How to tackle pulling??

Lady La La

Lady La La

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I walk Tyson in a halti, which pulls from his nose. I can't even take him outside from just his collar as he'll pull me over in seconds and **** off. The trouble is the halti isn't actually stopping him from pulling, he is at the end of his lead constantly and I cant do any of the walk in one direction, turn round walk in that direction business because the damn halti yanks his little nose so hard! It seems like a horrible piece of kit, but I can't cope without it.
Bryony pulled like a steam train initially, but by doing what our trainer has taught us she is now near perfect on the lead. Nothing seems to be working with Tyson and the halti looks so uncomfortable for him when he is straining at the end of his lead constantly.
What do I do? Can anyone help?
 
This is a C&P so ignore repetition and references to he/she/them

"What are you doing to engage them, ie, look up at you and make them want to walk beside you? You need to incentivise walking beside you, for a lot of dogs it does not come naturally.
Take a favourite toy or some treats in a pocket or take something out of her daily food allowance to give as a reward while on the walk. (THIS IS HAND FEEDING AND CAN GO INTO IT FURTHER IF YOU WISH)

Harnesses and flat collars allow the dog to use their weight against you. We use both for tracking and protection because it actually allows the dog more freedom and so they can work remotely.
Slip collars/leads, half-chokes/martingale collars, full chokes and head collars are better for training lead manners.

Do not use a chain or rope lead and definitely not an extendible lead, they are rubbish, the former, you cannot get a proper grip, the latter, you're trying to control a dog with a lump of plastic and a thin strip of nylon. Use a leather one!

Keep her on your left. Majority of the lead is in the right hand and fed through the left hand, with it quite short down to the collar. Their shoulder at your knee.
Try and get the lead 'above' her rather than behind her, if you know what I mean. You can pull up as well as back.
Do not try and get into a tug of war with her, you will not win, if you want to issue a lead correction, do not wait until she is straining at the end of the lead, make sure it is loose and then as she is getting to the end - sharp POP - she looks back, what was THAT? Encourage her to your side, praise/reward.

Remember, they have four legs and often want to go somewhere quicker than you can, also, dogs can often naturally pull against a restrictive force, they don't get the whole 'if I walk loose, it doesn't hurt or restrict me' thing, so you have to teach them that slack line = good, tight line = going nowhere.
If there is constant pressure on the line and no distinction between a tight line and a slack line, she will never learn.

The best way to stop pulling is to gain focus under distraction and make yourself more attractive than everything else
This begins at home and in the garden and can be a long process. All young dogs should be focus trained as it makes everything else so much easier.

Try also stopping dead, turning in circles, so she learns, the more I pull, the less and less further ahead I go, if I return to mum's side, I get praise and a treat. it's further and faster she wants to go when she pulls, so pulling = nowhere, walking on a loose line, progress, although not as fast as she would like it to be.
You can also walk or jog backwards and encourage her to come with you with lots of praise. You might feel like a berk, but the people who laugh at you won't realise you'll have a good dog by the end of it."






Did you contact any of the clubs I suggested? A fresh pair of eyes really helps.
 
Yeah I did, I had a meeting the with chap from Colchester last Sunday, we're going down to have a look at the classes in action this weekend.
Thanks for the c&p
I just don't understand why I seem to have a dog that makes life so hard in every single way, nothing I do gets through to him and I feel doomed by this constant feeling of failure that follows us arround. I love him dearly but I've been trying to get him to walk to heel or at least without pulling my arms out for a year and a half now, and I havent even managed that. I really am hiddeasouly underqualified to be the owner of a Tyson dog, but would one little hint of improvement be too much to expect? I expect if he ever does do anything he is asked, that I will burst into tears of joy!
 
He's not doing it on purpose, he's just a big strong dog who wants to get places. It's just a matter of making walking on a loose lead more attractive to him and/or providing him with an activity where he can burn off all that excess energy, as mentioned, by running him in harness, swimming, jogging, biking, agility.
It took at least a year with my fella to even think about behaving mannerly so don't lose heart.

With a big drivey dog like him, don't be afraid to put pressure on him/use a lot of your strength. You will not hurt him, trust me, but you will get his attention.
If it's OK for him to pull you around, then it is certainly OK for you to say 'no, had enough, not happening, now we get serious!'

Good luck at the weekend and I hope you get your lightbulb moment :)
 
I bow to CC's infinitely greater knowledge on this subject (and will learn from it myself) but i just wanted to add something that may be of use to you.

