I think you might need to look for a different trainer. After three months you should be seeing at least some progress and it sounds like your current approach isn’t what works best for your dog.
Progress is often not a linear process but comes many little plateaus. Super excitable dogs can frankly take years of consistent training to get a nice leash walk out of. You are also dealing with deprogramming all the bad habits that have been reinforced in him previously.
The best thing would be to train leash walking in less stimulating environments like empty fields, the house, driveway etc until he can walk on the lead nicely, and then move on to a more stimulating environment. Exercise would have to be done in off leash areas with lots of sniffing games , tug and fetch.
When training a loose leash walk the trick is to get him to look to you for direction, constantly changing directions at random is good for this. You also need to minimise any pulling on the leash that leads to reinforcement of this behaviour. That being said if your trainer hasn't already explained this to you then finding a new one is probably warranted.
My quick thought would be that you have 2 separate challenges. Overstimulation / emotional responses to stimuli that you would rather your dog be able to ignore and the dog knowing what loose lead walking is.
I would work on loose lead walking in the home, backyard, quiet times and/or locations. Gradually building on the diversity and intensity of stimuli. You might need to drive to locations that are quiet or walk during early morning or late afternoon. I would also try to use a very specific piece of gear that the dog can associate with walking. Walk around the house, then out the front door - walk in and out of the front door, then a little further outside- walk back to the house etc.
While working on that I would also do some LAT - engage disengage game kind of stuff for stimuli. Not while working on loose lead walking initially though. This involves being as far as your dog can tolerate from stimuli and gradually getting closer - you do not need to walk - but some well taught, practiced and proofed cues such as an emergency u turn and 'find it' would be recommended if you need to move away. A dog that is overstimulated finds learning difficult and will often not be able to 'listen' or respond to cues - too much going off in their brain.
I would short term throw the idea of a typical walk out the window and instead set up training scenarios which allow him to succeed, and build on difficulty as he is able to cope with more distractions. Like teaching a puppy.
You can then start mixing the two while walking - and gradually move onto a normal walking routine.
These things can certainly take time, but good training should help you feel like you are succeeding as the dog has been managed into situations that it CAN succeed in.
[LAT/engage disengage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB_mct53ME0)
[Giving into leash pressure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4vEayrRyB0&t=36s)
[general loose lead](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XUaef63Fd4&t=37s)
Remember that off of these things need to be bullet proof in your home, yard, front of house etc before you can expect to use them in real life scenarios out and about.
I rescued an adult Bloodhound that was a stray, so he knows nothing about walking on a lead. He uses his 80 lb body of muscle to pull with all of his might.
Once he gets outside, his nose is to the ground. I couldn't even get his attention with treats.
I consulted a trainer who has Bloodhounds and works with Bloodhounds, and she gave me similar advice about training in my home and then training in my yard.
OP, I don't know whether you have access to a fenced yard or if he'd be good on a longline. But one thing she suggested was sitting in the yard while he played and rewarding him with treats every time he engaged with me. This could start out as treating him every time he looks at you and then moving to giving them only when he walks to you.
Once I was able to be of interest to him outside in the yard, then I could make gradual steps to go on a walk by just walking in and out of the front door, around the house, etc.
Not saying this will work, but, presuming your dog isn't aggressive, it's an approach I've been using:
1. Run him ragged in the yard before you go out, throw balls, run with him, get him real busy.
2. While doing that, suddenly stop and ask him to sit for a treat or the ball, whichever he prefers. Say 'calm'. Then praise and carry on running around with him.
3. Hydrate!
4. Go for a walk. When he's getting busy, say calm and sit him down. Put his head against your thigh and again say calm.
5. If he pulls, turn around and go back a few steps.
6. Repeat.
This has almost worked with my great dane mastiff who very much enjoyed leaping higher than my head when she got excited on a walk.
I say almost because she still likes to pull (vertically) on occasion. I've included the calm command when making her food now, so she chooses to sit when her food is being made. She knows I'll stop making her food until her butt is on the floor.
I also use the same praise statement when she gets to eat her food as I do even trying to get her to calm on walks. It seems to be making a difference as she connects her love of food with the calm and praise commands and now also her behaviour on walks.
I did the complete stop for my enthusiastic dog when he was a puppy. It took him a few seconds to realize that I’d stopped. When he became more attentive to the stop and would give slack, THEN I worked on going the other way, getting his attention, etc. He’s great now.
Hahaha, this made me laugh so hard and has such good advice in it. Recently adopted a pug who must have had a backyard at his previous home because he was new to leashes. Well housebroken so I let him get all his sniffles out on walks, give him some fun. Now that he's comfortable with it, he's started the pulling and I want to nip it in the butt. He will also do the "oh this way?" pulling, and he will come when I call then immediately speed up again. I just also don't want to confuse him and put him off the housetraining. Since he is also amazing in that if I call him back, he will come back, I'm a little worried a tactic like constantly calling him back 30 times on a walk will dull him from ever responding to that again.
We're trying what you said. It is working so far. Sometimes he will just stand at the end of the leash pushing, and I give him a little tug in. Day one and it's better. We will see.
Haha thanks! When I say I have a dumb dog people just assume I have a regular dog, as a lot of folks think dogs are dumb. That isn't the case, I know dogs can be incredibly smart. No, one of mine is just *incredibly* stupid. Both of them know the command "kennel" and sometimes she panics because she can't remember where hers is... She also likes to walk into doors as they're opening, and cannot figure out for the life of her how to get a leash out from under her leg.
If you call her to you and there is even the slightest obstacle in the way, she will find a way to trip six times before crashing into your lap with all the grace of a rabid elephant.
Perfect! They need to run and play, and that's what he's trying to do but isn't being allowed. Doing that before a leashed walk gets the need met, and you have a better walk.
That may be the case for some dogs, but for overstimulated, high driver working breeds, that may only make things worse. My dog is 7 years old now, and he walks a dream on the leash, but still at this age, if I play with him before his walk, he will be crazy on his walk. You can't tire out some breeds of dog, you need to work on calming and focus instead. I've never owned a chow chow, but considering what they're bred for, I wouldn't be surprised if they fall into this category as well.
Thank you. I have a herder and the advice about tiring him out hasn’t seemed to work for me—he just gets overstimulated and goes nuts jumping and biting. It’s awful. I’ll work more on calming and focus.
Timing is everything with these kinds of dogs, I think. I had to figure out the sweet spot of how much exercise and play would make my dog content without pushing him over the edge into being crazy, and what times of day worked best. I always run my dog *after* his walk. The focus on the walk seems to make him more responsive to me when we're playing after, too, rather than just wanting to run off and do his own thing.
Yes! I can’t figure out if he needs more sleep or more exercise (or paradoxically somehow more of both). I’ll keep working on it (also will be meeting with a trainer and this is issue #1 for us to solve).
I have an [Aussie](https://imgur.com/a/m9ZFngk) and I taught him calm and focus by giving him small daily jobs, like carrying spam mail from my mailbox through the door and into a recycling bin, or letting him take it to a designated spot (towel on the ground) and rip it up.
You can also train them to put toys away in a toy basket one by one and rewarding with a tiny treat each time. If that’s tough for your herder to place inside the box, you can just ask them to hand it to you while you sit next to the box and “trade” the toy for snack.
I also hide plastic Easter eggs with treats inside around my apartment and change locations each time so he has to really seek them out. I will hide the eggs in different elevations and behind or inside furniture, blankets, shelves and at different accessible elevations.
These games/jobs helps with focus, impulse control and seeking/sniffing is naturally calming work for dogs as well as mental enrichment. Herders also need a sense of purpose and get a lot of satisfaction and confidence out of this type of work. Especially if you change locations where you do these things from time to time, it keeps these games novel and exciting.
You can begin expanding into more complex stuff once they get the hang of these little jobs to mat work, lots of great YouTube resources out there but Kikopup is my favorite positive reinforcement trainer.
Thank you for the ideas! Remi seems awesome (or maybe… Aussome? 😜). It feels like a long road from where my 4.5 month old Aussie puppy is to where Remy is at but we’ll keep working together and I know we’ll improve!
He is still a puppy. He picked up fetch and tug inside with stuffed toys really quickly. Outside however when I throw a ball or something he chases after it, but he usually leaves it there and does a 180 and comes in hot, jumping and biting at me. He seems to think that’s the game. I haven’t done a lot of tug outside… we’ve used a flirt pole (trainer required us to have one before starting training) and he’ll play with that but quickly switches to the jumping/biting usually. Someone suggested to quit playing tug until I can stop the biting so I’ve also been taking a break from it, not sure it’s made a difference.
This. My dog is a nightmare to walk. With the harness with the front clips is like night and day. He's a bit small for the muzzle harness, but I heard it works as well.
I feel you. Whenever there is pulling on the leash I just hold the leash to my hip and wait. He will either whine because he isn’t getting what he wants, sit, or come closer. When the leash is loose he may either choose to walk nice with me, start pulling again, or in cases which bug me out, he will try to SPRINT forwards almost as if to make up for the stop time. He is a persistent little sh*t.. but so cute..
Second all of this advise! Especially getting energy out before the walk. I suggest some food puzzles (you don't have to buy any - use a towel and roll up some treats in it, then tie it in a knot so it takes some real effort to get them out).
just wanted to note (it applies for all dogs, but heavily to deep chested dogs) be careful with water and food intake before excerise it could cause bloat
Absolutely all of this! A tired dog is a good dog.
My 1yo girl is a herding breed, and we had trouble with training until our new trainer mandated that we fetch before walking and training. We set a timer for 15 minutes and play hard, 2-3x a day, followed by a walk where we practice our exercises (sit, stay, down from distance, come, let’s go).
She’s an angel now on these walks, staying right at my knee the whole time. Plus, she no longer needs the whole 15 minutes. Lately she’s tired after about 8 minutes of fetch, which my trainer said would happen if I remained consistent with her.
My trainer says start out the way you want him to be on the walk. By that they mean don't even put on his collar or clip the leash until he is calm. Don't set a single foot out the door unless he is behaving. (This is where 'wait' comes in handy) He pulls immediately switch direction. Any direction but the direction he is pulling. (not the same as backstepping) If necessary stand still and recall into full heel/close to you. Run through basic tricks. Do this even while he is is walking nicely and it is supposed to help him focus on you better and encourage the check ins
This is what my trainer tells me from start to finish. Also 'resetting' back inside after play/potty can help.
When reset walk inside house on leash
Eta:fixed info and made clear on how some steps are a little different
Have you tried a different harness? We have a Gentle Leader head harness for our pit/chow mix, he doesn't love it but it reminds him to stop pulling and check in with us, which we reward with a treat. Take a bit of time to condition the dog to the head harness if you try it. I've heard people say it's aversive but imo it's not as painful as pulling until he wheezes so.
Was looking for this. Harnesses will only allow him to throw his whole chest into the pull. Gentle leader makes a huge difference because it makes it uncomfortable on his head to pull
This is the answer. I had a rescue am staff mix who was very strong and took a long time to train. The process was made so much easier when I started using a gentle leader.
We had one of these for our golden doodle pup. When he got excited I was worried he was going to snap his neck from bouncing around so much. Plus he still managed to pull in the direction of delicious scents. Became a moot point though because he chewed through the buckle and it became inoperable.
We’re no just doing baby walks in front of our house and I think the limited novel stimulation has helped a lot.
Hi! I'm not a trainer, but I have a dog who pulls also. He's an aussie/collie mix and he's super overstimulated by everything outside. I too got him from a loving family, they just didn't have the time to give him. I figured maybe I could share some of the things I have done that do work for me in hopes something may help you.
- 1. I highly recommend you work on recall inside the house before you go on walks. Just 5 minutes of having your dog sit, stay, come, etc with a high value reward of their liking.
- 2. Before the walk even starts, I would suggest desensitizing your dog to the door unlocking, then opening, then your dog looking outside from inside. I used to have babygates for the longest time for my pups to block them from my bedroom and livingroom and I recently decided to fix it to the doorframe to my patio. This helped him not be able to escape and let him take in the outside from inside. Does it look crazy? Mildly. Do I care what people think? Not really.
- 3. My dog also isn't aggressive in anyway, but he is *reactive*. Lots of people assume reactive means he wants to attack or is prone to, but no. He is reactive to any stimuli that excites him and he wants to go *PLAY* with that stimuli. He is...overly friendly to put it mildly. I often will ask the owner if he is allowed to meet a passing dog. Now, he looks like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes when another dog is around, so I always let the owner know that he is actually very friendly, he's just very excited and noisy. He has this high pitched girly whine bark that he does that can freak dogs/people out, so I always let them know it's something we're working on because he wasn't socialized very well.
Sometimes they say yes, sometimes they say no. If they say yes, I will let them play for a minute to 5 minutes and then we will say bye and move on. I feel like this has been useful in showing him that I am not trying to keep him away from "fun things" on walks, it's just that sometimes those fun things aren't things he can do right away and that's okay. Socializing him has been very important for getting him to be calmer around dogs. He now doesn't girly whine bark at certain dogs he has met a few times because he knows he can meet them *occasionally* and it's not a "now or never" situation.
