More advice please! What lead to use?!

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bertin12

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Right, next question..!

New dog is doing OK. So far she has been walked on a Perfect Fit harness and a halti training lead. Her lead walking is pretty good 45% of the time, until she gets distracted by a bird/ person/ cyclist/ other dog!! But i haven't worked really hard on getting her lead walking perfect as i knew we'd be going to training and figured its easiest to wait and learn it properly.

We have been meeting the odd dog on our walk and she is still very OTT, but we are booked in for an introductory session at a training school next Saturday and I'm really looking forward to it. I know a few people who have used this training school and it sounds great! They do a bit of everything, agility, obedience, gun dog training etc.

Now my question is, whats everyones opinions on slip leads? They have asked to bring her on a normal collar/ lead combo, i am sure they wouldn't mind a harness but i am not 100% sure she couldn't get out of it. It fits pretty well but i wouldn't trust any harness 100%! Saying that i feel the same about collars and leads as I've seen dogs wriggle out of both pretty easily.

I am predicting that our group introductory session next weekend will be very exciting/ overwhelming for her and i want to make sure she won't be getting away from me! Which is why i am looking into getting her a slip lead as they seem pretty safe. We use them with the dogs at work (a kennels) purely for speed and convince when walking, to save faffing around with harnesses, halti's, normal collars and leads etc.

Any opinions and as always, advice welcome!
 
Most reward orientated trainers will not accept slip leads. Just make sure her collar is well-adjusted by bringing it up right behind the ears, where the neck is narrowest, when doing it up and link the harness to her collar with a strap. Hopefully the training area will be enclosed anyway. Good luck with the training.
 
slip leads are for dogs that have learnt to walk properly on the lead, not to teach them with. a normal collar and lead is a flat collar and a lead that is ideally a training lead so the length can be adjusted or a lead about a metre long that does not burn or slip through your hands-enjoy the lessons and have fun.
 
If you have a Halti lead, I think that has double ends, so use one end on her harness and one on her collar. It is a great way to teach your dog to walk in balance with you. Or if your Perfect Fit harness has a front/chest ring as well, then one clip on that and one on the back, that also works really well and I use that combo a lot to encourage calm, balanced walking and to prevent pulling.

I would definitely not take a slip lead to any training class.
 
Teaselmeg said:
If you have a Halti lead, I think that has double ends, so use one end on her harness and one on her collar. It is a great way to teach your dog to walk in balance with you. Or if your Perfect Fit harness has a front/chest ring as well, then one clip on that and one on the back, that also works really well and I use that combo a lot to encourage calm, balanced walking and to prevent pulling.

I would definitely not take a slip lead to any training class.
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Yea her harness does have 2 D rings and I did start off with the lead clipped onto both but it didn't actually make any difference to her really. Now we just clip it onto the D ring on her back and she's getting better.
 
Thanks for the replies and I understand what you're saying about slip leads

I'm now looking for a new collar as the one she's got isn't very strong due to not normally walking her on it.

Anyone have any experience with these collars? I like that there's 2 D rings so that if the collar comes undone you have a little more security.. http://www.ezydog.co.uk/products/double-up-dog-collar.html#PhotoSwipe1433582251679
 
Why don't you just buy a bog standard collar that does up with a buckle? Much better than those plastic clip things, stronger and far easier to adjust...just buckle tighter or looser rather than faffing with impossible sliding things.
 
AnotherNewbie said:
Why don't you just buy a bog standard collar that does up with a buckle? Much better than those plastic clip things, stronger and far easier to adjust...just buckle tighter or looser rather than faffing with impossible sliding things.
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I haven't ruled that out I'm just looking at different options at the mo, and the link for the one I asked about looks quite tough and durable whereas a lot of collars I've seen don't look as tough. Could be wrong, but like I said I'm just looking at options
 
leather collar with a buckle is best, due to it being a natural fabric it is less likely to cause any itching, remember leather will stretch so allow for that when choosing the right size
 
Good quality snap collars are very strong and durable. A collar is only as strong as its weakest part - so webbing/leather, stitching, soldered d-rings should all be checked along with the clip. The great advantage of snap collars is that you can adjust them millimetre by millimetre, whereas a buckle may only let you alter it by half an inch or even an inch. Major problem with a small dog!

For a lead, a six-foot lead is best for training. Perhaps your new training school can advise before you go spending any money?
 
Not sure if trainers will view them along the same lines as slip leads but would you consider a martingale collar?

One of my guys can be dog reactive and fear aggressive; when I attended behavioural classes, or when I need to take him somewhere where I feel more confident if he's muzzled, he's wears his martingale collar (it's Red Dingo and it's soft and I don't feel it's really harsh). Whilst I don't suggest using it purely ftom a control POV, it does mean the likelihood of him slipping it is slim to none and if he is doing back flips on the lead at another dog, it enables me to keep a tight hold and move him on as quickly as possible with as little fuss.


Alrernatively, though I'm not sure if I'd necessarily use one at training, mine are walked in Dogmatic headcollars. One of my three pulls terribly on the lead, despite many a training session and the second one can bark and get agitated sometimes, setting the reactive one off - fun, I know!!

I find I have an awful lot of control walking either the two (or three, when third is without his muzzle) with the Dogmatic and find they don't slip into the eyes as many other headcollars do (trust me, I've tried a lot).
 
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