When I had Dash on a long line I inadvertently taught him the command "steady" by saying it just before he reached the end of the line and garrotted himself :rolleyes: and after just a couple of days i did notice him slowing up when he heard me say it. i then promptly forgot about it when his recall became good enough for him to run free but just the other day something prompted me to say it when he was on the lead at agility training and lo and behold he came back to heel (something he has not yet learned) so i will be making use of it in his heel training very soon. i hope this helps :)
 
Just to add, I do let mine walk out ahead (and use the steady/wait command :)), any but on a loose line, pulling or passing things like sheep, cars, other dogs and people, they come back to heel. Mostly :p
 
Thank you. I feel like Tyson knows exactly what most of the commands mean, he just choses to ignore them which I am finding difficult to cope with! He will do a perfect re call, sit, stay, wait, down (although never heel) when at home and I have chicken in my hand... but out on a walk nothing not even chicken gets through to him, if I holler 'wait' at him, he gives a gratious glance in my direction then squeaks and legs it away from me looking very pleased with himself! When let out into the garden, if I want him to come in, I say 'Tyson Come' and he lingers in the doorway to wait for me to go and get food to tempt him with, if I dont get food he refuses to come in, and if i try to grab is collar he bounces backwards away from me squeaking - which he thinks is a great game.
It's his deliberate ignorance that challenges me constantly. How do you make a dog do something it doesnt WANT to do?!
I'm sure you'll tell me it isnt deliberate naughtyness, but it sure feels like it :(
 
Lady La La said:
Thank you. I feel like Tyson knows exactly what most of the commands mean, he just choses to ignore them which I am finding difficult to cope with! He will do a perfect re call, sit, stay, wait, down (although never heel) when at home and I have chicken in my hand... but out on a walk nothing not even chicken gets through to him, if I holler 'wait' at him, he gives a gratious glance in my direction then squeaks and legs it away from me looking very pleased with himself! When let out into the garden, if I want him to come in, I say 'Tyson Come' and he lingers in the doorway to wait for me to go and get food to tempt him with, if I dont get food he refuses to come in, and if i try to grab is collar he bounces backwards away from me squeaking - which he thinks is a great game.
It's his deliberate ignorance that challenges me constantly. How do you make a dog do something it doesnt WANT to do?!
I'm sure you'll tell me it isnt deliberate naughtyness, but it sure feels like it :(
Click to expand...

Don't chase him. What happens if you walk away from him?
In the nicest possible way, you need an attitude change - make him WANT to do it - what's in it for him right now? You getting pissed off with him. That's how he sees it. You sound frustrated in your post, so I bet you feel and exude frustration to him.
Would you want to walk beside you or return to you? Again, don't take that the wrong way, but think about it from his point of view.

Also, bear in mind, a lot of people think their dogs KNOW things, but if your dog sits three out of five times, it can also be attributed to luck - dog did something you wanted it to do, didn't mean it automatically knew, if that makes sense.

For the hundredth, millionth time I will recommend a book called The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson, helped reconfigure my attitude no end!
 
It sounds like he has been training you! my parents dog used to do this and it drove my dad mental (he was of the opinion that it is a dog therefore it must know I'm superior and that it should be doing what I ask :rolleyes: :rolleyes:) and what cracked it for them was jealousy. We would call Cassie in and when she ignored us we would close the door and sit the other dogs on the other side of the door and feed them something yummy with lots of praise and happy noises etc etc so she could see, hear and smell what was going on and went wild with jealousy. Afterwards we opened the door and said "sorry it's all gone!" then chucked them all out and called in again after a minute. Strangely enough she was the first through the door lol We used the same principle for recall training too
 
Haven't taken any of it the wrong way, at all. In fact I totally understand where you're coming from, I do need an attitude change, he's certainly not an easy dog but I have allowed myself to get too emotional with him, rather than objective, i think. Does that make sense? I get upset when he doesnt respond well to me, and this in return makes him less likely to want to be anywhere near me I guess.
I will definately check that book out, and hopefully the weekend will bring a small ray of light into Tyson's training.
Hes SUCH a lovely dog, and I love him to death I just need to learn to work with him i guess.
Your help is much appreciated, as always.
Thank you :) x
 
Look you should have seen some of the PMs I used to send Cayla, in floods of tears, feeling useless and with a very sore back!!!

You'll get there, I promise...my dog didn't know who I was or what I wanted from him two years ago, I expected way too much without really understanding how to instill it in him, it's just something you have to work away at and teach them.
 
Its actually quite encouraging to hear that someone else has felt as useless as I do, at one point or another! There is hope, and I fully believe we'll get there eventually :)
 
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