How to stop my newf from pulling on her leash and other puppy behaviors?

[happyflower]

Okay I admit I have a very smart dog, is in obedience training and doing great.  But one thing that is frustrating me is that she really pulls on the lease. The instructor says just to stop walking and stand still , until she stops and then start walking again. Is there anything else to do?  She is only 4 mo. old and she is so strong that she can almost pull me and I am not skinny by any means. lol

Then this weekend we discovered her protective bark, the deep one, I am sure she will shake the ground when she gets bigger.  But anyway she encountered a St Bernard. and she acted scared of it and wanted to protect me from it.  Now my trainer said that the dog (the st. bern)is having problems with aggression, plus the owner said that she is a therapy dog, not certified though .  So I don't know if my puppy was acting protective of me or was actually scared herself.  Any ideas?  I wasn't scared of the dog,  he was so cute and loved me petting him.  But this is the only time she really reacted this way to another dog, normally she wants to meet every dog and person she sees, very NOT shy or scared at all.

Okay same day, after my class is a class of 2   really aggressive terriers(same family)( I didn't know at the time) and when they walked one of their dogs by another one, that dog went wild and basically wanted to eat that other dog.  When Suzy Q saw this, she got all excited and started to bark and pull on my lease. 

Today was just a frustrating day in training class, there are 3 shar pei's owned by 3 related families and they are also having aggression problems with all of them.  So the families take up all the time in our class with their problems that we barely get anything else done.

Thanks for listening to my vent.  Any tips on what to do with any of this other than maybe taking a Xanax before class? 

[Ursa]

As far as the pulling on the leash we do the same thing.  When one of ours pulls we just stop walking.  It's not the fastest process in the world but it does teach them to "walk nice".  You just have to relax and accept the fact that you aren't always going to cover a lot of distance on your walks!     I also bring my treat bag along on training walks and reward them when they walk on a loose leash. 

As far as wanting to join in the "fun" with the terriers it sounds like typical excited behavior to me.  You know how it is at the dog park.  The second that 2 dogs start something it seems like everyone else wants to join in.

Have you talked to your trainer about the Shar Peis monopolizing the class?  I'd do that as soon as possible.  If things don't improve is there another class that you can transfer to?  IMHO a group class may not be the best place to work on aggression problems. 

I know how frustrating it is when class doesn't go well - Ursa just about drove me over the edge in the week before her CGC test - but do your best to relax and have fun! 

[happyflower]

Thanks Ursa,

I will respond more tomorrow, I just need to get to bed, it has been a LONG day. 

[Winslow 151]

Hi,

Ok this is a "do as I say not as I do" reply. The best way to get your pup to stop pulling is to constantly change direction when walking, you walk pup pulls straight ahead, you turn right, gentle tug pup goes right, pup starts to pull agian, you quickly turn left gentle tug, pup follows. Pup statrs pulling again, you make another quick turn, getting the picture here ;-)..  eventually the pup (especially the smart ones) catch on that, this crazy human has no idea where hey are going so I better pay attention!!

Now when I did this it worked great with Winslow!! I did not keep it up post puppy class and now he is a puller again!!  :-(

[tralfazmom]

We use both methods, just depends on the situation. Sometimes stopping works best, but at other times we need to get Gus to a different location to get his focus back where it belongs and then we walk in circles or turn around to snap him out of his pulling. I totally understand your frustration with the other dogs monopolizing the class. I have had to switch classes twice now, once because of a similar situation. Gus wasn't getting anything out of that class and I was so irritated that I was making it worse. So we switched to a different trainer, and he didn't want to work with both my son and myself. Now, we are back to the original trainer, but at a different time and location. School work gets done much later that evening, but in the long run it is so worth it, Gus and Patrick are learning together the RIGHT way. An added bonus to the switch was now that I am less stressed and acting more calm and in control, I am seeing less of the excited barking when we first arrive. I have better focus and put out a much more positive energy. It is working for all of us. Good luck to you.

[Morweena]

I use a martingale collar on Ruby, she's no newf but being half malamute she is quite strong and built for pulling. I can't make recomendations on collar types as everyone has they favorite type, but one that allows a gentle correction often has the best effect.
anyway one thing my trainer has us do regularly is what she calls the "walking excersise". We do this for short bursts at every class and when Ruby was young and trying to drag me everywhere this really seemed to help (along with the other good advice you have gotten here about changing direction on a pull or stopping)
Anyway the walking exercerise is just taking some time to walk totally randomly with the dog with sudden changes of direction and speed. Yeah it does mean you wind up correcting them a lot but it encourages the dog to pay more attention to what you are doing.
Try going from a walk to a run to a stop and keep changing the direction you are going, add lots of praise for when you don't need to  correct and after the session, then go on a normal walk or whatever your routine is. You can add "sits" and "downs" during the excersise too so it is always a new pattern of activity to keep his attention.
Doing this a few times a week, maybe even 5 minutes a day for a while hopefully will help

Marion