thanks very much jess for your response. can you come and train my sam . he isn't always bad and i suppose things came to a head this morning. he walks great in the garden, and on the green in front of the house. pays attention etc. but as soon as i head towards the field its pull, pull. if i change direction when he's pulling he walks on a loose lead back the way we've just come (even if we're heading back home), then if i change direction again he starts pulling . so we're constantly going over the same piece of road!!! he's not interested in treats when he's out...i've tried it with chicken and cheese.

tigger2....i do know what you mean about 'arcing', and he does do that to a degree, just gets carried away if he gets the scent of something and pulls so hard that he knocks me off-balance sometimes. he doesnt tend to follow bronte, but will go over if he thinks she's got a good 'sniff'.

its getting to the stage now where i dont want to take him out. but that just wouldnt be fair.

It does take time - lots in our case and Loki is just about 2 years old.

We have good days and bad days. Yesterday and today were excellent - I've had the baby in a sling and Loki was great. Some days though he just pulls continually and it is soooooooooooo hard not to yell and get cross. I have a Dogmatic as he escaped from the Halti. I use this when he's in real pull mode or when I am trying to push a buggy as well and I used it when I was pregnant as I couldn't handle him at all then. He hates it though and everytime we use it we have a rolling around session where he tries to get it off . No luck for him yet .

Other than that I do the stop-start thing too and I used to actually turn and walk back the other way and keep doing this until he walked nicely. What you can also do is use a word, such as, "nicely" or "slowly" or "gently" so that he associates it with the stopping and eventually should understand just the word. I've started stopping and standing quietly until he comes back to me and only then does the walk resume. When I first did this he refused to budge and in the end sat down on the end of the lead with his back to me . So I did the same (what must we have looked like ) and eventually he came running to me and licked me so we carried on with the walk .

He has got the hang of it and if I add the word, "nicely" he seems to slow a bit for a while. Sometimes I reward with a treat if he walks nicely but ALWAYS lavish heaps of praise on him when he walks well in a happy, squeeky voice and you should see his tail wag . I also try to talk to him lots too.

It's just so exciting for them - the beginning of the walk. I've noticed he walks much better on the way home, even if he isn't that tired.

Hi

I think in some ways you will find it very yhard to get him to stop pulling unless he can have off lead exercise ... in a way, if you don't mind me saying, you are setting him and you up to fail as you take him somewhere he loves, (a field) full of gorgeous scents, and tracks, and he is to behave an d be on lead!

I take it he's fairly young? Only I feel you need to work out -perhaps where he can be exercised off lead (use a pace or two of loose lead and use the being OFF lead as an immediate reward .... ie 2 steps of loose lead - Yes! good boy, Off!!" )

I'd also use a stop pull harness for getting from A to B and a collar for actual training :smt002

Use the change direction thing but also gently walk into him if he is in your way, and change direction lots - maybe every 5 paces - and then let him off lead as that reward!!

Not sure what you do with him but, I'd also suggest doing things on walks with him - don't whatever you do allow him to just sniff around, that will just teach him to ignore you. Instead, use toys, very high value food rewards and do fun things with him - hiding, chasing, tuggie, and things more spaniel like such as basic tracking, searching, retrieving etc....

He may not be that interested at first, but persevere and you will have his attention - plus you are interesting, not the field as such. I'ts what you both DO in the field together that is so exciting ...

I'd also suggest teaching some control exercises, for example sit and wait whilst you hide something for him to find and retrieve to you...

In some parts of the country there are really good trainers who will give well worth it one to ones - you may find investing in one is a help

Argh poor you I know exactly how you feel It can be so frustrating when they just keep pulling, and it's exhausting for everyone!

I don't have much advice except try to be consistent with whatever method you choose.
When I first had my last dog Bailey I kept swapping methods trying to find something that had an effect and it just made us all confused . I don't know if you are doing that at all but I think picking one method and really working hard on it does work....eventually

The best things for me were the stop when pulling then start again. It was hard to keep stopping after literally only taking one or two steps forward but it did sink in eventually. Although like Lucky star said, good days and bad days. Also using a harness was perfect because then I didn't worry about hurting his neck.

