BigBears pull

Please could someone give me some ideas as to how to stop my girls pulling on the lead. I have tried head halti, body harness and standing still when I get pulled. My girls are now five and a half months and weight about 28Kg (65-70lbs) each. when they decide they want to talk to another dog or person, they take me with them. Im a big lass, and I cant hold them back, leaders nip my hands.
We are doing puppy class, but that is all walking one on one, I walk both together as I also have 3 kids under 10 at home.
Please save my already damaged back from any more pain.

I know exactly how you feel, lol. For the most part I've found a chain/choke collar works just fine. I don't really have to jerk it ever, just let the chain slide a little and he hears it and stops trying to pull. Having said that, if there's really something he wants to see, as you say another dog, I've got no chance against 40kg+ and it's brace, brace, brace!

Try a Halti or headcollar - it`s much kinder than a choke chain. I`ve got big dogs and can manage my youngster easily with a Halti.

I think she's tried a halti already and it's not working. With the two of them she's got almost 60kg of dog on the charge when they decide to go so I don't think it's ever going to be easy no matter what she uses!! I find a chain works just fine provided it's used appropriately and it's better than having a crippled back so the dogs don't go for a walk for 2 months

I've got a dog who will pull himself unconscious if I let him and have found a Dogmatic headcollar to be a godsend!

He is only 5 and a bit stone, but it's quite embarrassing having him pulling until he blacks out. Since I often walk both of ours together (approx 10 stone) then it means I can control both of them by myself.

DOGMATIC thats all i can say i used halti and gentleleaderon mine to no avail, The dogmatic works wonders my boy is20months and weighs about 140 andi can walk him great with it on and will not even contemplate going out without it as he can pull like a steam train if he want. www.domatic.org.uk just measure around there muzzle and around the back of the head and they will find you the correct size and if its the wrong size you can send it back i imagint the 4 or the 4L will prob be the right size at the moment. Hope this helps (p.s the webbed cushioned are the best)

Ollie has a martingale collar same concept as a choke chain but material and much kinder and they don't matt the fur. He wears that and that is what I walk him on and he wears his harness with the handle so I have extra grab if needed. He is very good most times though and has settled into walking nicely took a while but we got there.

Not sure how you manage two.

I like the Dogmatic but Rossi couldn't really open his mouth wide enough to pant, so I use a Gencon. It's all in one headcollar and lead and can easily loosen if he's not pulling. I don't use it so much because he's pulling but for my own safety if he sees a cat!

It's so difficult to get Enzo out if he sees any kind of harness or headcollar so I use a half check but it's not really effective!

With a headcollar, you have to get it right - some peeps kind of just let the dogs pull, often because there is not enough good info given with the product.

Ideally, the headcollar and lead are used so that the dog is walking next to the owner rather than setting the neck to pull ahead....if the dog pulls then it can pull the same way as with an ordinary collar.

I find that if the dog pulls you can use fingers on the lead to gently nudge the dog back in place, but it's hard to show over the net.

Ideally you do need to take some time to get the dogs used to the headcollar by some training to walk beside you with food rewards, few people do this

Also I'd suggest taking time to train both dogs separately - if you walk them together they will be hard to control and a tiny bit of "competition" may be there too, plus more excitement, etc.

I used to walk my 2 BSDs together, I found it helped to always have one dog on one side and one on the other so they knew where to be....

Wys
x

You need to train them to walk nicely on the lead separately using whichever 'aid' you prefer (head collar or the like) and then train them to walk together. Preferably with no children in tow so that the dog will have your undivided attention (it'll also be quicker if you're not distracted by watching the kids too). Once you have established a method that works for both dogs singly, then you can work on applying that to them when together as they won't automatically walk to heel with the other dog present. I doubt if you'll ever manage to get them both walking without pulling without putting in the individual time first.

I haven't had much success with either of my dogs on head collars so good old fashioned patience, consistency and perserverance has been needed to ensure I can walk them both together (50kg+ each) safely on a standard flat collar and lead.

Be careful of 'walk-ezee' type body harnesses on your dogs whilst they are growing as some can have a detrimental effect on joint development.