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Walks

3K views 23 replies 13 participants last post by  Katielovesleo 
#1 ·
My Ginger just came to our house on Friday so I'm still trying to determine her needs. How she acts changes daily. She's been taken on a walk twice daily. Watching her this morning, I think I might need to add in an early morning walk. She's a little wound up this morning. I'm curious to know how often people are taking their dogs for walks.
Right now she's doing well on a standard leash but I think I'm going to need to try something with more control as she grows. My two other dogs (jack Russell and min pin) have used Gentle leaders (head halters). Would you suggest this or do we need the halter that goes around her chest?


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#2 ·
I've used the Gentle Leaders with our first dog Maggie. The concept of those is it sits higher on the neck so you are in control. We've never had to use a harness on our first full boxer as we took her through training & was taught how she is suppose to be walking with us & not pulling. Once we get our 3rd distemper shot, we will start walking with our baby. Good Luck!!!
 
#3 ·
Just be sure not to over-walk her as she's still young and growing. The standard is 5 minutes per month of age. At 10-11 weeks, she should not be walking for more than 10 minutes at a time.
 
#6 ·
I use a Holt head collar (similar to a Gentle Leader) on Dempsey, but I got him at 5 years old, and he'd had a prong collar used previously, so this is a less harsh alternative, IMO.

With your pup, hopefully training classes can eliminate the need for one, and you can be taught how to teach the pup to walk on a loose leash without a "crutch". I'd rather use an Easy Walker harness on Dempsey, but neither the medium nor the large fits him properly.
 
#7 ·
We decided on the gentle leader and she did a great job with it. We also had to buy a jacket for her. It was snowing this morning and she was shivering. She loves her walks. Were working on sitting when we stop and walking when we walk. She's a cutie!


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#8 ·
Interesting Angus, now 20 weeks, pulls with his harness on like his life depends on it. Have been trying to follow Turid Rugaas methods but with limited success thus far.
On quiet streets where we live he will stay on a loose leash fairly well for about 15mins before he gets bored and starts attacking the lead.
As soon as we go the park it's like he becomes deaf or plain hates me as he just has to get as far away from me as the leash allows. Trying to get his attention with his favourite treat no longer works in this environment, he just wants to get around the park as quick as possible, dragging me in his wake! It's not so bad now but he's going to be a big dog and strong with it so it's something we want to get corrected sooner rather than later. Any suggestions on stopping the pulling as it makes for an unpleasant experience for us and Angus I am sure?
 
#10 ·
Go out with Angus on leash and as soon as he gets to the end and starts pulling, just stop and stand there and ignore him
Stand there until he stops- it might take 5 minutes or so, but that's okay. He will eventually either sit down or turn and look at you
When this happens say "let's go" and head off in the opposite direction that Angus is facing. It will take him a couple steps to catch up (maybe only a second or two) and he will go past you and start pulling.
Again just stop in your tracks and wait it out.
Repeat "let's go" when he is calm and go in opposite direction again.
You might spend quite a bit of time not walking anywhere (just back and forth) and your neighbors might think you are , but that's okay.
It will take some time and you need to be consistent, but Angus will learn he gets nowhere if he's pulling. Have some treats with you for when he starts to get it, so you can reward good behavior!

:)
 
#11 ·
Go out with Angus on leash and as soon as he gets to the end and starts pulling, just stop and stand there and ignore him
Stand there until he stops- it might take 5 minutes or so, but that's okay. He will eventually either sit down or turn and look at you
When this happens say "let's go" and head off in the opposite direction that Angus is facing. It will take him a couple steps to catch up (maybe only a second or two) and he will go past you and start pulling.
Again just stop in your tracks and wait it out.
Repeat "let's go" when he is calm and go in opposite direction again.
You might spend quite a bit of time not walking anywhere (just back and forth) and your neighbors might think you are , but that's okay.
It will take some time and you need to be consistent, but Angus will learn he gets nowhere if he's pulling. Have some treats with you for when he starts to get it, so you can reward good behavior!

:)
This is great advice. I'm going to try it when my two decide to pull, mind you they've been pretty good lately. Does anyone have any advice on walking more than one dog at a time? Right now my dogs are 39 and 24 pounds. I don't think Nikki will go over 50 pounds so I can control them easily enough. I am going to be getting another boxer puppy and would love to hear how people taught their dogs to walk nicely together.
 
