Walking on a loose lead

Hi all

Lula is 5.5 months and I'm working on stopping the pulling now. Funnily, I spent years telling myself that my next dog wouldn't pull . I can get her walking on a lose lead and a flat collar or comfortable harness around my local estate as long as I'm rewarding her with praise and treats and without any exciting distractions.

However, anywhere else e.g. the park, the vet, the high street to get to the park are just TOO exciting and I need to bring out the hardware. Unlike my previous staffie, she doesn't like head collars (I suspect because I introduced them while she was teething - stupid me). However, is OK on the Halti no pull harness.

My goal though, is to only use a flat collar or regular harness rather than any anti pulling hardware. I'm currently following Turid Rugaas' book "My Dog Pulls." (which is wonderful btw).

My question is, Lula (and me) can only manage a limited amount of training time for loose lead walking before she (and me) becomes tired, bored and grumbly. How do ensure she gets all the exercise she needs each day (using an anti-pull device) and train her to walk nicely on lead with a flat collar. I'm concerned the daily mad walks she needs for exercise are just undoing any loose lead training I'm doing with her.

I have yet to find a training book that addresses the need for both exercise and training. 10 minutes loose lead training a few times a day isn't enough exercise or socialisation (especially if we only make it to the end of the street and back). How have others juggled this one?

Cheers
Sammymax

I would use her no pull harness to get from a to b when you need to and to get her the exercise she needs...Maybe take her to the park or field etc to have a run, off lead if recall is good or on a long line (minus the harness) if it isn't great. That takes care of the need to let off some steam then set aside separate times for lead walk training with no devices, time where you are not in any hurry and you can be completly focused on training and you don't give her one single chance to pull.

Your right that no dog can concentrate when it needs to have a good run around and this is how I would take care of things

Thanks for this

My problems include I only have a small courtyard, so no private space there. Recall isn't good (we start training classes this week I want her to work towards her GCDS awards) and, having recently moved back to central London, even in the park I wouldn't be happy with her being a long way from me on lead until we can work on recall and excitability towards other dogs and people (loves them all).

I dunno. Maybe there's something I should be doing or maybe I just need to be told that I'm doing OK with the situation I've got (crisis of confidence here).

Cheers
Sammy

with a very small garden and being kept on a short lead I imagine she has just got to much energy at the moment and needs some way of letting off steam. Is there anyway you can find an area that is a bit off the way where she can at least be on a long line...That is the main thing I would be looking into if it were me. I know that my own dogs are always easier to train when they have been able to get enough play.

At her age she shouldn't get overly long walks anyway but I feel she does need some time to just play and be silly sometimes before settling down to some serious work.

It must be hard in London to find anywhere quiet though I imagine.

I have two parks about 10 minutes walk away in opposite directions to each other. One is *great* for having lots of dogs and chances to keep little staffie Lula well socialised but has nowhere 'safe' for her to run. The other park has a small (but big in puppy terms) enclosed dog run that no one ever seems to use and we've successfully been off lead in there a couple of times now. However this park is terrible for its total lack of dogs. We're lucky if we get one dog to say hello to there.

I must admit, her being a staffie, I've usually opted for the first park to keep up her dog socialisation. However I'll take her to the empty park with the run until Sunday when we have our first training class. Maybe it'll sort itself out nicely then

Thanks for your help

I find distractions at home are ignored for treats/clicker training. However, once outside the door it is difficult. Because of the breed (Northern Inuit), no-one round here has seen one, so they tend to stop and ask about him. (As well as cuddle him!).

He is absolutely perfect on loose lead until a person or dog appears in his range of view. Then it is a struggle to hold him on the lead.

We let him off for the first time when we went to the local 'country park'. He was pretty good and had a good swim in the lake with our lab and labx. However, it was a sunny Sunday so it was packed and he 'dissapeared' a couple of times!

I'm planning on taking him when it is quiet for some training. However, I can't put more than one dog in my car (roadster), so rely on my husband for longer walks - but he works away from home.

The benefits were when we got home they all fell asleep and left us an evening of relaxation (not normal when a pup is around!).

Control with exciting distractions is a concern - it is so difficult - particularly people coming up (with their dog) to ask me about Lupi.

I have bought a 'gentle leader' but not used it yet - I'd like to know opinions on this. I don't feel a harness is appropriate because he is a strong dog - I think he would still pull.

Hope things settle for you soon

Today was a good day. We got to the edge of the high street using the Turid Rugaas technique and she was able to "calmly" sit on the high street with lots of traffic and people walking past etc. I'm very pleased

Tania my preference with head collars is the Canny Collar, the Halti and then the Gentle Leader (from experience with previous dogs). However Lula hates them all and prefers the Halti no pull harness. I'm working toward her walking on a regular webbing harness though :smt002

I've got an NI just like that Tania they can be a real handful at times.

We're doing loose lead walking in puppy class at the moment. The pups are learning that when the lead's on their collar it's training time and they get nowhere by pulling on the lead, but if the lead's on the harness they can do pretty much what they like. Aparently it's how police dogs are trained, collars for on the beat, harnesses for scent work etc... It also means that when you haven't got time for loose-lead training, you put the lead on the harness, but when you have, it goes on the collar.

Aren't they just! Have not used it yet, but it is the 'gentle leader'