Pulling on the lead

[JES72]

I feel I have let myself and Stanley down. I promised self when we got Stanley that he would not pull on the lead and I’ll train him to walk to heal and on a loose lead and not have my shoulder pulled out but I have failed both him and me. Feeling a bit bad that I have an unruly dog despite all my best intentions. He only walks sort of nicely when he’s on a figure of eight lead around his nose but he doesn’t like it and will spend half the walk trying to rub it off. It feels like everyone else’s dog is trotting beside them perfectly.

 

[HAH]

That’s all completely understandable but in the kindest tone possible, give yourself a break! He’s an animal, not a robot - you can’t promise yourself how future behaviour will go, and it’s not fair to put heavy expectations on yourself and Stanley for a skill that takes a lot of learning. How old is Stanley now?

 

[Atemas]

Stanley is still young. Red used to pull a LOT despite all my training. It gradually improved but took a long time. She will still pull occasionally and I try to stay ahead of it as I fear being pulled over. Don’t feel bad

 

[JES72]

That’s all completely understandable but in the kindest tone possible, give yourself a break! He’s an animal, not a robot - you can’t promise yourself how future behaviour will go, and it’s not fair to put heavy expectations on yourself and Stanley for a skill that takes a lot of learning. How old is Stanley now?

He’s 15 months. He’s such a friendly creature and wants to get involved in everything. He is also a big scent trailer which is great for Mantrailing but not so great when on a normal lead walk.

 

[Candy]

As @Atemas has said, Stanley is still very young. Even Joy, good girl that she is was still pulling at that age. This is probably going to sound strange but have you tried singing to him? When we had The Beast from the East and it was very slippery underfoot I was worried about Joy pulling me over (she was 23 months then) and came to realise that nothing I was doing stopped her pulling when she was excited, so I decided to try a different approach and out of sheer desperation I tried singing to her, which much to my amazement worked! (Probably because she was desperate for me to stop!) I recently mentioned this to someone I meet with her dogs who has just completed an online qualification in dog training and apparently this is something that came up in her course, so it sounds like it's also worked for other people. It might just be worth a try.

 

[Anne123]

Odin is pulling too.....I try so hard to let him walk on loose lead. He occasionaly does walk nicely for a few meters, but then pulls again....I feel bad about this too. But then I see his sisters and brother with gundogtraining and they pull too, a little less then Odin, but they do it too. And the owners are trainers themselves.....! So my guess too is their age.

(I will try the singing....@Candy has suggested)

 

[Stacia]

Flicka is the worst dog I have had, and she is my ninth dog! I tell myself it is the Spaniel in her. So I was comforted to read that others are having or had, problems with heel walking.

 

[Kelsey]

I can relate, Hugo is awful and I feel very defeated. So I unfortunately have no advice but I truly understand. Hugo too loves everyone and everything and has to sniff every leaf and stick and piece of grass I was telling someone today that he is the most perfect dog and the only complaint I have is his leash pulling. So I try not to get to upset about it but I wish taking him to public places was less embarrassing and stressful.