hi i am new to the site and have an ess that is 10 month old and pulls like a train on lead.please help i have tried a choker to no avail,a halti but he just rubs his head along the floor,pull him back and say heel, but all dont work.he is a very clever dog,sits,waits lays down rolls over ,fetches ball although doesnt drop it yet but the main issue is to stop him pulling.its my second springer i lost my first nipper at the age of 7.my friend had one of his pups which had pups herself a month before nipper died so pepper my new dog is still part of the familiy of my first dog .i would appreciate any advice given

hi and welcome,

this is a very common springer problem! My dogs both have gentle leaders as they pull so badly when we take them out together, but individually they walk quite nicely - though we have done quite a lot of training with them. Changing direction, carrying something yummy in your hand etc are all methods that have given us little hints of improvement - oh and don't say 'heel' unless your dog is walking in the correct position, else they will associate the word with pulling, rather than walking nicely

Good luck, i'm sure more people will be along with better advice, which i shall be reading too!

Pol

Hendrix used to do this... I tired everything but a choker... As I am not fond of them...
But after two months of try'n I finally broke down... But to save cost in case it didn't work... I bought a lead that was nylon for the handle and chain for the rest and just made that into a choker... well he still has times when he pulls...

My suggestions are... 1. when you pull back are you pulling him to you or just pulling back on the lead..... Try pulling into your body and making a sharp sound... like ZZZZIIITTTT or buy a clicker for this as he will look at you for the sound then you have his attention. 2. When he pulls see if there is something hes looking at. I found that if we were by an open field hendrix will pull (duh he wanted to run free lol) So I changed the route. 3. You must get his attention, all your pulling back and talk is waisted if he doesn't care. by "making" him care you will find he might (underline might) walk better....

When I walk Hendrix and he starts to pull I tell him (yes I know wierd) nice walk and give a tight but firm pull into my body. Then I repeat nice walk.

You must not give up, it takes time some dogs get it right away, others don't.

I hope this helps... They worked for me and they are only advice so take it or leave it.

Erin Hendrix's Mama

hi. your dog pulls because it wants to get somewhere so take away the opportunity. sit him down walk 2 paces and sit him again, when he walks 2 paces without the lead going tight. sit him and walk 3 and sit him again. after about an hour of this contant getting nowhere and sitting he will get bored and realise he gets no where if he pulls. be consistant there is no benefit in letting him pull you to the training field then doing some training and letting him pull you back home. above all else stay calm and he will get it. there are various methods that all lead to rome and its whichever one you can be consitant with will work. remember it is you going for a walk and you are allowing your dog to come along not the other way round.oh and i found this link that might be of use, i have both the grade 1 and 2 manuals which are very helpful. click on the moderate tradional link near the bottom

http://www.thegundogclub.co.uk/Training/ke...work/index.html

many thanks for the help i am going to put it into practice and see how we get on

OMG whata cutie!!!!! Good luck!

Wow, he's a beauty

he is bless him he is so loving .............only fault is he pulls argggggggggggggg

Just a little tip that I practise, walk them to a place where they will be allowed to exercise off their lead with some sort of restraint on e.g. halti, let them tire themselves out on their walk and then start the walking on the lead training on the way home minus the restraint, saves you feeling like your arm is being ripped out it's socket when they are just that bit less eager to get somewhere and full of beans

Lily does try and rub her face along the floor when she's wearing her halti; she prefers grass but pavement will do as far as she's concerned. I hold the handle of her lead in my right hand, feed the lead through my left and only give her enough slack to walk nicely, she can't drag her face on the floor if she hasn't enough lead to reach it.

That is a lovely picture....he's a looker alright

You indicated that he is keen on a ball.....do you let him see that you have the ball whilst walking?.....it might help to keep his attention on you......at 10 months old I expect he has his nose down whilst pulling and that doesn't help at all.

As has been said, there are many methods but the key is to find one that you can be consistent with.

Here is a method that I have found usefull.

http://springthing.3.forumer.com/index.php?showtopic=22649

Steve

brilliant post steve but what is the purpose of the dog dazzer, from googling it comes up as a dog reppeller so is it used merely as an attention grabber, the blurb says it repels dogs upto 20 metres away. im curious ive seen everything from vibrating collars to spray and electric collars but ive never seen one of these in practice. i also use the 2 slip leads together altho i do find waggling the loose end infront of his nose works well 2

I believe Kev mentioned somewhere else that the "Dazzer" was available in America and I think you are correct, I assume it is a kind of attention grabber.

Went down with all three onto a different beach last night. Plenty of new smells and distractions and it was back to the drawing board with Jazz I fastened 2 slip leads together and repeated the method as in Kev's post...........eventually the penny dropped and we made progress where I wanted to go
It is a good job Heather and Brandy are a bit further on in their training, I was able to let them go so I could concentrate my efforts with Jazz.

Just goes to show, just when you think you've mastered it there's nothing like a springer to -*test*-('") you

Steve

well if it was easy everyones dog would walk nicely to heel . im very lucky the past 3 monday nights ive gone out for a 2 hour walk with my gun dog trainer and ive learnt so much my choccy lab has gone from asbo dog to just naughty

We tried the treat game, which worked ok indoors but outside Jimpy is really no very interested in food! Taught her to heel off lead indoors with treats and then tried outside. If she walks ahead now I put her back into a 'heel' and then walk along swinging a choker chain or lead. If she comes too far forward she gets a tap on the end of her nose as she walks into the chain. I don't think our puppy trainer would have approved as this is negative rather than positive training, but it has worked. On a lead jimpy rarely pulls now as she has learnt to walk beside us.

my snoop pulled like a train aswell, i tried everything going. i have managed to stop it now with a shaker bottle. i just filed a water bottle with some rice and a few pebbles. when he pulled i shook it and then sat him down and then repeated this. i think i shook it about four times before he clicked, and now he walks like an angel. i know each pup is different and they all respond to different things but this might help you.
anthea & snoop.x