NWESSR

You may have tried this but if you havent I would take him to training classes and try to teach him to walk properly on the lead and perhaps to develop a steady and reliable recall. All this pulling can't be doing his hips any good I don't think. You could also consider hydrotherapy sessions which would give him exercise without putting strain on his hips and might in fact help him quite a bit.

Thank you everyone for your advice. Jagger had his femoral head removed in Feb of this year and since then he has been able to walk alot further which means he is now allowed off his leader - this does makes things easier for us however he still pulls like a maniac. Our hydrotherapist has suggested the gentle leader so I will try one of those and if no success I will try the Gencon collar as suggested.

He does know what "heel" means. If he is walking and fancies a treat he will walk by my side and look at me but if I dont give him a treat after about a minute he starts pulling again. If I say to him "show me heel" he will do it too but only for a little while (20 secs) to show he knows it and then off he goes - nose to the ground hunting!!!! He is extremely clever and knows what is expected but chooses not to do it. We have been taking him to fun agility classes too and he loves it but again, if he wants to do the dog walk and a frame then that's what he'll do!!!

He can be a nighmare but those awful days of thinking I cant stand this any longer have subsided. We love him to bits - it's just the pulling we need to sort out (if ever!) He good stuff and laughs we have with him much outweigh the bad times nowadays!

Durham K9 Hydro are to thanks for that - our hydrotherapist, Jan, suggested the femoral head removal because of his bad hips and its the best thing we could have done for us AND Jagger!

Thanks again for suggestions and I will be ordering a gentle leader - watch this space!

Hi all,

Just an update for you.

I bought a gencon leader as suggested - he just could not pull and was not causing him distress. It was fantastic and I can reccomend one (which I have done) to anyone with a dog that pulls. He did throw himself on the floor a few times like a spoilt child and can put his paws around his face and pull it off but it relieved my arms for a few days! Problem is, when he has the gencon on he wont move forward!!! Constantly stopping as I say and throwing himself on the floor as I'm going in a different direction to where he wants to go!

Anyway, since his op he is off his leader lots more - jumping in cold streams (no good for his hips) but hey, if tomorrow is his last day because of his hips, he's had a fun day today.

Not pulling so much on his leader nowadays - only pulls to the point where I am getting pulled over when he knows he is going somewhere to be let off.

Thanks again for all of the advice!
Amanda

I use a gencon allin1 with my two springers as well and it works a treat, you can also get a headcollar and attach it to a long line.. Give it a try you won't be disappointed

Hi Amanda, I have 2 springies, both of whom pulled my arms off. I too tried halters, halti etc. nothing worked. Then a friend at my agility class suggested I try the Gencon (one peice head halter and lead). I borrowed one to try as I was desperate and about to undergo surgery on my shoulder. All I can say is this worked like magic, both dogs had a little protest at times , ie. trying to paw it, scrape it off, but I just ignored this and after a few minutes they walked like the generally 'obediant' and lovely dogs that they are. In fact I was able to walk both holding the lead with my little finger - this is true and still is. I would recommend this to anyone and a number of friends have now bought one too, with the same results. The Gencon is gentle on the dog and gentle on the owner - walks on the lead are bliss, maybe it is magic, well it is Christmas!

Lead training is a long process because the reward the dog is pulling to is the best thing in their little world! suffering the pain of a gentle leader or any other ''stop pulling' harness which restricts the dogs movement and applies pressure is irrlevant to the dog.

In addition using the food reward method you may also want to add a clicker. this little plastic box with a tongue of metal makes a more consistant definitive sound that will help your dog to learn faster as all training is down to consistency.

To ween the dog off food or to make rewards higher value to him you need to randomise their quality. there's no reason other than weight gain why the dog couldnt have his whole dinner for a few steps of perfect lead work, he should however never receive nothing.

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Lead walking will take longer to teach if you're still walking the dog in 'the real world' I'd buy a non punitive harness such as the fleece padded ones from www.spiffydog.co.uk a small spaniel is a size 3 a larger spaniel is a 4. (lab is 4 to 5) dogs are rubbish at generalising so you will need to practise what you've accomplished in your living room, back garden and hall way out in the street probably from scratch or atleast a few steps back.

When you're out training have the dog on a collar if that's your preference

when you're out for a walk without training a halti head collar (not a gentle leader or gencon!) or harness will give the dog a clear signal this is not training, there is however no reason why if the dog offers you the behaviour without lure or prompt why he/she should not receive a treat/or other reward.

If you're a complete purist you'll want to wait until the dog offers the behaviour before adding a command to it.

When luring your dog into the heel position you'll want to do 3 repeats with food, 1 without in your hand, then 3 repeats with food and 2 without..etc to wean off the food in hand lure (or you'll end up hooked on it)

I hope that tacks onto the above post on heal training and provides some tips


NB - I'm against the gencon and gentle leader due to the fact they press HARD on the dog's pressure points on the head regardless of whether the dog is walking relaxed or towing. A halti if used properly will work. There is still no substitute for modern science based training over any tool you can buy.