Hi everyone,

My puppy is 4 months old and close to 50 lbs. He will be a big boy so he will need lots of exercise and will be easily able to drag me down when he's older, if he pulls on the leash.

I am taking him out every night for socializing. When we are around the house or in my yard for potty, I use a harness and leash. For walks/socializing, I use a flat collar/leash. By this I am hoping to differentiate to the pup the times when he should "walk nicely" and the times (at home) when he is free to go to the end of the lead.

In the puppy video, Ed recommends using a flexi-lead for puppies. I live on a busy street and also we do our trips to Wal-Mart, the mall, etc. parking lots where a Flexi-leash is not a good option.

In the Basic Obedience video Ed demonstrates training the adult dog to walk on a leash with a prong collar - which I don't think is appropriate for my 4-month-old.

He is starting to pull on the lead and I want to nip this problem in the bud. Currently when he pulls, I stop walking until the pup turns and relieves pressure on the leash. The problem is that I don't think he "gets it" as after a week of doing this he still pulls just as frequently. Also he will get to the end of the leash and when I stop, he will stop too, but keep straining forward and sniffing something, ignoring me. He will sniff the ground or continue doing whatever he was doing. Needless to say, we don't get far on our walks!

I have tried changing directions but he still pulls as soon as he hits the end of the leash.

I have tried offering him treats but he is fearful, sometimes he will take the treat but if something catches his attention he will not take it. After he eats or refuses the treat he will just go back to the end of the leash again.

Ideas?

Dear Angela: Don't give up. I have a pup about the same age and he is much littler. However, he pulls so much he spends most of his time choking. I tried everything, and have decided to stick with the treats. I saw "walk with me" probably too long a sentence, and I have treats in my left hand. He smells them and will try and hang around my side. when I walk and he does I say, good and give him a treat. (I use those little tiny treats you can get from Ed's store-leerburg store) At first he didn't pay much attention but after about 2 weeks he is doing much better. My advise is to not give up.
And increase your pace so he doesn't have alot of time to sniff.
I am sure there are other ideas. I also used the stop when he pulls and all my little guy did was take advantage of the pause to eat rocks! Yikes!
There are many trainers here that I am sure will have better ideas, I am not a trainer, but that is what I use, of course I am always so excited and give lots of praise when he obeys.
I bet your baby is beautiful, 50 lbs did you say? a baby huey!
May God bless you

Try backing up to your yard or a place with less distractions while you are teaching him to walk correctly also. After he gets good in an area with no distractions start adding distractions and keep his attention on you.

You may have to be a little firmer or more persistent by the way you correct him when he gets distracted when you start adding those distractions. He is still young and his attention span is probably still really short.

Work with him in shorter sessions to help create a more positive experience. Start positive and end positive. Usually ten to fifteen minute sessions are good. Give him some play time in between sessions or let him do dog things for awhile and do another session.

Try paying more attention to his body lanquage and what motivates him and what doesn't. To help with your timing as far as praise and correcctions go. You may want to look at some of the things Ed has in his ebook library and read the groundwork articles. the theories behind correcctions, the puppy ebooks.

Get yourself familiar with marker (clicker) training. Ed has a lot of stuff on that too.

Hi everyone, my puppy is now 5 1/2 months old and is no better.

I still use a flat collar. I've been using a harness and flexi lead for potty breaks so he knows the difference between potty and walk.

I've tried different treats and he will eat them if there are NO distractions. Doing a 180/about turn works for about 5 or 10 steps.

I made a major mistake. I decided to walk my "doggy" pup while my friend walked my other two dogs up ahead. (To save time). The puppy was really wanting to get to the other dogs. I thought the pup was bonded with me since I have been keeping the dogs pretty much separate but I was wrong. When they were out of sight he cried and tried to drag me up ahead. No treats or about turns would change his mind. I got really frustrated and gave him some really good pops on his leash (flat collar) - hard enough to turn him sideways - which did not seem to have much effect.

Too much distraction, I now know. However, now he realizes even more that he can pull me.

Do you think I can remedy this mistake on a flat collar or do I now need a prong collar (he is only 5.5 months old). We never did get very good at walking nicely. Treats only work for so long and if I dont give him the treat as soon as I get it out, he loses interest in it. 180s don't seem to be working and neither does stopping completely until he slackens the lead.

Any other ideas to help me communicate to the dog that pulling is NOT okay?

