Staffie which pulls when excited

Hi I have a 16 month old Staffie called Patch which we rehomed at 8 months he is lovely natured and loves plying ball at the park, however when we walk to the park he pulls I think this may be partly due to excitement because if we go for a road walk the opposite direction to the park without the ball he is a lot better not pulling anywhere near as much.

I've been using the stop method when he pulls I stop walking wait til he sits then start walking again if the lead goes tight and he pulls I stop again and keep resting this. Is this the best method or would it be better to turn and walk the other way until lead is loose then start walking again ? I've also started trying training at home with treats walking beside me using heel as the command with and without the lead. Going to introduce the treats on his walks also.

Any advice would be much appreciated

Hi Lizzie, you seem to be on the right track (consistency is the key).

We had someone with the same problem a little while ago too - check out the replies in their thread as there's some good info in it: Dog Pulling on lead take a look at the Dogs Trust video that Mini posted too.

Good idea to get his basic obedience up to scratch, as it will help you both understand each other better and help in situations like this where there are more distractions/excitement or it's not as easy to grasp.

Hello Lizzie it sounds as though you have been on the right track training at home and loose lead walking

Patch bless him, clearly he can't wait to get to the park and who can blame him .
If the main puling takes place on way to the park it may help to vary your rout though I know this may not be possible.

Thank you for the great advice I'm going to keep at it and hopefully he will soon get the idea I definitely find him better on a chest harness and lead than collar and lead

Unfortunately there's only one route to the park and clever little mans knows the route as when we walk the other way he's much better. But going to make sure I road walk him as well as going to the park and hopefully we can improve the walk to the park