Yesterday we had an impromptu, hastily planned, small family gathering.
I knew the mental stimulation and the activity of people coming and going meant I could get away with a short walk for the pups.
Hubby was mowing the lawn and so that left me. I thought it might be a good time to walk them individually.
It made sense to take Delilah first, honestly she can be very destructive when she’s ticked off. I knew Sampson would just sit at the top of the stairs and pout while he waited for our return.
I put on her harness, clipped on the six-foot leash and off we went.
I’ve heard that a harness can make a dog with a tendency to pull, pull harder, but that is not the case with Delilah. The harness actually helps her to stop pulling me. While we’re walking if she starts to get too far ahead or the leash starts to get too tight I make a noise that sounds like, “ent.”
It is just enough of a verbal correction to make her slow down and back off the tension.
We went to the end of the street, turned around and came back.
I decided I’d try Sampson on the harness. I put Delilah’s harness on him, made a couple of small adjustments and off we went.
Honestly, this was the most enjoyable leash walk I’ve had with Sampson since he was a puppy! We had absolutely no pulling from him either and he too was corrected with a gentle “ent.”
As I approached our house at the end of our walk I thought, “Wow, I actually enjoy walking the dogs this way.”
What I discovered yesterday, as with any training tool if you are simply using the tool and not training the dog, you’re spinning your wheels. The harness combined with a simple correction was more than enough to make our walk very enjoyable.
Do you have a dog that pulls? Have you ever used a harness? Would you use a harness?
My big dog walking by MY SIDE!! (Excuse the blurry, it was on my cell phone while we were walking.)
It’s true, the harness makes a big difference. I have noticed that once they get used to it they try their old tricks [pulling] but it’s much much easier to get them back on track with a simple correction, as you say.
Sam in his younger days thought he was a sled dog. Walking him was horrible – I’d come home with raw palms and sore shoulders. We switched him to a Halti which really saved the day and after about a year and a half, moved to a Gentle Leader harness – what a difference! Sam now walks on a very loose leash and most times doesn’t need anything.
Sam
It looks like you’re using a front clip harness, which is a whole different ballgame from a back-clip. It’s the back-clips that get the bad rap for increasing pulling.
I’ve also had good luck with just changing the equipment. It seems like there’s a kind of novelty factor. “Oh, why does walking feel different? Do I need to do something else?”
Which, I have to say, I routinely walk Silas in a back clip harness because it’s the least uncomfortable for him if he pulls toward a person or another dog. Since that physical discomfort+scary object is a classic reactivity trigger, and Silas has basically no manners about meeting people, I *like* how comfortable it is for him to pull in his harness. I just have to work twice as hard training him not to sled-dog it down the trail.
It’s true that a harness where the leash attaches to the back can make pullers pull harder. Instead of just getting their head & neck into the pull, they really can use their entire body to pull in that scenario. It looks from the photo that you were using a front clip harness, which is entirely different. It works like a charm in preventing/managing pulling. I use it with all 3 dogs as well as the Gentle Leader during times when I need a bit more precise control.
No harness for us, but we do work on heeling every time we walk the dogs. The best is if I can just tell them “good heel” once in a while. I find it more enjoyable if all I have to so is to praise when they walk in correct position. But as you say, you have to work it all of the time. 🙂
Sometimes I think just varying their routine gets their attention enough that we get the behavior we want.
I did have dogs that pulled that way, fortunately none of mine currently pull too hard. When they do, it’s usually because she wants to get ahead of one of the other collies. 🙂
I have not used a harness before, but I have used a gentle leader with Rosy who was awful at pulling when she saw another dog. It eased my fears of getting drug down the street and made for a nice walk all around. Dexter is not much of a puller these days as his age and hips have slowed him to a lax mosey.
I tried to harness on Sherman once for walking and it just wasn’t happening. I felt like I had no control over him and that if he took off to go after something there was no stopping him! I think that harnesses are great, don’t get me wrong. They are just not for me and the Newfs.
Doggy has never used a harness, just when he’s on the back sit of the car. He’s always been pretty good with “heel” it was natural, I only had to reinforce him, however, now that he’s a rebel teenager I need to do a little more corrections than 2 months ago, trying times are ahead I must keep my cool.
Oh yes, Fozzie can be a major puller–worse with the harness clipped to his back. We used to use an Easy Walk harness, but Pam, our TTouch practitioner, said it impedes movement. So we got a Freedom Harness, which attaches in front or on the top, and we really like it. It definitely lessens the pulling, and is comfortable.
What a great discovery!
Elka does pull less on the harness, but overall, her pulling had diminished when I was still walking her on a collar only. With the harness, she could theoretically pull more strongly, but by the same merit, so can I, and stymie her pulling progress.
I try to work on heel as we walk with some verbal praise. Walking Cheyenne and Riva on a coupler helps Riva not to pull but the very best thing I have ever used is a gentle leader for dogs who pull. Fits similar to a horse halter and the idea is if you have control of the head you have control of the dog, where the head goes the dog follows 🙂 Some dogs pull because it is natural to pull against the collar around the neck. I have never had good luck with a harness and have had them rub the dogs under the legs because of the way it fits.
Hey Sampson, Hey Delilah, Jet here. Hi Miss Jodi.
Mom gave me the most handsome blue harness shortly after I joined the family. It’s all worn in now, 4 years later. Mom finds the harness much more productive along with the correction. Also, my harness doubles as a seat belt in the car. It has a special attachment with a glow-in-the-dark caribiner. It’s cool. I think I’ve grown more fur since Mom adopted me Miss Jodi, because it’s a bit more snug than the old days!
We sometimes use a harness on Georgia. We started when she hurt her neck and her check and martingale collars were not suitable. She became a bad walker with it and stopped heeling properly in just a couple of months. We’re back to the martingale now that her neck is good again.
While cleaning house, we found her old halti which was the first thing we tried when we got her. OMG! She hated that! She yowled and lunged so badly, you would have thought we were trying to kill her. We even had passers by asking us if it was hurting her! So much for the gentle leader.
All our dogs have been different. Some heeled perfectly on normal collars. Rufus needed a strong check, he was so powerful when he was young. But in his old age, walked well on the halti. I’m glad you found something that works for Sampson and Delilah 🙂
I have tried the harness with Lila, and she still pulls. I will have to try using your command! The gentle leader is working a little better.
I normally walk my dogs on a flat collar. Linus only pulls when he wants to chase something and I’m usually pulling Stetson. I use a halti when I walk them both because when Linus decides to chase Stetson usually follows and it can be a bit of a nightmare trying to hold both dogs back.
Which harness are you using? Is it a no pull harness?
A front-attaching harness is fabulous! I swear it probably saved my life when I was walking Shadow. Or maybe it saved her life because if I lost another drop of blood on a walk, I was probably going to kill her.
So glad you found a good tool. Sometimes just breaking the habit of pulling by using a mechanical tool can make it easier to do the training to fix the issue permanently.
We use harnesses for both our Shih Tzu’s because small breeds are susceptible to collapsed trachea if they are walked with a collar. But we put the thing on like a bra, so the clasp where you clip the 2 ends together are between the shoulders and that’s where we hook the leash. [it looks like in the photo you have it the other way.] Anyway, my hubby lets them do whatever they want, he’s with them all day, so they are complete brats for me when walking [not the older one so much, but the baby.]