Muffin Goes Crazy on Her Walks!

[muffinlvr]

I need help! My 5 year-old Yorkie Muffin loves to take walks but the minute I get her outside she starts pulling and GRUNTING. She makes the most god awful noise while we're walking that and I get strange looks from others who see/hear her. She gets so worked up that she actually starts foaming at the mouth after 5 minutes of walking. She wears a harness so there is nothing around her neck that is constricting her throat but the noise she makes sounds like she being choked. Any suggestions or is this one for Cesar Milan?????

[yavenay]

I don't have any advice for you as i have the exact opposite problem (well maybe not a problem). Brandi takes forever to walk one freakin block. She has to stop and smell every blade of grass and every pile of poop (of course she must sprinkle on every pile of poop) . I swear a it takes like what seems like an hour to go maybe 3 blocks. She doesn't mind walking and loves being outside when the whether is great but jeez i wish she would speed it up a little.

I look at other dog owners walking there dogs at a nice brisk pace and I get so jealous that it takes me 10 minutes to walk 5 paces .

[MyDuke]

Duke has his days also and often likes to pull, I think he is just excited to be outside and want to get to everything all at once. I just taught him to come back to me and wait, atleast that slows him down a bit.
Not sure if this is helpful to you or not but that is my experience with Duke.

[Twinkie2Cute]

It does sound like a Dog Whisperer problem!

I had the same trouble with my scottie/cairn terrier, Halo. He would get so excited and his nose was in overdrive. His nose was smelling so many things that he wanted to get to all of those smells at the same time. He is not as bad anymore, but I still have to remind him who's boss. I keep him close to me at the beginning of the walk and if he is behaving, then I let him roam a little further from my side. When he acts up, I bring him to my side and stand there until he calms down. There are times I may have to stand in the same position for 5 minutes. I can't let him think he is controlling the walk. It took a long time before he calmed down. I am still working with him on a daily basis.

I take Halo for 3 to 4 walks a day. It may depend on how many walks you are taking and that is why he is so excited. I hope this helped. I know I had to have patience and make the time to correct his excitement. Good Luck!

[Britster]

I would suggest a Premier EZWalk harness (Petsmart, Petco, etc) or YT's chattiesmoms Walk Nice harness. It has a d-ring in the front of the harness because often times a harness will make them pull worse (the sled dog comes out in them!) but the front d-ring re-directs them in your direction and doesn't necessarily allow them to pull out ahead of you. It takes some practice, patience but you could have a well behaved Yorkie walking beside you! Food or favorite toys help as well. There's a gazillion episodes of Dog Whisperer or It's Me or the Dog about leash walking and they both basically say the same thing... try to catch a few episodes and get some tips!

[capt_noonie]

I'm going to tell you about my experience as well. Uni is a super puller. She doesn't sniff too much, she just loves to run. She's got crazy energy and if she gets overly anxious she will get a foamy/drooly mouth too.

I have tried the harnesses Brit recommended. It works for 99% of dogs, but did not work for Uni. I guess she is exceptional She would just keep pulling to where the lead would go up under one of her armpits and continue to pull with three legs.

For the stop and sit method... She will sit next to me but bark, and I mean LOUD and keep barking barking barking while sitting. It's like she's saying "I'M SITTING ALREADY LET'S GO LET'S GO LET'S GO!!!!!" But I did not want her to sit for a second and bark her head off and keep going. That would tell her that barking loudly will get her her way. And I seriously stood in one spot for about 5 mins and she was still barking.

I tried the stop and change direction method.... Uni does not care what direction we are going in, as long as we are moving. So didn't work.

The only thing that I have found that works for me is the retractable lead. And that is the ONE thing you are absolutely NOT to get if you have a puller (rewards them with what they want--getting farther away, with the problem you want to stop--pulling). I got the extra long one 23'. When she is on this lead, she doesn't think she is on anything. She will run out far, and when she thinks she is too far, will run back to me. Same as when she is completely off leash.

I think you should thoroughly try all the methods mentioned here first, before you consider a retractable. i believe Uni is a special case and I am good with training her, that is why i left this as a last resort, and for some reason it worked for us.