Good luck

oh I can totally sympathise - I've sometimes got 32kg of dog pulling on my arm. Only good thing is my upper body strength has improved no end and got rid of my bat-wings

When we first go out, Suki is like a steam train. She's just so excited to be out and her body is always one step ahead of her brain. I use a halti and although she tries to pull she can't go anywhere. She really doesn't like it and tries at first to take it off - but soon settles down.

I have control of her via the halti and her halter - using a police training lead. If she stops pulling I loosen of the control I have of the halti. She is quickly getting the message that its better to just behave.

Once we are in the woods or the park I switch to a long lead and simply clip the halti to her collar. The lead is clipped to the halter. If she starts pulling I stop and get her to come back to me. We move off and keep repeating. It takes ages to go anywhere but saves my arm getting dislocated!

OF course sometimes she doesn't care what I do - she's got the scent of something and she's off! I live in hope that the defiance is just symptomatic of her being a teenager and one day she'll grow out of it.

hi wysiwyg,

thanks alot for your reply, but unfortunately i cannot let him off-lead yet as he just runs off, he came to me with no basic training let alone recall training! so at the moment i'm caught in a vicious circle really. i have to keep him on-lead all the time (but when i'm in the field with him i switch to a long line). i understand what you're saying about reward for loose lead but i cannot give him the reward of off-lead yet. there is no place near me where i can take him that is fully enclosed so if he did run off there would be no-where for him to go.

he's not at all interested in toys or treats (even high value ones) when he's out. he treats every walk as though its his first and last walk ever

i do go into the middle of the field and practice heel work and we do lots of sit stays, down stays and stand stays while i walk away from him, and past him. he's great once you've got his attention, but getting it is the key!

i take him to training classes and he's come on brilliantly, but its just when he's outdoors he's just a loon!!

so i'm a bit stuck really....dont know what else to do with him......

I am having the same problem with this lab, he can't get off the lead until he learns some manners.

Springergirl can you do be a favour?

Just this weekend, let him starve a little. Don't feed him tonight, and tomorrow morning do some training...he should be good and hungry. Do some training in the house, sits and stays, put him on the lead and get him to 'follow' hold the treat in your hand out next to your thigh just above his nose. Get him working a bit. Once your happy that he is 'getting it' take him out and do a bit more. If he is good, give him his breakfast when you return, if he still refuses food outside, don't give him breakfast, and leave it a few hours and do the whole thing again, working him inside and then taking him out.

Please remember he is living in your world, your not living in his, it's your choice to have a well behaved dog, and you need to put alot of effort into him in the beginning... but it will pay off, and then you will have a well behaved and happy dog for a long time to come!

hi jess,

makes perfect sense what you're saying. i will just have to hide my other mutt upstairs away from sam while she has her tea. you do realise i'm going to get that sad eyed springer look all night dont you?!!! i'll let you know how i get on with him! my dogmatic collar arrived this morning so off to try that tonight. also do you think maybe i should keep him away from high distraction places for the time being....try and stick to 'boring' fields until i resume some control over him? he is such a lovely dog though, just been taught no manners which is not his fault. i'm doing my best for him, but sometimes i do get a bit impatient because things arent happening immediately or he's just not 'getting it'. i do feel a bit more optimistic today though

I have had the same problem with both of my springers however the youngest has got it cracked now as I took him on his own for about a week, on a lead up the path that leads to the field. The first day it took ages to go barely 10 metres then we went home. He was very disgruntled but got the message eventually that if he was a good boy, we got to the field! Paid off as he's now almost perfect. The older dog is still not quite there and still needs reminders every so often. With her it was easy to really wear her out whilst off lead, generally swimming as she loves it. She has less strength to fit the lead on the return journey so she is easier to keep in line.
Be patient as it's like watching paint dry!

Hi Springer girl, just wondering, have u considered Dog Training Classes?

I am going to train Jess myself, but I am also going to take her along to training classes too, to socialise and help us both touch up on training methods.

I think these classes are excellent, good value too, a good as gold dog is preiceless!