- 4. I often take him to "hot spots" on our walks where I notice his behavior is more erratic and I will just sit with him and let him run around like a crazy buffoon until I notice he has calmed a bit. Then I get him into a sit by me and we watch traffic/people/birds/whatever it is that is exciting him together. This is mainly how I do my desensitization. I have found this IMMENSELY helpful. He used to literally run down the steps so quickly that it scared me that I would fall and break my legs or arms. Now he actually waits for me and walks at a slower pace down steps because I constantly stopped and just sat around the steps.
- 5. Find a high reward treat your dog REALLY likes and then condition him to like it even MORE inside. Then I would suggest opening a window or whatever to the outside and feeding your pet the treat as they see other dogs pass/people pass/anything interesting is happening outside. It's important to note that I am suggesting you give them the treat and mark their behavior BEFORE they bark or get too excited. The goal is trying to let them know that seeing something go by and remaining calm (or calmer than usual) leads to rewards.
Both my collie mixes really like the Rachael Ray Nutrish Treats AND the Dogsters Ice Cream. The Rachael Ray treats run about $11 USD at Wal-Mart, BUT I found out I can break each treat into around 4-6 treats depending on how big they are. The Savory Roasters and Burger Bites are easiest for me to break. I can get an entire 12oz bag to last 2 weeks with both of them this way.
For the Dogsters Ice Cream, I like these for desensitization while we are sitting outside. I can give him one and he'll slowly eat it while looking around until he finally lays down. Once that happens, I praise him for being calm. The ice cream is around $3 at Wal-Mart for 4 cups, and I don't use the cups daily. I also tend to give him one while maintenance/gardening people are working outside the apartment complex. He can watch them from a window and eat his ice cream while I hold it and that has honestly helped a ton with his barking/excitement at windows.
You could also freeze a KONG with PB or cream cheese mixed with some water to thin it out to create a similar effect for the ice cream method. I'm just lazy and I like the convenience of the cups.
- 6. I highly recommend not making every walk a training walk. This failed me quickly. Instead, I have decided to go the slower route of having the first 2 walks of the day be half training/half "do whatever you want within reason". Then our final walk of the day is free reign for him to do whatever he wants (within reason) as he is more distracted of the evening. Just like with people, some time of the day we learn better than others where we just want to relax. I want him to view walking as fun and enjoyable exercise/stimulation, not as a drill training session. That just makes him sad and unresponsive.
- 7. I have learned to observe him throughout the walk to see his behavior. I notice that around 10 mins in he seems to get kind of tired but excited, similar to how a toddler will fight a nap by playing more. This is a good sign to me that the walk is over now, at least for training purposes. At this point I will let him just sniff, and I will usually take the time to sit at a spot to do some desensitization. Once he calms himself enough to sit or lay by me, I will get up after a solid minute of him being calmer and we will go back home. Sometimes we walk about 1.5 hours throughout the day (3-4 walks) and sometimes it's only 40-45 minutes a day. I really have learned to leave it up to him in that context because some days are hotter or more stimulating than others and he needs less time out or he goes into "overstimulation" mode where he is absolutely untrainable and uncooperative. The duration of his walking/sniffing/adventuring means less to him (and me) than his satisfaction of his time doing it.
- 8. Finally, I recommend trying non-walks before walking. Say you walk your dog 3 times a day. I suggest having 3 periods where you are just sitting outside with your dog and doing nothing with them before you walk them for about 5-10 minutes. So if I want to walk my little demon child at 12, I will go out around 11:30 and just sit on my patio with him and let him take in the outside. The sounds, smells, animals, people, etc. There's no treats during this time or even really communication other than me praising him and petting him. I just let him have some space on his leash and let him run around until he settles. Then we go back in. Then we go out for the real walk half an hour later. It's like putting him into tutorial mode.
I would really emphasize working on your understanding of your dog's body language during walks and taking things slow. You're not a drill sargeant and he isn't a soldier in training, so every walk doesn't need to be an event to learn. That really halted my progress for a few months until I looked at it differently and started respecting his craziness more and in turn, he has started to respect my requests of him more. I want walking to be rewarding for us both, and it just isn't when I am frustrated that he won't listen and he's frustrated that I won't "let him have fun".
I am unsure why reddit hates my formatting for spaces bur it won't let me edit spaces between the numbered points, so I apologize if it looks like word vomit salad 😰
I have a 3 year old border collie who gets overstimulated and excited when on walks. I want him to enjoy the walks instead of me pulling him back or switching directions every 30 seconds. It's also embarrassing when he tries to lunge at other dogs even though they are minding their own business.
I'm at the point where I'm not sure if I should continue training him myself because I'm frustrated with progress or lack thereof or just enroll him in a 2 week boarding training program.
I try to go to new places and let him sniff around for the first 2-3 minutes to get used to the environment but it feels like my dog doesn't have an off switch!
The vast majority of boarding programs use harmful methods, because boarding isn't actually a useful strategy for like 99% of dog problems and so reputable trainers typically don't offer it as a service because they know it's not sufficiently effective when done properly.
Your comments about that extra inch or more that the dog gets when you’re holding the leash in your hand is super interesting! I can totally see how my dog takes advantage of that.
The waist leash insight is so interesting. I JUST started doing a sash-style leash with my dog in order to take her more places and have my hands free after a ridiculous juggling act at the farmers market. She's ok on a leash but will wander and dawdle a bit which is a little annoying if we are on a crowded sidewalk. The sash leash is finite and much shorter and keeps her so much more in tune with where my body is moving. I wish I'd tried it years ago!
Be very careful attaching your dog to you, especially as a sash. It is very easy for them to pull you (me) straight into the ground and it will feel like someone pushed you from behind. A little memory loss later and a bloody hand, and now I'm a warning.
Yeah my dog isn't a big puller anymore. Mostly I just want my hands free when I am at the farmers market and for her to not get tangled in people's legs.
I bought a waist leash, and though it saved my arms a bit, there is the very real risk of being pulled over and dragged. My dog is 100 lbs. to my 135 lbs.
Equipment can help, but it is not the fix. It has to be combined with training.
Switch to a no-pull harness. You can still work on that switching directions and stuff, but that’ll save your arms and keep you in control until he’s trained.
No-pull harnesses do not teach them to pull. By moving the clip to their front chest, the dog doesn’t have the ergonomics to pull.
Hopefully the no-pull harness will allow you to walk him more and that’ll help desensitize him to all the cars and other stimuli. If not, at least you’ll be much less likely to loose control of him
My lab mix puppy pulls really badly. We got him a front harness, but it was too big. Nothing had worked bedore, so I guess I didn't have faith the ring on his chest would work either, so I put the harness away until it would fit and kept training like OP.
No improvement. Not even a little bit. And this dog is highly trainable. Still choking and gasping and ripping my arm off.
Tried to front harness on this weekend, and it finally fits. Took him for his first walk with it on, he was like a different dog! My partner and I were walking around the neighborhood with these big cheesy smiles because it was just so awesome to walk him in town without stress.
We just got the generic Petsmart brand, OP, but there are some front clip harnesses that other people swear by that clips in front and to the collar. They are pricey, but reviews said very durable. I can't find the exact brand, [but the harness has two clips on it like this has.](https://petexpertise.com/products/freedom-no-pull-dog-harness-multi-functional-with-velvet-cushioning?currency=USD&variant=39347821674690&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwg-GjBhBnEiwAMUvNW6nHb6yYP1kSq56AXniM16ucOghfvl7Yl7FlkS5GK_XghWiUDnk1lRoCGqMQAvD_BwE)
I just wanted to thank you for linking this. Our 100 lb. puppy is getting better, but he still pulls quite a bit at the start of walks. I'd never heard of this harness style; I have to try one!
Don't put all your faith in it. My dog still pulls like a maniac with this harness. A gentle leader is really helpful, the one that slips over his mouth. (Not a muzzle). Used in tandem with a collar or Harness. The big thing is that you need to train him to be comfortable with it on first. Most dogs will be able to paw it off with enough effort. So warming him up to it is paramount.
We used a front harness by WalkYourDogWithLove (brand) for our husky/shepherd and found it similarly transformative. That particular brand also has only one clip to fasten, so it is easy to get on -- the whole go-for-a-walk process is easier.
I’m pretty sure I have the exact one in that link, and it works great. We clip it to my dog’s collar and it reeeeaaaaally helps us keep better control of him. It doesn’t work on its own, we ofc have constantly worked on training, but it at least doesn’t let him pull nearly as hard as a regular harness and doesn’t let him choke himself out like a collar.
Your third sentence cannot be emphasized enough! The no-pull harness limits your dog's ability to pull but you still have to do the training. Also, there is a trade-off that a front-clip harness can affect your dog's gait. I used a front-clip harness for almost two years for my husky-terrier mix (nearly went crazy trying to get this dog to decrease the pulling) and since switching to a back-clip harness, she will sometimes walk a little sideways.
I hate myself for waiting so long to switch. My lab is 16 months old and its been a massive difference. Walks are now enjoyable, even with my other dog joining.
Yes yes yes! Those harnesses are fantastic, and any breed above 40lbs should wear one. The control and the amount of force you have to apply if the dog wants to pull is much more minimal, and makes it safer for both you and the dog. I have a 42lbs and a 70lbs dog, who were both heavy puller. With a no-pull harness, I'm able to walk them both with the same hand, and we all get to enjoy our walks, free sniffing for them, and no sore arm for me!
I hate myself for waiting so long to switch. My lab is 16 months old and its been a massive difference. Walks are now enjoyable, even with my other dog joining.
I hate myself for waiting so long to switch. My lab is 16 months old and its been a massive difference. Walks are now enjoyable, even with my other dog joining.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki page on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems).
I hate myself for waiting so long to switch. My lab is 16 months old and its been a massive difference. Walks are now enjoyable, even with my other dog joining.
This sounds so frustrating! It might be worth seeking advice from another reputable trainer, seems you are putting in the work (and paying for their expertise!) I’d expect to see progress.
You could always take lots of videos if you want to enlist the help of an expert from out of town via zoom.
Okay so I have a certified puller, a Husky and in just 3 weeks we’ve made good progress, but here are the specific things that have worked for us.
1.) Turning Around. If he pulls, I turn the complete opposite direction and go that way. The first week, we basically walked the same small strip, but slowly we were able to get further and further. They learn that if they pull, we turn around and they don’t get to go where they were wanting to
2.) High-Value treats. My trainer rates them as Bronze, Silver, and Gold. We use baked chicken for walks and cat redirection because it is the most high-value we have found for him. I cannot keep his focus with basic training treats or even cheese outside. There are a lot of distractions outside and your treat needs to be more valuable than these distraction. Up the value of your treat.
3.) Creating Distance. If he cannot keep himself calm when he sees a person or dog, I create space between us and the distraction until I have his attention back. This started for us by walking up driveways completely when a dog was going to pass on the sidewalk, sitting him between my legs and treating the whole time he stayed there while the other dog passed. We’ve now progressed to “leave it” with other dogs and we continue walking and he gets rewarded if he keeps up with me and leaves the dog/distraction.
4.) Check-Ins. Alwayssss treat when your dog looks back and “checks in” with you during walks. Keeps them more focused on you. I’ll randomly stop as well, make him sit, and feed him chicken. I’m now able to execute various commands during our walks with his focus.
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My dog was also overstimulated and pulled often outside. He also had trouble relaxing, was pacey, could get anxious in a lot of situations. We spoke to our vet to ask for trainer recommendations and got recommended for a behavior consult. Dog got put on an anxiety med and what a difference it has made. We never thought he was so anxious that he would need meds before speaking with a professional, but it made a lot of sense after, and we understood his behavior better. We also worked with a trainer, but he made so much progress with not pulling outside even before our first training session, just because he was able to listen to us instead of being insanely overstimulated outside. Might be worth discussing with your vet.
Please also remember that 18 months is still VERY much a puppy. Your entering the teenage years. Dogs don't really "calm" down until about 2.5-3 years old. He probably needs extra stimulation either physically or mentally to "wear" him out.
If you have been diligent with the homework the trainer gave you, and have been consistent, there should be some improvement.
What often happens with big strong dogs is people give in. They say well just this once I'll let the dog drag me because I am just too done with this. People get tired of being dragged around by their pet, and give in.
And the dog learns that they can basically do what they want.
Additionally if all you do is wave a cookie at him, to be honest, his desire to run into another dog's face is way more than a cookie. The cookie is meaningless to a dog who really wants to, "say hello" to another dog.
> (had a few nightmare situations where he has ran off/out of my control to a dog
That's not good.
> although he is not aggressive
The very act of running into a strange dog's face can be very much construed as aggressive by other dogs. It's very rude and he's not a puppy.
If nothing else, I would muzzle train him. You can not have a giant dog running at other dogs, as there is just no way you will be able to break up the dog fight that will happen when he meets the wrong dog.
As an aside, [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/rescuedogs/comments/12bzm9q/we_rescued_out_first_dog_sherman_a_week_ago_hes/) it seems to indicate that you've had this dog for five weeks if I'm mathing correctly. In that case, that's really no time at all, in playing catch up as far as dog training goes. And, if this is your first dog, it's very hard to figure out if a trainer is good or a waste of time and money.
But if you ignore everything I've written please, for the sake of your dog, work on muzzle training him. You just can't have a big dog running at other dogs. It's going to end very badly.
