Riverhound Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 We're making lots of progress walking Brees -- but she's still a big puller when she sees a squirrel, cat, or flying plastic bag!. I'm NOT looking for training advice (unless you have a magic bullet that'll work riteawayqwik). The thing is, once she sees something, she *has* to keep looking for something else, and it takes lots of "look at me", turning in circles, etc. to get her calmed down again. Over and over and over. I'm wondering if something like a halti collar would be reasonable for GIG. (I'm assuming there's quite a few critters, but I haven't been in years.) Or a blindfold. Or a cage on wheels. Or drugs! (But halti collars look like they could break her neck if she jumps for a squirrel. I'm fond of her, and her neck is pretty. Breaking it would be unpleasant.) I'd like us all to enjoy the weekend, and I'd like to not have my shoulder dislocated. Joe gets pretty annoyed when we're just doing loops because "someone" doesn't know how to act! On the plus side, she had her first restaurant trip last weekend. Took about a while for her to lay down at the table -- but as soon as the appetizers were out she plunked her butt on the blankie. (No table food unless she's sitting/laying down.) Once she settled and was focused on our food she was fine. There weren't any little fuzzies, though. Little fuzzies trump food. We should be able to take her to dinner several more times before GIG, so she'll at least (hopefully) be used to that. Does anyone have a suggestion for a device that can substitute for proper training for a weekend? (This dog makes me feel very incompetent. Joe pulled when we got him. It stopped within a month. He spoiled me!) Quote Masterful Joe and Naughty N Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Potomacpupsmom Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 We use a harness from Wiggles Wags and Whiskers for our girl Beka. She is very exuberent and twirly when she gets excited about squirrels or other dogs. I was worried about her neck too so the harness works wonders for her. Quote Humans Kathy and Jim with our girls, Ivy (Carolina Spoon) and Cherry (Fly Cherry Pie) Missing our beautiful angel Breeze (Dighton Breeze) and angel Beka (BM Beko) - you are forever in our hearts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverhound Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 We use a harness from Wiggles Wags and Whiskers for our girl Beka. She is very exuberent and twirly when she gets excited about squirrels or other dogs. I was worried about her neck too so the harness works wonders for her. But does it break your arm? I've read they make pulling easier, and she doesn't need help with that! Quote Masterful Joe and Naughty N Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cleptogrey Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 how old is brees? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverhound Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 She'll be 3 April first. She's pretty much a puppy, and is our "April Fool"! Quote Masterful Joe and Naughty N Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mariah Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 (edited) We use a harness from Wiggles Wags and Whiskers for our girl Beka. She is very exuberent and twirly when she gets excited about squirrels or other dogs. I was worried about her neck too so the harness works wonders for her. But does it break your arm? I've read they make pulling easier, and she doesn't need help with that! The back clip harnesses are the ones you're thinking of, and they definitely do make pulling easier. But the front clip harnesses are great! They will pretty much completely stop the pulling. Because they attach in the front, the minute she starts pulling, the force will turn her around so that she's facing you instead. We tried one on Gussie, briefly when we first got her and we could see a big difference even just in the first few blocks of walking. About as close to a magic bullet as you can get, I think! Edited March 20, 2012 by mariah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverhound Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 We use a harness from Wiggles Wags and Whiskers for our girl Beka. She is very exuberent and twirly when she gets excited about squirrels or other dogs. I was worried about her neck too so the harness works wonders for her. But does it break your arm? I've read they make pulling easier, and she doesn't need help with that! The back clip harnesses are the ones you're thinking of, and they definitely do make pulling easier. But the front clip harnesses are great! They will pretty much completely stop the pulling. Because they attach in the front, the minute she starts pulling, the force will turn her around so that she's facing you instead. We tried one on Gussie, briefly when we first got her and we could see a big difference even just in the first few blocks of walking. About as close to a magic bullet as you can get, I think! A magic bullet is what we need! That looks like it might work. Do you use the double ended leash? She'll be great for days, and then just bat$h!t crazy! And she's sooooo focused when she's "in the zone". It's impressive! Quote Masterful Joe and Naughty N Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moofie Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 I use a head collar and harness on Hattie with a double ended lead linking them as she's reactive to cats/squirrels i was finding it hard to control her during her spins/lunges as she's so strong. I'd tried martingale, WWW Harness and a combination of both before getting the head collar. I tend to hold lead with the tension to the harness and slack to the head collar to avoid her lunging into it if she spots something before me and i just bring her in close when she does react. It has made it much easier for me to walk Hattie past the critters and her reactions seem to have improved also, though were still a long way off her ignoring them. You may find a harness works well enough, the wiggles, wags one worked great for my other dog that initially pulled and does make Hattie more manageable than just the martingale alone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wasserbuffel Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 When I used the head collar to train Jayne to walk nicely, I paired it with her martingale. I put the leash attached to her martingale around my waist like a belt. It gave her only a couple feet of slack. I held the leash to the head collar in my hands with just a few inches of slack. She never had enough room to hurt herself if she decided to lunge. I also have a front clasp harness for her (Easy Walk). It really does prevent pulling. I only need to used it when we go to meet and greets at Bluffs Run, because she will pull until she throws up there she gets so excited. Wearing the harness she doesn't pull and will actually walk backward while screaming in excitement as the dogs run past the window. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest mariah Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 We use a harness from Wiggles Wags and Whiskers for our girl Beka. She is very exuberent and twirly when she gets excited about squirrels or other dogs. I was worried about her neck too so the harness works wonders for her. But does it break your arm? I've read they make pulling easier, and she doesn't need help with that! The back clip harnesses are the ones you're thinking of, and they definitely do make pulling easier. But the front clip harnesses are great! They will pretty much completely stop the pulling. Because they attach in the front, the minute she starts pulling, the force will turn her around so that she's facing you instead. We tried one on Gussie, briefly when we first got her and we could see a big difference even just in the first few blocks of walking. About as close to a magic bullet as you can get, I think! A magic bullet is what we need! That looks like it might work. Do you use the double ended leash? She'll be great for days, and then just bat$h!t crazy! And she's sooooo focused when she's "in the zone". It's impressive! We used the Easy Walk harness, which only has the front clip. Though I will say, the reason why we stopped using it is because no matter how we tried to adjust it, we couldn't get it to fit in a way that looked comfortable. Our current obedience trainer is a big fan of the front-clip harnesses, but she dislikes the Easywalk for the same reason. She recommended the Sense-ation harness, which is the exact same idea, only a better fit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest MyCody Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Regular harness worked with Cody who was over 100 pounds and the harness with the top, back clip AND the chest clip worked for JJ. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Riverhound Posted March 20, 2012 Author Share Posted March 20, 2012 Regular harness worked with Cody who was over 100 pounds and the harness with the top, back clip AND the chest clip worked for JJ. Oh my. That doesn't sound fun. I feel like I'm constantly complaining about Brees; but she really is a neat dog and she always keeps us entertained! Like, just now, it was very cute that she was trying to eat a book my mother loaned me. Quote Masterful Joe and Naughty N Nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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