Luke
20-12-2006, 07:55 PM
Cross posting here as had not one reply on dogsey, and i know there are a fair few dog owners over here too!
Ralph has allways been excellent off the lead from 10 weeks old, and as we are lucky to walk many fields for 'walkies' he has only ever really been on the lead from, our front door round to the 'style' thing that leads you onto the footpath-so 5-9 minutes max, doubled of course. He is now about nine months..maybe a little more my calculations aregoing drasticaly wrong atm! Therefore i guess he has never really been trained on the lead THAT much, he used too heal and walk lovely on the lead..but over time it's gotten worse and worse, my hands were bleeding this morning! Now i'm not a 'weak' person, can't think of better phrasing, and can manage most breeds of dogs but the strength of his pulling combined with the all over the placeness nearly has me on the floor! And also..he can't walk nicely, heis all over the place,wrapping himself round me etc etc etc.
I know it is all down to training, or lack of in this area, but i'm not quite sure how to tackle it. I have tried the stopping and changing direction thing when he pulls, but he doesn't seem to stop with this!
I walk him on a 'slip' lead-also known as gundog leads, do you think i should be using something else? maybe with a little more 'control' behind it-halti and lead or something, maybe?
I'm just not totaly sure what to do, and of course it is unacceptable for him to walk this way-and nearly choking himself on that lead can't be good for him!
Back when he was a pup i allways just viewed it as, well we only need the lead now and then so having him under control whilst off lead is much more important-wrong!
Any advice?
Ralph has allways been excellent off the lead from 10 weeks old, and as we are lucky to walk many fields for 'walkies' he has only ever really been on the lead from, our front door round to the 'style' thing that leads you onto the footpath-so 5-9 minutes max, doubled of course. He is now about nine months..maybe a little more my calculations aregoing drasticaly wrong atm! Therefore i guess he has never really been trained on the lead THAT much, he used too heal and walk lovely on the lead..but over time it's gotten worse and worse, my hands were bleeding this morning! Now i'm not a 'weak' person, can't think of better phrasing, and can manage most breeds of dogs but the strength of his pulling combined with the all over the placeness nearly has me on the floor! And also..he can't walk nicely, heis all over the place,wrapping himself round me etc etc etc.
I know it is all down to training, or lack of in this area, but i'm not quite sure how to tackle it. I have tried the stopping and changing direction thing when he pulls, but he doesn't seem to stop with this!
I walk him on a 'slip' lead-also known as gundog leads, do you think i should be using something else? maybe with a little more 'control' behind it-halti and lead or something, maybe?
I'm just not totaly sure what to do, and of course it is unacceptable for him to walk this way-and nearly choking himself on that lead can't be good for him!
Back when he was a pup i allways just viewed it as, well we only need the lead now and then so having him under control whilst off lead is much more important-wrong!
Any advice?