Lead pulling - any advice please!?!
We have a 14wk old puppy, she is an OES x Beardie. We've had Flossie for 3 wks, so early days but we would appreciate any tips. She has picked up sit,down, fetch and come really well. The toilet training is coming on slowley but we can see improvement. She is excellent in the car, with our children, is slowley learning not to chase the cat....she is a really lovely puppy in every other way....but the lead pulling is starting to become quite frustrating! We have a flexi extendable lead, which she walks really well on, it is only 3m long and doesn't stray too far. She has a harness fitted. Every time I take her for a walk on a normal lead she is pulling excessively. Is the flexi lead confusing her? I've been standing still when she pulls and waiting for her to relax or if she is pulling for a long time walking in the opposite direction, however when I walk in the opposite direction she either really fights it or pulls out to the side, so I tend to just wait for her to stop pulling and then reward with lots of praise. I'm stopping on average every 2 steps!!! She does have the occasional time when she'll walk nicely for 10-15 steps and I praise her all the way and give her a treat when we stop. I don't see any improvement with the pulling, not like with other areas of training. Also she is choaking herself and making herself cough with her pulling so I'm a bit worried about damaging her throat. Any advice would be most welcome!! 
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| First, welcome from snowy Denver. Your pictures are great she is a cutie. The pulling. . . that is a problem. The only way I have been able to get Bella to reduce the pulling is with a Halti and lots and lots of work. And some walks last longer than others and we don't go as far. Good luck, try to be consistent and work at everyone having some fun on the walk. Both of you. |
| We use a gentle leader on both sheepdogs right now as they are both training...they can't pull on them. It is like a horse halter...it loops around the nose and behind the ears and hooks under their chin. You probably have something like that there. Good luck...she will learn. |
| my two girls are also 14 weeks old.
We have them enrolled in training, and the pulling is normal at this age. You have to teach the dog to not do it; its not something that comes automatically when they are young, or so our trainer tells us. But she has also said to not use and extendable leash on walks, as it gives you no control. The dog can wander as it wants, and what the owner needs to be doing is getting the dog to do what YOU want. So we are working on "controlled walking" in puppy class and apparently its one of the hardest things to get right. My guys just aren't having any of it, but we've only been at it for a week. Why not look into some puppy school? |
I use a gentle leader and 1st time was great even a same kids can walk her. Blue he still does not like jumps around like a rabbit. So harness is what we use and he is getting better. Just lots of time... no training centers here(5hrs away) so for us there is no other way but by our self and this board  |
| Thanks for all the advice! I'll stop the flexi (extendable) lead. I did wonder about using a Halti but I've heard that dogs can pull on them and damage their necks??
I've booked her in to see a trainer Thursday this week, so I'll see what she says. Is this a common problem in the breed? She seems to have done so well with everything else! |
I think its a common problem with puppies in general. Everything is exciting and new to your puppy. So why walk calmly when there's a Squirrel! And there's a blowing leaf! Oh! and grass! I love grass! and the mail man! You get the picture. 
Its a big mistake to expect our puppies to behave like adult dogs; especially when sheepdogs can often be puppies right into thier second year. When my girls behave well, I praise the heck out of them, knowing that its the excpetion, and not the rule. |
that is so true... and they are big puppies we forget how young they are. My mom was over the other day and Blue got down stairs. She kept saying SAMI sit , SAMI down why is she not behaving... ah because that is BLUE, "THAT'S BLUE" I thought she was going to have heart failure and yes he has grown way faster than Sami ever did and you do forget when he is being a clown out side and boy oh boy is he our clown. I think he hangs his brain on the door Knob before we go out... just like my teenagers.  |
| yeah; my boyfreind has never owned a dog, let alone a puppy, let alone TWO OES puppies. We've owned them for 7 weeks, and they've been in training for the last 4. He sometimes gets frustrated that they still only "sit" or "lie down" when you have the treat in your hand. I have to remind him that if 14 week old puppies are taking any commands at all, we are really lucky!
One of my girls is much better at the controlled walking than the other. And of course, I can't do them together, as they distract the heck out of each other. But i feel like we are making slow progress, which is definitely preferable to no progress! I'm hoping to have these dogs a long, long time. Thats tons of training time, and I'm prepared to go as fast or as slow as my dogs can manage. We need to work at thier pace, as much as we'd like for them to learn at ours. One of the training books I read had a smart thing to say: "We expect our dogs to think like people, but they can't. So we need to think like our dogs." This link describes something very similar to what we are doing in puppy class: http://www.hilltopanimalhospital.com/dog%20walking.htm |
| Your puppy is adorable...I walk my dogs everyday and got very tired of when they saw another dog, cat, squirrel or people being tugged and pulled. I tried the "stop" wait and then move along ect. What has worked for me is I bring a small can with coins in it, when they start to pull, I shake the can and say "no pull" and it has really worked. It has worked better with China, my Aussie, then Violet. my OES, but a big improvement. If you give it a try, I hope you have as much success as I have. Good luck! |
| I go out fully armed ( Bob is a firearms instructor )
I use to carry a spray bottle with water but that was too big. I now carry a gun...a water gun. It's small and just what I need to break his train of thought ( or lack there of ). Chauncey walks great on a leash...until a car passes, a dog barks or a gnat passes gas 20 miles away, then after the moment he wants to jump, bite at the leash and jump on me. Now I turn into Annie Oakley and pull out my trusty side arm, and he get's it. It's just enought to bring him back to what we're doing and the rest of the walk is pleasant. |
| The trainer who "trained us" to teach a dog to walk without pulling had us, while walking the dog in a close "heel", continually and erratically change directions. This included total reversals resulting in very stout tugs on the leash (not enough to be painful but enough to alter the dog's course with no uncertainty), as well as turning right into the dog with our legs. Also he had us dramatically vary walking speed. This forces the dog to continually pay attention to you so they don't get run over or yanked around. Worked great for our very independent minded dog and we still implement it occasionally when she "forgets". Our trainer had us use a properly adjusted and used (i.e. snap use rather than continuous choking tension) choke chain, but I know there is debate on the use of those.
Our trainer strongly discouraged extendable leashes because it does give the dog the control. Frankly I despise 'em because both me and my wife wear linear scars on our legs from other people's dogs out of control wrapping that blasted rope around our legs on while on a dead run... |
| oh how cute is she .. welcome from fla |
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