slip lead or not

[*Marie*]

Bracken is 14 weeks old and is not to bad on the lead going to the common, pulls slightly, it's on the way back from the walk that's the problem, he tries to pull so hard sniffing the ground as he goes, I know why he probably smells our scent, I have noticed if it's raining I put his coat on, which he sulks a bit and he walks brilliantly on the lead no pulling, but can't put the coat on if it's not raining or the summer, question is, I heard a lot on slip leads and if they will be the answer, to his pulling! can you use them on a puppy! any help or suggestions? I don't like the halties that go over the noses!

[Helen]

I would use a flat collar and lead until you train your pup to walk properly on the lead. 

A slip lead is not a training tool, it should only be used on dogs that have already been taught to walk on lead.  They can damage a pup's throat and neck 

Sorry but it takes a lot of consistent and patient training.

A harness would be a better option.

[JeffD]

Hi, as Helen says not a good idea on a pup that is pulling it will hurt the dog. I use slips all the time but only on dogs that are heel steady.

I don't know about other trainers with more experience than I have but I have never had a lot of success training heel work with very young dogs. I tend to only walk pups on grass in safe areas and 99% of the time they are off lead or trailing a long training lead, but I do have good recall about the only thing I push hard on with young dogs.

At around 6 month old I start intensive lead work two 10 minutes sessions a day and most pups have the hang of it after a week. Once had a lab pup that went from pulling to walking to heel off lead in 15 minutes but this was a lab not a work bred cocker. I actually picked up a nice wide collar for Teal today at pets at home as she is 6 months in a couple of weeks and its time to start with her.

[jonnytrabant]

Well to buck the trend, my gundog trainer told me to get Harry straight on the slip lead and to be fair at nearly 7 months he's fine most of the time, he can like all pups be excited and pull at times but on the whole he's great on the slip lead. He does wear a convential lead and collar when I take him to my folks as I can't trust my dad to put the slip lead on correctly, an easy mistake I can tell you.

It just goes to show how much information is out there and I found it very hard in the early days of having my pup to decipher good information from poor information.

[Karma]

Gundog trainers do tend to give different advice on this issue - but the fact remains that they can cause damage when used to correct a dog who pulls - the adpt will not allow them to be used in their puppy classes, which says enough for me.
Using them for convenience on a trained dog is a completely differeny kettle of fish.