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Pulling On The Leash!


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I know how you feel about the pulling. But mine doesn't pull forward he pulls to the side to sniff everything (beauty of owning a hound) it's so frustrating because I can't do the turning into him thing or stop because that just means he gets time to sniff what he's pulling at - 40kg dog when I'm only 55kg is a struggle too...

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Having bad day, bloody dog has "deplanted" 2 of my prized gardenia bushes, fury does not come close to how i feel when i look at her at the moment... What next? wondering if my hard work will ever start paying off. :laugh:

Anyway... after my unsuccessful park back and forths, followed markS's advice on behaviour when leaving for a walk. waited til she calmed down, first in the living room, then on the porch then went for a walk. whenever she looked like getting ahead I corrected her (as per Bella's person's advice) rather than waiting til she did. This did seem to work quite well, combined with a few on walk training sessions to get her to pay attention to me (sit, drop, stay- we dont move on til she looks at me). All on check chain of course but not a bad run, better than i HAVE had anyway. Not counting my chickens yet though.

:laugh::laugh: ;) Poor gardenias. They always know how to pick the expensive plants :cry:

Well done with the walking :) . I found it took a few days to get the dogs to realise the new rules were here to stay and to behave on walks.

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I know how you feel about the pulling. But mine doesn't pull forward he pulls to the side to sniff everything (beauty of owning a hound) it's so frustrating because I can't do the turning into him thing or stop because that just means he gets time to sniff what he's pulling at - 40kg dog when I'm only 55kg is a struggle too...

Russ ren, how long is your lead? A longer lead will allow your dog to pull you around a lot more so changing the length of the lead will give you more control while you're training. I walk my two on a 6 ft leash. This is what I did to stop them pulling sideways. When we start on our walk I hold the leash so they have to walk right beside me. Once they are walking nicely, I let them have more lead. Everytime they pulled, I shortened the lead and made them walk right beside me again.

On the long lead, I let my dogs sniff where they want as long as they keep and and don't put tension on the lead. They have both been doing this for about 5 months now and walking two big dogs on lead is a pleasure.

If your dog is pulling forward then turning around works. If they are pulling sideways keeping walking helps heaps. I also change my speed when I'm training, go from grandma shuffle to a sprint, this helps the dogs stay focussed on me.

Have fun :)

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Hey BP, I have an adjustable one 1m to about 2.5m I think - He doesn't just walk next to me - his feet do but his nose is to the ground the minute we are out the gate - then he puts the shoulders in to lean to the tree, post etc

I don't mind him sniffing it's just the pulling to get there - if it was sniffing on loose lead it'd be cool, but if I give him more lead it's just further out he can sniff. I'm going to try the waiting till he's calm before leaving then again outside the gate - I might just have to do a couple of stop sits to start with until he calms down...

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Hey BP, I have an adjustable one 1m to about 2.5m I think - He doesn't just walk next to me - his feet do but his nose is to the ground the minute we are out the gate - then he puts the shoulders in to lean to the tree, post etc

I don't mind him sniffing it's just the pulling to get there - if it was sniffing on loose lead it'd be cool, but if I give him more lead it's just further out he can sniff. I'm going to try the waiting till he's calm before leaving then again outside the gate - I might just have to do a couple of stop sits to start with until he calms down...

I think you'll find the adjustable leads are a problem. Very hard to teach a dog to walk nicely on one of those. I would get a standard lead for walking.

When you are training your dog to do something new, you always start with what's easiest for them to not do the activity wrong. Then you add distance and distractions.

In the example of your dog, it would be easiest to walk him with your hand holding the lead 30cm from his head so he can't sniff the ground. You reward his walking without sniffing and do this for a while. Once he has that, you can make the lead a little longer and so forth.

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Hi deelee2,

Have you asked Staffie people what they do, as every breed is different. I have two GSD's and a Rottie all have been to breed club obedience training and what a difference it made. When my GSD bitch started pulling at 4mths she was fitted with a head collar which she didn't like and one month later pulling stopped. You must be shown how to use a head collar correctly, you can't use it like a check chain. I hope you have been shown the correct way to use a check chain, otherwise it becomes a choke chain.

