[jcottam1901]

Hi thank you for adding me. We have a lovely nearly 2 year old cockapoo called Colin. He has been easy to train in all areas apart from 1. He still pulls like a steam train on the lead. As soon as we leave the house his nose is down like a bloodhound and he's off and barely looks up again! We have tried everything. Every sort of lead going including halti, harness, gentle leader, extendable lead. He's had 2 trainers and hours and hours and hours of training by us. We've read books, watched YouTube videos, spoken to other dog owners. He's great off the lead, recall is good. But it's getting to the point that neither of us enjoys taking him out as its neither enjoyable nor relaxing. He constantly stops to mark as well even though he was neutured when he was 14 months. We were told this would lessen once neutured but it hasn't. Any advice hugely appreciated.

 

[2ndhandgal]

Put simply, he pulls because it works for him and he gets where he wants to go by pulling and the only way to change it is to change that.

I choose a nice comfortable harness for a dog to wear and start in the house and garden rewarding them for walking next to me on a loose lead. To make it simpler I chose one side of me to walk on and heavily reward for walking there. Once they understand that well I open the gate or door and continue with the nice walking with the door open progressing to stepping outside, a return to pulling results in me turning round and back to the garden. As they start to get the idea you can gradually increase the distance you are going walking forward only when the dog is not pulling and turning round to regain control.

It is going to take a while to reprogram him and you cant train 5 days a week and then let him pull at weekends as you need to be totally consistent, but what you could do is take him on lead walking training sessions then chuck him in the car and take him somewhere he can run free.

 

[Puffin]

Hi there is a recent thread here on the subject of pulling in which I posted some links that may help .
Hi All

I usually use the Dogs trust method in the video when training a food orientated puppy but can't this time with my current puppy because I can't bend over a lot due to a problem with my spine.
I do much the same as 2hand girl , firstly I make it clear when we get outside the garage door that we are not going anywhere till my over excited puppy calms down by standing still no word no eye contact, then when the pulling starts I turn and walk back home. No pulling is rewarded with lots of praise and a 'good girl' in a calm happy voice this is most important .

 

[jcottam1901]

Hi
Thank you both for your help and the links 😊 I think we're going to have to start again from scratch . Funnily enough we watched loads of YouTube vids with Will Atherton and put alot of his advice into practice including the lead walking! Obviously didn't do it very well though. My hubby is more consistent than I am I think. Colin is quite strong and my shoulder gets sore from the yanking.
Alot of the difficulty seems to be his constant sniffing and marking . Yesterday I had him walking pleasantly beside me, looking up at me then wham! He's got a scent and yanks me into the hedgerow. Will this stop if we can crack the lead walking?

 

[2ndhandgal]

Good lead walking is all about having a clear method and sticking to it so the dog understands the consistency. It then comes down to good manners of the dog understanding they can not just tow you to places especially when they are getting plenty of time off lead

 

[Puffin]

Hi J another thing to try is a short strong lead so your dog is right by your side for control, he has 'good walking' when on the lead then his 'free time' when off the lead. It can also help to have a game before you go for a walk so that Colin has expended some of his energy first.
You can progress to a a longer lead when you have control.