My dog doesn't walk me anymore...
 

My dog is awesome, but she's always sucked walking on a leash. She pulls a lot and I've got to brace myself to use some muscle before each walk. We've tried a variety of collars, harnesses, treats and training techniques...she gets it, she just doesn't give a fuck.

I got this head harness called a gentle leader, it's very similar to a horse lead style. Since it connects the leash under the dogs chin, the dog can't pull forward without practically turning around the opposite direction. My dog walked like an angel instantly (although you could tell she felt a little defeated).

It's a very comfortable loose fit, and there's no choking. They can still drink water, pant, yawn, bark, barf, etc. You can get them at most major pet supply chains, it was the best $20 I've ever spent on my dog:)

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hmm nice doggy:Graucho

You go with what works. That worked, and your dog will be better off for it and you'll both enjoy the walks more.

The choke chain was what's worked for the dogs I've owned. I had my present dog walking without pulling in about an hour with one,

But this gadget you got looks good too. If I get another dog I may have to try it out on him. (or her)

She doesn't look too happy

I may have to get one of those after the XBIZ show.

I have always used choke chains in the past, but Buddy just looks at it as another challenge.

No disrespect toward the proper use of choke chains, I know they can be a very effective training method. My dog ripped through several collars and harnesses, the chains were the only type she couldn't break. She'd been on a choke chain for well beyond a training time frame, and I stumbled across the gentle leader while reluctantly considering those spiky chains, I was pretty stoked to have a gentler option:)

lmao that pic is awesome

Train your dog right , be the pack leader and your dog will walk beside you without a leash...most people do not want to take the time to do that..easier to tie them up with fucked up contraptions...poor doggie.

these are the bomb I used them too with my Labrador as he gave fuck all
about being choked to death.....now he walks AND listens without a leash
at all......

She looks deflated for sure.

Yup, exactly.

Lol, she doesn't look very happy indeed!!

:thumbsup

poor dog :Oh crap

It's been pretty nice with the lead, especially as she has gotten more and more used to it...

When we let her off leash at the park she responds better even, and we've been able to focus back more on her training rather than a "challenge" as baddog pointed out that Ginger used to take other leads as...

When you walk your puppie, you should practice the heel command often.
Stop, pull the dog firmly so that its head is right at your leg...give them a knee in the shoulder to show them who is boss if they dont want to listen, say "heel"..if/when they do it..give them praise and treats. Do this every day..start with on leash.. then move onto off leash.

I have to take my chocolate girl by the collar and put her to the ground quite often.. she is the hunter and likes to be in the brush digging up critters. When I show her dominance, she starts acting right and listening.

My Mr. big wont leave my side....kids call him my hairy tumor.. friends call him the gummi bear..sticks to me like glue.

There is nothing better than having my dogs listen w/o leashes. Makes for easier hikes and snowshoes...good luck

http://highhiker.com/graphics/babies.jpg

Mr. Big and Ms. poo following mama :thumbsup

our 100 lab has slowed down with a prong collar we picked up from an outfitting store. they use them to train hunting dogs. He still pulls a little bit but not too much

that dog looks good, but sad.

show your dog whos boss and he/she will do anything you want... thats what i did with Bam my Siberian Husky and he never ran off, never needed a leash, nothing

This one has worked well for my dogs, who will even pull through a choke chain, till they turn blue:

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http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...N=2032900&Ne=2

people just dont get this point, I wrestle with my dogs.. bite them on their ears and give them the pinch on their neck like a bite and they immediately go to the ground on their backs in submissive posture.

Dogs are dogs, not people..you have to show you are the leader or they will always be your leader...as proven with all of you that think your dog takes you for a walk.

I apply this to dogs I dont know too, case in point, walked into bro's house who owns 3-4 beefy pits. He wanted to warn me to not be afraid..BAh. I put his crazy dogs in their place and they didnt bother me at all...bro thought I was going to get eaten alive. :1orglaugh

It's great that you guys found a solution that works, I'm not questioning that. But I DO want to point out something about choke chains and their proper use. Most people make the mistake of thinking that the choke chain is supposed to do all the work of training the dog, the expectation being that the dog's pulling will be curtailed by the choking. In few cases that might even work, but in most the owner will be left wanting, the dog gasping.

The proper use of a choke chain is this: When your dog starts pulling you should suddenly and immediately give a firm but quick tug on the leash to "snap" the dog back into place. Be consistent, don't take his head off or anything, but be firm and quick. When he does it again you snap him again only a little firmer this time.

