Still pulling on lead

[JasonTitan]

Chokes are safe as long as they are put on correctly and the dog remains on the relevant side. (Typically the left) A choker is not the correct term, and will put pressure on the neck and not the throat as is the WRONG way to use it.

One of the biggest problems beginners make is to not allow enough slack on the lead. This way ANY choker correction becomes a pull and not a snap and your wont get anything from the effort - the dog simply doesnt learn from a pull.

When I taugh "beginners class" the phrase I yelled out the most was "Slacken your leads!"

Hope this helps.

[KimG]

Originally Posted by JasonTitan

When I taugh "beginners class" the phrase I yelled out the most was "Slacken your leads!"

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice. :)

My problem is that once the dog's attention has been drawn, they beginning pulling toward the 'thing' - other dog, whatever... and then I can't get any slack to make the collar 'snap'.

This is why I reverted to the 'hockey check move' on the front quarter (which works all the time for me).

I'm certainly up for more advice though and very open to considering other methods.

[Cash]

About the choke chain:

Whether it's put on right or wrong the choke collar does not stop restricting. I much prefer a prong to a choke.
In any event, if you are to use a choke the proper way to fit a choke chain is simply to drop the chain through either ring and make the letter P of the alphabet. With you looking at the letter P slip it over your dogs head. Your dog should be on your left hand side if you pop up on the leash and release - the choke chain should also release the tension on the dogs neck.
Problem is, I don't know very many people that are very skilled in either using the choke effectively or humanely.

About heeling / walking on leash:

I don't expect my dog to walk by my side at heel position unless we are training. It's the quickest way to
A. Ruin my dogs motivation
B. Bore my dog to tears
C. Cloud what "heel" means

Heeling is MUCH different than walking nicely on a leash. Cash has 6 feet of leash to be polite with when we are strolling, and he knows the difference when we are out walking, and when we are working.

[heidi's mom]

Have you tried a gentle leader? We had a rottie who was a terrible puller and our trainer suggested the gentle leader (it's a nylon strap that goes around the dog's muzzle and leash is attached to it). So, any "correction" is very mild and tugs the face, rather than the choke or prong method (not that I'm saying there's anything wrong with either). Our trainer was a "positive reinforcement only" trainer, so she highly recommended the gentle leader. Once Jack got past the first 30-60 seconds of trying to get the thing off his face, he was just fine with it and didn't pull anymore -- cuz they REALLY don't like having their faces tugged on. I was pretty impressed with how truly gentle it was -- and effective.

[VioletAndRose]

Im not a big fan of the prong collars, I have seen several animals come into my work with wounds from these.

I had a simular prob with my rottie. Since I was against the prong collars, I tryed getting a "gentle leader" You know that this that goes over their nose and around behind their ears? Anyways, it has been a huge help to me. Even came with a video to teach me how the use it and how to train my Rottie to it.

[habitual]

When my one dog pulled on lead while learning how to walk nicely, (6 ft lead btw) I would 'pop' his collar quick to grab his attention and quickly run in the opposite direction, not walk- it caught his attention very, very quickly. If you use the collar correctly, the 'pop' will get his attention entirely focused on you and he will be stunned to know omgosh- she's running in the oppposite direction lol. 3rd correction this way worked like a charm, and my dog was a terrible puller. I would also, rapidly change my pace throughout the learning process to keep it a bit more exciting for him- he always had to have his attention focused on me to know what was going to come next LOL- his eyes never dropped out of focus on me! To this day, everytime I change pace or do something other than stroll at a nice easy pace- he has his mouth open in a huge smile, eyes focused entirely on me in what seems to be an excited anticipation of the 'unknown next move'

[Canadianrotti]

FWIW, I have 2 commands for walking Raelin, "lets go" and "heal". Lets go is used on our walks about the streets where I let her have the full 6' of lead, but she is still not allowed to strain at the end. Heal is for our formal OB where she MUST walk beside me in heal position.
If we are out for a walk about the neighbourhood, and someone is approcahing us, I tell her to heal while we pass the person. Once we pass them, I tell her ok, lets go, and we resume our walk with her sniffing about.

When she was a pup though, she was all over the place, and it took a while for her to understand what I wanted from her. She still has the occasional re-lapse, but a verbal "ahhh" and a little pop on the leash (with flat collar) jogs her memory!

[habitual]

I hope I don't sound too stupid lol- but what does FWIW stand for??

[jackdee]

I think for what its worth..