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Thread: Seeking Advice on Dog Training

  1. #1
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    Default Seeking Advice on Dog Training

    Can anyone give me some tips on how to train a dog not to pull while walking on a lead? My daughter has a 6-month old (female) Boxer puppy, and she is already strong enough to nearly pull me off my feet...not to mention my daughter, who is smaller than I am! And of course I don't like being dragged along trying to keep up, as well as having the poor pup coughing and wheezing from nearly strangling herself.

    I've never had this problem with any of my own dogs, so don't have a clear idea of how to address it. However, I'm thinking that its probably a really, really good idea to sort this out soon, as this puppy is only going to get bigger!!

    Can anyone help?
    The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea. ~Isak Dinesen

  2. #2
    unicorn Guest

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    Having owned 2 boxers the best advice I can give you is get a halti and stick with it no matter what. I also tried the harness idea but head controll worked by far the best. They will drive you nuts rubbing into the back of your knee as you walk and nearly knocking you over but it's only until they get used to it and you get softer halti's for boxers and other soft faced dogs. Ask the vets.A short lead is also helpful when halti training begins. Just found this link which gives lots of advice on using the halti http://www.canineconcepts.co.uk/ccp5...d-collar.shtml
    Last edited by unicorn; 28-Nov-06 at 15:02.

  3. #3

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    As the pup is still young enough to learn new tricks, this is what I would do. Walk the dog as normal, with normal lead and collar, everytime the dog pulls, turn the opposite way, keep on doing this, don't drag or say anything, when the dog is walking nicely, lots of vocal praise and a high vale reward, such as a piece of hotdog. You do need to be patient with this, but it does work

    Best of luck x
    Wishing on a star, still!

    ~~Be who you are and say what you want because those that mind don't matter and those that matter don't mind~~

  4. #4
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    Thanks for the suggestions, Unicorn, and Wish. I'll get together with my daughter and see if we can work out a plan for sorting out this puppy!
    The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea. ~Isak Dinesen

  5. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wish View Post
    As the pup is still young enough to learn new tricks, this is what I would do. Walk the dog as normal, with normal lead and collar, everytime the dog pulls, turn the opposite way, keep on doing this, don't drag or say anything, when the dog is walking nicely, lots of vocal praise and a high vale reward, such as a piece of hotdog. You do need to be patient with this, but it does work

    Best of luck x
    I can fully recomend this method worked a treat with our Jack-russell just used keep a packet of titbits in the jacket pocket be careful only give titbit if he is doing what he should. wish you all the success

  6. #6
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    when i went to puppy classes with Tik they recommended keeping her on a short lead on the left & hold a treat just in front of her with your right hand holding off giving it to her for a few mins, Although getting my hand gnawed away it did work with regular use, Just a tip dont take 2 dogs out on retractable leads its like flying 2 kites well mine are anyhows

  7. #7
    unicorn Guest

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    don't forget your plastic mac for all the slobber with that method though It really is no fun to walk them when they get bigger and pull though as I remember my girl nearly pulling me into the path of an oncoming lorry whilst chasing a leaf it was sheer brute strength that prevented a nasty accident.

  8. #8

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    just to say i found the turning and walking the other way worked a treat with a weimaraner pup, but instead of using a short lead use a long lead with about one foot of it looped in your hand as you turn to walk away drop the loop as you turn and a sharp jerk as you go the other way. once or twice should be enough then if it pulls as it feels the lead go slack it stops pulling..

  9. #9
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    Its consistency no matter what method as is most doggy training, But with me having 2 lasses they conspire at every opportunity typical women oops only joking honest

  10. #10
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    It also depends on just how much effort and consistency you're willing to put in, and it also HAS to involve every member of the family - unfortunately. lol.
    The other thing to take into account is the fact that pulling on the lead is not the main problem, it is merely a symptom of a bigger problem.
    You have a great opportunity with a puppy to socialise right from the beginning and know yourself that it's been done properly.
    It's all well and good putting a halti on etc (which I have to do myself - eek) but if you teach your puppy from day one what its place is within the pack (your family) it helps immensly. Don't let it start those 'Awww it's so cute, it won't hurt this one time' as it nips your fingers or slobbers all over your dinner plate or even insists on sitting on your knee.
    Get the basics right indoors and outside will be a doddle. In theory!!!!