Angela,

I have the same trouble with Ember at times. I just smile, take a few DEEP breaths and walk her until she is tired and walking nicely or at least ready to pay attention and make it a HUGE party when she gives me slack and when she walks next to me. She is MUCH better and although it may not be the best way, it is working. She now will come when called without me having to remind her that I am on the end of the lead.

if sized correctly, and used sparingly, why can't he wear a prong?
Could you not use 2 leashes, one for the flat collar, and one (like a traffic leash) on the prong-so there isn't constant pressure with the prong yet, but you can give him one good pop to let him know you aren't playing any more?

just curious-i personally would go on size and not age so much with the prong-a 40lb dog is a 40lb dog, even if it is a pup-and 40lbs is fine for prong wearing. If my little chi can wear a prong-a really big older pup can.....

but i could be wrong.

Hi Mallory, aside from the fact that I would feel bad giving prong corrections to a baby, I have always read that prongs can increase drive. Would it be a good idea to prong-pop a wild, bitey puppy? He already loves to bite and attack my hands and coat whenever I so much as even talk to him, let alone pet/praise or correct.

I have the basic dog obedience video and the scenario would NOT play out as it does for Ed on his walking with the prong collar section.

Carole, are you saying you just keep walking and allow Ember to pull on the leash until she gets tired?

 Quote: angela burrell

Carole, are you saying you just keep walking and allow Ember to pull on the leash until she gets tired?

No, I do not allow her to pull, I turn a lot of corners with her and rewarding for the correct behavior.
She will run out to the end of the leash and try to pull if she sees something and then I turn a corner if she sees it first, if I see it first I make sure I have her attention and we get past it.
Her big thing is moving cars. I live a half mile off of the highway, and even at that distance she tries to run after them...

So, if we are walking I try and steer clear of a visual line of sight to the highway and if we can see it, I make sure I am fun, fun, fun so that she does not "give chase". Sometimes we will be having a great time where she is really into it and the car will distract her, but she comes right back when I say "uh uh" and she will reengage in play......

She is picking it up, but she is very stimulated by things, hence the deep breaths for me.

Now when I say "heir" she stops and comes to me and sits front or I will tell her to place and she stands between my legs.
Since she is doing well with her commands she has learned thus far, I will start to incorporate a couple more.

I still need to remember that she is a young pup and there will be times that she is distracted, I am just trying to minimize those times right now.

I do give her ample opportunity to explore and play on her own as well. She wears a 30ft cotton long line and we just hang out.

Angela, this is an interesting topic for me. Can you clarify one thing: do you think your pup understands at all that pulling is a no-no?

Opinion only here from one who is not a trainer:

Assuming your pup doesn't get the whole "don't pull me" concept, if it were me, I'd do my best to really tire the big guy out, both physically and mentally, before, I went on the walk. I'd probably not give him his breakfast, work with him in the yard, chasing balls, doing what OB he does know, maybe a sit and stay for 15 seconds, whatever, and then takes treats with me and walk with a prong inside my house and praise the crap out of him for walking calmly.

During any point that you're training him and he pulls, I would think that a "No" and a slight pop of the prong would work, and would not amp him up since he's tired already.

Then, when you think he's ready, I'd venture outside on the front walk or in the yard, under the same scenario (prong, tired dog, hungry dog, treats, no distractions). Then I'd take it to the street.

I would like to hear what trainers do. The above worked for me but, as I said, I'm not a trainer.

I think Ed says that a lot of successive pops will increase drive, but one good one shouldn't.
That doesn't mean it won't, he also says there are exceptions to every rule, which could also mean that your dog might respond well.....

not trying to push it-i am just thinking.

If you take him out for one walk with a prong, and just see, you will know for sure. If it increases his drive, bend down and hook the leash back to his regular collar. If not-proceed with caution.

IMO(which isn;t worth a whole lot), it is worth a shot. The worst that could happen with one good pop is that nothing happens-he still keeps on pulling, maybe he pulls harder, so you don't do that again.

Also, and i know we are anti halti's here-but since he is a pup-maybe just see if that works-not for training, but for the pulling. If you can use it to get him out of the habit of pulling you down the street by using a halti for a month, then i would do it, then phase it out. Sometimes, you have to do something like that just long enough to brake the cycle. Remember, while they aren't training collars, they are no-pull collars, and i have temporaraly used them on some of my dogs with fantastic results, some of my others won't wear them.
Like trying the prong and seeing, you just have to see for yourself. You can't rule it out if you don't know for sure it won't work, because it might.