Does your dog pull on the lead?

The main thing about directional changes/stopping is a) pulling does not get the dog where it wants to go/walking on a loose line, does b) the dog has to stay with you in order to get where it wants to go. Obviously if you have lots of room to play with, yes, lots of different directionals, right, left turns, loops, if it is just a pavement then you will have to go up and down like the Duke of York and stop and start a lot.

Your collie *does* have some sort of drive to chase so you *should* theoretically be able to redivert that drive onto a toy but it has to be built up and collies can be notorious traffic-chasers. With either food or a toy, you may need to park yourself beside a busy road and just work on focus.
 
using a normal collar and lead my girl will happily pull your shoulders out of your sockets and choke herself to death :-(

at training class she'll do a perfect curled round your leg competition heal tho.
Jeanettem- sounds like your talking about my dog lol!!

I also tried dog-games harness but didn't help the pulling, my trainer recommended a gencon which worked a treat, I don't always have to use it now, so we are getting there albeit
very slowly!!
 
Thank you for the advice. I think spending some time literally going up and down the road is a good idea, I will try this. The trainers at class mentioned trying a halti, but we were only discussing this at the end of the night so will talk about it next week. If I stop and turn, am I literally just walking the other way or stopping after turning around before walking? I think we don't help with the problem as its far easier to walk on the fields so spend most of the time there rather than by the road. I really want to crack it though as I just find it so unpleasant to be dragged along and it just ruins the walk. Thanks again for the advice
 
You can use as much power steering as you like but the end result is obviously walking nicely on a loose line :)

If using a headcollar get the dog used to it and seeing it as a positive experience in the house or garden first, don't just whack it on and off you go as that will just create hysterics with a lot of dogs!

If you are doing directional changes, I turn very smartly as pauses give the dog time to think....if stopping dead, stop, when the pulling starts, stop again, etc etc etc. Have a plan in your mind what you want to do before you go out or else you will be confuddled and so will the dog. Be prepared to get strange glances :p
 
ralph and maverick said:
using a normal collar and lead my girl will happily pull your shoulders out of your sockets and choke herself to death :-(

at training class she'll do a perfect curled round your leg competition heal tho.
Jeanettem- sounds like your talking about my dog lol!!

I also tried dog-games harness but didn't help the pulling, my trainer recommended a gencon which worked a treat, I don't always have to use it now, so we are getting there albeit
very slowly!!
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I've just read another post of yours and thought your dog sounds like my dog haha, dog games do 2 sorts of harness, which one did you get?, I have the one that comes in 3 bits with a front and back ring and use both, the normal one with just the ring on the back and my dog still pulls, gencons, haltis etc my girl just throws herself on the floor and has a major paddy, were working on them lol
 
Jeanettem- I just got the normal one with 1 ring, which I only now use really for tying her up when we are camping (so she doesn't keep pulling on her neck!)
She's ok with her gencon untill we stop then she will rub her face all over my legs! But with it on she will walk lovely on Loose lead.
I don't always use it as she is getting better, but I ALWAYS take it with me as she is quite obsessed about birds and if one flies in front or god forbid lands nearby she loses all concentration (up on back legs barking/whining and rather embarrassing!) the gencon then goes on!!
 
Ralph, How old is your collie, I think mine might be a little bit older than yours being 9 months, she used to chase birds in the sky, she used to try to chase cars but with age and training she's grown up some and I have more control, I can easily walk her down a busy main road now without her bothering with the cars, but if she's off lead and there's ducks, we've had it lol
 
Yes but then the only time she is ever put on a lead is for the vets, she's not really trained to walk on a lead, all our walks are on the open forest.
 
Good article here about collies, first posted by Goya
http://www.agilitynet.co.uk/training/bordercollie_suekitchen_leewindeatt.html

Also - re the paddies - work through them - they are a great tool that dogs (and kids!!!) use to get humans to stop doing what they are doing, my dog used to throw himself on the floor if I wanted to brush him and still squeaks in frustration but it just gets ignored now.
 
CaveCanem said:
Be prepared to get strange glances :p
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*nods* I am working on loose lead walking now as dog has a tendency to pull lilke a train on the way out so I am spending much time walking round the cul de sac in front of my house until dog realises that while he pulls all we do is walk in boring circles.
Mind you, my neighbours already think I am mad having witnessed me training dog not to barge in and out of the front door and also working on his dislike of going in the car by feeding him his dinner in the boot :D:D:D
 
JeanetteM - my collie is 5 months. He doesn't seem bothered about birds in the sky (lol) but its mainly the cars at the moment. I'm going to spend some time just going up and down the pavements with him I think. Got to put more practise in.