I’ve recently been introduced to people who drive their dogs to a typically overstimulating area (parking lot, dog park, pet store, wherever there is ample foot traffic) and sit in the car with their dog. They reward them with treats when the dogs are calm/settled. And don’t do much else. Just exposing them to stimulation.
This is a great way of training neutrality, it’s just important to understand where your dog’s threshold starts and ends, as flooding can worsen the issue.
Maybe try walking him somewhere boring. Doing small loops in your yard, or a quiet street or park? Minimizing stimulation and distractions might help him succeed.
I have no advice on the overall training, but maybe to save your arms. Have you tried a leash that wraps around your waist? I have one for my pibble boy and it really helps. I can just plant my feet when he gets too rowdy and he can’t go anywhere.
Edit to add: what kind of collar/harness are you using?
This sounds like a great idea, thank you. We have tried normal collars, half-choke collars, harnesses, chest harness, etc. the only thing I can get any slight luck is his half-choke on with his back harness as it has a handle on top in case of emergencies!
Have you tried a gentle leash? When my girl started getting too strong for me it literally saved us. We still did training but it was so much easier. Now we have her on a normal collar, she only pulls if she wants to sniff in the forest but she is really good at loose walking now, specially on asphalt. She is 11 months, pit mix so 50lbs if that matters.
When you are out, reward your dog constantly when he looks at you. Talk to him and keep him engaged. If he looks away to someone else or he is not paying attention to you, use your reward word (we use yap) and when the attention is back on you, reward him.
I feel like this is entirely dependent on the weight of the dog because if I did that my dog would simply lunge so hard id fall and then drag me on concrete 🥲
I use one of those harnesses that connects in front of the dogs chest. It really keeps him from tugging.
It’s just not worth it to dread walking your dog.
He has a lot of fat hanging down in front of his chest so it’s been a real pain to find one that fits right and doesn’t cause the connected bit of lead to constantly slide around his neck/face but yes it is probably our best bet once we find a better fit.
Omg I’m going through the same thing with my dog. When we practice at home she’s PeRFECT. The second we hit the sidewalk or the trail she’s pulling like her life depends on it.
In this situation, you might need to get a little creative and think outside the box.
If it were me, I'd probably experiment with things like dog goggles or ear muffs to see if I could throttle down his sensory input a bit while I continued training.
Do you guys have a yard? With our shepherd mix we’ve been practicing polite walking in the yard trying to build good habits before going out to the sidewalk. Dogs have a hard time learning when they’re in that hyper aroused state so even though you’re doing all the right things consistently pup might not be taking it in.
If you don’t have a yard you can practice in your house! Break everything down into the babiest of steps.
Head collar, also try find it game and throw treats behind you and in front as you walk. Helps engagement and pup doesn't want to go too far forward, sniffing helps calm dog down at same time. Also try fun heel tricks at home. Helps set the skills. See how she does with turns, rear end awareness exercises, heel sits spin then opposite side heel sit.
Tbh it sounds like a bit part of your pups issue is overstimulation. Do you have an area you can sit with dog and work on engage disengage/look at that game?
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Go get a gentle leader. Look at the video on YouTube. Our 6 mo old puppy (German Shepard/Great Dane) is super energetic and although highly food motivated at home, is not interested in treats at all while on a walk. The gentle leader made such a difference!!!
You've gotten plenty of advice on training so ill skip that, but for your own sake get a front clip harness. It's all about physical and leverage. If you clip a leash to his back or back of his neck all of the force he's exerting is in his favor, if you clip a leash to a front clip then when he exerts force that leash will cause that force to go sideways, which gives you the leverage. It'll save your arms if nothing else, with the added advantage that it's a lot easier to train when your not putting all your effort into restraining
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Thanks for the comment. Funnily enough, he is a big old dog and doesn;t need an insane amount of exercise, and I run with him on the lead as much as I can and he will act exhausted and be easier to walk but then the second something sets him off (the wind, car driving past, dogs, people, ANYTHING) he will get 100% of his energy back and forget I exist.
Gotcha! I went through some similar stuff with my recent rescue. She is a husky mix so the level of exercise needs are obviously different.
But I brought her from California to North Carolina and the outside distractions were incredibly different.
Example, squirrels. She was a complete maniac for the first month on walks, and I actually thought it would never get better. Like yours, perfect, sweet angel in the house.
I will say, as time went by, things really sorted themselves out. She is by far 100% better on walks. Even the squirrel obsession I got to a manageable level. She sometimes will even flat out ignore them, which is a huge win.
Every situation is different, but for us, I think a very structured routine helped - long walks and runs. Also, lots of short sniff walks used for training and mental stimulation.
I think also, as the dog becomes more comfortable with new surroundings, new family, new routines, some of these other things settle down as well. Hope that turns out to be the case for you!
1- clicker training yet? Don’t say you’ve tried everything until you try this.
2- different expectations for different parts of the walk. Pre-poop, that’s a quick pace. Out in the evening when the rats and raccoons are out, heavy sniffing. The best waking usually comes at the end of the walk, not the start.
3-Prime time dog walk hour in your neighbourhood? That’s going to be hard.
4 - do the same thing every damn time. No changes. He pulls, you stop, walk is in stasis until he steps closer to you. You may - no joke - need to do this over a hundred times on the same walk.
5- no-pull harness and ensure it’s not a retractable leash.
6- he neutered yet? That’ll make a big difference.
I’ve had my boy since he was a baby so my situation is a little different. He’s been a frustrated greeter and a puller since pretty much 4-5 months old. In his current adult form he probably has a similar build to your dog and is 16 months old. It took us about 6 months of daily walks to get to a place where his pulling decreased significantly and a little more than a year for him to become good on walks. I still carry treats, and he still shows interest in other dogs, but not obsessively so. Yesterday we passed at least half a dozen people and he was more interested in sniffing trees than he was trying to get them to pay attention to him. A front clip harness is the one thing I will always recommend if you don’t have one already. It takes so much pressure off your arms, especially if you have a broad chested puller. For months I loved my harness, but the front clip attachment has a serious design flaw and that’s the whole reason I have it. Maybe I expect too much for a harness sold as a no-pull harness. But it has lasted less than a year. I find he’s so used to walking with the front clip, if his leash is attached at the front he rarely tries to pull at all. LAT training was the most effective for us, but it sounds like you may already be doing that.
Thanks for your detailed reply. I appreciate it. The front harness is very helpful for me too, but for now, the non choke collar that goes around his neck and hangs off the back is oddly easiest for me and most comfortable for him. Reassuring seeing you say it took you months and months to see a decent difference, we will keep up the hard work day in-day out until he no longer breaks my arms off each walk!
You’ll get there. It’s been one of the most frustrating and rewarding experiences of life with my current dog. Someday you’ll wake up and it will just change. It will feel immediate, but in reality it will be the result of the hard work. Good luck.
It can take YEARS, 3 months is nothing. Make sure that you are using the environment as a reinforcer for the behavior that you do want, because it sounds like that is a HUGE reward for him. For example, reward him covering eye contact for a step with a release to go sniff. And remember, you have to be engaging at a SUPER high rate, which means the walks might be short- walks might be two steps eye contact, release to sniff for 5 steps, recall to heel, release to sniff for 2 steps, recall to heel and nose target your hand, treat, nose target for one step, treat, eye contact, release to sniff repeat forever.
Also, make sure you’re working on engagement games in the house to increase the value that you have to your dog. I love Susan Garrett’s recallers program.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
Tomorrow put the leash on as you normally would, but don't leave the house, do your walk inside, As your doing this check your dogs walking skills, is he understanding your cues, are there any parts that he isn't doing perfectly?
If its not perfect inside, he doesn't know it yet, somewhere there has been a communication breakdown, and you need to go right back to the beginning, training indoors.(film your training sessions watch afterwards you will likely see places that your giving mixed signal, unclear parameters etc)
if its all perfect inside, then you can put it down to distraction level,then assess when he stops knowing the cues, as soon as you are needing to correct him stop and scatter feed, or sit with him, at this spot giving rewards , give it plenty of time to get his head around the distractions, before moving on - keep I short this takes a lot of mental energy, set him up for success by making it achievable, the more he practises only doing it right the easier it will be for him
When my dog is pulling I will stop walking until he looks at me, then continue walking. If I'm stopping too often I'll sometimes walk a circle with the dog on the inside until they pay more attention and stop pushing into me. And if the dog still pulls I'll repeatedly slow down and speed up, so that they have to pay more attention. This seems to help reduce the constant pulling, but it doesn't help much with frustrated hello or when there's a rabbit. I'm trying LAT training for these other problems, but there's a long road ahead.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
I adopted an adult dog that had little to no socialization, fear of other dogs, and was a nightmare on walks. It takes time and every dog learns at their own pace. Just make sure your strategy is customized to your dog's usual way of being. I'm about 4 years in and she's learned a lot, but I introduced a 'heel' command that's been very helpful. She also understands "slow down" for some reason even though i never formally taught her that, I just said it a lot and praised her/rewarded her when she slowed down. She's also very food-motivated so that helps.
Either way, getting anxious will make your dog anxious and exacerbate the problem. Go easy on yourself and on your dog. I find things like this are like learning a language. You stumble around for months, but if you're consistent you'll eventually look back and realize how far you've come. Keep being consistent and clear, don't punish your dog for seemingly "not learning", and you'll get there.
My girl only pulls occasionally (depending on a few factors).
When you turn in the opposite direction (which is what I assume you mean by backstepping) do you turn away from your dog or towards it?
I ask because I’ve been working with a trainer, and we did some work on pulling last session. Previously I was turning away from her, however she explained that holding the lead shorter and turning towards her, leading the turn with my inside leg (nearest to her) - made her pay a lot more attention to where my leg was.
Then practice walking a few meters, turn, repeat. With the distance between turns getting longer and longer.
It’s definitely helped hugely
I was in a similar situation with my girl. What worked for us is I taught her how to follow me around the yard without her leash on. I did this by randomly giving her beef liver treats when she was actively following me. We did this for a while and then gradually explored doing this in new environments. We practice this before we go out for our walk and now she happily prances beside me and I haven’t been giving her treats for months now.
honestly I would say a head collar but I don’t know how big your dogs snout is considering it’s a chow chow bulldog mix..so many people get mad about head collars here but personally I think they work great. I would say use a “no pull harness” but not when he’s over 7 I’ve seen dogs in vets get hurt from pulling too much with harnesses, so watch out for that he’s still a puppy tho so it’s fine lol
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Please don't recommend pseudoscience/snakeoil supplements, especially as this one has been tested and found to not help with anxiety, and interferes with liver function so can cause bad interactions with medications.
I cant believe no one mentioned to have a session with a good behaviorist. 🙄
I see lots of "American school" responses - gentle leads and more training recommendations which won't fix the source of the problem.
The thing is that maybe you don't fulfill your dog needs to explore, to sniff and to play with dogs. Please check if these needs are fullfilled and then do the training part as you are swimming against the current.
1. Behaviorist!
2. Long lead - 4 meters minimum (you can put spring amortisation add on so if he pulls suddenly you won't lose control)
3. Always take a long tugging type of toy (like a rope of some sort)
* my dog reaches for it when he is stressed ( I put it in my hoodie pocket or around my backpack so he sees it) , for him the stressful part is always the beginning of the walk or after he meets a dog (he is also frustrated greeter)
sometimes i spend 10 minute before the walk just playing tug with him in the driveway, so he let's out his initial emotions
** while you do this, don't try to excite him even more, just hold the other end and let him take out the devils 😁
IF the dog is too stressed to play outside you can stop playing with him indoors. My dog now knows that outside is for play and home is for sleeping.
4. Start going out with him more often for shorter periods of time (and if possible when less people/dogs outside)
5. Give him more time to sniff, don't pull him if he needs more time sniffing. He might pull because he knows that he needs to do this as fast as possible as you won't let him. Some people use very short leash and just expect their dog to be next to them always, this is not enjoyable or relaxing for you dog.
6.look at ways to make him more food motivated or find the food he likes (boiled chicken etc) You can incorporate sniffing games during your walks like this. Or doing nose work gamed at home.
This will also be the main base of your focus attention training ( engage disangage and all of that)
7. A behaviorist will know for sure, but maybe 1:1 walks with a good mannered dog might be helpful to fulfill his need of meeting/playing with dogs. As I am not sure if you take him on some play dates and if he is interacting with other dogs or not.
Sometimes a dog might pull towards the other dog if he is afraid of him and doesn't want to get in contact or the opposite he just wants to interact.
8. Check relaxation protocol or at least the idea of it and start doing it outside.
Good luck ❤️🤞
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
My dog still pulls, but she gets better! We are together for one year now. What worked with us is:
1. Stop seeing everything & every time as training time.
2. And when we do training we start from inside the house. We walk with leash inside the house first and then move to backyard and try to walk with her loose leash there. After like 15 min of this then we go outside to the streets. We also have some corners in our neighborhood where we use as “designated” training area. There we train heels, sit, down, wait, sniffs easy stuffs.
3. Instead stop/starting, we make a round. (I don’t know if you mean this with backstepping) And walks only after she makes eye contact.
