Pulling Problem
 

I was walking Chloe and Little Bit and I suddenly heard, "No, Pluto, slow down!" and a thud.

Turns out, my aunt was walking her daughter's Rottie mix (She's taking care of him while her daughter looks for a house that will allow dogs.) when he pulled her to the ground. After I, and my two dog-butts, made sure she was okay, I offered to walk the dog back to their house.

He walked so well when I gave him commands! I said, "on-by", he went on-by. I said, "in" to get him inside of her house, and he went in. I was quite surprised, as this dog didn't know me at all, that he listened so well.

However, he does have an issue with pulling. He almost made me drag my feet! I've never dealt with a dog that pulled, as Little Bit is timid and Chloe is fairly old.

So tips would be very helpful because my aunt probably can't take another fall like that, even though he did stop pulling and licked her face before she got up. I'd like to work with the dog and then work with my aunt and cousin so that his training isn't reversed.

Thanks in advance!

My best advice is an anti-pull harness. The head harness I use with my 80 lb dog took a dog I could not walk due to my arthritis, I could handle him, but him putting constant pressure on the leash was making me ache at night, to a dog that walked with no issues within 10 minutes.

I would highly recommend the style that has a safetly clip that hooks to their collar so if they do slide off the head harness you do still have the dog, as he is still attached to his collar, but the anti-pull effect is gone, but better than a loose dog as my old english setter knew how to slip hers off easily.

They will spend the first 3-8 minutes jumping around trying to get it off their face, but once they get past that, and you can talk to someone in the pet store about putting the harness on there and they might be able to help with that, especially if you go to a place like petsmart and they happen to be on the trainers there. Then they walk and the only way my husband's 80 lb english setter can pull if it he pulls backwards and is exactly in front of me. I sidestep and he can no longer pull. He can not pull if he is beside me or in front me with his back to me. Even pulling backwards he can only pull some.

Best thing I ever did. I could not walk him without going to bed in pain at night and now can walk him for several miles if the mood strikes me. He is a dream to walk with the head harness.

I'll definitely try that out, thanks!

I would def get an easy walk harness and give it a try. Could make a huge difference.

I bought a no-pull harness from Chews.com last night and will post on here about my success......I'm being optimistic.

Wish me luck.

I always just always stop in place when a dog pulls and don't move forward until the leash goes slack - then move forward right away to let the dog the very moment he eases up on pulling, we're good to go again and a slack leash is ideal. While in a dead stop, I look around, seemingly uninvolved and unconcerned, while I'm waiting for him to stop pulling to let him know the immediate stopping in place is not my idea.

Or, depending on whether it works better with any particular dog, the moment the dog begins to pull the leash from a slack position, I immediately turn him and walk in the opposite direction, showing him pulling defeats his purpose to get on up the block harder and faster. Yorkies soon learn when walking with me that a slack leash always gets them ahead faster than a taut one and learn to keep the leash slack so Mommie won't stop or turn.

You have to remember that dogs of that size were bred for doing work. In a rottie's case that was baiting and killing large animals, but they were also used to pull and do other labor. Using an easy walk or other harness that takes the "pull point" off of the chest and neck will help reduce their tendency to want to pull during walks.

Whenever a dog pulls with me, I always stop immediately and make them go into a sit stay position till they are calm, then continue on. It will take doing it many times at first, but the dog will realize it won't get to walk unless it walks properly with a slack leash. This method worked amazing when I had chows.