What's a gencon?!
 
Rockafella a Gencon is a type of headcollar http://www.personalised-pet-products.co.uk/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=108

I prefer the Dogmatic as it just sits on the dog's head and does not come into play until the dog pulls, the moment the dog stops pulling it is loose again.

http://www.dogmatic.org.uk/

I am very pro harnesses, but if you get the standard type harness that will not help the dog to stop pulling. Mekuti do a good harness that gives you 2 points of contact, so you can work on keeping the dog in balance going forwards and that pulling gets them nowhere.

https://mekuti.co.uk/harness_only.htm

Or you can get the Dog Games harness with the front D ring, to again give you the 2 points of contact.
 
The dog would say I was the one doing the pulling LOL. She mooches along with her nose to the floor and I'm forever having to pull her to keep up. She is young and perfectly capable of keeping up - if she took her nose off the floor!!! And I have absolutely no idea how to stop her.
 
CazD said:
The dog would say I was the one doing the pulling LOL. She mooches along with her nose to the floor and I'm forever having to pull her to keep up. She is young and perfectly capable of keeping up - if she took her nose off the floor!!! And I have absolutely no idea how to stop her.
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It sounds as though you are there for her benefit, so turn up your walk speed, and if needs be, put on a pair of trainers, and run!

Alec.
 
I thought of that, but it sounds like she's hunting at heal and pleasing herself, which can be bloody irritating! The committed TDs tend to take off with you, rather than dawdle.

Alec.
 
i use a gencon on the mastif and apart from the first few minutes of a walk when he is a bit of a bouncing lunatic it has been a lifesaver! he weighs more than me and doesn't like other dogs so i like to be sure he's unable to pull me over!! he walks slightly in front of me but doesn't pull.
the shiba is the best trained and was very easy to train, oh apart from recall :rolleyes: now he's deaf he has an excuse for ignoring me but in his younger days it was pure bloody mindedness!

The JRT, less said the better:o
 
I have 3 dogs. The eldest bitch is brilliant and rarely needs to be on a lead, she walks to heel and is perfect on or off the lead. The other two have been steadily getting worse over the last 6 months since we moved to a new area where there are lots of cats. They egg each other on and use all of their body weight against me. They have nearly pulled me over on a couple of occasions when they've spied a cat and I'm quite strong but so are they! Anyway I decided enough and bought a couple of haltis last week and they are now an absolute pleasure to walk on the lead. I can now walk all 3 in one hand, in fact only using a couple of fingers and it's still 100 times easier than walking one of the naughty ones in a slip lead!
 
When there's tension on the lead, this encourages a dog to pull into the tension which is why it's so important to keep a lead nice and loose. A work colleague told me that if you watch police handling dogs, they will keep the dogs on a short, tight lead as they work the dogs up into a frenzy before releasing them to search.

I always wince when I walk past people with dogs that tighten their lead - you're only telling the dog something's not right and getting the dog worked up!
 
Al the tried and tested ways of old,and long, long before Victoria Stillwell..long training lead,thin check chain put on the correct way,a few dropping contact and about turns..and there you are.Using all the "new" stuff to me just admits defeat.Never let a dog learn to pull in the first place.Puppies are on cord slip leads ,and at that age encouragement and treats soon get polite lead training fixed in their heads.
 
My little jrt x has been pulling terribly recently. I have a 3 month old baby and it is not easy dealing with a pram and a pulling dog. I know it's a training issue but just now I don't have the time to devote to him to sort it, so today we bought a gentle leader. It's like a miracle! Happy dog trotting along beside me and pram on a loose lead. To me it seems very similar to using a pressure halter on a horse, which I have had great success with for my tank like pony. I just hope it lasts as dog gets used to it!
 
My basenjis can be a bit naughty when we take a certain route (to the fields where they get a good run), which is why I try to take them on different walks regularly so they dont get too familiar with where the fun bits are. But generally they walk very nicely.

Anya the lab is an angel and walks perfectly to heel. Never trained her to or anything, she is just a polite person in general so im very lucky :D
 
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