I have tried everything with my 14 month old Bouvier and he still forges down the street. I bought a body harness for me because my hand was so sore from the leash. I correct him so many times and he keeps doing it anyway, he doesn't give up. I've tried everything,- just taking a few steps and when he pulls, stop; or going in the opposite direction when he pulls. That helps for about a minute and he just starts forging ahead. I know I have the prong high on his neck and the corrections are strong, but it doesn't stop him.
Never mind the prey drive, squirrels, cars, bikes, birds, etc. As long as I see them coming I'm ok, but if I don't see them it's a problem. He pulled the leash right out of my hand once.
He is starting another obedience class next week, but I'm sure he'll walk around the room fine.
I just can't stop walking him. He needs the exercise, and how can we move to agility or more advanced stuff if he is such a maniac?
I have a couple of Leerburg videos, but I don't see anything to help me. When he finally does take a couple of steps by my side and I say "good boy" or "good walking" he takes it as a signal to lunge ahead.
Leslie Downey

Leslie, can you try to wear him out before walking him?
I know that working on the pulling is frustrating when your dog needs the exercise of walking. If you can let him burn off some energy first, and then work on the pulling you may get better results.

I would pick one method and stick with it for a week or two, and then reevaluate. For me, the best results come from coming to a dead standstill and not moving forward.
I occasionally have some problems with pulling on the prong, but I believe it's from my getting lax about letting her pull and me moving with her.

When I go back to being consistent with no forward movement when she pulls, she quits pulling. I do give her plenty of releases to sniff around.

I also am making a very concentrated effort to reward ALL spontaneous eye contact. I find that she is paying much closer attention to me now...

teaching a dog towalk properly isn't the same as taking him on a walk.

You go to a field where you are undisturbed and you can do the exercises you want to do. You start with the dog sitting at your side. Give the order and you start walking the instant he koms only a fraction of a mm in front of you you change direction (without sound nor warning for the dog) and give a jerk on the line. Repeat this for 5 minutes or so. When he behaves praise him and then it is 10 minutes playtime. after which you start all over again or with another excersise

Greetings

Johan

Have you tryed leting someone else walk your dog a more domant person. The reason I ask it sounds like you are really haveing a domance issue. If not I would stop praiseing him for walking beside me if he releases on praise then his praise is the fact i am no longer trying to rip his head off with the collar. In other words let him know that walking is your game and if he doesnt play like you say to play he will never walk again, I mean just stand there if he keeps pulling over 2 to 3 minute go back inside and repeat the step in 30 minutes. Practice walking in your house. Then when you step outside if he pulls take him right back in if he has to poop take him to one spot stand there till he goes and some where that he will go but doesnt like. Then go right back in also starting the walk off right will mean alot make him sit at the door and him stay till you say he can come out and if he lungs take right back in this one makes me feel bad to do it but it works. I feel bad because the dog has achieved the stay command and then isnt rewarded for it if he pulls, but do it.

Just a few trick I have used.

Leslie,
I don't know how you feel about using an e-collar, but we saw miraculous results this weekend with our dog Nickie. I used to walk Nickie a mile every morning before work (with a prong collar worn high on the neck). It was always a constant struggle - strong pops on the collar did not phase him. I always thought he was a "hard" dog. This weekend we went to the 2-day e-collar training seminar that Roni Hoff had here in Las Vegas. We had never had a professional evaluate either of our dogs. She immediately picked up on the fact that Nickie was not a "hard" dog - when I was giving him a strong pop on the prong collar, he was "shutting down". There was absolutely no communication or bond between the dog and me. It almost made me cry to think of what that dog has been through with me!

Last night Roni came to our house and worked with us on heeling with Nickie on a loose leash (with the e-collar on - it was probably set around 21 or so). Everytime that Nickie would start to go ahead and get the slack out of the leash, we would quickly turn and go in the opposite direction. This works like a charm - my husband was confident to walk Nickie himself (we were just working from in front of our house to in front of the next door neighbor's house). Keep in mind that this dog weighs 75 lbs and is a pitbull/bullmastiff mix - very powerful. Also keep in mind that my husband and I are in our early 60's and not in athletic shape! Also keep in mind that one time Nickie pulled hubby so hard as they were going down the driveway that he caused hubby to trip and fall, breaking his hand! This was a HUGE improvement for us to be able to walk our dog!

Needless to say, we can't praise Roni Hoff's method enough! I could go on and on but you get the idea!

Michael,
Another little trick that we learned last night from Roni - before we go out the front door for our little walk - work on some basic obedience exercises in the house to wear out their little minds! Then, as you say, be sure and practice the exercise of waiting before going out the door. Just to take the dog out of his crate and immediately go for a walk is a lot harder because the dog has too much energy!

I would love to try the ecollar, but I definitely am too inept to do it on my own (as you can see). I wish I was near Las Vegas, I am in Connecticut. Does the company have any trainers or reps out here? I don't think my dog is a hard dog either- he still submissively pees if I chase him out of the room or he gets too excited. But yet I can correct the heck out of him and he doesn't get it. Time for a new plan.
-Like the tip about wearing him out first- we could play a little ball fetch.
-Also, another poster was right, in the difference between walking and taking a walk. I should work on it first with no distractions.
I also just re-read Ed's groundwork article- it said he wouldn't pull if he thought I was the pack leader. That's disturbing. I really thought he did.
Leslie Downey

 Quote: johan engelen

teaching a dog towalk properly isn't the same as taking him on a walk.

You go to a field where you are undisturbed and you can do the exercises you want to do. You start with the dog sitting at your side. Give the order and you start walking the instant he koms only a fraction of a mm in front of you you change direction (without sound nor warning for the dog) and give a jerk on the line. Repeat this for 5 minutes or so. When he behaves praise him and then it is 10 minutes playtime. after which you start all over again or with another excersise

I totally agree with Johan with this approach, sometimes the simplest problems can look like huge deals as frustration levels increase.

We do the same type of training with all of our 'green' dogs in our French Ring Club. Our training director calls it

 Quote:

"Follow the Leader"

.

Basically like a Johan points out. The nanosecond the dog gets out of position do a 180o turn doesn't matter into the dog or away from the dog. Keep doing it over and over. Even if the dog looks away for a second, turn and turn again. You may even step on his paws in the process .. oh well to bad for him. Forget about walking the dog in a straight line for the next bit.

You need to become the leader, as right now the dog thinks it is the leader that is what is happening. You are playing follow the leader with him but he is the one doing the leading! You can fix this by turning the tables on him as Johan and I suggest.

IMHO this is a problem that shouldn't require much if any compulsion from you as the handler. You could still use your prong but just don't use it to hold the dog back. Obviously the dog has tuned it out for that purpose, just use it to change direction.

Try it for a week and let us know.

Hi Leslie,
We also were very hesitant with starting on the e-collar - was not sure that we could learn it even with watching Ed's DVD. Also we wanted to have a professional trainer evaluate our two dogs since they had "issues". Roni Hoff's method is a little different than the one that Ed teaches on the DVD.

It was also very frustrating to me when I kept hearing from the more experienced folks on this board that my husband and I weren't being seen as the pack leaders. We were trying our hardest to do everything that was suggested. After working with Roni and with the e-collar, we are finally seeing things "click" with our dogs, but more importantly, with both of us!

oh and I will add

 Quote:

follow the leader

is not insinuating that the OP is not being her dogs pack leader. It is just the description of the exercise.