morning all, Jacks settling in really well, hes never had a collar or a click to it lead, ive now introduced both, when walking though he zigzags in front of me, is there anyway of getting him to walk one side or the other? Hes still pulling so will try to introduce the halti to stop that, a friend suggested a harness but im not sure, so which is better or does it depend on the dog? Jack with us since sunday, 8 months old
Re: zig zagging! on lead Try shortening the lead so that he cant do it . What a did was to have Sam on my left hand side , lead in right hand but sort of threaded through my left hand so that the control was always left handed , if that makes sense
Re: zig zagging! on lead Black jack,we do harness and lead....harness to control the pulling if we are walking to our 'walk' then he goes on the lead to practice heel work and loose lead walking( practice,practice,practice,practice still not succeeding! :'()without constant verbal checking and food rewards. His old harness rubbed him under a front leg on Sunday,so he's been on the lead since until I could get a new today,bloody nightmare is all I can say!!sorry for my language!we've had him 4 months and the lead just turns him into a scud missile......I'm not exaggerating when I say I nearly wept last night when I got in....it's the one thing I can't see any progress on but. I will persevere and not be beaten!
Re: zig zagging! on lead I feel your pain Angela , been there myself, come home from a walk in tears, just convinced that the penny would never drop, keep the faith , it does drop eventually
Re: zig zagging! on lead aw guys, sorry to hear this, sounds like jacks pulling and zig zagging isnt that bad after all, im lucky that hes had some training before we got him, id just like to be taking him for a walk not him dragging me along!
Re: zig zagging! on lead Ah Thankyou Kate,that helps,he's such a good boy,Im miserable when we don't have a nice walk especially after being cooped up from the heat all day,we'll crack it.... I hope ???
Re: zig zagging! on lead You will crack it, don't you worry. With walking on the lead, think about what your end goal is (or what the 'rules' will be). Do you want the dog to keep to one side? Stop and sit at kerbs? Walk anywhere as long as the lead is loose? Our rule is 'stop at kerbs but you don't have to sit. Walk on either side but keep the lead loose'. Those behaviours get rewarded with treats and the opportunity to keep walking forwards. Any deviation means we stop dead till the lead is loose. Knowing what your rule is means you can be consistent with your dog, which is important. I reckon that a short lead encourages pulling. Just a theory. Giving the dog a bit more freedom with a longer lead (not a retractable lead, just a longer lead of 2 - 3 metres) can calm everything down a bit, just based on my own experience. Disclaimer: may not be true in every case!
Re: zig zagging! on lead Glad you noted the disclaimer Rachael , Sam was one of those " give me an inch and I`ll take a mile " pups Also mega pleased you said not a retractable lead, work of the devil : : : Tell you what , Millie walks really nicely on harness and short lead, but long lines and woods are an interesting combination ;D ;D ;D
Re: zig zagging! on lead thanks oberon, i did by a slightly longer lead as we kept tripping over his back legs with the zig zagging, we are doing sit for kerbs and i also stop walking if the pulling is too much, if i stopped for all pulling we wouldnt get anywhere lol, theres work to be done!
Re: zig zagging! on lead Amy will get her treat then pull off again! Need to remember to walk her at meal time and then I can feed her as she heels. (is that a good idea?). She was on a harness but outgrew it so collar again. She doesn't seen to be choking herself as much.
Re: zig zagging! on lead Rachel - is it important to be consistent with the length of the lead do you think? We are trying loose lead on a 2 - 3 m lead, and it is easier, but I shorten it sometimes (sometimes I have to, when the dog can't wander round a 3m circle, even with my policy of avoiding leads!). One thing that make me worry is that he hares off (towards a dog etc) on the longer lead, gets stopped which can feel very sudden (we are on the harness unless I'm confident he is not going to do this), and then sort of thinks "oh, I'm attached, ok, well I'll walk properly then". He lunges sometimes on a shorter lead, but we don't get the sudden stop because he can't get up any speed. Or am I just being daft and he has plenty of signal through the lead getting tight either way?
Re: zig zagging! on lead Hi, there is a series on heelwork training here which you may find helpful. The secret is to get the first two steps right and the rest will follow. There is a huge problem for many people with heelwork training because they attempt to walk huge distances before they can manage short ones. If you try to walk half a mile with a dog that pulls, the only thing he will learn is to how to pull for longer. If you absolutely HAVE to walk half a mile with a dog that pulls (because you cannot drive to his exercise area for example) then have the dog wear a harness that he only wears for this purpose, and don't use the command that you use in your dedicated heelwork training sessions. And by a harness, I mean something that goes over his back and around his chest, not something that he wears on his face or muzzle. A front fastening harness like this one may help reduce the pulling. Leads should not be longer than four or five feet for a tall dog like a labrador. All that longer leads do is confuse the dog. If he is on a lead, he should be walking at your side. Pippa
Re: zig zagging! on lead Thanks Pippa, I changed tack to the way you suggest last time you mentioned this. But was using the long lead as a coping strategy (always with his harness) to get to and from the car to where I need to be. But I think it is confusing for him unless I can always do it, which I can't. Right, short lead always then.
