Dragging on walks

[Kaiya]

Hello everyone, my Kaiya is now 5 months old and is wonderful. We just finished puppy training, and she did very well. She knows sit, down, stay, stand, let go, leave, and drop. And she loves the treats of course.
Over thelast month, Kaiya has been pulling while we are walking to the point that she is choking herself. She pants heavily, tongue hanging out, and at times even coughs. She does this for the first half of the walk, I usually run for a bit with her. Once she tires a little she does it less.
I know I still have to start obediance classes, but in the meantime, what are some tips to get a 5 month old to stay beside me. I have stopped and had her sit on my left, but it's back to the same thing when we walk again. We did not work on a "heal" command at puppy training.
If I am walking with the kids and/or bring our other dog on the walk, she always wants to be in front of them or catch up to the kids.

Any helpful hints would be greatly appreciated !!!
Thanks
Mike

[Vivianne]

Hi Mike,

I too have a 5 month old who is currently 3 weeks into obedience training and what your describing is indeed the heel commend. I wouldn’t introduce a temporary fix to Kaiya’s problem. I’d teach the heel command instead. Our trainer has told us about confusing the animal with commands. Like, if you tell the dog to sit, then use the word sit only. Not sit down. Sit and Down are two separate commands. See what I mean.
So, if you teach Kaiya now to heel by using some other word. When you take obedience class and have to use the word heel to mean the same action for the other word you’ve already taught to mean heel it may confuse the dog as to what heel really should be.
If you can, pick up a book or visit an obedience class or speak to anyone else who has learned the heel command and can show you the method to teach Kaiya properly. Does your other dog know the heel command? If not then I’d teach them both.
I also fixed the problem of pulling on the choke chain until she was causing herself harm, by using a prong collar. Lots of controversy about this type of collar I understand. But when it’s on, my dog knows I mean business and we are training until it comes off. I don’t need to use any force of any kind with this collar. I slight jerk with the leash in the direction of her correction, (i.e. down, back, forward, left, or right) is all it takes. Just one correction and the verbal command follows the correction.
I’ve found out over the years from owning several Rottys that they are extremely smart but lazy. Mine have always tested the boundaries of obedience during their youth. For example, my girl knows perfectly well the sit command. Does she always do it on command, no. If I don’t repeat myself, she looks around, smells the floor or even ignores me to see how many times I’ll say it before I make her listen. This is the type of testing I’m referring to. Now if I have treat and tell to her to sit, her butt can’t hit the floor quick enough.
This is why I’ve used the prong collar to teach all my babies. It gets them used to listening every time not just when they feel like it.

[WorkinDogz]

Just what Vivian said :)