Pulling - any tips for those multi-dog walks?

For you multi dog owners? - Lola is OK on the lead when its just me - but when we out as a group - which is more often than not, she is a constant puller - any tips?

is lola the GSD.. do you think she does it with the others because she wants to be ahead of them?

sometimes when dogs are in a group.. they see it as a pack hunt, well thats one theory.. personaly, i feel dogs know when in a group, your not as focused sometimes and play up more so the younger dogs..

depending on which dog it is,. the age, and what you believe she gets out of it.. the training correction would be diff.. x

You beat me to it Shona, as I was just about to ask is Lola the GSD.

The other thing is when you walk them as a group are they all on single leads and on the same side of you, or do you have one dog on say your left, and the other two on your right?

You see I fully agree with what Shona put about the pack theory because when my lot are all out together I have to pair them up in a certain order. If I was to pair Onyx and Max together then would just play one-upmanship with each other by trying to put their noses just that half inch in front of the other one, whereas if I put Jess and Jet together then they will play silly buggers all the way along the road, but if I put Onyx and Jess together then they walk will prefectly together on a loose lead.

Well folks Lola is the GSD and yeah shes the baby ( 14mths ) - she walks on my left Paddy the staff and Coco the Cav walk quite contendedly on my right.
Shes not out of control pulling but I think she would be if I let her be. She is a bundle of energy and I think thats half the problem, Paddy use to be more of a puller when he was a pup but hes happy to amble along these days even in a gentle gait.

I think its a combination..of age, her breed,

your not a dafty... so will soon sort it out, my gsd used to try me out too...if you could have someone go with you so that when she thinks about playing up... you can have someone take the other two,...then you can focus on her,

what methods do you use to stop pulling?

I have found the niggle method{must copyright these methods...pml} works really well with gsd..and collie types..
I have found these two breeds tend to focus on something and are hard to get back onto focusing on you..
so when you see it starting..you give loads of slight pressure on the lead.... just a small contact... so you see the collar move. then let the pressure off...then on then off then off.. with some vocal at the same time.. they cant concentrate on what they want to.. so give up and play nice....

i confess - ive used a choke chain and it worked to a degree - but the death threats from dogsey got out of control - only kidding - but i now walk her on a harness - i think some of it is pure exhuberance - i do kind of do gentle jerky on and off pressure on the lead and it seems to disrupt her more than a hard tug - but shes just so different in the group to when shes just with me and focusing on me

nickyboy wrote:

i confess - ive used a choke chain and it worked to a degree - but the death threats from dogsey got out of control - only kidding - but i now walk her on a harness - i think some of it is pure exhuberance - i do kind of do gentle jerky on and off pressure on the lead and it seems to disrupt her more than a hard tug - but shes just so different in the group to when shes just with me and focusing on me

this is the down fall of young dogs, I would say rather than take all three, could you try to take her with just one other dog to begin with, see if dealing with it is a bit easyer that way, choke chains are ok if they are used well,
I would try taking her with the better trained of the other two dogs, see what happens, young dogs do need a lot of one on one time though.

when you take her for this one on one times you could consider training her to ignore distractions on lead.. eg something being thrown,. that way you have a far steadyer dog on lead, it will help with the excitement of being out with others too.. she will learn... pulling is a massive no no on lead.

all else fails... send her to me for a few weeks.... you may not get her back though.

xxx

Well I don't personally use full choke chains, but prefer to use leather half chokes as they do less harm to the dog.

Can I just ask how long a lead you are using on Lola? When training my lot I always have my dogs shoulders level with my leg, plus about 10-inches of extra lead between their shoulders and my hand, that way I had maximum control over them via the lead as well as verbal.

When you are walking your lot as a pack, have you tried mixing the configuration you walk them in, because it could be that Lola is just trying to get next to one of the others, because as I said above I have to walk my lot in a certain order.

the other thing I should add... IS GET YOUR WIFE TO DO THE NIGGLING... they are so much better at niggling than men ...lol

kaos wrote:

nickyboy wrote:

i confess - ive used a choke chain and it worked to a degree - but the death threats from dogsey got out of control - only kidding - but i now walk her on a harness - i think some of it is pure exhuberance - i do kind of do gentle jerky on and off pressure on the lead and it seems to disrupt her more than a hard tug - but shes just so different in the group to when shes just with me and focusing on me

this is the down fall of young dogs, I would say rather than take all three, could you try to take her with just one other dog to begin with, see if dealing with it is a bit easyer that way, choke chains are ok if they are used well,
I would try taking her with the better trained of the other two dogs, see what happens, young dogs do need a lot of one on one time though.

when you take her for this one on one times you could consider training her to ignore distractions on lead.. eg something being thrown,. that way you have a far steadyer dog on lead, it will help with the excitement of being out with others too.. she will learn... pulling is a massive no no on lead.

all else fails... send her to me for a few weeks.... you may not get her back though.

xxx

hahaha or ill get her back the next day!!!

thats the thing - she is so attentive one on one - its jekyll and hyde - i really think ( hope) that much of it is down to youthful exhuberance

colin wrote:

Well I don't personally use full choke chains, but prefer to use leather half chokes as they do less harm to the dog.

Can I just ask how long a lead you are using on Lola? When training my lot I always have my dogs shoulders level with my leg, plus about 10-inches of extra lead between their shoulders and my hand, that way I had maximum control over them via the lead as well as verbal.

