Prong Collar or body harness?
Hey guys, need a little advice. Every time I go to take my little bullie boy for a walk its always a different situation. Sometimes he walks no problem. Sometimes I can't get him to budge at all. Then sometimes all he wants to do is try and chew and tug the leash. Right now I just have him with a nylon collar and short leash. When he is flatout refusing to walk on his own I give him a chance to come to me where I call for him and standstill and wait. When he doesn't come I begin pulling him. I'm trying to find out if prong collar or a body harness is best for a puppy who refuses to walk.
Comments
Sometimes it's good to get them used to their leash by leaving on them while they're home and simply letting them drag it around the house. This itself will get them used to wearing a leash so when the time comes to walk them outside with the leash he'll be familiar with it.
The more he associates the leash with a enjoyable walk the more he'll be looking forward to seeing his leash. With him stopping on a walk may very well because he's just not used to walking with a leash and doesn't know what to do. If he stops, just walk ahead of him until there is no more slack in the leash, look back at him, call him to you nicely, and slowly pull the leash towards you until he comes. He'll get the hang of it in due time.
Prong collars are usually for those dogs that while on a leash pull hard without wanting to calm down, relax, and just go for a stroll. Your dog sounds the opposite from this and doesn't require any type of constraint to slow him down. A body harness may something more comfortable for him where the leash might not be as much as a burden as it is when attached to his collar. This might be something worth trying so you can see if he's more comfortable with it.
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When Chimera was little she was one of those pups who flat out refused to walk on the lead.
if i let her drag the elad around the house she would simply sit down and chew it.
so i would take her outside with toys and treats and run around the yard letting her drag the lead while we played. i would get her excited about me then jump away encouraging her to chase me. if she wasnt intrested in me i brought out the treats or a toy. once i had her running after me dragging the lead i would pick it up very lightly by the end with one or two fingers and then get her to run next to me while i held it. sometimes she would figure it out and be like
"HEY!" and simply sit her butt down and not move again. so i would drop the lead and begin again. i did this for about hte first month every single day going a little farther and a little farther getting her chase me. then suddenly one day i took her out and BAM! she wanted to drag me everywhere! and then i had to turn around and teach her not to pull! but it was easier now because she jsut wanted to go,go,go on the lead to have a good time!
prongs are not good for puppies who plant there feet and wont move-they are made for getting your dogs attention, not for dragging- a prong on your puppy could cause serious damage to his neck if you begin trying to pull on him. stick wit hthe collar for now, try to keep it as fun as possible-dont go outside having a goal in mind, if you do youll be frustrated when or if you dont make the goal (such as "we are going to walk a block today") instead go outside with the intention of having fun, if your puppy just feels like sniffing round and not having fun-thats okay too sit in the grass and relax while your pup has a sniff around.
IF once your pup IS walking on lead he is a puller and tries to do what my Chimera did which was to pull me around everywhere,i used the stop start method for her which is, the second the lead pulls to hard i stop moving untill she turns round to look at me, then i set her up back into position at a heel and take few steps (sometiems a single step!) everytime she puls or goes to far ahead of me i simply stop-wait for her to look at me, reposition her and take another step. its boreing, its annoying and it takes you several hours to walk down the street and back but it WORKS!! and it works well