Headcollars..for/against/reasons...?

Hi,

As most of you will know I was using a harness with Loui for a while and that helped a lot, now he is walking just on a collar. Recently, however I got 'lazy' and have allowed his behaviour in 'exciting' places to slip. Since I do not feel he needs to wear the harness much now and its only certain select points where I know he will pull and possibly lunge, I was considering introducing him to a headcollar and keeping it my pocket to put on before we get to these places and focus on training whilst making our way along....BUT then I found threads on headcollars

Seems there are some people that are really not 'for' using headcollars, some claiming they are painful etc.

So I thought I would ask...and put a poll up here.

oh, and is my idea a bad one? (about the headcollar/clicker in certain bits of our walks...)

If there is a headcollar you are for or against, please explain why.

Edit - the figure of eight type may be like a cannycollar? I didnt put a brand as I have only seen these at the shows, made by 'leather people'

I tried a Gentle Leader through recomendation in the past but wasnt impressed and neither was the dog. His little hairs were left in the nylon and the adjustable clip would come undone and he knew he could put his head down and pull against the 'bar' at the front. Must have been pretty uncomfortable

I first tried a Halti on Craven,he didn't like it at all,he somehow managed to get it stuck over his forehead one day and I had to cut it off.

I then got the gentle leader and used that for a short while,now Craven walks well on the lead/harness I have not used the gentle leader for months.

If I was walking him on a short lead,where I might meet other dogs I would probably use it again,as Craven does start playing up if we are passing dogs and the dog is not allowed or doesn't want to say hello.He tries to lunge and bark at the dog.But if he's allowed to say hello he just goes up calmly and has a sniff.

They are useful and a godsend to me when I first got Craven,as he was uncontrollable and very strong.Now,with training I have more control of him,I used to keep the gentle leader in my pocket,but I haven't even taken it out with me for about 4 months,infact I'm not absolutely sure where it is.

I had to vote for the first option, but wouldn't recommend a Halti.

I use a headcollar on Jake for his car obsession. He will walk nice on a lead when he has had his walk, and I am sure he could walk nice on the way as well. I haven't persevered with it too much, as that is not our main problem.

He is car obsessed, and a head collar helps me to help him. On a normal collar, he drops into a stalking mode, but if he has a his head collar on, I can stop him doing that, divert his attention, and praise him.

I tried 2 Haltis before I got him a gentle leader. They were either too loose, or rode up into his eyes, or he could get out of them... Didn't work for me, but as they sell well, I guess there are a lot of dogs they do fit!

He is now on a gentle leader. It has worked for us.

For me using a headcollar has helped a lot with Ted's lunging at other dogs. It meant that i could reward the calm good behaviour and now i rarely use it. Saying that he has started playing up a bit in the street this last week so i am starting to use it again just for now.

I'm using at the moment just a cheaper version of the halti but i have used the halti, gentle leader and gencon. He hated the halti when i first got it and he quickly learnt to pull it off so it meant having to put it back on every other step. I gave up on that and tried the gentle leader which he took to straight away but like you i found the clip came undone. Then when i needed it most he managed to pull his head straight out of it in a second and if he hadn't been connected to the collar by the halti link he would have been free. I used the gencon on the recommendation of a trainer and it is the one i used the most and longest i did find it a bit fiddly and you can only use it with the dog walking on one side. I lost that and brought the cheaper halti type headcollar and as i rarely use it i have just been using that. He will sometimes still shove his head in a bush to try and get it off but as it is just used for short periods it stays on. He dosen't really pull so for me its not really an issue but i think a lot of people find that these type of headcollars ride up into the dogs eyes. Having seen all the recommendations for the dogmatic i am thinking of investing in one of them. Hope that helps

I use a Halti on Rupert without any problems. I only use it so I have more control if he lunges after another dog or a cat or whatever, he walks nicely on leash for the most part.

Or a lot of owners who don't really care whether they do or don't fit. It's been sitting right up by the eyes on most dogs I've seen wearing a Halti,if they pull it makes them sort of squint. It sits further down the muzzle on Rupert though, whether that's because he doesn't pull, because of head shape or whatever I don't know though. It's possible it rides up on the odd occasion he does lunge but whenever I've checked it's stayed in place.

Oddly enough, I had the riding up into the eyes problem with the Canny Collar which isn't supposed to do that.

There's no vote option for my opinion

I use a Halti on Cain BUT it is for safety, not to stop him pulling. If he lunges on the street it gives me control, gives me the confidence and physical control to walk him and keeps everyone safe.

HOWEVER I'm not a huge fan of using them to "solve" pulling. Firstly I use a Halti and I find it pretty useless to stop pulling, it just means he can't pull AS hard, I have more control but he's still trying to pull. Even though I use a Halti (for safety), I have trained Cain to walk nicely on a normal flat collar and lead and is now much better in most situations.

I don't think people should bung a head collar on a dog and think "problem solved". If you use a head collar to stop pulling, it should be used as training tool and only used until the dog is trained then removed. Otherwise it just masks the problem and doesn't solve it. I don't think they should be relied on when you can stop pulling with a bit of effort - it took me MONTHS to calm Cain's pulling but I got there in the end, without using the head collar (used a double ended lead with pressure on thr flat collar for lead training), and if I can stop Cain, anyone can train their dog not to pull

Totally agree Moon's Mum!

It is not a solution to pulling.

In my case, it has helped with other things.

Yes I agree with you It should only be a tool until training kicks in...

I think they have their place. I, like Amanda, don't think they're a fix for pulling but a good tool. They allow me to own the dogs I own and walk them safely - most of the time I'm fine but if Casper reacts or Kiki goes into full preydrive mode then their strength does become an issue and their headcollars do keep me in control of them. The Halti was also very useful with my previous GSD who had bad hip dysplasia so the usual stop-start, drunken walking, changing directions, etc. methods weren't suitable and the headcollar had a near instant effect - after a while I could walk her on a collar as she'd lost the habit of pulling.
I use Dogmatics because I think they're one of the most comfortable looking designs I've seen.