so full of energy! A bit like your Jessie I think, but I love my mum looking a after him as she has had lots of dogs and I know she will stick with how I have trained him. Given your last experience I would go with the offer and set up a few dog walks with a dog walker to give your mum a break every now and then! Works well for us! Sam and Mole
The thing about Haltis, and I'm well known for being a 'device' disliker so bear that in mind , is they remove choice from a dog. The dog has no choice but to submit to it, really (or fight it terribly, which most dogs don't do) and choice is so important in positive dog training. So I feel they should be used as a measure of last resort, never first. Of course, for safety of your mum that might be where you are of course. How long have you got before she has to go to your mum? Any chance of arranging some intensive training around people and other dogs in set ups?
Oh, and the halti collar worked well for my old rescue who pulled terribly but it did take a little time for her to get used to it so I would start now so she is happy with it before you leave her with your mum. Took us a few weeks before she was happy with it. Sam and Mole
Thank you so much for the advice. You see I am also anti device, so haven't bothered with the halti either, as she's fine unless she sees a person or dog, and she's a little lab, so I can cope. I have 5 weeks. I wonder if this is enough to get rid of the behaviour, given her lead walking is fairly good anyway. My puppy trainer also dog walks so I was hoping she might be able to walk Jessie. My Mum is right opposite a park and is fairly fit, but I think would struggle with longer walks. Thank you for the food for thought!
The other thing to consider is that actually a week without walks wouldn't be the end of the world for Jessie. Does your mum have a garden? Could you teach her some hunting games to tire Jessie out mentally? Then she could have fun playing with Jessie without heading out and about. Maybe intersperse that with a couple of walks from the puppy trainer.
I turned Charlie's mad lunging phase towards other dogs around in 4 weeks - but I was training almost every day around other dogs in set ups. I did have a fair bit to go after that to generalise it out and about but Charlie was extreme (he'd been on rest and was isolated from other dogs from between 8 months and 16 months old). If you have training opportunities, and a bit of time everyday, I'd say 5 weeks is easily enough time if what you have is just normal over enthusiastic young Lab behaviour. It depends on having the opportunities, really. You need to create the training set ups, it takes much, much longer to do it on walks because you can't control what the other dogs do.
Hi, if it were me, I'd continue your lead walking training but also introduce the Halti (I didn't get on with the Halti) or a gencon as well. I use a gencon in extreme circumstances like gundog group training but only if I need to. Anything you put on your dog is a device to stop them doing something, be it a collar, harness or head collar. They all take the dogs choice away from running off etc. Some dogs take more getting use to collars, harnesses, head collars and leads than others. What is important is your mums safety