It does not take long using this technique to get the dog wise to what you expect. They don't enjoy the snap, it startles them... but it does not choke them, it applies some quick pressure around their lower throat and upper chest area and then releases as they are back in proper step beside you.

This techique has worked for me with 100% results every time, and it can even cure the dog of doing other things, such as those that have a bad habit of jumping up on folks. Want to cure that? Easy, just get another person to encourage the dog to jump up on them, and when he does you are right there on the leash (with the choke chain on the dog) to snap him down quickly and firmly to the ground. I only had to do this twice to Sully when he was about 2 yrs old and he has never done it again.

Now when someone encourages him to jump up and put his paws on them he instead lays down and wants his belly scratched.

Choke chains are handy training tools if used properly.

Very true.. and they worked well when I was training my previous chow. She responded very quickly with just the chain.

My second dog I trained, was 3/4 wolf, and responded incredibly well to a harness...

We went through both with Gigi, and while the choker was fine 75% of the time, she is over emotional, and anytime she saw somebody she wanted to meet during a training or walking session, she would choked herself to the point of gagging trying to scramble towards them.

We put her on the new lead, and instant... literally seconds like, day and night change... no struggles, pays complete attention to training, and is doing much better off leash as well as on since we changed over...

The pic above is our adorable puppy working the sad face... she's a true master...

what she said...

looks smart.

She does look a wee bit pissed off... :1orglaugh

Awww that just made me miss my dog so much... She was my white shadow.

Watch some Cesar Millan!

hahaha.. poor dog :)

True that, Cesar knows about the pack mentality

A strong dog will still drag you around with one of these the nose thing works
so well as the dog cannot use its strength to pull as the leash is only attached
to the nose of the dog.....that's why they're so perfect. After the first try
the dog knows it won't work and won't even think of trying it again.....it was
damn funny to see this as my dog apperently was seperated too soon from it's
mother and was lacking some basic social skills to understand the authority
ranks :1orglaugh

I used it for 2 weeks while training him and after that I never had a problem
with it before....the cool thing is you only need it for a few days to correct
the issue with your dog as the dog forgets that it even has a chance dragging
you along with him

I now take my dog everywhere and he won't leave my side not even in a busy
city center like amsterdam......without a leash at all :thumbsup

I'll dig up a pic of my lab.....It's a male labrador but he's huge for a lab.
He's the size of a big rottweiler and weighs close to 50 Kilograms. I love
him to death they're amazing friendly and energetic dogs.

The most amazing thing he started doing himself without ever training it
is when someone jumps into my pool adult or child he'll jump in and grabs
the person very gently by the arm and pulls him/her to side of the pool.
Our pool has a underwater staircase so you can easily get out.

I have 2 small kids and the dog always watches them wherever they are
if the kids are outside the dog is laying next to the pool. If one of the kids
accidently manages to fall into the pool without a shadow of a doubt he'll
take them out of it......

the bad thing is nobody can swim unless the dog isn't outside by the pool
coz no matter how many times you'll jump back into the pool the dog will
come to the rescue pulling you to the side..

He "saves" anyone that comes to visit our house and ends up in the pool
strangers included. :1orglaugh

That's so awesome...

Servergenious, sounds like your lab is part New foundland..they are instinctively water rescue dogs.

My black lab is 125 lbs and a mix w/ something like a mastiff..has the big round head. He has no hunting skills, but is a great protector.

this thread needs more dog pics.

http://highhiker.com/graphics/mr_big.jpg

http://highhiker.com/graphics/big_poo2.jpg

That's when you use the above "snapping" method I posted earlier. Most people allow the dog to pull and choke and hope the choke chain "fixes" the dog... it usually won't. You have to work the chain properly in order to get the results you want.


I'd say that anyone using the technique I posted, OR the training gadget you originally posted, PLUS the follow-up method posted by Betty (C_U_Next_Tuesday), their dog would be pretty much perfectly trained for life.

Trained dogs always have a much more enjoyable life than untrained ones. Always. Untrained ones get yelled at a lot and get much anger directed towards them, whereas trained ones get rewarded more and feel more love and admiration directed their way.

Sadly, most people will remain too lazy to train their dog regardless.

very nice dog!!! but looks sad

She does seem defeated doesn't she? It's sad to see.
It's your dog, not mine so use whichever method you see fit. My folks had both dogs walk-coached by a pro back when they were pups.

Yeah you could be right....he does have a pedigree but it doesn't mention
anything about newfoundland or Canadian labrador retriever. I've seen those
many times and though he does have the size of them he's build leaner and
his head isn't as big as the ones I've seen so I'm not totally sure about that.