Re: zig zagging! on lead Working through Pippa,'s instructions does work( thankyou ;D) I see improvement,although it took 20 minutes last night for him to get that I really did mean it and we weren't going anywhere until he stopped.we honestly didn't get further than 200 meters!i had my step counter on I should have counted it! My difficulty this morning was my friend came with her 2 dogs for them all to have a play in the park.i am still avoiding the harness because its rubbed him sore.it was never going to be tidy because it was the first time 2 of the dogs were meeting but the first 10 minutes was chaos.....I lost any ground I'd gained last night....it was just a pulling fest! When I did the debrief with myself later I didn't prepare well....I should have walked Dexter over in our tedious/hit and miss lead style of stop start and met my friend at the place we were going to let them off to play,so it's not Dexters fault it was me 'fail to plan,plan to fail'......of course when he was pegged out running round he walked back like he could qualify for Crufts,loose lead by my left leg all the way home....little monkey! Thanks for all the advice oh experienced ones,it is always heeded and appreciated x
Re: zig zagging! on lead Charlie STILL hates his harness - getting tired of people saying "what's wrong with his leg?" when he does his "look what torture contraption she is making me wear" limp. Have checked a billion times that it is not hurting him - but now you say Dexter's made him sore, of course I'll have to have another look. Have ordered a new front fastening one anyway now though. Bless him - he is now chewing my chair leg - red card pen time!
Re: zig zagging! on lead Julie Dex has worn his with no ill effect for 2 months so don't discount it or let Charlie convince you..we had no bothers about it going on( except over exuberance when he sees it).Its lost tension with the pulling he still does on it but its not anywhere near what the lead pulling is like....we were putting it on him,tightening it when it was on him and setting off but it would loosen during the walk and we would stop and adjust.On Sunday we met 2 huge boxers and Dexter had a right romp with them ,I think one of 2 things probably happened,it was ill fitting and I didn't adjust it in time :-\ bad mummy....or it got pulled in the play he was doing and snagged him then,he didn't yelp though which makes it think it was the former..... I knew it was coming to the end of its life but I was holding on to order a Sense-ation harness near to my UK trip as you measure your dog for these and I'm sure that makes them more comfortable....just googled them now to get the correct name for you and they are on Amazon now who will deliver to us here so ill get one ordered!
Re: zig zagging! on lead i got my little fella walking beautifully with my vets recommendation, lupi harness,......i only do short walks with it on, when i let him off lead i take it off, back on for the walk home,......he is a pleasure to walk now
Re: zig zagging! on lead [quote author=JulieT link=topic=1949.msg16110#msg16110 date=1373465758] Rachel - is it important to be consistent with the length of the lead do you think? We are trying loose lead on a 2 - 3 m lead, and it is easier, but I shorten it sometimes (sometimes I have to, when the dog can't wander round a 3m circle, even with my policy of avoiding leads!). [/quote] We vary the length of the loose part of the lead depending on the environment. We often walk around bike riders, swans, over a bridge, through the shopping centre... At those times we keep the lead shorter and cue Obi to walk closer (not heeling but 'fairly close loose lead walking'). If we have to, we do a proper heel. If he should lunge at something then he wouldn't get up much speed or go far. We are just vigilant about potential distractions. I personally like to let my dog walk on lead in a less formal way, to sniff what he wants and to pee etc. when he wants. As I mentioned, this has rules attached - stop at the kerb, don't pull. Also, when we come to a set of steps he has to wait at the top, stop at any point if told, and stop at the bottom of each flight of steps. It's my view that, as long as you can get your dog close to you when you need it to be safe, they do not need to be by your side all the time. Wherever possible, we walk off-lead.
Re: zig zagging! on lead Thanks Rachel, that sounds perfect for when you have control when you need it - I don't think I'm aiming for "heel", we just use "let's walk" which means left hand side, level with me, and not very far away, but pretty loose. If I can manage that, it'll do, I reckon! (Although got the steps - he does 3 at a time and then waits for kibble ;D, handy while he is a small pup still).
