advice needed please

[mishmash]

willow is 18weeks old, when we are out walking..every person,child,dog,cat or sometimes if he see's someone in a car at a junction he is desperate to go over to see them, he pulls and pulls at the lead, choking himself and it doesnt matter if whatever he see's is across a busy road..he still tries to get to them.
so i tell him NO!! and walk on, but he keeps trying to pull me in the direction they are. then when i get him to walk on he stops every couple of seconds to turn and look at the object of his desire and once again i have to tell him to walk on a couple of times and this continues until he cant see it anymore.

why does he do this?? is this normal behaviour of a pup of willows age??

would a harness be better for willow and easier for me to control and train him.
any advice will help
thankyou

[RiggersMum]

It's normal - you have to be firm and consistent. You can try leading him with treats. Are you in obedience class? They will teach you what to do. I would advise against a harness as they actually give the dog more strength since with the harness they pull with their chest as opposed to their neck.

[tritonV8]

i would suggest a choke collar. if used properly they do not hurt the dog. this is the way my family trained our dogs to walk since i was young and i've done it with my rottweiler and he walkes perty as you please at 7 1/2 months.

[CanineCoach]

I, too, would advise you not to use a harness. Think about it, that's what is used with sled dogs to enable them to more efficiently pull. There are some "no pull" harnesses available and I've not used them so others on here may be better able to address those.

The three keys to properly training your puppy are motivation (yummy treats, enthusiasm from you), timing (making sure that any corrections you make are immediate) and consistency (every single time -- no exceptions!) Of those three, I find that timing is probably the most difficult to master because it is much more subtle, but no less important. Motivation and consistency are easier to pinpoint and determine if you are being successful.

Willow is a baby -- be patient, be interesting and enjoy this important time in his training. Good habits established now will reap huge benefits as he matures.

[wm1977]

Yeah, that is totally normal... I'd imagine with almost any kind of dog too. You can go the choke collar. That seems to work good for some when used correctly. When our girl was around that age and tried to do that, I would use one command (heal) to get her back at my side and looking forward (even if she just looked forward for a second), then would give her a treat. She would then either look back, or try to turn her body back towards the person, dog, etc. Every time I would give the heal command again till she was sitting back at my side and looking forward, then another treat. It's kind of a pain, but after a few months she started going to the heal position on her own after seeing a person, dog, etc. If you rott is not responding to the treats, maybe up the ante and offer something a little more tempting... we used turkey dogs for our pup. She would do just about anything for them. After she got used to those, we switched to cheese, and so on. Just stay consistent and calm, and your pup will come along.

[mishmash]

thankyou all for your advice, its a great help, cheers!!!