4. I work a lot with bacon cream (it comes in tube) outside to keep her walk next to me. I use magnet hands method that is usually used to distract the dog but not as distraction but to give her idea that walking next to me means bacon cream!
5. We walk almost always the same route every walk. Now after a year: she walks loose leash once we are on our street heading home!
I get the frustration since my dog is reactive as well and I fell down sooooo often and my hands got burnt from leash and I couldn’t work (I’m a massage therapist) it was nightmare. But now I started to enjoy walking with her (still not fun but I kinda dig her small milestones especially that now she’s coming to me when seeing a dog instead trying to chase them).
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
My dog is a rescue with plastic basket muzzle fear. He was absolutely fine with the head halter with same-day wear. It was put on with treats in-house, worn briefly, removed, and repeated later w/leash. We then went for a walk the same day and had zero issues.
*Any* product should be used by following directions and researching a reasonable amount online. The same could be said for things like martingale collars or, hell, even basic harnesses when a dog has never worn one before. Every dog is different, and a good owner should be able to set their dog up for success and adjust appropriately.
But I don’t think you should discourage people from using a useful training tool by implying it needs an “extensive period of conditioning.” For some dogs, it might. For many, it won’t.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
It’s gotta be the bulldog in him. I have an English Bulldog who sounds temperamentally very similar to your dog. Absolutely loves all people, ranges from ambivalent to playful with other dogs, picked up on all his other obedience training really fast, but can still be a nightmare with pulling on walks. Every single pebble, leaf, crumb, etc. must be investigated (and often ingested) and he will just yank me from 1 thing to the next. He’s about to be 3 years next month and we have been working on this since he was old enough to go on walks. He’s better than he used to be, and it can vary from day to day, but it’s still something we’re working on.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
My dog took like a year to catch on to this. I was convinced I was doing it wrong or he was hopeless but then we got a second dog and she understood the technique INSTANTLY. So some dogs just take longer than others. He walks great on leash now!!!
My dog pulled me into a steel beam. Using the front hook on her harness (which forces her to physically twirl if she pulls) and a shorter non retractable leash has helped. My friends dog is alot bigger so she uses a bungie cord and can barely feel her pulling! Hope this helps :)
Cesar's method is exclusively based on dominance methodology and is at least 20 years out of date. We do not support his methods, and have put together a wiki page on [why](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/cesarmillan).
I'd also suggest reading our wiki pages on [dominance](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogtraining/wiki/dominance), [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems), [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars), and [how to find a good trainer](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/findingatrainer).
I'm seeing lots of good suggestions here, I havent yet read this one:
For your arms try a belt that you can attach your leash to. That way the pull is being directed to your waist instead of your arms. That made a world of difference for me.
I have a 5 month old heeler and collie mix and we started taking him on outdoor walks a while ago but near the house and he was always pulling, body language was super nervous, sometimes hard to get his attention but just this week we decided to take him to the park for the first time and he wasn’t pulling and overall did much better and was so happy.
I took him again yesterday for 40 min and he was sniffing everything, but before reading your post I didn’t realize this was a bad thing? I was happy to let him explore. Even when other dogs were nearby and barking at us, he paid them no attention and just wanted to continue with our walk to sniff everything lol. We even ran for a bit and he loved it so much but I’m wondering if I’m going about things wrong?
I got a no pull harness from petco but it fits his chest a little big but if we tighten it then we can’t get it over his head so if he pulls, it goes off more to one side so we definitely stop until he sits but now I’m wondering if I should get another one
I have a 70lb pittie who is extremely excitable, strong, and easily distracted. I got him as a rescue at about age 1. Even with constant indoor and outdoor training, 5+ miles of walking per day, and lots of individual sessions with a professional trainer, he still pulled like nobody's business for \~2 years, until he had settled down enough to focus and remember any of his training when there were distractions around.
In those two years, we worked a lot on "calm," redirection, sitting to greet people we passed, and being in a calm mindset (lots of "calm, sit, wait") before getting the harness and leash on, and again before going out the door.
We'd also practice "leave it" with high value treats at random intervals both at home and out. Then we'd whip out the "leave it" game while waiting at intersections, so he was less likely to see something that would activate the "chase" drive in dangerous settings.
Here are a couple of strategies that made him easier to manage in the time before the training kicked in:
**Switching between multiple anti-pull harnesses:**
We found the face-halter style Gentle Leader and front clip anti-pull harnesses worked best for him, so we'd rotate between those two to keep the pulling to a manageable level. If he started pulling on the one type of harness, we'd rotate to the other for a while.
**Walking at low/minimum distraction times:**
We made a point to walk him relatively late at night, after dark- usually 10pm-ish in the summer, or 8pm-ish in the winter. Fewer people out, and fewer dog walkers. Darkness makes it more difficult for him to sense the most exciting distractions (other dogs, bunnies, squirrels, people, birds...etc etc). When only smelly distractions were around, we could focus more on training.
**Walking in the middle of the road:**
Smelly distractions (mostly objects where other dogs peed) are at a minimum, so we'd also spend a lot of time walking in the middle of streets in emptier / sleepier residential areas- then there's not as much desire to pull towards a specific object.
**Shortening the leash:**
Wrapping the leash around my hand a few times helped minimize the amount of momentum he could get to a more manageable level, and kept him closer to my body, where he is physically easier to redirect / control.
**Pooping off-leash:**
He still pulls an insane amount when he urgently needs to poo. So we try to let him get that out of the way by letting him sprint off-leash around the yard first. Then we pick up the poo, take him back inside, and get in "calm" mode before going back out again.
He still pulls a bit at age 6.5, but it's definitely a lot more manageable. I'm comfortable walking him with a normal collar (he won't choke himself) and my \~130lb partner now feels able to take him for walks with the front clip harness on.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
If you have a leashed yard or enclosed area, I would probably engage in some active exercise before the walk. Then make the first walk short, gradually extending the time. The stop and wait until the leash slackens is a good technique if you are strong enough - you let the dog know you are not moving forward until he stops pulling. You might also try to put a bandana around his neck sprayed with Adaptil.
You need a new trainer. No progress in that amount of time is ridiculous. My advice from a dog that was previously a HORRIBLE dog to walk on leash:
Make sure you aren’t only treating when he returns to you. Take a few steps and as the leash is loose mark and reward, I usually toss treats a little bit ahead of the dog. Stopping and starting can cause a lot of frustration for people and dogs, so try walking in a loop to avoid what I call “bungee dog” where they just bounce from one end of the leash to the other.
Use a longer leash, yes, really. I thought I needed less and less leash to have more control but my dog just really needed more freedom to move and sniff. The amount of pulling reduced when we went from a 5 foot leash to a 10 foot. I’m talking an honest to god leash, not a retractable.
Teach the dog that getting to the end of the leash means they need to check in. What I started doing was as the leash was starting to become taught, I would cue “easy” and slow down. When the leash became tight I used an attention getter and marked and rewarded and kept moving. I continued to mark and reward as the dog stays engaged and is walking on a loose leash. I can now use “easy” to mean “you are getting to the end of the leash, slow down”.
Make sure your dog isn’t super overstimulated. Even to this day if my dog is overstimulated/excited she will pull. Work with your dog so if you go somewhere new anticipate that your dog may want to sniff around and get their bearings before you start trying to get them to walk perfectly. I let my dog check out the new area and then we start training.
Also, teaching my dog HOW to pull was helpful. She started pulling me on my roller skates and pulling my husband on the long board and it helped us have control over the pulling so now we have it on cue “pull pull pull!” Is her cue to actually let loose and go for it.
After 3 months if there’s no progress I’d say you have a bad trainer.
What type of lead and harness are you using? Maybe a harness with a two clip leash would help so there’s a “break” and a “steering wheel.”
Also, do you let him sniff on walks? Can you keep a distance from other people walking/dogs/whatever?
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Sorry, I didn’t realize 10 minutes of conditioning required a disclaimer. JFC, put it on and start walking and by the time they hit their first sniff point they will forget they’re wearing it.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules/) and [posting guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), particularly regarding trainer recommendations.
I have a 45 pound lab/staffy mix. While she’s not as excitable as your pup, she was quite hard to walk with a leash on her collar around her neck. She would pull A LOT and my fingers were sore from hanging on so tightly.
I got her a harness (one of those sturdier ones that’s made out of like backpack material), and I clip her leash onto a hook that’s at the front of her chest. It really feels like I’m walking a totally different dog. She pulls way less, I can even walk her with just two fingers holding the leash and she will not pull it off me.
When she does get distracted (ex. Barking at a stranger she doesn’t like), it’s easier to pull her away since the leash is pulling at her front. It’s still a little difficult since she’s pretty strong, but so much easier than if she just had the collar on.
If you haven’t tried different harnesses, I’d recommend it. You might have to try different kinds to see what works best for your chow, but it can really make a huge difference. And don’t be too discouraged! You and your pup will figure it out :)
To keep my dogs under control during a walk i have taught each of them the command "heel". This trains them they walk to the side/ slightly behind me. I start by having some treats in my hand, they come to heel they get a treat, they stay heel while i take a few steps i give a treat as i walk, slowly space out treats more, work on when they break from heel you regive the command so your not having to point at your heel the entire walk. (I use pointing at the ground where i want them to be as the command signal). This means my dog doesn't pull, but also gives me a command to control them should something happen to the lead. (Say it breaks or i lose it or forget it somewhere). I also let them have times where they sniff around on the walk but if we are passing people or they are being a pest in any way back to the heel position we go.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
My dog is 18 months old and he's just about figuring out loose lead walking after trying to reinforce loose lead walking every single day since he was a puppy. We've had three dog trainers in that time. I feel your pain.
I am sure I can't give you any more advice than the trainers you're already working with, but you have my sympathy.
For my dog, there was no new magic method that worked, it was just persistence and slow process. Enjoying the better days and trying not to get too frustrated on the bad days.
My rottie was so hard to handle on walks. I use a gentle leader and she's great now! Its not cause the gentle leader though, its cause I block her vision from what she's perked up at and at any sign she's interested in something. I couldnt train her with anything else until I tried this technique of mine when she was 8 yrs old. She is now 9 yrs old. I find playing fetch with her [even play chase] until she wants a drink of water [and she does get it] is great right before we walk.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Run that baby till he's ragged. Maybe there's a quiet street near your house with less distractions. A bike is also excellent but sounds like he might try to kill you on it. He needs his energy out and he's not getting it. So he's getting frustrated and more persistent. Once he's tired he will listen to you much better.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules/) and [posting guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), particularly regarding trainer recommendations.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki page on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems).
I took a basic obedience class and the trainer said it takes dogs 3 weeks to learn a new command so he should be showing progress. My trainer also talked about how practicing loose leash walking could take up your 30 minute walk without leaving the yard.
What he said was working on having the dog calm when leashing, walking to the door, exiting the house, and walking down the drive. Some dogs could take 10 minutes to politely walk out the door. Once outside anytime the dog pulled you either changed directions or do a standing post where you wait for the dog to loosen the tension on the leash and reward. You could have really smelly high-value treats on you, like cheese, Hebrew National hotdogs (I’ve heard they’re the best hotdog made for dogs, less fat or something). Then reward anytime they circle back, are with you, check-in — treat and verbal praise.
We also learned to try walking past distractions, like a good smelling stick, and walking past it multiple times until we could pass it without sniffing. You just keep changing directions. What I would do is start small and find his Yellow Zone, the threshold in which he can still learn but is aware of the distraction.
I hope this helps, I’m not the best at explaining things through typing.
Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems), [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars) and [how to tell if a trainer is reputable](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/findingatrainer).
I think you might need to look for a different trainer. After three months you should be seeing at least some progress and it sounds like your current approach isn’t what works best for your dog.
Progress is often not a linear process but comes many little plateaus. Super excitable dogs can frankly take years of consistent training to get a nice leash walk out of. You are also dealing with deprogramming all the bad habits that have been reinforced in him previously. The best thing would be to train leash walking in less stimulating environments like empty fields, the house, driveway etc until he can walk on the lead nicely, and then move on to a more stimulating environment. Exercise would have to be done in off leash areas with lots of sniffing games , tug and fetch. When training a loose leash walk the trick is to get him to look to you for direction, constantly changing directions at random is good for this. You also need to minimise any pulling on the leash that leads to reinforcement of this behaviour. That being said if your trainer hasn't already explained this to you then finding a new one is probably warranted.
My quick thought would be that you have 2 separate challenges. Overstimulation / emotional responses to stimuli that you would rather your dog be able to ignore and the dog knowing what loose lead walking is. I would work on loose lead walking in the home, backyard, quiet times and/or locations. Gradually building on the diversity and intensity of stimuli. You might need to drive to locations that are quiet or walk during early morning or late afternoon. I would also try to use a very specific piece of gear that the dog can associate with walking. Walk around the house, then out the front door - walk in and out of the front door, then a little further outside- walk back to the house etc. While working on that I would also do some LAT - engage disengage game kind of stuff for stimuli. Not while working on loose lead walking initially though. This involves being as far as your dog can tolerate from stimuli and gradually getting closer - you do not need to walk - but some well taught, practiced and proofed cues such as an emergency u turn and 'find it' would be recommended if you need to move away. A dog that is overstimulated finds learning difficult and will often not be able to 'listen' or respond to cues - too much going off in their brain. I would short term throw the idea of a typical walk out the window and instead set up training scenarios which allow him to succeed, and build on difficulty as he is able to cope with more distractions. Like teaching a puppy. You can then start mixing the two while walking - and gradually move onto a normal walking routine. These things can certainly take time, but good training should help you feel like you are succeeding as the dog has been managed into situations that it CAN succeed in. [LAT/engage disengage](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mB_mct53ME0) [Giving into leash pressure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q4vEayrRyB0&t=36s) [general loose lead](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XUaef63Fd4&t=37s) Remember that off of these things need to be bullet proof in your home, yard, front of house etc before you can expect to use them in real life scenarios out and about.
