no pulling on walks... let's shove off??

[schelmischekitty]

ok, so diesel is at a good enough weight i feel comfortable walking him now!  unfortunately, this is only his second walk, and the first one i took him on was in the day time when i first got him, and was trying to get some energy out.  the second was tonight, and was his first night walk.  normally, dogs pull at the leash... diesel... well, diesel likes to push.  he doesn't want to leave the house, so he gets in front of you and turns, pushing you in the opposite direction.  he even does it to axle.  i've tried to just hold him to the side, which works, but he leans then, and my arms start killing me after the first half of the block, he never pulls though, just puts all his weight on you.  does anybody have an idea how to get him to stop pushing/leaning when we go on walks??

[schelmischekitty]

i wanted to just sit down... maybe i should start out TRYING to walk one way and then just turn around and see if i can get him to forget how far we have walked...?  diesel is 31" at his shoulder now, and i'm only 62" tall, so when he leans it's more me falling over.

(modified b/c out of curiosity i checked how tall i was and apparently 2 kids made me shrink two inches  )

[brigid67]

Willow is a puller - I use the halti and works pretty good.  Walking her is like an upper body work out.

[schelmischekitty]

halti's work great for me when my dogs pull... i use them on all my dogs if i know we're going to be around a lot of people, and i'll have them all by myself, but diesel doesn't pull and stays entirely too close for it to do any good.  i really like them, but i can't hold him out far enough to where he can't swing his back half to lean on me.  i can't walk faster than axle or diesel... even if i run as fast as i can, my legs are so short that those two are still walking.  it's actually pretty funny (atleast my hubby says so) but frustrating to me sometimes!  this is the only downfall to being short, and loving big paws!  i always have to ask hubby to run my axle, because he's too lazy to do it himself.  the carrot/donkey idea is good, i think i'm going to try it!  i just have to figure out what to use, he isn't infatuated with dog food, so maybe small bits of cereal??

[The Brindle Pack]

Tyra did this also.  She would walk in front of me and try to herd me where SHE wanted to go.  What I did was use a 4' lead put her collar high on her neck and put her in a heal basically holding the leash straight up.  Kinda like you would hold a bag of trash out to the side.  OK... now if that doesn’t look weird enough I would walk like I was marching (knees up) if she got in front she would get a gentle knee to the chest.  It was important for Tyra to watch ME and stay out of my way, not the other way around.

[schelmischekitty]

i'll try those two ideas too, they sound like they'd work!  that's how we got them to stop jumping/getting in our face.  i never thought to just put my knee up!!  thanks!

[schelmischekitty]

figured it out, and feel awful stupid for not thinking of it earlier!  all it took was a finger to the ribs a few times, and now he's walking perfect next to axle!

[lins_saving_grace]

i have 2 pullers too.  it seems to be worse when i walk them together though.  right before Lady's surgory I had gotten 2 halti harnesses and that seemed to help A LOT!!!  and i mean A LOT!  so now Lady's walking again, i use the halti on her since she is still aggressive on her walks and forceful with her pulling. 
Grace on the other hand when walked alone is less of a puller and more of a misguided, undirectional staggerer.  So...i have a leash that has a handle at both ends.  i hold the handle at the collar end and wrap the long part of the leash around her front on her chest.  when she pulls or gets distracted i give the part of the leash around her chest a little tug and that pulls her back into the zone so she can concentrate on 1) walking in a straight line 2) ignoring dogs or people and 3) not pulling.  It's almost like a homemade gentle leader.  I talk to her and dog the funny SSSSPPPPPPPPPP PPPPPTTTTTTTTT noises to get her attention.  that seems to work for the most part.  I make sure both girls walk at my side with their heads up...it's been a learning process, but i think i may finally have it down to a science. 
i may not have the biggness of a dane, but rotts can be so determined and head strong it can seem like you're walking a bull.

[brigid67]

I have been using the halti on Willow and it works really good.  Yesterday I took her to PetsMart and tried the coller up behind the ears - she pulled me everywhere.  So we are back to the halti.  The only thing I hate about it is that most people think it is a muzzle and that she bites.  They already cross the street when they see us coming - now everyone thinks she really is dangerous. 

[schelmischekitty]

thats the only problem with it we have too, but i tell people in advance it's not a muzzle, if it was they wouldn't be able to open their mouths.  our problem isn't pulling though, it's pushing.  we've found a finger in the ribs works!