Halti's. Good or Bad??

[Daisy]

Hi

My Cocker Noah, is driving me mad. As you all know Cockers LOVE to pull. We have tried everything but nothing seems to help. I was just wondering would a Halti, be any good I don't really like the look of them but if it works all well and good. Would you guys recommend a Halti, or not. How many of you guys use a Halti on your Cocker, and does it work.

[emma_and_tilly]

I use a halti and love it.....once you've got the hang of it it goes on easily, and my 7 yr old daughter can walk Tilly no problem. X

[Daisy]

I find it makes our walk so stressful and I really hate taking him for a walk at them moment, because he pulls so much. Has anyone used a THE MEKUTI BALANCE DOG HARNESS, at all I was reading about them on the Internet they sound really good.

[Bluebell]

I used to use a Halti head collar on Lillie - she hated it  Tried one on Teva, she refused to move from the spot So now I use the Halti Harness on both of them - happy dogs

[KayJay]

I've used a Mekuti, it's OK, but isn't a magic cure...they can still pull into any harness so you still have to teach them to walk nicely. Biggest problem I have with it (and the front-ring fleece one too) is that it needs a double-ended lead and two hands to make it work....which is something of a problem when walking two dogs, each with this setup! I find harnesses in general, while kind on the dog, aren't the most practical of things with dogs that race through the mud that's around at the moment and need hosing when they get back from a walk - the harness would be forever in the wash! Also, I get more sniffing the pavements and less steerability with no control over the head. I resorted to headcollars, always found the Halti rode up and into the eyes; at present I use a Gentle Leader but have just ordered a couple of fleece headcollars that attach to the lead at the back of the head (don't like the risk of damaging necks with a dog on an under-the-chin fastening headcollar and I'm still getting a bit of riding up) http://www.southwestagilitygoods.co.uk/head.html - we'll see how they are!
None of these things remove the need to teach loose lead walking, they're just management tools...and if not introduced carefully can become quite aversive to the dog.

[praia]

I am ardently against any sort of head collar.  Far too many risks when using that sort of tool. 

I don't like anti-pull harnesses either, but understand how useful and appropriate they can be in some cases.  Just remember, anti-pull harnesses are only making the problem more manageable and isn't actually solving it.  Management tools like anti-pull harnesses should only be used until you have the time to actually train your dog not to pull on the lead.

With my own dogs and dogs that I'm training, I use a lead and flat collar.  Any dog of any breed can learn to love to pull on the lead if you've never taught them from the beginning that the behavior isn't rewarding.

[Oliver21508]

I have used a halti, didn't like it riding up into his eyes. So I tried a dogmatic headcollar, and he hated that too. So we now use just a normal harness, and now he's grown up (3 years old), he hardly pulls at all.

Try a headcollar, but if they don't like it, don't keep using it, because there are nicer ways to get them to walk to heel, but some dogs do accept them, so its a case of trial and error.

[hollyd443]

Rio & Mika walk well on normal leads, as does Roxy, however if Roxy sees something that takes her interest she yanks the lead without warning, really hurting my shoulder on occaisions so I have admitted defeat and always use a halti when she's on the lead. 99.9% of the time she's off lead so its not on for long.

[Danni and Freya]

Tried a figure of eight halti type headcollar on Freya and i'm afraid to say she too hated it. It worked, but she stopped enjoying walking on lead. Have gone back to a normal harness which shes happy in and will walk nicely to heel in it when needed

[dazza71]

I am currently using harnesses with my two but can someone please point me in the direction of teaching good loose lead walkibg?

[Evadee]

We used the canny collar with Tia when she was about 6 months old this was recommended by our trainer as I had disc trouble in my back.  I couldn't afford the risk of Tia pulling hard or jerking suddenly, it would have put me back weeks.

It worked pretty well (although she did keep trying to pull it off her nose at first) and she rarely pulls now on a her normal collar.  May start using for Jake soon (5 months old) as he is starting to pull on some walks.

We found the harness which fits around the chest just made Tia pull more.

[dal55]

Cassie has a harness and I have to choose either just a collar or the harness depending how excited she is to set off on a walk.  In excitement mode she pulls like a demon , I have treid everything to stop her and nothing works........................until............... we set off for home and then she is as gold as gold and walks perfectly to heel on a slack lead. I just live with it now    lol

[JaspersMum]

Mine are rarely on lead for long, but on days when they have to go for a lead walk and it's slippy like it's been the last few days, haltis are a godsend as I can walk all 4 in one hand and know they are not going to pull me over.

[seaangler]

We used the canny collar with Tia when she was about 6 months old this was recommended by our trainer as I had disc trouble in my back.  I couldn't afford the risk of Tia pulling hard or jerking suddenly, it would have put me back weeks.

It worked pretty well (although she did keep trying to pull it off her nose at first) and she rarely pulls now on a her normal collar.  May start using for Jake soon (5 months old) as he is starting to pull on some walks.

We found the harness which fits around the chest just made Tia pull more.

A very good collar...Invented by an Iirishman....He got the ideal from the horses he had and designed the head collar from that ...I to use them only in town....

[crazybailey]

I have same as KayJay is getting, the fleece lined one. Got mine from some one else but exactly the same. I think mines from martingale halters or something but the exact same. I mostly use mine with double ended lead, one end on harness and one on halter. My cocker is 7 months so am trying to teach good walking with out relying on the halter. I do use it on it's own sometimes and find it a great design and doesn't pull the dogs nose round as the lead connects at the back of the head.


Edited: http://www.martingaleheadcollar.co.uk/ here's where I got mine incase you need info x