Sorry I said 'she' instead of 'he' I so used to saying it with Brodie, mind most people think she is a he I think its one of those dual names. We have very bright dogs it wont take long at this moment she is telling my little boy off for trying to get into her crate, everytime he attempts to go in she howls at him in the end she just put her paw on his shoulder gently and tugged him back. They are funny i agree.

:smt043 People think Loki is a bitch!

It took me until Star was 2 to get her to walk reasonably well without a harness or halti so they do get there in the end if you are consistant with your training and dont chop and change methods

Thank you Carole.
I will carry on.

keep perservering and keep training. i dont think a choke collar will help to stop him pulling at all, just choke him a bit, most dogs strain against it anyway.
if u want a bit more control then i'd suggest a canny collar on him until he gets the idea that he cant physically pull and also give u a fighting chance! lol. i find after a few weeks of using a canny collar or halti or something similar that the dog learns he cant pull and u can walk them on a collar again. just my experience with my bunch anyway.

im a bit confused wot the prob is.. does he pull all the time or just when he see's another dog?

Thanks Jennie - no he's excited to be out and he pulls a little but responds to my commands. It's really when we see other dogs or people - he thinks all people want to pet him and all dogs want to play.

Awww i know how you feel , when i first got Storm he was really reactive to other dogs barking and lunging to get to them , he was not agressive he was just desperate to say hello ,I knew because of his sheer size (he stands 32 inches at the shoulder and weighs over 12 stone) people would be very wary of him , so i tried out various head collars harnesses etc and i have to say in my experience with him the canac Gentle leader has been the best thing for him , i have full control over his head and i can turn him away from another dog until he calms down . He soon learned that barking and lunging just meant he did not get to say hello but if he remains calm and quiet he can be introduced to other dogs .

At ten months old Loki is a typical bouncy teenager by the sound of it and i am sure your training will pay off in the long run but if you need a wee confidence booster i would definately reccomend trying a gentle leader as like you i am only 5 foot 3 and a half inches tall and it has been a god send for me . If i had Storm on a normal collar and lead or harness i know i would struggle to control him if he really kicked off which thankfully he hardly does these days .

I would not use a choke chain personally as i think they are cruel

Fiona xx

I will reassure you if you will me about my two...lol

They are exactly the same...They want to greet everybody and everything!...

Luckily Keena is all about other animals but not so much people so most of the time at least a person can walk past her...but Kody on the other hand, well if he is close enough he stands on his back legs like Loki did and ummm would really like to put his paws on the other persons shoulders and then give them a face wash...LOL...

I have to be soooooooooo carefull, I just step back till he is out of reach with the person but then he sort of thrases about in protest! and he also makes alot of 'excited' sound to go with it! sometimes looks like a bit of a nutter...Eventually I get him to sit and clam down while explaining to the other person that he is indeed 'ok'! Just over friendly!

It bothers me because it is only about him being so friendly and still very young but people might go away thinking he is strange!

The thing that gets me is that if he is off the lead he will walk calmly up to other dogs and people (although he is still jumping up to people, we are still working on that all the time) but on lead he looks like he is desparate and slightly derranged just to get to them!?

It is worse when Kody see's a particular group of kids...They adore him and he likes seeing them...Thing is they have always ran up to him, saying 'Kody' Kody'!!...Really sweet and I love that they like him so much but omg!...He does go rather loopy in all the excitement.

We saw the kids the other night and had a chat about how big kody is now and that we want him to try and sit and be calm when people come to see him and asked if they wanted to help out by being calm around him!...

They were fine and I was giving Kody treats and having him sit down (sort of!) while they petted him, he would lunge to try and kiss faces a few times but we delt with it...

Hopefully if we can get Kody to have 'calmer' interactions like this it will help out alot. In the past one of the boys would run up to him and lay on the floor and let Kody play and roll around with him!!..He is just way to big now but bless him he still wants to do the same, I feel bad as I should never have let Kody do that when he was smaller and I only have myself to blame now that he is so much bigger, how is he to know he is too big for all that...I just didn't want to p*ss on the kids parade when they were so happy to see Kody, but next time I would do things different, you live and learn...

We have been trying headcollars out latley...

With the Halti they don't protest the 'feel' of it so bad but it rides right up into their eyes even though I have made sure they are the right fit, I ended up taking it off Takoda...

We also tried the Kumfi DogAlter, they hate how this one feels and Takoda hasn't had a walk yet where he has not spent most of his time rolling on the ground and rubbing his head on my leg! Which is fine because I know they have to get used to it!..

Thing is the DogAlter restricts the mouth quite a bit, it doesn't allow them to fully open their mouth to yawn etc and that is what Kody hates about it, where as with the Halti they can open their mouth as wide as they want so long as they arn't pulling.

Keena has realised she doesn't like to pull while wearing one so instead she is standing straight up in the air like a flippin mear cat when she see's something she wants!!

Takoda has already learnt to tighten his neck and resist it. He still isn't nearly as strong with his pulling but you can't gently turn his head like you should be able to as you can see him just clench his neck muscles, grit his teeth and plough forward!...

Tonight we had some time so we went out for a walk in the dark with no distractions and I just had him on a collar and lead and we trained our asses off!...It took us 2 hours to do a 45minuet walk but we got there in the end...I am hoping that we will be just fine on a normal collar and lead and we will get there (so long as everyone else stays indoors and he never see's another person or dog again!)

I was going to try the Canny Collar with my two but I just know ahead of time they will be able to pull out backwards from it...They can escape everything...Next we may try the GenCon (Gentle Controller) (not the same as the Gentle Leader) It is an all in one lead and head collar.

A word of warning!...Don't ever walk Loki in a harness...lol...We have had no choice with Keena as she can easily back out of collars even when they quite tight, so a harness in the past was our other option (she can even wriggle out of it too though!) But anyway, where I felt more comfortable that she wouldn't break free so easily it did give her tremendous 4 wheel drive / pulling power! She is not quite 70lb and it is bad enough with her if she decides to pull but I can't even imagine Takoda being that much bigger than her, I would never stand a chance of being upright again! he would just have way to much power while walking in a harness.

You will get there with your bouncy lad just as I will with my two, I guess we just have to be patient and keep up the good work

Myschievous - thanks for your reply. Keena and Kody sound exactly like Loki. The description "meer cat" is so apt, I have never seen a dog so able on two legs! And the paws around the neck for the big sloppy kiss - oh yes, but somehow he seems to be able to do it without actually putting his weight on you, which is dead sweet, but not what passersby want; big muddy paws on their shoulders.

Kody rolling around with the kids made me laugh - I do that with Loki, you know, wrestle with him.

As you and everyone has said, he is young and I will persevere. I have had good results with getting him to sit and giving him treats as people pass by, just not with other dogs yet.

Thanks Fiona - I can't imagine trying to control Loki if he was 12 stone. I'm impressed.