Your trainer doesn't seem to be doing much good, maybe it's time to try an obedience club you'll be surprised how helpful they can be. Good luck. :)

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Tarope, perhaps you should have read the whole thread first.reading the whole thread informs you of the total picture.

DeeLee, has been offered some very good and relevant advice from Mark S and Erny.I would never recommend a headcollar to anybody unless it was to go on their Horse.Headcollars on dogs mask problems and certainly do not deal with the actual cause/s.

As far as the Breed Club scenario goes,I have to strongly disagree!!!Dogs are dogs first,then breed second.Because all dogs are dogs they share the basis of a common psychology.

Teaching a Dog to walk on a loose lead whether a Heeler,Kelpie or AB is the same.Horse are just the same.I do not when teaching a Quarter Horse to lead, go about it differently to teaching a Paint Horse to lead,because of a common psychology Tony

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Hate to be premature and jinx myself, but the walk i had with Evie this afternoon was the best i have ever had. She stayed by my side for most of it, i kept her close and made sure she got a little tug if i felt her trying to move ahead, then the ocasional sit drop, stay just to keep her focus on me.

I was very cranky with her this morning, after what shall henceforth be known as "the gardenia incident", so i wonder if she senses that and thus is on her best behaviour? Regardless i shall be capitalising on it. It was amazing, barely more than 5 verbal reminders to come back!

Thanks BP, i really think that your timing tip was the thing that i "got". :) and MarkS the calming prewalk tip has helped me see that maybe im not as much in charge as i thought :laugh: - it certainly helps, thanks.

Tarope, TonyMc is right, i have been given some great advice and i also thank you for yours.

Now can anyone give me advice on how to protect the gardenias? (just joking!)

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Tonymc,

Have you ever been to breed club training, or any Obedience club ? I think not, it must do something because mine don't pull. :)

Any way who's talking about a bloody horse. If deelee has been given such good advice as you put it, how come the dog still pulls ?.

Your comments on head collars and breed club training are rubbish, :rofl::rofl: and I've never seen a horse at dog training either. :laugh::) Maybe you should go to obedience training, you may learn something, I should also mention just in case you didn't know take a dog with you it helps. :):rofl::rofl:

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Tarope, you have done it again!!!Completely missed the point!!!!

Firstly Tarope far more educated people then me are also against Headcollars for Dogs.Refer to your own post,where you state a Dog hated the Headcollar when put on!!!Now thats a little hint for you.

Now as for the rest of your post I will not dignify with an answer as its too silly,childish and immature for me to consider.

Tarope, read Deelee"s last post where she states the Dog is improving vastly!!!!!!Also remember the People who gave her the Advice are far more experienced and qualified than yourself.

LM, thank you for the kind words my Friend. Tony

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Hate to be premature and jinx myself, but the walk i had with Evie this afternoon was the best i have ever had. She stayed by my side for most of it, i kept her close and made sure she got a little tug if i felt her trying to move ahead, then the ocasional sit drop, stay just to keep her focus on me.

I was very cranky with her this morning, after what shall henceforth be known as "the gardenia incident", so i wonder if she senses that and thus is on her best behaviour? Regardless i shall be capitalising on it. It was amazing, barely more than 5 verbal reminders to come back!

Thanks BP, i really think that your timing tip was the thing that i "got". :) and MarkS the calming prewalk tip has helped me see that maybe im not as much in charge as i thought :rofl: - it certainly helps, thanks.

Tarope, TonyMc is right, i have been given some great advice and i also thank you for yours.

Now can anyone give me advice on how to protect the gardenias? (just joking!)

Congratulations deelee :):laugh:

It only took me two years to learn the correct timing :) and to stay calm at all times.

Gardenias = leccy fence. Wouldn't be without mine.

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Another good day!

Not perfect, i suspect she may be testing if i am serious, but I really feel she is coming along- FINALLY :thumbsup: :thumbsup: Lets hope it continues!

