Hi Bomber my male ckcs is now 17 weeks old he loves his walks but he pulls like mad. I've tryed the harness which works a little but he still pulls. I've tryed keeping him on a short lead but still he pulls, I stop walking and say heel and show him by picking him up putting him where his meant to walk and say heel. I then continue to walk saying heel and if he doesn't i stop walking again and do it again. They say to stop walking and wait for the dog to come back to your side well if i did this i would be waiting a very long time. What can i do to stop him from pulling on the lead, I used the choke chain once but that didn't work he was choking himself and wasn't letting up, I'm thinking of trying the halti out as this leads them to go into the heel position.
-
If you're a past member of the board, but can't recall your password any more, you don't need to set up a new account (unless you wish to). As long as you recall your old login name, you can log in with that user name then select 'forgot password' and the board will email you at your registration email, to let you reset your password.
pulling on the lead
- Thread starter AussieCav
- Start date
CavyMom
Well-known member
There's a few things you can try, but what I've found works best for a determined puller is to just turn around as soon as he starts pulling - It may take you a long time to finish your walk, but eventually he'll get the idea that if he pulls, you change direction, and he'll stop. Another method that works is to get him by your side, go just one step to begin with, and reward him for moving with you - slowly increase how many steps you take with him moving with you. Again, it'll take time and patience, but he'll eventually get it 
I don't think picking him up will do much -- it just teaches him that he gets picked up when you say heel. You don't want 'heel' to mean, 'wait while I carry you and set you down' but that is all he is learning.
Most people do not need a dog to heel -- walk right at their side -- and it is pretty boring for a dog too, to have to just keep pace at a person's side all the time on walks. Most people simply want a dog to walk on a loose lead so they don't pull, which is much easier than training a heel. Keep in mind that he is just a small puppy still too -- he isn't going to really get the idea of heeling right at your side at such a young age.
If you look in this section you will see that TKC posted a video and instructions for how to train a dog to walk on a loose lead.
http://board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=24550
I'd suggest watching that, and work with treats and reward and praise. If you haven't worked at all to teach and reward so that he has some idea of what is the desired behaviour, trying to get him to walk on a loose lead is going to be very difficult! So the video and directions from TKC are very handy so you can start that process.
I've pinned a number of good training sites at the top of this section and all give excellent directions for training all sorts of things including walking on a loose lead.
Most people do not need a dog to heel -- walk right at their side -- and it is pretty boring for a dog too, to have to just keep pace at a person's side all the time on walks. Most people simply want a dog to walk on a loose lead so they don't pull, which is much easier than training a heel. Keep in mind that he is just a small puppy still too -- he isn't going to really get the idea of heeling right at your side at such a young age.
If you look in this section you will see that TKC posted a video and instructions for how to train a dog to walk on a loose lead.
http://board.cavaliertalk.com/showthread.php?t=24550
I'd suggest watching that, and work with treats and reward and praise. If you haven't worked at all to teach and reward so that he has some idea of what is the desired behaviour, trying to get him to walk on a loose lead is going to be very difficult! So the video and directions from TKC are very handy so you can start that process.
I've pinned a number of good training sites at the top of this section and all give excellent directions for training all sorts of things including walking on a loose lead.
chloe92us
Well-known member
I just had unbelievable results using the Easy Walk harness by Gentle Leader. It completely cured the pulling on our first try. It would, of course, be a better route to teach them not to pull through training, but with a pack of three dogs that proved to be difficult for me. So I cheated, and it worked! I'm hoping that as we continue to use it, he will learn not to pull even when the special harness isn't on. We'll see!
Caraline
Well-known member
Carry really yummy treats & let him see that you have them in your hands. Hopefully he will be so eager to earn some of those treats he will be inclined to stay closer to you. Also when he starts pulling, without warning do an about turn & walk in the other direction, then again without warning turn right or left. Keep doing this until he realises that life is very uncomfortable when he is not paying attention to where you want to go. This is what we were taught to do on day one of our training.