When you are walking your lot as a pack, have you tried mixing the configuration you walk them in, because it could be that Lola is just trying to get next to one of the others, because as I said above I have to walk my lot in a certain order.

yeah im probably my own worst enemy cos i let them amble off in front - but truth be told when one on one i keep lola a lot close to my leg.

She has no intention of standing with the others - i tried puttin her next to paddy and have coco on her own - with coco and paddy on his own and all three - she seems to then try and get back to how i normally have them with her on my left the other two on my right.

She is slowly and ever so graudally getting better - she puts pressure on the lead but its not too excessive ( which makes me think its just exhuberance being out with the gang ) and will only intensely pull when she sees something, a rabbit, sheep, other dog etc

She is still very much charging round like a nutcase indoors but a puppylike way and isnt out of control and i thiunk she just carries it outside somewhat

I just invested in a ANOTHER half choke for her - she chewed the other one i got her from Discover Dogs - i noticed the choke chain was pulling her hair out and stopped immediately

nickyboy wrote:

colin wrote:

Well I don't personally use full choke chains, but prefer to use leather half chokes as they do less harm to the dog.

Can I just ask how long a lead you are using on Lola? When training my lot I always have my dogs shoulders level with my leg, plus about 10-inches of extra lead between their shoulders and my hand, that way I had maximum control over them via the lead as well as verbal.

When you are walking your lot as a pack, have you tried mixing the configuration you walk them in, because it could be that Lola is just trying to get next to one of the others, because as I said above I have to walk my lot in a certain order.

yeah im probably my own worst enemy cos i let them amble off in front - but truth be told when one on one i keep lola a lot close to my leg.

She has no intention of standing with the others - i tried puttin her next to paddy and have coco on her own - with coco and paddy on his own and all three - she seems to then try and get back to how i normally have them with her on my left the other two on my right.

She is slowly and ever so graudally getting better - she puts pressure on the lead but its not too excessive ( which makes me think its just exhuberance being out with the gang ) and will only intensely pull when she sees something, a rabbit, sheep, other dog etc

She is still very much charging round like a nutcase indoors but a puppylike way and isnt out of control and i thiunk she just carries it outside somewhat

I just invested in a ANOTHER half choke for her - she chewed the other one i got her from Discover Dogs - i noticed the choke chain was pulling her hair out and stopped immediately

your right much of it is down to age,,,,, BUT if you were to let her off with it, it would carry on for ever, chokes are a bad for longer coated dogs they do tend to strip hair... but its also a sign that its overworked.. and not working at the same time. The half check is the better option. as to pulling more when she sees things like rabbits.. yes its down to her being younger and not really knowing the rules the same way the others do...

another good idea to stop pulling dogs..... is.. ok I will try to explaine this the best I can...

IF you have something like a horses lead rope.. or just a good long lead thats not too thin... you can clip it on to the collar, then take a loop of the lead.. and ..... have it across the chest of the dog... just where the legs meet the body.. if they pull it puts them off balance...

right I havent explained that well so will take a photo and add it later.. but the whole idea is... if they push into it.. it makes them feel like they will tip forward...

photo to follow.. honest
x

dont know if these will help... but your kinda smart people so should figure out what im talking about

lead held from behind









where the extra loop should sit at the front... so you can imagine if they pull into that.. it will push the front legs back hence... they cant pull
its another one of my horsey tricks lol
but it works on larger dogs too

That's a really good idea.

I wish I had known that tip when I first got Onyx as he could pull a bus.

for some reason i cant see the pictures

i think im following what you r saying with the lead - can you send the pics in a message please see if i can open it?

nickyboy wrote:

for some reason i cant see the pictures

i think im following what you r saying with the lead - can you send the pics in a message please see if i can open it?

ok will email them to you x

colin wrote:

That's a really good idea.

I wish I had known that tip when I first got Onyx as he could pull a bus.

It only really works for taller dogs.. but it does work if done right.... shhhhh dont tell everyone

Just an update - using a combination of Shona and Colins methods ( i.e the lead round the front and generally much shorter leads and nearer walking position ) had some success - looks a little ungainly but will persevere for sure as already im convinced shes smart enough to adapt quickly....

your photos did make me think of something else though

Shona where do you get your leather training leads from?

nickyboy wrote:

Just an update - using a combination of Shona and Colins methods ( i.e the lead round the front and generally much shorter leads and nearer walking position ) had some success - looks a little ungainly but will persevere for sure as already im convinced shes smart enough to adapt quickly....

your photos did make me think of something else though

Shona where do you get your leather training leads from?

I have them made to order, here are a couple of the suppliers I use. You can get more or less exactly what lenght, width you want... and they last for years. I hate nylon type leads....ewww they feel horrid in your hand,

http://www.accoladeleathercraft.com/erol.html#1X0
http://www.essenjayleathersupplies.co.uk/

thats great thanks for that - what would you recommend as long a training lead as possible?

nickyboy wrote:

thats great thanks for that - what would you recommend as long a training lead as possible?

they can be really handy, so long as they have a few rings on them so you can adjust the length to whatever you need, eg shorter for road work and so on, I think 72" is a good lenght for a gsd.

you need to buy some saddle oil... put a few coats on when you buy it.. it helps soften the leather... then just do it agian once a year or whatever... the one in the photo got lost up the field for three months... it went through the councils lawn mower and its still in one piece going strong 8 years later, I use quarter inch width as I have small hands but you may prefer it wider.