    I have to admit to my dane puppy getting away with a hell of a lot when he was younger - he was just soooo darn cute - but unfortunately I'm paying for it now. He considers himself my protector and will do his utmost to shepherd people away from me.
    When I walk him on his own he's fine - after all we've done the dog showing no probs - but when I take him out for walks with the 2 shepherds all hell breaks loose and any poor innocent dog is a target for being barked at. I now walk him on a halti and it really does work but the main reason I use the halti is for gripping power. See this particular dane leaps in the air like Tigger when he sees another dog and makes it impossible to keep walking past as I should do, I can now do that with a halti.
    The best way to describe it is to give an example with a horse - put a rope around its next and walk it away (as I used to) and you have little or no hope of control if it decides to go elsewhere, but put a headcollar on it and you pretty much have full control from the head - same goes for a halti.
    They're not a substitute for good groundwork but they are great for ease of control and your own peace of mind.

    Good luck with your pup, it sounds as though you have all the basics right and at least you want to get it right from the puppy stage and not before it's too late.
    Go to training classes in Wick and I'm sure you'll do fine, also, get yourself a copy of the 'Dog whisperer' by Jan Fennel. It's not the doggie bible but it makes alot of sense and could help to give you an understanding of why a dog does what it does.

    Good Luck!!!
    Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain.

    http://thetenaciousgardener.blogspot.co.uk/

  11. #11
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    be carefull with the halti due to the boxer being short and wrikley round the face it can case infection in the folds in the face and problems with the eyes just talking of the problems i had with mine

  12. #12
    unicorn Guest

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    Quote Originally Posted by willson View Post
    be carefull with the halti due to the boxer being short and wrikley round the face it can case infection in the folds in the face and problems with the eyes just talking of the problems i had with mine
    was this with the lined halti? I got a special one for soft faced dogs and had no problem thankfully, I have had enough boxer health problems to last a lifetime

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by elamanya View Post
    just to say i found the turning and walking the other way worked a treat with a weimaraner pup, but instead of using a short lead use a long lead with about one foot of it looped in your hand as you turn to walk away drop the loop as you turn and a sharp jerk as you go the other way. once or twice should be enough then if it pulls as it feels the lead go slack it stops pulling..
    I found this worked really well with my two, even if you pull the dog off it's feet the first time, they soon learn to keep an eye on you and therefore not wanting to get ahead. But you must remember not to even look at them, just turn and walk the other way. Then they don't associate the discomfort with you.
    She was not quite what you would call refined, she was not quite what you would call unrefined. She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot. Mark Twain

  14. #14
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    I have some experience in dog training, I used to work with English Pointers and those dogs will pull you across a hill if you let them get away with it. I used the same methods I used to train them as I did my current Border Collie and it worked perfect.

    I used a willow switch and a whistle, the switch has to be very thin so as not to hurt the dog, some people find this crule but its not, when I wanted to stop a dog or slow him down I would bounce the switch off his hind quarters, not enough to hurt but enough to give it a start, I would give a low peep on the whislte at the same time, so the dog associates the whistle with the switch giving him a little clip, the reason for this is so that it won't take long before you can throw away the switch and just use the whistle, and of course it does not have to be a whistle, it can be a voice command a noise or just slap your spare hand onr your thigh, at exactly the same time as clipping the dogs hips. For more headstrong dogs, you can whistle and clip and then show the switch to the dog so it is front of his nose, he then associates it with what clipped him in the backside, eventually your dog will become more responsive and you will be able to stop him from pulling by holding the switch in the same hand as the leash so the point of it is in front of him and he naturally wants to stay behind it so its not clipping him in the backside. I always believe you have to train disipline into a dog by training its memory with repetitive movements. Its not cruel, when my dog was about 4 months old I have never used a switch again, nor a whistle, he stays by me all the time, but Collies are easy to train mind you. It might seem like coercing your dog into obedience, but thats the point, dogs are supposed to obey you or they wouldn't be domesticated.

    There is another problem with dogs once they have learned obedience, quite often they respond to who they believe to be the alpha male even if that is a woman in the family, and sometimes its hard to get a dog to behave for children like they do for adults, and what seems like pulling to a child may not feel like pulling to you, so when you train him you need to get him to a point where the leash is totally loose and not pulling at all. My dog will do whatever I say but he doesn't always do that for my son

    Good Luck.
    Last edited by Jeemag_USA; 29-Dec-06 at 22:21.

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