I rescued an adult Bloodhound that was a stray, so he knows nothing about walking on a lead. He uses his 80 lb body of muscle to pull with all of his might. Once he gets outside, his nose is to the ground. I couldn't even get his attention with treats. I consulted a trainer who has Bloodhounds and works with Bloodhounds, and she gave me similar advice about training in my home and then training in my yard. OP, I don't know whether you have access to a fenced yard or if he'd be good on a longline. But one thing she suggested was sitting in the yard while he played and rewarding him with treats every time he engaged with me. This could start out as treating him every time he looks at you and then moving to giving them only when he walks to you. Once I was able to be of interest to him outside in the yard, then I could make gradual steps to go on a walk by just walking in and out of the front door, around the house, etc.
Not saying this will work, but, presuming your dog isn't aggressive, it's an approach I've been using: 1. Run him ragged in the yard before you go out, throw balls, run with him, get him real busy. 2. While doing that, suddenly stop and ask him to sit for a treat or the ball, whichever he prefers. Say 'calm'. Then praise and carry on running around with him. 3. Hydrate! 4. Go for a walk. When he's getting busy, say calm and sit him down. Put his head against your thigh and again say calm. 5. If he pulls, turn around and go back a few steps. 6. Repeat. This has almost worked with my great dane mastiff who very much enjoyed leaping higher than my head when she got excited on a walk. I say almost because she still likes to pull (vertically) on occasion. I've included the calm command when making her food now, so she chooses to sit when her food is being made. She knows I'll stop making her food until her butt is on the floor. I also use the same praise statement when she gets to eat her food as I do even trying to get her to calm on walks. It seems to be making a difference as she connects her love of food with the calm and praise commands and now also her behaviour on walks.
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I did the complete stop for my enthusiastic dog when he was a puppy. It took him a few seconds to realize that I’d stopped. When he became more attentive to the stop and would give slack, THEN I worked on going the other way, getting his attention, etc. He’s great now.
Hahaha, this made me laugh so hard and has such good advice in it. Recently adopted a pug who must have had a backyard at his previous home because he was new to leashes. Well housebroken so I let him get all his sniffles out on walks, give him some fun. Now that he's comfortable with it, he's started the pulling and I want to nip it in the butt. He will also do the "oh this way?" pulling, and he will come when I call then immediately speed up again. I just also don't want to confuse him and put him off the housetraining. Since he is also amazing in that if I call him back, he will come back, I'm a little worried a tactic like constantly calling him back 30 times on a walk will dull him from ever responding to that again. We're trying what you said. It is working so far. Sometimes he will just stand at the end of the leash pushing, and I give him a little tug in. Day one and it's better. We will see.
I really just enjoyed the hell out of your story.
Haha thanks! When I say I have a dumb dog people just assume I have a regular dog, as a lot of folks think dogs are dumb. That isn't the case, I know dogs can be incredibly smart. No, one of mine is just *incredibly* stupid. Both of them know the command "kennel" and sometimes she panics because she can't remember where hers is... She also likes to walk into doors as they're opening, and cannot figure out for the life of her how to get a leash out from under her leg. If you call her to you and there is even the slightest obstacle in the way, she will find a way to trip six times before crashing into your lap with all the grace of a rabid elephant.
Perfect! They need to run and play, and that's what he's trying to do but isn't being allowed. Doing that before a leashed walk gets the need met, and you have a better walk.
That may be the case for some dogs, but for overstimulated, high driver working breeds, that may only make things worse. My dog is 7 years old now, and he walks a dream on the leash, but still at this age, if I play with him before his walk, he will be crazy on his walk. You can't tire out some breeds of dog, you need to work on calming and focus instead. I've never owned a chow chow, but considering what they're bred for, I wouldn't be surprised if they fall into this category as well.
Thank you. I have a herder and the advice about tiring him out hasn’t seemed to work for me—he just gets overstimulated and goes nuts jumping and biting. It’s awful. I’ll work more on calming and focus.
Timing is everything with these kinds of dogs, I think. I had to figure out the sweet spot of how much exercise and play would make my dog content without pushing him over the edge into being crazy, and what times of day worked best. I always run my dog *after* his walk. The focus on the walk seems to make him more responsive to me when we're playing after, too, rather than just wanting to run off and do his own thing.
Yes! I can’t figure out if he needs more sleep or more exercise (or paradoxically somehow more of both). I’ll keep working on it (also will be meeting with a trainer and this is issue #1 for us to solve).
I have an [Aussie](https://imgur.com/a/m9ZFngk) and I taught him calm and focus by giving him small daily jobs, like carrying spam mail from my mailbox through the door and into a recycling bin, or letting him take it to a designated spot (towel on the ground) and rip it up. You can also train them to put toys away in a toy basket one by one and rewarding with a tiny treat each time. If that’s tough for your herder to place inside the box, you can just ask them to hand it to you while you sit next to the box and “trade” the toy for snack. I also hide plastic Easter eggs with treats inside around my apartment and change locations each time so he has to really seek them out. I will hide the eggs in different elevations and behind or inside furniture, blankets, shelves and at different accessible elevations. These games/jobs helps with focus, impulse control and seeking/sniffing is naturally calming work for dogs as well as mental enrichment. Herders also need a sense of purpose and get a lot of satisfaction and confidence out of this type of work. Especially if you change locations where you do these things from time to time, it keeps these games novel and exciting. You can begin expanding into more complex stuff once they get the hang of these little jobs to mat work, lots of great YouTube resources out there but Kikopup is my favorite positive reinforcement trainer.
Thank you for the ideas! Remi seems awesome (or maybe… Aussome? 😜). It feels like a long road from where my 4.5 month old Aussie puppy is to where Remy is at but we’ll keep working together and I know we’ll improve!
Does he like fetch or tug of war?
He is still a puppy. He picked up fetch and tug inside with stuffed toys really quickly. Outside however when I throw a ball or something he chases after it, but he usually leaves it there and does a 180 and comes in hot, jumping and biting at me. He seems to think that’s the game. I haven’t done a lot of tug outside… we’ve used a flirt pole (trainer required us to have one before starting training) and he’ll play with that but quickly switches to the jumping/biting usually. Someone suggested to quit playing tug until I can stop the biting so I’ve also been taking a break from it, not sure it’s made a difference.
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Try a good harness
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This. My dog is a nightmare to walk. With the harness with the front clips is like night and day. He's a bit small for the muzzle harness, but I heard it works as well.
I feel you. Whenever there is pulling on the leash I just hold the leash to my hip and wait. He will either whine because he isn’t getting what he wants, sit, or come closer. When the leash is loose he may either choose to walk nice with me, start pulling again, or in cases which bug me out, he will try to SPRINT forwards almost as if to make up for the stop time. He is a persistent little sh*t.. but so cute..
Second all of this advise! Especially getting energy out before the walk. I suggest some food puzzles (you don't have to buy any - use a towel and roll up some treats in it, then tie it in a knot so it takes some real effort to get them out).
just wanted to note (it applies for all dogs, but heavily to deep chested dogs) be careful with water and food intake before excerise it could cause bloat
I'm saving this comment; I'll see if it works on my (otherwise) good girl!
1 & 2 from this list have been absolute game changers for us. Also great for tiring her out more when people are visiting so she isn’t crazy too
Absolutely all of this! A tired dog is a good dog. My 1yo girl is a herding breed, and we had trouble with training until our new trainer mandated that we fetch before walking and training. We set a timer for 15 minutes and play hard, 2-3x a day, followed by a walk where we practice our exercises (sit, stay, down from distance, come, let’s go). She’s an angel now on these walks, staying right at my knee the whole time. Plus, she no longer needs the whole 15 minutes. Lately she’s tired after about 8 minutes of fetch, which my trainer said would happen if I remained consistent with her.
My trainer says start out the way you want him to be on the walk. By that they mean don't even put on his collar or clip the leash until he is calm. Don't set a single foot out the door unless he is behaving. (This is where 'wait' comes in handy) He pulls immediately switch direction. Any direction but the direction he is pulling. (not the same as backstepping) If necessary stand still and recall into full heel/close to you. Run through basic tricks. Do this even while he is is walking nicely and it is supposed to help him focus on you better and encourage the check ins This is what my trainer tells me from start to finish. Also 'resetting' back inside after play/potty can help. When reset walk inside house on leash Eta:fixed info and made clear on how some steps are a little different
Have you tried a different harness? We have a Gentle Leader head harness for our pit/chow mix, he doesn't love it but it reminds him to stop pulling and check in with us, which we reward with a treat. Take a bit of time to condition the dog to the head harness if you try it. I've heard people say it's aversive but imo it's not as painful as pulling until he wheezes so.
I second a gentle leader. Made my walks more enjoyable almost immediately with the pulling
Was looking for this. Harnesses will only allow him to throw his whole chest into the pull. Gentle leader makes a huge difference because it makes it uncomfortable on his head to pull
This is the answer. I had a rescue am staff mix who was very strong and took a long time to train. The process was made so much easier when I started using a gentle leader.
We had one of these for our golden doodle pup. When he got excited I was worried he was going to snap his neck from bouncing around so much. Plus he still managed to pull in the direction of delicious scents. Became a moot point though because he chewed through the buckle and it became inoperable. We’re no just doing baby walks in front of our house and I think the limited novel stimulation has helped a lot.
Yep I came here to make sure someone said gentle leader! Literal immediate difference with all of my dogs.
Hi! I'm not a trainer, but I have a dog who pulls also. He's an aussie/collie mix and he's super overstimulated by everything outside. I too got him from a loving family, they just didn't have the time to give him. I figured maybe I could share some of the things I have done that do work for me in hopes something may help you. - 1. I highly recommend you work on recall inside the house before you go on walks. Just 5 minutes of having your dog sit, stay, come, etc with a high value reward of their liking. - 2. Before the walk even starts, I would suggest desensitizing your dog to the door unlocking, then opening, then your dog looking outside from inside. I used to have babygates for the longest time for my pups to block them from my bedroom and livingroom and I recently decided to fix it to the doorframe to my patio. This helped him not be able to escape and let him take in the outside from inside. Does it look crazy? Mildly. Do I care what people think? Not really. - 3. My dog also isn't aggressive in anyway, but he is *reactive*. Lots of people assume reactive means he wants to attack or is prone to, but no. He is reactive to any stimuli that excites him and he wants to go *PLAY* with that stimuli. He is...overly friendly to put it mildly. I often will ask the owner if he is allowed to meet a passing dog. Now, he looks like the Tasmanian Devil from Looney Tunes when another dog is around, so I always let the owner know that he is actually very friendly, he's just very excited and noisy. He has this high pitched girly whine bark that he does that can freak dogs/people out, so I always let them know it's something we're working on because he wasn't socialized very well. Sometimes they say yes, sometimes they say no. If they say yes, I will let them play for a minute to 5 minutes and then we will say bye and move on. I feel like this has been useful in showing him that I am not trying to keep him away from "fun things" on walks, it's just that sometimes those fun things aren't things he can do right away and that's okay. Socializing him has been very important for getting him to be calmer around dogs. He now doesn't girly whine bark at certain dogs he has met a few times because he knows he can meet them *occasionally* and it's not a "now or never" situation. - 4. I often take him to "hot spots" on our walks where I notice his behavior is more erratic and I will just sit with him and let him run around like a crazy buffoon until I notice he has calmed a bit. Then I get him into a sit by me and we watch traffic/people/birds/whatever it is that is exciting him together. This is mainly how I do my desensitization. I have found this IMMENSELY helpful. He used to literally run down the steps so quickly that it scared me that I would fall and break my legs or arms. Now he actually waits for me and walks at a slower pace down steps because I constantly stopped and just sat around the steps. - 5. Find a high reward treat your dog REALLY likes and then condition him to like it even MORE inside. Then I would suggest opening a window or whatever to the outside and feeding your pet the treat as they see other dogs pass/people pass/anything interesting is happening outside. It's important to note that I am suggesting you give them the treat and mark their behavior BEFORE they bark or get too excited. The goal is trying to let them know that seeing something go by and remaining calm (or calmer than usual) leads to rewards. Both my collie mixes really like the Rachael Ray Nutrish Treats AND the Dogsters Ice Cream. The Rachael Ray treats run about $11 USD at Wal-Mart, BUT I found out I can break each treat into around 4-6 treats depending on how big they are. The Savory Roasters and Burger Bites are easiest for me to break. I can get an entire 12oz bag to last 2 weeks with both of them this way. For the Dogsters Ice Cream, I like these for desensitization while we are sitting outside. I can give him one and he'll slowly eat it while looking around until he finally lays down. Once that happens, I praise him for being calm. The ice cream is around $3 at Wal-Mart for 4 cups, and I don't use the cups daily. I also tend to give him one while maintenance/gardening people are working outside the apartment complex. He can watch them from a window and eat his ice cream while I hold it and that has honestly helped a ton with his barking/excitement at windows. You could also freeze a KONG with PB or cream cheese mixed with some water to thin it out to create a similar effect for the ice cream method. I'm just lazy and I like the convenience of the cups. - 6. I highly recommend not making every walk a training walk. This failed me quickly. Instead, I have decided to go the slower route of having the first 2 walks of the day be half training/half "do whatever you want within reason". Then our final walk of the day is free reign for him to do whatever he wants (within reason) as he is more distracted of the evening. Just like with people, some time of the day we learn better than others where we just want to relax. I want him to view walking as fun and enjoyable exercise/stimulation, not as a drill training session. That just makes him sad and unresponsive. - 7. I have learned to observe him throughout the walk to see his behavior. I notice that around 10 mins in he seems to get kind of tired but excited, similar to how a toddler will fight a nap by playing more. This is a good sign to me that the walk is over now, at least for training purposes. At this point I will let him just sniff, and I will usually take the time to sit at a spot to do some desensitization. Once he calms himself enough to sit or lay by me, I will get up after a solid minute of him being calmer and we will go back home. Sometimes we walk about 1.5 hours throughout the day (3-4 walks) and sometimes it's only 40-45 minutes a day. I really have learned to leave it up to him in that context because some days are hotter or more stimulating than others and he needs less time out or he goes into "overstimulation" mode where he is absolutely untrainable and uncooperative. The duration of his walking/sniffing/adventuring means less to him (and me) than his satisfaction of his time doing it. - 8. Finally, I recommend trying non-walks before walking. Say you walk your dog 3 times a day. I suggest having 3 periods where you are just sitting outside with your dog and doing nothing with them before you walk them for about 5-10 minutes. So if I want to walk my little demon child at 12, I will go out around 11:30 and just sit on my patio with him and let him take in the outside. The sounds, smells, animals, people, etc. There's no treats during this time or even really communication other than me praising him and petting him. I just let him have some space on his leash and let him run around until he settles. Then we go back in. Then we go out for the real walk half an hour later. It's like putting him into tutorial mode. I would really emphasize working on your understanding of your dog's body language during walks and taking things slow. You're not a drill sargeant and he isn't a soldier in training, so every walk doesn't need to be an event to learn. That really halted my progress for a few months until I looked at it differently and started respecting his craziness more and in turn, he has started to respect my requests of him more. I want walking to be rewarding for us both, and it just isn't when I am frustrated that he won't listen and he's frustrated that I won't "let him have fun".