#13 ·
My problem with the gentle leader it loosens itself and also, it's very uncomfortable for him so he hates it and it doesnt really stop the pulling, i trained him to walk by my side on it but adter a while he will go back to pulling too much. I just bought the SENSEable harness, I meant to get the one that had soft lining so it wouldn't chafe him but so far no chaffing.. It was extremely hard to fit and also doesn't stop the pulling. I'm so tired of "taking him back to kindergarten" we will get through it eventually :/


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#14 ·
Oh! And the walking and stopping thing! I tried that but I think it's still reinforcing to him because he just sits there and smells the air like a goofball and he's just happy to be outside I guess lol.


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#18 ·
Use a front clip harness and then they aren't able to pull. Instead of stopping, try changing directions quickly, then turn and move back to the direction you are going in. Its important to do " watch me " exercises also.. this way they learn to focus on you! :) Keep it positive :)
 
#19 ·
I've been spending a lot if time with loose leash walking. It takes a lot of time, patience and practice.

I have 2 puppies, Karma is 8 months and Destiny is 4 months. I walk them seperate and together. I have a pocket full of treats all the time.

Karma is a puller but getting much better. We start out by doing potty in the yard as it reduces the urge for her to stop and squat on our walks, because our walks are exercise and not for her pleasure. On the sidewalk now, i have her sit. I say yes, Good sit, and give a treat. Then, Karma, look at me, and when she does, it's yes, good look at me, and treat. Karma, lets go and on the word go i will step off with my left foot. When she starts pulling ahead it's Karma sit. Only once do i say it. If she doesnt sit and by now i have stopped i will give a few quick tugs on the leash. Repeat sit and usually she does. I will not give her a treat this time because she didnt sit the first time i told her to. Then its look at me, and when she does, she usually does first time, i then say lets go and we go. The entire time she walks well with me i am constantly talking to her trying to keep her attention on me because when shes looking at me shes doing what i want. Every 25-30 feet she will get a treat. It wasnt always like that. In the beginning if she took two steps and was right with me she would get a treat.

Destiny is a dream to walk. The beginning is the same and 99% of the time we walk shes looking at me. We can walk half a block before she gets a treat.

I have started using a coupler so i can walk them together. Its taking some time. We start out the same, but its trickier because you need to have both their attention at all time. But the concept is the same. The first time was an experience all in itself. They thought it was playtime! After some treat luring and reinforcing good behaviour i got them both sitting on the sidewalk looking at me. We ended it there after lits if verbal praise and treats and headed back in the house. We always end any training on a positive so they will be always think positive when training.

There were times we would just walk the front of the house on the sidewalk. I tried the turning around a few times but it just seemed to excite the two of them too much. It works better when they are solo though.

The hubby and i can walk together with them quite well. I have Karma and he has Destiny. Both are loaded with treats. The last couple days they did excellent. After we got outside they realized those funky feeling things on their paws had a purpose in the snow. I bought some of those pawz to try. It takes 2 to put them on but they dont seem to mind them once we are out in the snow. They get better traction on the ice and their paws are not caked in snow and salt. Im going to try real booties after that success with them.

Just keep practising and be positive!


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#20 ·
It does take a lot of work. I still carry treats when we walk as rewards for the girls. Pheona has been through training but Murphy hasn't other than us working with the paperwork we got as Pheona was going through classes. Changing direction is another good idea. We had a harness on Murphy but now that she's outgrowing it, I refuse to get another one. I want her to walk without one as Pheona never used one. I would recommend some training classes with your pup.
 
#22 ·
I walk both of mine together all the time. I used an easy walk harness that attaches to the chest area which makes them pull to the side when they pull. Now I can walk them with a regular collar and they do great. I hope to pick up my bike soon to start biking with them. I will do one at a time there until I am better at it.

I had tried several types of harnesses but this one is by far the best. I get compliments all the time about how well they walk with me.
 
#23 ·
Dogs pull in standard harnesses because it applies pressure and makes them feel like they're doing a good job and like they should keep doing it.

Stopping when they pull and or turning around and going in the entirely opposite direction will help your pup learn not to pull AND that you are in control and they need to pay attention to you at all times. When they're pulling, they're ignoring.

Training was probably the best thing we've ever invested in for our two boxer babies. They heel right next to me, stop and sit when I stop, one on my left one on my right.

Good luck!


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#24 ·
Yeah the Sensable harness is a front clip and he does still pull with it on...but yeah we have been practicing some foundations where he watches me, C/T stands by my side C/T, walks by my side while watching me C/T, jogs by my side while watching me C/T, lol I learned that he can't eat and walk at the same time though and occasionally he will choke on his treat after we begin walking again, which then makes a low rate of reinforcement which makes the game much less fun and far less rewarding. *sigh*


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