I need some help here!!!
The last few times that I've walked my five month old puppy she will not stop sniffing the ground when in a heel/controlled walk (she acts frantic while sniffing). On a flexi she is fine (when she can do what she wants on lead), but when I am asking her to heel (not a perfect "heel", just a "walk on my left and don't drag me down the street" heel.)
I am using a puppy martingale (with the bit of chain for noise), and feel like I am correcting her too much. After a few pops she starts to sniff the ground and that's it. She is still pulling as she sniffs. When she is getting tons of treats for paying attention to me she is fine and heeling, but the second the food goes away, she pulls, gets corrected and then she sniffs/pulls (no matter how fast I go or how many turns I make.)
What do I do about this sniffing thing? Should I switch to a prong ASAP to avoid all these extra corrections? Should I even be asking her to heel at this age?? help!

yup, you're asking too much for too long a period of time. i would suggest that you make your walks relaxed and enjoyable for both of you. if you want to work on some obedience, stop at a good spot like a school yard, a park, cemetery, something like that. work on attention or heeling for just a few minutes or just a few steps. heck, you can even do it in the house or your own yard. expecting a 5 mo. old to heel for the entire duration of the walk is just way way too much. have fun with your pup. they grow up much too fast.

it sounds like your pup is giving you a "calming signal" (see turid rugaas's book). she's tellling you to take a chill pill and calm down. you are asking too much of her.

Sam,
The answer is in your own post. When you work in a positive fashion with food rewards, she heels happily. When you start in with the corrections, she shuts down.

She's just a baby. Until she is heeling perfectly on lead in a wide range of settings and distractions, stick with the positive reinforcement. She is very young, has no attention span, and needs the motivation. Build a good foundation and stick with the food (or a toy), increasing the distance that she heels between reinforcement.

An 8 year old child ballerina, however focused and well-meaning, has nothing close to the attention span or physical abilities of her 22 year old prima-ballerina counterpart.

Keep it fun and rewarding during the learning phase and you will have a fantastic foundation. My puppy is nine months old, and our heeling consists of about five-six perfect, enthusastic steps, mixed in with lots of play. She has no idea yet that heeling is a job...just another fun thing to do so she can earn a game of tug. What's the rush?

Tracy

thank you very much all of you for your reply. Yes, you are right, I am asking too much of her. I will ditch the heeling, but what about not pulling me down the street? I have tried stopping every time she pulls, I have tried going in a different direction when she zips past me....anything else I can try? My other guy never pulled like this little lady!

For pulling you could use a collar that gives you more contol sush as a head collar like a gentle leader this way instead of controling her whole body you only have to control her head but don't let her go to the end of the leash and pull back this could cause damage.You can start by rewarding her when she is beside you, you can use a treat and hold it in your left hand at your pant seem she will come beside you and start licking at the treat take a few steps and then reward her with the treat. I'm not sure how far you walk her but you can keep a treat back on your hip as she gets older you can fade the lure and use verbal or physical praise.The more a dog has been allowed to pull the harder it will be to fix because by pulling they reward themselves because they get to move foward and with every step get to smell new things.Also whatever you do don't use a choke chain because if you don't know how to use it properly it also can cause damage most of the time the dog will keep pulling because it is not used correctly.I had a malamute that pulled but of course she did that's what they do but i switched to the gentle leader and used the treats now she's wonderful.The gentle leader comes with a dvd to show how to use it and fit it.They sell them at petsmart you could also ask a trainer there how to fit it and use it.when you first put it on your pup will not like it just think of it as something new like the first time she had a collar on.If she start rubbing it with her paws just pull up on the leash not fast or hard just enough that she puts her paws down (you don't want her to scratch her eyes).this is only a training tool and not to be left on like a regular collar.And when she starts walking nicely she can be converted to a regular collar.

A gentle leader may be a quick fix and allow you to walk the dog without pulling, but as soon as you take it off, they're back to their old tricks. A gentle leader doesn't teach them a thing. If anything, I'd only use it until she's old enough to be taught to heel and corrected for not doing it. I admit, I bought a halti so I could walk a 120lb pit bull I was watching for a month. It worked great, but there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that dog would heel when I took it off.

I'm no expert, so you may be able to get a more experienced member to help out here, but there's a big difference between heeling, and not dragging you down the street. At that age, heeling is asking a bit much. They simply don't have the attention span for it. But dragging you down the street is a (subtle) sign of dominance and inappropriate pack behavior. A pack follower does not lead the pack leader. See where I'm going with this?

There's nothing wrong with correcting a young dog for inappropriate pack behavior so long as the corrections are appropriate. I can't tell you exactly how hard the correction needs to be over the internet. But you need to give a verbal correction ("NO" in a stern voice) followed (if necessary) by a prong correction strong enough to make the dog understand that you won't be pushed/pulled around by him. Also, with a little practice, the prong-collar becomes a self-correcting "no pulling" device. If he pulls, he corrects himself. The harder he pulls, the harder he corrects himself. At his age, you need to be careful not to over correct so start out nice and easy. Work your way up to a level that gets the job done.

I'm not a fan of gentle leaders on any dog. Seems like a neck injury waiting to happen not to mention the fact that you cannot effectively give a correction with one. It's a way of nagging your dog into compliance, as opposed to correcting inappropriate behavior so that it stops.

thank you for your replies. I am not a gentle leader fan either. I used it on my older dog for a brief time when he was young, and although it has its benefits while its on, they don't learn anything. I will occassionaly use it if small children come around but thats it.
So you don't think that five months is too young for a prong? I didn't switch my guy to one until he was 1 year old but I think that this little girl is a different case.
Perhaps I should use both treats and prong to make for easier walks...

I'm getting picked on for my last post, so I guess I've got to explain just how a pitbull can weigh close to 120 lbs. HE'S FAT! EXTREMELY FAT! I was reminded of the "breed standard of 30-60lbs for males," by someone who just couldn't resist. Not that his weight had anything at all to do with the point of my post (just trying to establish that the dog was very capable of extreme pulling), but apparently, I need to explain my statement, lest I be judged a complete idiot.