Yep, the staying calm has been the BIG challenge!

BP, sadly not enough yard for a leccy fence, might have to go for minimalist garden instead! Do you think she'd eat a cactus?

Tarope, as much as i would love to, I have not been able to attend obedience training and rather than just not train my dog i have used a private trainer (I am NOT entirely happy with her, but i have been referred to others on here) and have asked advice of anyone who will listen to me. DOL has been a godsend and i have received amazing help from many people. Additionally, I cant fault TonyMc, i have found him to be extremely knowledgeable and he gives very sensible advice.

I may have trouble with my dog, but she has (no, I have!) improved in leaps and bounds in many areas over the last 6 months and i dont think i am exaggerating if i give the majority of the credit to people here on DOL.

Thanks everyone who has helped me and given me hope when i've been down! :laugh: :laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

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I do believe that some breeds have common problems, but most importantly they are all dogs and do what dogs do.

Dogs 'always' work towards the reward and anything you're dogs do, you have trained, whether you meant too or not.

I'm glad you are having some sucsess, In regards to the Gardenias my only advice would be to have all your cherished plants in a non dog area, works for me. My Gardenias are in the front garden and thriving. :angel: It is a dog free zone.

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Tarope, She is a 12month old staffyx (prob kelpie)
Have you asked Staffie people what they do, as every breed is different.

Should deelee2 ask kelpie people as well? :D or some other breed people as her dog might be crossed with something else...

As far as the Breed Club scenario goes,I have to strongly disagree!!!Dogs are dogs first,then breed second.Because all dogs are dogs they share the basis of a common psychology.

Tonymc - we have been through the breed specific trainign with tarope a dozen times, Tarope belives that there is nothing better for the rottie than the training offered at the rottie club.

as per below - you havent been to rottie club training .....

Have you ever been to breed club training, or any Obedience club ?

I have on another hand with my dobermann and my dog hasnt really learned anything there.... must be becosue I have dobermanns

:angel:

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Hey BP, I have an adjustable one 1m to about 2.5m I think - He doesn't just walk next to me - his feet do but his nose is to the ground the minute we are out the gate - then he puts the shoulders in to lean to the tree, post etc

I don't mind him sniffing it's just the pulling to get there - if it was sniffing on loose lead it'd be cool, but if I give him more lead it's just further out he can sniff. I'm going to try the waiting till he's calm before leaving then again outside the gate - I might just have to do a couple of stop sits to start with until he calms down...

Mine's always done the same thing :D The bugger generally doesn't pull out front, but he will yank me towards trees that he wants to sniff and/or pee on. I've switched to a leather lead (used to have one similar to yours) and I watch for when he's just started to pull, then correct him and have him sit back next to me. He then gets to go free and sniff on the condition that he doesn't pull to get there.

It's slow progress, but he has improved :rofl:

Another good day!

Not perfect, i suspect she may be testing if i am serious, but I really feel she is coming along- FINALLY :( :D Lets hope it continues!

That's so awesome :rofl: Sounds like all that hard work is paying off for you! Congratulations and I hope she keeps getting better.

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Wow, glad I popped into this thread! I am so glad you are getting somewhere with you pooch deelee2.

Ive also been having dog-probs, but of a different sort in a different thread, and have so far been very impressed with those who have offered advice!

Its not an easy thing this "staying calm" thing, but by the looks of it, its working for you! Good on you for sticking at it. :) Its such a great feeling when something finally comes together and works!

Now I have to get of my butt and do the same thing, as my RR girl likes nothing than hauling me down the road, and like Russ_Rens hound pulling sideways to some wonderful smell on the side of the road. Damn hounds! I cannot believe how strong these dogs are, maybe I should get a dog cart :D :rofl: :rofl:

Thanks MarkS for your training tips. I had thought Id been doing this training correctly, trying to keep the dog from pulling, but I read something in your version about changing direction as soon as the dogs attention is off you! Now that makes more sense!! I will be trying that next time Im out.

God I love this forum :laugh::):o I cant believe how much I learn each time I log on!

RG

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