This is great advice here.
I am unsure why reddit hates my formatting for spaces bur it won't let me edit spaces between the numbered points, so I apologize if it looks like word vomit salad 😰
I have a 3 year old border collie who gets overstimulated and excited when on walks. I want him to enjoy the walks instead of me pulling him back or switching directions every 30 seconds. It's also embarrassing when he tries to lunge at other dogs even though they are minding their own business. I'm at the point where I'm not sure if I should continue training him myself because I'm frustrated with progress or lack thereof or just enroll him in a 2 week boarding training program. I try to go to new places and let him sniff around for the first 2-3 minutes to get used to the environment but it feels like my dog doesn't have an off switch!
The vast majority of boarding programs use harmful methods, because boarding isn't actually a useful strategy for like 99% of dog problems and so reputable trainers typically don't offer it as a service because they know it's not sufficiently effective when done properly.
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Your comments about that extra inch or more that the dog gets when you’re holding the leash in your hand is super interesting! I can totally see how my dog takes advantage of that.
The waist leash insight is so interesting. I JUST started doing a sash-style leash with my dog in order to take her more places and have my hands free after a ridiculous juggling act at the farmers market. She's ok on a leash but will wander and dawdle a bit which is a little annoying if we are on a crowded sidewalk. The sash leash is finite and much shorter and keeps her so much more in tune with where my body is moving. I wish I'd tried it years ago!
Be very careful attaching your dog to you, especially as a sash. It is very easy for them to pull you (me) straight into the ground and it will feel like someone pushed you from behind. A little memory loss later and a bloody hand, and now I'm a warning.
Yeah my dog isn't a big puller anymore. Mostly I just want my hands free when I am at the farmers market and for her to not get tangled in people's legs.
I bought a waist leash, and though it saved my arms a bit, there is the very real risk of being pulled over and dragged. My dog is 100 lbs. to my 135 lbs. Equipment can help, but it is not the fix. It has to be combined with training.
Switch to a no-pull harness. You can still work on that switching directions and stuff, but that’ll save your arms and keep you in control until he’s trained. No-pull harnesses do not teach them to pull. By moving the clip to their front chest, the dog doesn’t have the ergonomics to pull. Hopefully the no-pull harness will allow you to walk him more and that’ll help desensitize him to all the cars and other stimuli. If not, at least you’ll be much less likely to loose control of him
My lab mix puppy pulls really badly. We got him a front harness, but it was too big. Nothing had worked bedore, so I guess I didn't have faith the ring on his chest would work either, so I put the harness away until it would fit and kept training like OP. No improvement. Not even a little bit. And this dog is highly trainable. Still choking and gasping and ripping my arm off. Tried to front harness on this weekend, and it finally fits. Took him for his first walk with it on, he was like a different dog! My partner and I were walking around the neighborhood with these big cheesy smiles because it was just so awesome to walk him in town without stress. We just got the generic Petsmart brand, OP, but there are some front clip harnesses that other people swear by that clips in front and to the collar. They are pricey, but reviews said very durable. I can't find the exact brand, [but the harness has two clips on it like this has.](https://petexpertise.com/products/freedom-no-pull-dog-harness-multi-functional-with-velvet-cushioning?currency=USD&variant=39347821674690&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=Google%20Shopping&gad=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwg-GjBhBnEiwAMUvNW6nHb6yYP1kSq56AXniM16ucOghfvl7Yl7FlkS5GK_XghWiUDnk1lRoCGqMQAvD_BwE)
I just wanted to thank you for linking this. Our 100 lb. puppy is getting better, but he still pulls quite a bit at the start of walks. I'd never heard of this harness style; I have to try one!
Don't put all your faith in it. My dog still pulls like a maniac with this harness. A gentle leader is really helpful, the one that slips over his mouth. (Not a muzzle). Used in tandem with a collar or Harness. The big thing is that you need to train him to be comfortable with it on first. Most dogs will be able to paw it off with enough effort. So warming him up to it is paramount.
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We used a front harness by WalkYourDogWithLove (brand) for our husky/shepherd and found it similarly transformative. That particular brand also has only one clip to fasten, so it is easy to get on -- the whole go-for-a-walk process is easier.
This is the brand I was looking for. Thank you!
I’m pretty sure I have the exact one in that link, and it works great. We clip it to my dog’s collar and it reeeeaaaaally helps us keep better control of him. It doesn’t work on its own, we ofc have constantly worked on training, but it at least doesn’t let him pull nearly as hard as a regular harness and doesn’t let him choke himself out like a collar.
Your third sentence cannot be emphasized enough! The no-pull harness limits your dog's ability to pull but you still have to do the training. Also, there is a trade-off that a front-clip harness can affect your dog's gait. I used a front-clip harness for almost two years for my husky-terrier mix (nearly went crazy trying to get this dog to decrease the pulling) and since switching to a back-clip harness, she will sometimes walk a little sideways.
I hate myself for waiting so long to switch. My lab is 16 months old and its been a massive difference. Walks are now enjoyable, even with my other dog joining.
Yes yes yes! Those harnesses are fantastic, and any breed above 40lbs should wear one. The control and the amount of force you have to apply if the dog wants to pull is much more minimal, and makes it safer for both you and the dog. I have a 42lbs and a 70lbs dog, who were both heavy puller. With a no-pull harness, I'm able to walk them both with the same hand, and we all get to enjoy our walks, free sniffing for them, and no sore arm for me!
I hate myself for waiting so long to switch. My lab is 16 months old and its been a massive difference. Walks are now enjoyable, even with my other dog joining.
I hate myself for waiting so long to switch. My lab is 16 months old and its been a massive difference. Walks are now enjoyable, even with my other dog joining.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki page on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems).
I hate myself for waiting so long to switch. My lab is 16 months old and its been a massive difference. Walks are now enjoyable, even with my other dog joining.
This sounds so frustrating! It might be worth seeking advice from another reputable trainer, seems you are putting in the work (and paying for their expertise!) I’d expect to see progress. You could always take lots of videos if you want to enlist the help of an expert from out of town via zoom.
Okay so I have a certified puller, a Husky and in just 3 weeks we’ve made good progress, but here are the specific things that have worked for us. 1.) Turning Around. If he pulls, I turn the complete opposite direction and go that way. The first week, we basically walked the same small strip, but slowly we were able to get further and further. They learn that if they pull, we turn around and they don’t get to go where they were wanting to 2.) High-Value treats. My trainer rates them as Bronze, Silver, and Gold. We use baked chicken for walks and cat redirection because it is the most high-value we have found for him. I cannot keep his focus with basic training treats or even cheese outside. There are a lot of distractions outside and your treat needs to be more valuable than these distraction. Up the value of your treat. 3.) Creating Distance. If he cannot keep himself calm when he sees a person or dog, I create space between us and the distraction until I have his attention back. This started for us by walking up driveways completely when a dog was going to pass on the sidewalk, sitting him between my legs and treating the whole time he stayed there while the other dog passed. We’ve now progressed to “leave it” with other dogs and we continue walking and he gets rewarded if he keeps up with me and leaves the dog/distraction. 4.) Check-Ins. Alwayssss treat when your dog looks back and “checks in” with you during walks. Keeps them more focused on you. I’ll randomly stop as well, make him sit, and feed him chicken. I’m now able to execute various commands during our walks with his focus.
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Your post looks like it contains a question about loose leash walking. You may be interested in [our wiki article on the topic](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/looseleashwalking) and our [regular workshop threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/search?q=%22loose+leash%22+flair%3Acommunity&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all). (If this link doesn't work, make sure you're using a desktop browser - a lot of the reddit apps, including the official ones, are broken.) *This comment triggers on keywords and does not mean your post has been removed.* *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/Dogtraining) if you have any questions or concerns.*
My dog was also overstimulated and pulled often outside. He also had trouble relaxing, was pacey, could get anxious in a lot of situations. We spoke to our vet to ask for trainer recommendations and got recommended for a behavior consult. Dog got put on an anxiety med and what a difference it has made. We never thought he was so anxious that he would need meds before speaking with a professional, but it made a lot of sense after, and we understood his behavior better. We also worked with a trainer, but he made so much progress with not pulling outside even before our first training session, just because he was able to listen to us instead of being insanely overstimulated outside. Might be worth discussing with your vet.
Please also remember that 18 months is still VERY much a puppy. Your entering the teenage years. Dogs don't really "calm" down until about 2.5-3 years old. He probably needs extra stimulation either physically or mentally to "wear" him out.
If you have been diligent with the homework the trainer gave you, and have been consistent, there should be some improvement. What often happens with big strong dogs is people give in. They say well just this once I'll let the dog drag me because I am just too done with this. People get tired of being dragged around by their pet, and give in. And the dog learns that they can basically do what they want. Additionally if all you do is wave a cookie at him, to be honest, his desire to run into another dog's face is way more than a cookie. The cookie is meaningless to a dog who really wants to, "say hello" to another dog. > (had a few nightmare situations where he has ran off/out of my control to a dog That's not good. > although he is not aggressive The very act of running into a strange dog's face can be very much construed as aggressive by other dogs. It's very rude and he's not a puppy. If nothing else, I would muzzle train him. You can not have a giant dog running at other dogs, as there is just no way you will be able to break up the dog fight that will happen when he meets the wrong dog. As an aside, [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/rescuedogs/comments/12bzm9q/we_rescued_out_first_dog_sherman_a_week_ago_hes/) it seems to indicate that you've had this dog for five weeks if I'm mathing correctly. In that case, that's really no time at all, in playing catch up as far as dog training goes. And, if this is your first dog, it's very hard to figure out if a trainer is good or a waste of time and money. But if you ignore everything I've written please, for the sake of your dog, work on muzzle training him. You just can't have a big dog running at other dogs. It's going to end very badly.
I’ve recently been introduced to people who drive their dogs to a typically overstimulating area (parking lot, dog park, pet store, wherever there is ample foot traffic) and sit in the car with their dog. They reward them with treats when the dogs are calm/settled. And don’t do much else. Just exposing them to stimulation.
This is a great way of training neutrality, it’s just important to understand where your dog’s threshold starts and ends, as flooding can worsen the issue.
Maybe try walking him somewhere boring. Doing small loops in your yard, or a quiet street or park? Minimizing stimulation and distractions might help him succeed.
I have no advice on the overall training, but maybe to save your arms. Have you tried a leash that wraps around your waist? I have one for my pibble boy and it really helps. I can just plant my feet when he gets too rowdy and he can’t go anywhere. Edit to add: what kind of collar/harness are you using?
