Halti?

[100cents]

Sometime Dollar is a little angel on the lead other times he's a little horror - pulling on the lead  and lunging at other dogs barking at them.  I think the lunging and barking just seems to be his rather bossy way of getting the other dogs attention as I noticed yesterday his little stump was wagging furiously when he did this.  Problem is not all dogs may view it this way.  Would a halti work for him if so what size and where's the best place to get them?  Any other suggestions welcome.                    

[PennyB]

Haltis can help I believe. They can be bought from a lot of online shops and they often give you an idea of size etc.                    

[Cob-Web]

We used a halti with our last dog, a GSD x. She would pull so hard on the lead she would choke herself  :shock:

We tried several head collars, including the Halti, and found that they all fit, and work, slightly differently...and it was a real case of trial and error to find one that suited her and us.  :?

It did prevent her constant pulling; and gave 'control' back to us, as she was such a strong dog she occasionally pulled me off my feet  :shock: . I don't know how well it would work to prevent lunging at other doggies; but would certainly enable you to re-focus Dollar's attention without hurting him.

We eventually converted to a 'harness'; for some reason she pulled much less on this and was far more biddable - I have no idea why this worked for her, but we were happy that it did  

Hope you find something that makes walkies more fun for both of you  :wink:                    

[bunny]

hi
i purchased a harness to fit a cocker from pets at home, and it worked wonders, the internet has some usefull things for dogs, as do a lot of other places, but recently i have found i can get things or items cheaper from the high street in small pet shops or pets at home, some of the larger internet stores and others, overprice things because they know how much we love our dogs and for other reasons, i know what i am trying to say here, i am not doing it very well, just shop around,the harness stops pulling 100%, walks became enjoyable overnight. :wink:                    

[Jane S]

Some harnesses have been known to cause soreness where the straps rub against the skin, especially when wet . Here's the warning Crazyspaniel posted a little while ago: http://www.cockersonline.co.uk/forum/viewt...ghlight=harness. Just thought I'd mention it to those of you considering buying a harness.

Jane                    

[Laura]

The Halti headcollar has worked amazingly well with a couple of my friends dogs, so much so that  I decided to try one for Brogan, on days that being consistent with loose lead walking was more difficult.  Yes it did work fantastic at making him walk nicely but he became so depressed with it on - lost all his sparkle and spirit     So, back to a normal collar and lots of stops and starts everytime the lead tightens!  Walking Bailey and Brogan on lead together will remain my future dream for a while longer!                    

[PennyB]

I think though its worse when they lunge and bark than just plain pull on the lead as there's a little more going on here.

Have you also thought of seeing a 1-2-1 trainer if its becoming a bit of a nightmare (an ex-foster dog would do this with me so I know how it can spoil a walk). I've always found being shown, with a few extra tips thrown in from someone else's experience really useful.                    

[scoobie]

From my experiences with scoobie using a halti I tend to agree with Laura scoobie was as miserable as sin with a halti he used to throw himself on the ground and try desperately to get it off.. :cry: although he walked nicely he wanted to come back home he wasn't happy with the halti we have had one to one training (which although is taking a long time and is ongoing) me personally... am sticking with the training it gives scoobie something to think about :wink: and clicker training and whistle training is great fun :wink:
good luck with dollar and beleive me I know what you mean about being an angel and a devil :wink:
Edith                    

[Luvlylady]

I tried a halti dident like it at all the walk isent relaxed with a halti as any little movement pulls the head. so i decided its all very well me having a nice walk but the dog has to enjoy it too after all thats why im walking the dog lol
So i went out and bought a loopy harness which stops pulling  i havent looked back since . ive had it 2 years in wet weather too no problems
In between those years i have tried other harness's one that has a colla then straps that go under the legs and attach i dident like that i think it may cause some pain . I had the normal harness there great for oflead when you  may need to grab your dog quick . fortunatly my petshop lets you return the goods if your dog dosent like there things which i do quite often  
walking on the lead is always done with a loopy there great
Janes right you have to be careful with some of these harness's I think the pets at home harness has been mentioned on that link
Also some  head collas have been mentioned on other sites saying the nose strap can come way to far off the nose and end up by the eyes causing pain .                    

[Mike]

I discarded the halti collar too for my springer who pulls on the lead. It used to rub way too close to her eye, and despite trying it consistently for about 3 months, she never accepted it and tried to paw it off at every opportunity. She also completely changed the way she walked to try to get around the halti i.e. bending her body sidewards, a bit like a crab! Though joking aside, I didnt think that was particularly healthy. I wasn't particularly happy also with ignorant people saying "come away from that dog, it's wearing a muzzle cos it bites".

I moved on to the Komfi harness, which was an improvement on the halti for me personally. The pulling in Jazz hasnt disappeared entirely though, you still need to enforce the heel training at every opportunity.                    

[annemie]

We used the halti on our Joep. The firts week he walks perfectly but tried contantly to get it off. :?  The next week he refused to walk :shock:  So we buy a harness, but the pulling went on. Now he is 6 years and walk since about 2 years nice    It's the age I think                      

[PennyB]

Yes but the harness won't necessarily stop the lunging and barking at dogs but it may stop a dog pulling which are two different things as the whole point here is to turn the head gently away other dogs as you walk rather than face the conflict head on.                    

[Mike]

Well I was speaking purely about pulling, and you're probably right in what you say about the halti, though the problem is that many dogs are so resistant to wearing them, that it might prove not to be a suitable method/training aid for the original poster. In that case, harnesses will still provide you with some degree of control over the dog, which *can* help to prevent lunging towards other dogs as the front carriage is lifted every time the dog pulls or lunges - preventing the pull or lunge from being successfully carried out                    

[taniac]

The only problem would be that it can be seen as an aggressive posture if the front feet lift off the floor, so if you're worried about it appearing aggressive this is worth bearing in mind.

I'm sure it's just youthful eagerness to say hello to everyone tho!!!                      

[100cents]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I think Taniac could be right about the youthful eagerness   When we first took him out for  walks he was quite quiet with other dogs. I  think he's now trying to introduce himself in a noisy way.  He  hasn't even been so bad with pulling in the last few days . Okay I may get yanked out of the of the door but he soon calms down. I tend to do the "I'm not walking any further until you stop pulling my arm out it's socket" method.  Think I may give it a few more weeks and see how he is as he's still a little newbie like me.