[lrosen8750]

Hi All-

On year ago we rescued Nina- she is a black lab, hound, and other stuff mix. No idea of age, but best guess is about 2 1/2 years old (female). She is amazing and we have done so much with her.

However... in the year we've had her I still have the worst time walking her. She has tons of energy (which i can handle- we also have a fenced in yard) and gets a one hour walk in the morning, tons of outside time and about a 20-30 min walk in the late afternoon. She is a tired girl by bedtime.

The problem is she is such a puller on the leash ,, it's crazy. I have tried so many things and I think this is her personality. She is not trying to be dominant .. she is just fast!

As of the last 7-8 months I have used the sporn. It's ok.. barely helped the pulling, but at least I'm not pulling her trachea out. Today I almost fell and I realize this is not good (duh)!

I went out and bought the easy walker (with the clip in the front). It is a MIRACLE. Holy cow.. amazing. I even cut off the sherpa from the sporn and so nothing is rubbing on her skin.

We went for a walk as soon as I got home and fixed it up.. so great for me. But Nina seems to hate it. She didn't want to go as far as usual and really didn't seem to happy about the whole thing. She actually sat down part way through the walk! Never ever did that before.

So.. my question.. will she get used to this?
What do you think? I feel like this has to be so she understands and so I'm safe. Also I love walking and walking her , so now I feel we can do so much more.
Thanks
sorry so long
Lauren

 

[Amaryllis]

The different fit probably just freaks her out a bit. Kabota was a little weird about his halter (not an easy walk, he doesn't pull much) the first few days, but he doesn't notice it at all now.

This harness is a good thing. Anything that improves your relationship with your dog and allows for more exercise and time together is great. So just matter of factly put it on her and get out and have a nice, relaxing walk. She'll get used to it.

 

[lrosen8750]

Thanks so much!! I think I will try and go out as much as possible for the next few days so she just keeps getting used to it!

 

[lil_fuzzy]

Agreed, she's probably just sulking because she can't pull as much as usual. She'll get over it.

But keep in mind that the harness is a management tool, it's not a quick fix. If you do nothing, she will learn to pull in it. I've seen loads of dogs pull in a no-pull harness. So you need to teach her to walk nicely, all the harness does is prevent her from practising the unwanted behaviour so that it's easier to train her.

Teach her to walk next to you inside the house first, off leash, on both sides. Build loads of value for this by keeping sessions short and using high value rewards (like raw chicken or similar). Once she's doing that in the house, she's more likely to do it outside as well. Reward her while she's walking nicely, imagine there's a zone on both sides of you where you want her, and reward her while she's in the zone. If she pulls, pull her back around in a loop so that she ends up back at your side. If she's allowed to pull forward, the forward motion alone is rewarding for her. If she's also allowed to go and sniff something, she's been double rewarded.

 

[lrosen8750]

Thanks for the advice! Nina is crazy for food and I actually stopped using treats to train her because she was so insane about the food. I agree I must use this as a training tool bec. I'm sure she will find a way to pull if I don't fix this That being said, I had the best walks with her today and I felt normal for the first time! I finally didn't look like a bad cartoon!! Lol!