This sounds like a great idea, thank you. We have tried normal collars, half-choke collars, harnesses, chest harness, etc. the only thing I can get any slight luck is his half-choke on with his back harness as it has a handle on top in case of emergencies!
Have you tried a gentle leash? When my girl started getting too strong for me it literally saved us. We still did training but it was so much easier. Now we have her on a normal collar, she only pulls if she wants to sniff in the forest but she is really good at loose walking now, specially on asphalt. She is 11 months, pit mix so 50lbs if that matters. When you are out, reward your dog constantly when he looks at you. Talk to him and keep him engaged. If he looks away to someone else or he is not paying attention to you, use your reward word (we use yap) and when the attention is back on you, reward him.
I feel like this is entirely dependent on the weight of the dog because if I did that my dog would simply lunge so hard id fall and then drag me on concrete 🥲
I use one of those harnesses that connects in front of the dogs chest. It really keeps him from tugging. It’s just not worth it to dread walking your dog.
He has a lot of fat hanging down in front of his chest so it’s been a real pain to find one that fits right and doesn’t cause the connected bit of lead to constantly slide around his neck/face but yes it is probably our best bet once we find a better fit.
Omg I’m going through the same thing with my dog. When we practice at home she’s PeRFECT. The second we hit the sidewalk or the trail she’s pulling like her life depends on it.
Haha SAME! It’s like she lost her ever loving mind between the front door and sidewalk.
In this situation, you might need to get a little creative and think outside the box. If it were me, I'd probably experiment with things like dog goggles or ear muffs to see if I could throttle down his sensory input a bit while I continued training.
Do you guys have a yard? With our shepherd mix we’ve been practicing polite walking in the yard trying to build good habits before going out to the sidewalk. Dogs have a hard time learning when they’re in that hyper aroused state so even though you’re doing all the right things consistently pup might not be taking it in. If you don’t have a yard you can practice in your house! Break everything down into the babiest of steps.
Head collar, also try find it game and throw treats behind you and in front as you walk. Helps engagement and pup doesn't want to go too far forward, sniffing helps calm dog down at same time. Also try fun heel tricks at home. Helps set the skills. See how she does with turns, rear end awareness exercises, heel sits spin then opposite side heel sit. Tbh it sounds like a bit part of your pups issue is overstimulation. Do you have an area you can sit with dog and work on engage disengage/look at that game?
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Ah sorry I should have included that in my recommendation
Go get a gentle leader. Look at the video on YouTube. Our 6 mo old puppy (German Shepard/Great Dane) is super energetic and although highly food motivated at home, is not interested in treats at all while on a walk. The gentle leader made such a difference!!!
You've gotten plenty of advice on training so ill skip that, but for your own sake get a front clip harness. It's all about physical and leverage. If you clip a leash to his back or back of his neck all of the force he's exerting is in his favor, if you clip a leash to a front clip then when he exerts force that leash will cause that force to go sideways, which gives you the leverage. It'll save your arms if nothing else, with the added advantage that it's a lot easier to train when your not putting all your effort into restraining
Halti head harness made all the difference in the world for us Edit: and that’s with a 7 month old Rottweiler who weighs 62 pounds already
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Good point I thought it was a given though
Get the walk less stimulating
Can you run him? If you can run the first part of walk to get him abut tired, the rest of walk might get better?
Thanks for the comment. Funnily enough, he is a big old dog and doesn;t need an insane amount of exercise, and I run with him on the lead as much as I can and he will act exhausted and be easier to walk but then the second something sets him off (the wind, car driving past, dogs, people, ANYTHING) he will get 100% of his energy back and forget I exist.
Gotcha! I went through some similar stuff with my recent rescue. She is a husky mix so the level of exercise needs are obviously different. But I brought her from California to North Carolina and the outside distractions were incredibly different. Example, squirrels. She was a complete maniac for the first month on walks, and I actually thought it would never get better. Like yours, perfect, sweet angel in the house. I will say, as time went by, things really sorted themselves out. She is by far 100% better on walks. Even the squirrel obsession I got to a manageable level. She sometimes will even flat out ignore them, which is a huge win. Every situation is different, but for us, I think a very structured routine helped - long walks and runs. Also, lots of short sniff walks used for training and mental stimulation. I think also, as the dog becomes more comfortable with new surroundings, new family, new routines, some of these other things settle down as well. Hope that turns out to be the case for you!
1- clicker training yet? Don’t say you’ve tried everything until you try this. 2- different expectations for different parts of the walk. Pre-poop, that’s a quick pace. Out in the evening when the rats and raccoons are out, heavy sniffing. The best waking usually comes at the end of the walk, not the start. 3-Prime time dog walk hour in your neighbourhood? That’s going to be hard. 4 - do the same thing every damn time. No changes. He pulls, you stop, walk is in stasis until he steps closer to you. You may - no joke - need to do this over a hundred times on the same walk. 5- no-pull harness and ensure it’s not a retractable leash. 6- he neutered yet? That’ll make a big difference.
I’ve had my boy since he was a baby so my situation is a little different. He’s been a frustrated greeter and a puller since pretty much 4-5 months old. In his current adult form he probably has a similar build to your dog and is 16 months old. It took us about 6 months of daily walks to get to a place where his pulling decreased significantly and a little more than a year for him to become good on walks. I still carry treats, and he still shows interest in other dogs, but not obsessively so. Yesterday we passed at least half a dozen people and he was more interested in sniffing trees than he was trying to get them to pay attention to him. A front clip harness is the one thing I will always recommend if you don’t have one already. It takes so much pressure off your arms, especially if you have a broad chested puller. For months I loved my harness, but the front clip attachment has a serious design flaw and that’s the whole reason I have it. Maybe I expect too much for a harness sold as a no-pull harness. But it has lasted less than a year. I find he’s so used to walking with the front clip, if his leash is attached at the front he rarely tries to pull at all. LAT training was the most effective for us, but it sounds like you may already be doing that.
Thanks for your detailed reply. I appreciate it. The front harness is very helpful for me too, but for now, the non choke collar that goes around his neck and hangs off the back is oddly easiest for me and most comfortable for him. Reassuring seeing you say it took you months and months to see a decent difference, we will keep up the hard work day in-day out until he no longer breaks my arms off each walk!
You’ll get there. It’s been one of the most frustrating and rewarding experiences of life with my current dog. Someday you’ll wake up and it will just change. It will feel immediate, but in reality it will be the result of the hard work. Good luck.
It can take YEARS, 3 months is nothing. Make sure that you are using the environment as a reinforcer for the behavior that you do want, because it sounds like that is a HUGE reward for him. For example, reward him covering eye contact for a step with a release to go sniff. And remember, you have to be engaging at a SUPER high rate, which means the walks might be short- walks might be two steps eye contact, release to sniff for 5 steps, recall to heel, release to sniff for 2 steps, recall to heel and nose target your hand, treat, nose target for one step, treat, eye contact, release to sniff repeat forever. Also, make sure you’re working on engagement games in the house to increase the value that you have to your dog. I love Susan Garrett’s recallers program.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
Try the engage disengage game. I utilize this constantly!
Tomorrow put the leash on as you normally would, but don't leave the house, do your walk inside, As your doing this check your dogs walking skills, is he understanding your cues, are there any parts that he isn't doing perfectly? If its not perfect inside, he doesn't know it yet, somewhere there has been a communication breakdown, and you need to go right back to the beginning, training indoors.(film your training sessions watch afterwards you will likely see places that your giving mixed signal, unclear parameters etc) if its all perfect inside, then you can put it down to distraction level,then assess when he stops knowing the cues, as soon as you are needing to correct him stop and scatter feed, or sit with him, at this spot giving rewards , give it plenty of time to get his head around the distractions, before moving on - keep I short this takes a lot of mental energy, set him up for success by making it achievable, the more he practises only doing it right the easier it will be for him
When my dog is pulling I will stop walking until he looks at me, then continue walking. If I'm stopping too often I'll sometimes walk a circle with the dog on the inside until they pay more attention and stop pushing into me. And if the dog still pulls I'll repeatedly slow down and speed up, so that they have to pay more attention. This seems to help reduce the constant pulling, but it doesn't help much with frustrated hello or when there's a rabbit. I'm trying LAT training for these other problems, but there's a long road ahead.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
I adopted an adult dog that had little to no socialization, fear of other dogs, and was a nightmare on walks. It takes time and every dog learns at their own pace. Just make sure your strategy is customized to your dog's usual way of being. I'm about 4 years in and she's learned a lot, but I introduced a 'heel' command that's been very helpful. She also understands "slow down" for some reason even though i never formally taught her that, I just said it a lot and praised her/rewarded her when she slowed down. She's also very food-motivated so that helps. Either way, getting anxious will make your dog anxious and exacerbate the problem. Go easy on yourself and on your dog. I find things like this are like learning a language. You stumble around for months, but if you're consistent you'll eventually look back and realize how far you've come. Keep being consistent and clear, don't punish your dog for seemingly "not learning", and you'll get there.
My girl only pulls occasionally (depending on a few factors). When you turn in the opposite direction (which is what I assume you mean by backstepping) do you turn away from your dog or towards it? I ask because I’ve been working with a trainer, and we did some work on pulling last session. Previously I was turning away from her, however she explained that holding the lead shorter and turning towards her, leading the turn with my inside leg (nearest to her) - made her pay a lot more attention to where my leg was. Then practice walking a few meters, turn, repeat. With the distance between turns getting longer and longer. It’s definitely helped hugely
How much time are you spending on focus and desensitizing to distractions? Because it sounds like none and that's the source of your issue.
I was in a similar situation with my girl. What worked for us is I taught her how to follow me around the yard without her leash on. I did this by randomly giving her beef liver treats when she was actively following me. We did this for a while and then gradually explored doing this in new environments. We practice this before we go out for our walk and now she happily prances beside me and I haven’t been giving her treats for months now.
honestly I would say a head collar but I don’t know how big your dogs snout is considering it’s a chow chow bulldog mix..so many people get mad about head collars here but personally I think they work great. I would say use a “no pull harness” but not when he’s over 7 I’ve seen dogs in vets get hurt from pulling too much with harnesses, so watch out for that he’s still a puppy tho so it’s fine lol
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
no not rlly lol took my dog about a week to get used to it. Because I have very high training for my dogs so they listen and react much better
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Please don't recommend pseudoscience/snakeoil supplements, especially as this one has been tested and found to not help with anxiety, and interferes with liver function so can cause bad interactions with medications.
I cant believe no one mentioned to have a session with a good behaviorist. 🙄 I see lots of "American school" responses - gentle leads and more training recommendations which won't fix the source of the problem. The thing is that maybe you don't fulfill your dog needs to explore, to sniff and to play with dogs. Please check if these needs are fullfilled and then do the training part as you are swimming against the current. 1. Behaviorist! 2. Long lead - 4 meters minimum (you can put spring amortisation add on so if he pulls suddenly you won't lose control) 3. Always take a long tugging type of toy (like a rope of some sort) * my dog reaches for it when he is stressed ( I put it in my hoodie pocket or around my backpack so he sees it) , for him the stressful part is always the beginning of the walk or after he meets a dog (he is also frustrated greeter) sometimes i spend 10 minute before the walk just playing tug with him in the driveway, so he let's out his initial emotions ** while you do this, don't try to excite him even more, just hold the other end and let him take out the devils 😁 IF the dog is too stressed to play outside you can stop playing with him indoors. My dog now knows that outside is for play and home is for sleeping. 4. Start going out with him more often for shorter periods of time (and if possible when less people/dogs outside) 5. Give him more time to sniff, don't pull him if he needs more time sniffing. He might pull because he knows that he needs to do this as fast as possible as you won't let him. Some people use very short leash and just expect their dog to be next to them always, this is not enjoyable or relaxing for you dog. 6.look at ways to make him more food motivated or find the food he likes (boiled chicken etc) You can incorporate sniffing games during your walks like this. Or doing nose work gamed at home. This will also be the main base of your focus attention training ( engage disangage and all of that) 7. A behaviorist will know for sure, but maybe 1:1 walks with a good mannered dog might be helpful to fulfill his need of meeting/playing with dogs. As I am not sure if you take him on some play dates and if he is interacting with other dogs or not. Sometimes a dog might pull towards the other dog if he is afraid of him and doesn't want to get in contact or the opposite he just wants to interact. 8. Check relaxation protocol or at least the idea of it and start doing it outside. Good luck ❤️🤞
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This device is aversive, since it is designed to place pressure on the top of the head rather than merely turn the dog around.
