pulling, pulling, pulling

[Chris Smith]

Nalu is still pulling alot when he is walked on a leash. I have tried using a harness and he wasn't any better with that and now he won't wear his harness. So he is getting choked for most of his 30-45 min. walk. He is not aggressive at all and he is not pulling towards anything. Just walking much faster than me or wanting to run for the entire walk.

I have tried having him sit every time he starts to pull and now as soon as I say "no pull" he sits down, waits until I say "ok" and then starts pulling again. We also are sitting alot throughout the walk and I'd like him to be getting some exercise and going to the bathroom rather than sitting. I have also tried turning around and we wind up staying on the same block alot :(

I walk him around 5am before his breakfast so I would prefer not to give him lots of treats during this walk. He won't respond to kibble as his treats.

He pulls for most of the walk but he goes "ballistic" when he sees a cat - lunges and pulls so hard that he has flipped himself over (and almost flipped me over a couple times). He does almost the same thing with birds. We see several cats and birds on our walks :(

He goes off leash more often than on leash and his recall is good. He walks much better off leash and always "checks in" with me. But as soon as the leash goes on, he just wants to race and run and goes as fast as possible.

How can I get him to just walk on the leash? I am trying to do +R but I find myself constantly saying "no pull", "sit", "stop", "no street", etc. and nothing is very positive about all that. What can I say to him or do to replace the pulling? (I say "good walk" when he is walking nicely but he doesn't seem to get it when I ask him to "good walk" when he is pulling).

[Summer Magic]

Try getting him a Halti or Gentle Leader they are great for a pulling dog. They put stimulus on the nose of the dog and turn it to the side when the dog tries to pull. I use one and find it's a great help when walking on a leash.

[Jeanette Hauser]

and why not use the treats as positive reinforcement of good behavior? Who cares what time it is, ifhe learns proper manners? Maybe you can find a better treat that is more like dog food, but doesn't taste like kibble to the pup?

[Daniela Jantzen]

Chris,

you mentioned Nalu is no longer wearing the harness throughout your daily walks. Good!
Use that for special training sessions!
Stuff your pockets full of yummy treats and walk him to an open field or huge park, where you switch from collar to harness.
Once he starts moving around, make a clicking noise with your tongue (or some other weird sound your dog doesn't know yet). As soon as he reacts, treat him AT ONCE for paying attention to the noise. Repeat a few times, then go one step further. Click and lure him one step towards you. Next step would be luring him two steps towards you.
As soon as he is walking right towards you once you click, simply turn around JUST before he reaches you and lure him by your side. Reward him once he is there. Next step: immediately click again when he is by your side, change directions and lure him with you, rewarding him for following the "click".
This way you can easily teach the dog: click means yummy treat if I pay attention to the handler instead of minding my own business....

Other options:
1. Stop and go. You just stop once he pulls, say nothing and wait until the tension on the leash decreases. Praise, reward and walk on. Will take a long time, especially with experienced pullers, affords lots of consequence on your part. One slight change would be suing both harness and collar: pulling is allowed on the harness (this way no harm is being done to the sensitive neck are), in training sessions use the collar until he no longer pulls.

2. Have him by your left side, with the leash in your right hand, running behind your back to the dog's collar. This way you can easily block him with your whole body once he moves forward. Praise and reward if the leash is slack.

3. Change of directions (to be used on the harness only due to the tension which might occur on the dog's neck if it is wearing a collar):
once the dog pulls, make a weird sound and simply change directions. If need be, gently pull the dog with you. Reward once it follows.

Pulling is a behaviour which is quickly established and generalized.
To help the dog learn not to pull, it is usually a good thing to switch to a completely new type of collar or harness which feels completely different to the old one. I usually recommend using both collars (or collar/harness) in a combination: if the situation allows the dog to pull (diarrhea or loads of excitment) and you can be 100% certain that you won't get a slack leash walk at all - use the old collar. The new one should be for no-pulling sessions only! If it is made out of a completely material than the old one and therefore feels different, it is easier for the dog to discrimimate between pulling and no-pulling-situations, thus allowing him to learn a lot quicker.
So if you have used metal so far, switch to leather or nylon and vice versa.

Danny

[Chris Smith]

Thanks for the advice and good suggestions to try. I have never taken Nalu out for a "training walk". Our walks are always for the purpose of exercise and bathroom needs. So hopefully he will learn better if I take him on some walks that are for "no pull/good walking training sessions". And if I do these at other times of the day, I would be more inclined to treat a lot and not worry about his breakfast being nothing but special treats. I think I will also try using the harness for those sessions since I already have one that's not being used now.