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Post by lyndseycherise on Apr 24, 2006 21:55:13 GMT -5
I have a golden retriever/alasken malamute mix 1 year old male dog. I have tried everything to get him to walk on the leash without pulling my arms out of the socket or doing what we call the "frantic dance" and tangling anyone close up in his leash everytime he sees another dog, cat, bird, kid, person......
First we tried using a short leash and a quick tug when he pulled too much.
Second, we tried the idea that if he pulled we stoped walking and looked the other direction and wouldn't move untill he come up to use and there was slack in the leash but he didn't seem to get it. He would just continue to pull, lay down, try and roll away, crawl away, jump up and down.....you get the idea. We would end up just standing in front of our house forever getting no where.
Most reciently, we tried the gental leader as suggested by our dog trainer but he refuses to walk on it, just lays down and won't move.
Do some dogs just not get it every?? He is very large now and strong and I am at the end of my rope he still just pulls and pulls and pulls and nothing seems to work. Im currently 7 months pregnant, my husband has been deployed and I just can't fight him on our walks anymore but at the same time he can't just be confined to the back yard for the next two months. Any ideas, help, suggestions? Sorry for the long post - I just don't know what else to do nothing seems to work!!!!!
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Post by Aussienot on Apr 25, 2006 3:43:05 GMT -5
To some extent, pulling is an inherited tendency with sled dogs (guess what they were bred to do?) however, you can certainly train nice leash manners. Since he's a large strong dog, and you are pregnant, I'd recommend a prong collar. It works by 'Popping' a momentary correction.
Put the prong on, and when he pulls, pop and walk the other direction. When he catches up to you, reward with a food treat and give your command for walking nice - close, or walk, or let's go, or whatever. Then repeat - he pulls, you pop and walk the other direction. Remember to reward when he is close to you, because that's the behavior you want. It should only take a few repetitions before he decides walking on a loose leash is easier.
Just be careful not to let him pull into the prong, because then you are no better off. It's always 'pop' and release.
There is a link at the top right of the board about fitting a prong collar, and there are quite a few post about fixing pulling dogs.
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Post by sibemom on Apr 25, 2006 7:39:10 GMT -5
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Post by Nicole on Apr 25, 2006 17:35:13 GMT -5
I just wanted to mention one other thing. Stopping never works. The trick is to turn quickly as soon as he hits the end of the leash and walk in the opposite direction. So you walk back and forth in front of your house for a bit. This worked well for me.
I think the prong is a good suggestion for your situation. Make sure that you let the dog wear it SUPERVISED for a bit before you use it so he doesn't get collar smart. Don't just put it on before a walk and take it off after. Let him wear it in the house WHEN YOU ARE THERE so he doesn't connect it only with the walk otherwise he may learn that when it isn't on, there is no consequence.
I highlighted the supervision part because you never want to leave the dog alone with the collar on or it may get caught on something.
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