# 6MNTH Pulling on Leash



## Flashbrite (Apr 12, 2007)

Hello Everyone,
We are brand new owners of a Golden, and we've only had her for a week. We also have a bichon and he walks on a leash wonderfully. But our new Golden Lilly pulls the ENTIRE walk! She is SO strong, I'm not sure what the next step is. Her previous owner told us they did not have very much time to walk her, and that she got "exercise in the yard". We have a large yard, but she is mostly indoors, and we really want to take her for walks every night. Where should I begin?


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## goldencity (May 26, 2005)

You can deal with this problem, this is how our trainer taught us.

Dogs pull because its rewarding to pull- they get to where they want to go, at the speed they want to go at.
You have to make it more rewarding to walk nicely. Start in a confined space, like your garden. Work with her on her own so your other dog doesnt distract her. Have some treats ready in one hand [tiny pieces only needed]. Hold the lead, give the command "heel" [or whatever you say] and set off walking. Talk to her all the time in a "happy" interesting way so she is focussed on you. Keep giving her little treats as she stays by you. As soon as she pulls or goes out in front, stop, change direction and start again. 
Practise this for 5 minutes or so several times a day- she'll be dreadfull at first, but should soon learn. I guess you might feel pretty silly talking to your dog all the time and keeping stopping to change direction but stick with it, it does work! 
When she is OK in the confined space, try her outside, somwhere quiet and not too exciting, soon she will walk anywhere.
The trick is to get her to find it more rewarding to stay by you, than to rush off in front. 

Hope this helps!


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## tintallie (May 31, 2006)

How fast do you want Lilly to stop pulling?

My dog was like that from 4 months to 11 months and I tolerated it and now I should be going to the chriopractor or the physiotherapist because of it.

We enrolled Wiggles into a 2nd set of obedience classes where the trainer uses praise and corrections on a choke collar (no treats). it took about several weeks for Wiggles to really pick it up, and I still had difficulty delivering a strong enough correction for Wiggles to get the point.

I switched over to a prong collar and Wiggles responds MUCH better. It's not for every dog, but yours kinda sounds like mine.

Do a search on "prong collar" on the forum as ACC and I have talked about it with other people with pulling dogs.


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## KatzNK9 (Feb 27, 2007)

I'm a big fan of prong collars too. My pulling Golden turned into a nice heeler in approximately 5 minutes & ONE correction on the prong. I find the tool invaluable.

We've long since needed the prong collar but when Ozzy thinks it is time to go for a walk, he goes to fetch his prong collar & brings it to me & drops it in my lap. He loves wearing it because it takes him to great places.


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## goldencity (May 26, 2005)

I know people swear by these prong collars- I've never used one or a choke chain either. 
The point is, do you want your dog to behave well and stay by you because she thinks of you as the leader, and wants to be good or do you want her to behave because it is uncomfortable/painful not to?
Personally I would rather the first option!

IMHO, theres no such thing as a free lunch, and if something sounds too good to be true, thats because it is. Theres no real substitute for proper training. 

Before you all rush to tell me off, I had a lot of trouble with my old GR. Lucy. We had her about 18 years ago and knew a lot less about training- walking well on the lead was always a problem. This was not her fault, looking back on it we were really not very good at training and would do things a lot differently now. I got her a halti collar which did make life much easier, another similar thing is the gentle leader. This is an option.
However, my current 2 walk well on loose leads with flat collars and I feel that this is because I used a better training method- not down to me being anything special, but I went to a good training class and I suppose I have got better over the years!


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## tintallie (May 31, 2006)

It's not jsut an issue about who's alpha. Wiggles is first of all a very dominant dog, more than his dam which surprised his breeder. He will not take $h!t from any other dog who wants to challenge him. He also has very high prey drive and pack drive. He will chase anything and everything no matter how much he fears and respects us because the reward of the chase is greater than any treat you can offer him. Wiggles earns his toys, treats, and food on a daily basis. We enforce that we are alpha by going through doors before him, making him wait and be patient.

I have been pulled into to traffic by him, and he is good probably 75% of the time on a normal leather collar now after 10 weeks of training. Clicker training for 8 weeks was nothing to him! The prong is NOT a substitute for training. It is a tool which is if used properly can give great results.

A gentle leader/halti is not designed well for the anatomy of a dog. It works well in principle for a horse which has much stronger muscles in the neck.


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