My dog is a louzy protector no matter what happens he NEVER barks I've
only hear him bark maybe 5 times in over 4 years time. He'll open the door
for anyone and helps carrying all my shit into the van of the burglars instead
of alerting me about something that's wrong :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

The only thing he is very alert to are my kids, anyone can play with them
and come near them but he'll keep his eyes on them all the time but he'll
never show any sign of agression or warnings to anyone that goes near
my kids apart from that he'll keep watching everything very concentrated.

The other funny thing is because he didn't get taught all the social skills from
his mother while he was born he doesn't understand the social rules from
other dogs.

He's not afraid of any dog but he also doesn't understand if the other dog
is agressive or not in the mood to play.....no matter what response he gets
he thinks everything means come lets play. Sometimes the other dog is
fighting and attacking and he's just jumping around them playing.....very
funny to watch.....only when they really bite him hard enough that it hurts
he'll fight back.....never ever have I see him bail out or roll over. Luckily
dangerous dogs aren't legal in Holland so it never got him and me into nasty
fights where I had to step in between.

I gave up on trying to teach him those skills after months of wrestling with
him and rolling him over so he couldn't move anymore....still he was wipping
his tail like crazy and behaved insanely happy. It seems that the few dogs
who started fights with him also gave up within seconds once they noticed
that the signs they displayed all turned out to be without any effect.

Once he made himself a target in a group with 3 other dogs and exactly
the same happened.....3 dogs trying to explain him their ranks by trying to
dominate him and idiot just ran around in circles thinking they were all
playing some silly game :1orglaugh:1orglaugh:1orglaugh

None of this I consider a problem so from all the dogs I had before this one
this is by far the most friendly, funny, loving dog I ever had. I don't know
too much about his background as I bought him in Spain when I just moved
there and walked into a supermarket where they sold dogs....He just arrived
a day before in the store I just couldn't leave him there behind.

His pedigree says he's originally from Hungary so I'm sure he's from some
asshole commercial breeder instead of from a reputable labrador breeder.
Apart from that his character is 100% as it should be for a lab and he's
perfectly healthy and extremely well built.....sometimes I wondered if
he's been on steriods or something big dog, not fat but not skinny either
but very muscular. You can see his muscles very clearly in his rear legs.

I'll post some pics as soon as I found them....so you can see what I mean

:thumbsup

These pics aren't very recent all of them were taken before he
reached full size....don't have recent pics on this machine :Oh crap

Anyway here's my dog.....his name is Lailo (My wife's choice I didn't have
any say in this.....as I think it's a gay name for a dog but I guess it fits
his personality pretty well):1orglaugh

http://www.servergenius.com/gfy/idmodder.jpg

http://www.servergenius.com/gfy/ihzwembad.jpg

http://www.servergenius.com/gfy/lailo.jpg

The fact that I shared all this info about my dog shows how much
I love him as actaully I don't have the time today for it hahaha

http://www.servergenius.com/gfy/Quinten&Lailo.jpg

so enough for now.....I have to get my ass back to work *sigh*

The pic seems so funny to me because my dog has a very sunny disposition, and in most of the time she has a big doggie smile with her long floppy tongue hangin' out:

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Tried it today, can only say that he seems to hate it . . . but he doesn't pull, that is for sure

They def. get that owned feeling real quick, but they get over it, and the walks and training go much smoother...

Gigi is responding amazing well, and our new pup has no leash problems, so we've had her on a normal collar.

wow, what a nice dog... he looks smart!

I have one for one of my dogs, their great! have fun with your pooch!

I thought this thread was about munki.

No doubt. It works for everything from jumping to barking, but he sure hates it . . . I am going to take him to the dog park with it on and see how he deals with others while wearing it.

Hey there Baddog, enjoying your b-day week? I'm sure Buddy will get used to it really quick, it took GG a few days. After all, it still means she's going for a walk, and now she gets all excited when we grab the leash and lead. When G see's another dog and begins to pull really hard, she'll turn her head side to side in an effort to ditch the lead. In that case, I have her sit and stay until she can proceed calmly (of course, this might take a couple tries). Good luck:)

My dogs are almost able to take walks without their leashes. Choke chains worked well. Both were pups when we started working with them and they taking their walks.

I can see one of them now lying by the door with her leash and chain.

Well, I had to postpone enjoying myself until some network issues were resolved, but that happened this morning, so I am ready to extend this party thru next week. :)

When I first took Buddy out with it, it was pretty comical as he would be walking on 3 legs, using the 4th to try and get this damn thing off.

Now when I have company and he shows his puppiness I put it on him and he chills right out.

It is a multi-purpose tool.