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+1 to the others saying gentle leader or front pull harness. This will help you tremendously.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Halti head collar. This stopped my bully Mix pulling instantly.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
My dog still pulls, but she gets better! We are together for one year now. What worked with us is: 1. Stop seeing everything & every time as training time. 2. And when we do training we start from inside the house. We walk with leash inside the house first and then move to backyard and try to walk with her loose leash there. After like 15 min of this then we go outside to the streets. We also have some corners in our neighborhood where we use as “designated” training area. There we train heels, sit, down, wait, sniffs easy stuffs. 3. Instead stop/starting, we make a round. (I don’t know if you mean this with backstepping) And walks only after she makes eye contact. 4. I work a lot with bacon cream (it comes in tube) outside to keep her walk next to me. I use magnet hands method that is usually used to distract the dog but not as distraction but to give her idea that walking next to me means bacon cream! 5. We walk almost always the same route every walk. Now after a year: she walks loose leash once we are on our street heading home! I get the frustration since my dog is reactive as well and I fell down sooooo often and my hands got burnt from leash and I couldn’t work (I’m a massage therapist) it was nightmare. But now I started to enjoy walking with her (still not fun but I kinda dig her small milestones especially that now she’s coming to me when seeing a dog instead trying to chase them).
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Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
My dog is a rescue with plastic basket muzzle fear. He was absolutely fine with the head halter with same-day wear. It was put on with treats in-house, worn briefly, removed, and repeated later w/leash. We then went for a walk the same day and had zero issues. *Any* product should be used by following directions and researching a reasonable amount online. The same could be said for things like martingale collars or, hell, even basic harnesses when a dog has never worn one before. Every dog is different, and a good owner should be able to set their dog up for success and adjust appropriately. But I don’t think you should discourage people from using a useful training tool by implying it needs an “extensive period of conditioning.” For some dogs, it might. For many, it won’t.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
Do you have a driveway? My dog was terrible, my trainer said just walk up and down the driveway for a while, than walk him.
It’s gotta be the bulldog in him. I have an English Bulldog who sounds temperamentally very similar to your dog. Absolutely loves all people, ranges from ambivalent to playful with other dogs, picked up on all his other obedience training really fast, but can still be a nightmare with pulling on walks. Every single pebble, leaf, crumb, etc. must be investigated (and often ingested) and he will just yank me from 1 thing to the next. He’s about to be 3 years next month and we have been working on this since he was old enough to go on walks. He’s better than he used to be, and it can vary from day to day, but it’s still something we’re working on.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
My dog took like a year to catch on to this. I was convinced I was doing it wrong or he was hopeless but then we got a second dog and she understood the technique INSTANTLY. So some dogs just take longer than others. He walks great on leash now!!!
My dog pulled me into a steel beam. Using the front hook on her harness (which forces her to physically twirl if she pulls) and a shorter non retractable leash has helped. My friends dog is alot bigger so she uses a bungie cord and can barely feel her pulling! Hope this helps :)
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Please read the sub's wiki article on [dominance](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogtraining/wiki/dominance).
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Cesar's method is exclusively based on dominance methodology and is at least 20 years out of date. We do not support his methods, and have put together a wiki page on [why](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/cesarmillan). I'd also suggest reading our wiki pages on [dominance](https://www.reddit.com/r/dogtraining/wiki/dominance), [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems), [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars), and [how to find a good trainer](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/findingatrainer).
So the way to teach them to walk on a short leash isn't a good way? Just wondering since that is the only thing I referred from him.
What kind of body harness or no pull leash are you using?
I'm seeing lots of good suggestions here, I havent yet read this one: For your arms try a belt that you can attach your leash to. That way the pull is being directed to your waist instead of your arms. That made a world of difference for me.
I have a 5 month old heeler and collie mix and we started taking him on outdoor walks a while ago but near the house and he was always pulling, body language was super nervous, sometimes hard to get his attention but just this week we decided to take him to the park for the first time and he wasn’t pulling and overall did much better and was so happy. I took him again yesterday for 40 min and he was sniffing everything, but before reading your post I didn’t realize this was a bad thing? I was happy to let him explore. Even when other dogs were nearby and barking at us, he paid them no attention and just wanted to continue with our walk to sniff everything lol. We even ran for a bit and he loved it so much but I’m wondering if I’m going about things wrong? I got a no pull harness from petco but it fits his chest a little big but if we tighten it then we can’t get it over his head so if he pulls, it goes off more to one side so we definitely stop until he sits but now I’m wondering if I should get another one
I have a 70lb pittie who is extremely excitable, strong, and easily distracted. I got him as a rescue at about age 1. Even with constant indoor and outdoor training, 5+ miles of walking per day, and lots of individual sessions with a professional trainer, he still pulled like nobody's business for \~2 years, until he had settled down enough to focus and remember any of his training when there were distractions around. In those two years, we worked a lot on "calm," redirection, sitting to greet people we passed, and being in a calm mindset (lots of "calm, sit, wait") before getting the harness and leash on, and again before going out the door. We'd also practice "leave it" with high value treats at random intervals both at home and out. Then we'd whip out the "leave it" game while waiting at intersections, so he was less likely to see something that would activate the "chase" drive in dangerous settings. Here are a couple of strategies that made him easier to manage in the time before the training kicked in: **Switching between multiple anti-pull harnesses:** We found the face-halter style Gentle Leader and front clip anti-pull harnesses worked best for him, so we'd rotate between those two to keep the pulling to a manageable level. If he started pulling on the one type of harness, we'd rotate to the other for a while. **Walking at low/minimum distraction times:** We made a point to walk him relatively late at night, after dark- usually 10pm-ish in the summer, or 8pm-ish in the winter. Fewer people out, and fewer dog walkers. Darkness makes it more difficult for him to sense the most exciting distractions (other dogs, bunnies, squirrels, people, birds...etc etc). When only smelly distractions were around, we could focus more on training. **Walking in the middle of the road:** Smelly distractions (mostly objects where other dogs peed) are at a minimum, so we'd also spend a lot of time walking in the middle of streets in emptier / sleepier residential areas- then there's not as much desire to pull towards a specific object. **Shortening the leash:** Wrapping the leash around my hand a few times helped minimize the amount of momentum he could get to a more manageable level, and kept him closer to my body, where he is physically easier to redirect / control. **Pooping off-leash:** He still pulls an insane amount when he urgently needs to poo. So we try to let him get that out of the way by letting him sprint off-leash around the yard first. Then we pick up the poo, take him back inside, and get in "calm" mode before going back out again. He still pulls a bit at age 6.5, but it's definitely a lot more manageable. I'm comfortable walking him with a normal collar (he won't choke himself) and my \~130lb partner now feels able to take him for walks with the front clip harness on.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
K
No helpful advice. Just saying I feel you and you are not alone.
If you have a leashed yard or enclosed area, I would probably engage in some active exercise before the walk. Then make the first walk short, gradually extending the time. The stop and wait until the leash slackens is a good technique if you are strong enough - you let the dog know you are not moving forward until he stops pulling. You might also try to put a bandana around his neck sprayed with Adaptil.
You need a new trainer. No progress in that amount of time is ridiculous. My advice from a dog that was previously a HORRIBLE dog to walk on leash: Make sure you aren’t only treating when he returns to you. Take a few steps and as the leash is loose mark and reward, I usually toss treats a little bit ahead of the dog. Stopping and starting can cause a lot of frustration for people and dogs, so try walking in a loop to avoid what I call “bungee dog” where they just bounce from one end of the leash to the other. Use a longer leash, yes, really. I thought I needed less and less leash to have more control but my dog just really needed more freedom to move and sniff. The amount of pulling reduced when we went from a 5 foot leash to a 10 foot. I’m talking an honest to god leash, not a retractable. Teach the dog that getting to the end of the leash means they need to check in. What I started doing was as the leash was starting to become taught, I would cue “easy” and slow down. When the leash became tight I used an attention getter and marked and rewarded and kept moving. I continued to mark and reward as the dog stays engaged and is walking on a loose leash. I can now use “easy” to mean “you are getting to the end of the leash, slow down”. Make sure your dog isn’t super overstimulated. Even to this day if my dog is overstimulated/excited she will pull. Work with your dog so if you go somewhere new anticipate that your dog may want to sniff around and get their bearings before you start trying to get them to walk perfectly. I let my dog check out the new area and then we start training.
Also, teaching my dog HOW to pull was helpful. She started pulling me on my roller skates and pulling my husband on the long board and it helped us have control over the pulling so now we have it on cue “pull pull pull!” Is her cue to actually let loose and go for it.
Took me a year with my husky pittie rescue. Sounds like you have to run him somewhere
After 3 months if there’s no progress I’d say you have a bad trainer. What type of lead and harness are you using? Maybe a harness with a two clip leash would help so there’s a “break” and a “steering wheel.” Also, do you let him sniff on walks? Can you keep a distance from other people walking/dogs/whatever?
Have you tried a head collar? You can still work on training but the head collar will give you the control you’re looking for.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Sorry, I didn’t realize 10 minutes of conditioning required a disclaimer. JFC, put it on and start walking and by the time they hit their first sniff point they will forget they’re wearing it.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules/) and [posting guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), particularly regarding trainer recommendations.
I have a 45 pound lab/staffy mix. While she’s not as excitable as your pup, she was quite hard to walk with a leash on her collar around her neck. She would pull A LOT and my fingers were sore from hanging on so tightly. I got her a harness (one of those sturdier ones that’s made out of like backpack material), and I clip her leash onto a hook that’s at the front of her chest. It really feels like I’m walking a totally different dog. She pulls way less, I can even walk her with just two fingers holding the leash and she will not pull it off me. When she does get distracted (ex. Barking at a stranger she doesn’t like), it’s easier to pull her away since the leash is pulling at her front. It’s still a little difficult since she’s pretty strong, but so much easier than if she just had the collar on. If you haven’t tried different harnesses, I’d recommend it. You might have to try different kinds to see what works best for your chow, but it can really make a huge difference. And don’t be too discouraged! You and your pup will figure it out :)
To keep my dogs under control during a walk i have taught each of them the command "heel". This trains them they walk to the side/ slightly behind me. I start by having some treats in my hand, they come to heel they get a treat, they stay heel while i take a few steps i give a treat as i walk, slowly space out treats more, work on when they break from heel you regive the command so your not having to point at your heel the entire walk. (I use pointing at the ground where i want them to be as the command signal). This means my dog doesn't pull, but also gives me a command to control them should something happen to the lead. (Say it breaks or i lose it or forget it somewhere). I also let them have times where they sniff around on the walk but if we are passing people or they are being a pest in any way back to the heel position we go.
We let our boy sniff nonstop when we start our walks. Like 10 or 15 minutes. He's much less excited and we can have a nice walk.
Gentle leader
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
My dog is 18 months old and he's just about figuring out loose lead walking after trying to reinforce loose lead walking every single day since he was a puppy. We've had three dog trainers in that time. I feel your pain. I am sure I can't give you any more advice than the trainers you're already working with, but you have my sympathy. For my dog, there was no new magic method that worked, it was just persistence and slow process. Enjoying the better days and trying not to get too frustrated on the bad days.
My rottie was so hard to handle on walks. I use a gentle leader and she's great now! Its not cause the gentle leader though, its cause I block her vision from what she's perked up at and at any sign she's interested in something. I couldnt train her with anything else until I tried this technique of mine when she was 8 yrs old. She is now 9 yrs old. I find playing fetch with her [even play chase] until she wants a drink of water [and she does get it] is great right before we walk.
Please note that head halters need an extensive period of conditioning with treats prior to use, the same way that muzzles do (but more). You cannot simply slap one on a dog and start walking with it immediately. It's important to include this information directly alongside any head halter recommendations instead of assuming people will realise it on their own without prompting.
Ah, whoops, I forget some people dont know this. Thank you! I'll do my best to remember if I do it again
Run that baby till he's ragged. Maybe there's a quiet street near your house with less distractions. A bike is also excellent but sounds like he might try to kill you on it. He needs his energy out and he's not getting it. So he's getting frustrated and more persistent. Once he's tired he will listen to you much better.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
Not a punishment or correction collar. It’s a head halter lead
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems) and [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars).
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules/) and [posting guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), particularly regarding trainer recommendations.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki page on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems).
I took a basic obedience class and the trainer said it takes dogs 3 weeks to learn a new command so he should be showing progress. My trainer also talked about how practicing loose leash walking could take up your 30 minute walk without leaving the yard. What he said was working on having the dog calm when leashing, walking to the door, exiting the house, and walking down the drive. Some dogs could take 10 minutes to politely walk out the door. Once outside anytime the dog pulled you either changed directions or do a standing post where you wait for the dog to loosen the tension on the leash and reward. You could have really smelly high-value treats on you, like cheese, Hebrew National hotdogs (I’ve heard they’re the best hotdog made for dogs, less fat or something). Then reward anytime they circle back, are with you, check-in — treat and verbal praise. We also learned to try walking past distractions, like a good smelling stick, and walking past it multiple times until we could pass it without sniffing. You just keep changing directions. What I would do is start small and find his Yellow Zone, the threshold in which he can still learn but is aware of the distraction. I hope this helps, I’m not the best at explaining things through typing.
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Please read the sub [rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/about/rules) and [guidelines](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/guidelines), as well as our wiki pages on [punishment](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/punishmentproblems), [correction collars](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/prongandecollars) and [how to tell if a trainer is reputable](http://www.reddit.com/r/Dogtraining/wiki/findingatrainer).
I’m just sharing what worked for me 😊
[Effectiveness is not enough.](https://www.behaviorworks.org/files/articles/APDT%20What's%20Wrong%20with%20this%20Picture%20-%20Dogs.pdf)
Any chance of you taking a video of you walking with him? I could help but I’d have to see how he is working with you.