Hey guys, I've been searching the archives and I still can't decide what's best for my situation. Oggie is 16 weeks now, and although I still think he's too young for daily walks, I use the leash on him whenever he's outside. Right now I just have a typical adjustable nylon collar (8" to 12") and it's been ok but a few problems:
1) While he's mostly well behaved it can be very tough to control him if he either decides to run or refuses to move. He's a puller.....especially if there are other dogs around, or if he just feels like doing a burn. He will pull so hard he chokes himself. I know he will hurt his trachea if this keeps up. It's hard to correct him with the leash to make him go the direction I want because I am afraid I am hurting him. Once he gets walking he's usually ok though.
2) He constantly bites on the leash whenever it comes near his mouth. He then tries to engage in almost a tug-a-war with me. I tell him "no bite" and remove the leash which works temporarily but it's almost too tempting for him. One day he's going to tear right through it. It's very thin because he's still very small and so is the leash.
So people have been telling me a harness would be the way to go. I've read about the Gentle Leader and Sensation harnesses on here and they sound pretty good as long as I can get one in his small size. But I've also realized a lot of people here have the Martingdale collars, and just from reading about them it appears they don't injure the trachea either. So now I'm not sure which I should get and where I should get them.
Any help would be great...all these collars are getting expensive and I don't want to waste money! Thanks!
1) While he's mostly well behaved it can be very tough to control him if he either decides to run or refuses to move. He's a puller.....especially if there are other dogs around, or if he just feels like doing a burn. He will pull so hard he chokes himself. I know he will hurt his trachea if this keeps up. It's hard to correct him with the leash to make him go the direction I want because I am afraid I am hurting him. Once he gets walking he's usually ok though.
2) He constantly bites on the leash whenever it comes near his mouth. He then tries to engage in almost a tug-a-war with me. I tell him "no bite" and remove the leash which works temporarily but it's almost too tempting for him. One day he's going to tear right through it. It's very thin because he's still very small and so is the leash.
So people have been telling me a harness would be the way to go. I've read about the Gentle Leader and Sensation harnesses on here and they sound pretty good as long as I can get one in his small size. But I've also realized a lot of people here have the Martingdale collars, and just from reading about them it appears they don't injure the trachea either. So now I'm not sure which I should get and where I should get them.
Any help would be great...all these collars are getting expensive and I don't want to waste money! Thanks!
