I have two dogs. One is nearly 3 and the other nearly 2. My nearly 3 year old walks fine - he toddles along sniffing everything and likes to take his time. My nearly 2 year old is the one that I absolutely resent walking (but do walk because I know it's good for his physical/mental health) - he practically sprints the whole walk, never stopping to sniff or take a breath.

He chokes himself on his harness because he pulls so hard on the lead - and won't walk behind me or beside me no matter how hard I try and get him to do so with the pulling of the lead. He constantly sprints in front, barking at the top of his lungs at any passing people/cars/dogs - and lunges on his back two legs with his front two legs forward at cars. He's a terror - and I know it's down to my lack of training but I really don't know what to do.

All the sites I've googled just recommend bringing treats along and slowly teaching him how to stop pulling...but don't really explain how? I live on a street as well with only one or two small fields (the park and the public foot path) to teach him in a more rural place, which still involves urban walking to get there. I literally don't know what to do with him - it means I have to walk my dogs separately if I do have the time which is ridiculous considering the one left at home whilst the other is out gets extremely stressed and visa versa - and if I don't have the time and have to take both together I just have to deal with me and my nearly 3 year old dog (the good one) being dragged around the streets/park/public footpath by my nearly 2 year old dog (the bad one) for 20 minutes or so.

I was out with a friend and his unruly dog when we bumped into a dog trainer who said that every time the dog tugged he should stop and walk backwards a few steps. No chastisement or anything, that's all you need to do. Initially this means you won't get very far very fast! But tough it out and the dog will eventually associate tugging with lack of progress and hopefully will stop doing it.

If you watch 'The Dog Whisperer' on Pick TV, He usually does a sharp pull on the lead to pull the dog back to him (not hard enough to choke the dog BTW). He makes a 'tsh' type sound when he does it, and he uses a short lead as well.

And keeps doing it till the dog learns not to go infront of him.

OP you have my sympathy. The only thing worse than an incessant barker is an incessant puller as a dog which drags you along like a freight train is no fun to walk. Most dogs pull because they've learnt it gets them somewhere quicker, ie their eager to get to the park and your not walking fast enough so they pull to get there quicker. The owner either can't hold the dog back or just starts going as fast as possible to get to the park so the dog is in effect rewarded for pulling.

Next time you go for a walk, the walk starts in the house.
Pick up the lead and if the dog starts going crazy put it back down and go and sit down. After a few minutes try again, again, if dog is going crazy when you clip the lead on remove it and go and sit down.
Do this until you can put the lead on without any mad antics and the dog is calm. Then start towards the door, if he lunges ahead remove the lead and sit down again.
Keep doing this until you can get to and through the door. Then the garden and through the gate.

After half an hour or so you might have got no further than the gate but it doesn't matter, your dog has learnt that being crazy on the lead means no walk will happen. If you haven't progressed beyond the garden, don't take your dog for a walk the rest of the day or your efforts will have been for nothing. The dog has to learn that he MUST remain calm on lead or there will be NO walk at all.

When you can get through the gate, calmly and in a controlled manner, you then need to progress to teaching him that HE only moves forward when YOU do. Start walking and the second your dog goes more than a body length in front of you (roughly to the end of the lead), make like a tree and don't move an inch. When your dog finds he can't move forwards he'll stop and look at you wondering what's happened. You call him back to you and when, and only when he's back at your side, do you start off again. if he moves ahead again, repeat your actions. Depending how long he's been pulling and how ingrained a habit it is, this can take a while and for a bit you might get no further than your own driveway!, but it will eventually sink in that pulling ahead gets him absolutely nowhere, certainly not the walk he wants.

The other alternative to this one, is instead of stopping and not moving, when he pulls ahead turn on your heel and walk in the opposite direction, turning every single time he's not by your side. This works by giving a sudden sharp tug on the collar, teaching him to pay attention to you and follow your body.

If he's a really big strong dog, you could put a halti or head collar on him for better control, but these only stop a dog from pulling, they don't teach them not to do it in the first place so as soon as you remove it your back to being dragged along.

Cesar is just teaching an owner how to walk a dog at the moment on Pick TV.

Thank you. I'll try this method - not sure it will work though considering he tugs the whole time, not just a few times.


I'll have to check out some videos. Thank you very much


Thanks for all of your advice, I'll begin training your methods tomorrow. I think if I only have 20 minutes/half an hour to walk him I'll do the method about changing direction sharply everytime he starts pulling, but when I have an hour or so to spare I'll keep stopping and starting after he gets excited - thank you. I think I really need to get a grip of this as it's actually getting me down quite significantly and I'm getting really frustrated with him on a walk and it's just not healthy for me or him. I'd love to take a gentle stroll every evening with both of my dogs - not me and the eldest dog getting dragged around the block for 20 minutes every night.

I would avoid Ceaser Milan's methods. They don't teach the dog but rather control the dog. You want a walk to be a joy for both you and your dog, not have it about discipline all the time.

He doesn't teach the dog anything, he teaches the owners how to work with the dog on its level.

The dogs are far happier than before he worked with them.

Avoid any suggestions of using Cesar Millan's methods is my best advice. Dogs are NOT happier once he has worked with them. What CM does is shut down dogs through fear and intimidation. The undesired behaviours then become suppressed and can arise at any time. CM is a punitive and aversive trainer whose methods and opinions are outdated and have been debunked by science.CM thinks that dogs behave like wolves. He bases that opinion on an erroneous study of captive wolves which did not truly represent how wild wolves behave. Then that study was applied to dog behaviour as well. He thinks that dogs should never be out in front on walks as that is giving dogs freedom to 'dominate'. He doesn't think that dogs should have free reign of their homes as that is giving them freedom to 'dominate'. He doesn't think that dogs should be allowed on furniture or beds as that 'elevates' their 'status' in the 'pack'. In other words he is clueless.

There have been dogs (who appeared on his shows) who have been killed because their behaviour either got worse or did not improve. Two such dogs are Ruby and Victoria. Another dog CM worked with went onto bite the woman who had him when she tried to punish him using CM's methods. The dog ended up going back to the people who originally had him and is doing a lot better with positive reinforcement.

He has also been bitten himself and has gotten other people bitten. There was one episode in which he put a shock collar on a cat reactive dog. He put a cat in a crate and shocked the dog whenever the dog looked at the cat. When he shocked the dog the dog redirected and bit the woman who had him. His psychology centre also released a dangerous dog back into society and the dog went onto severely attack a woman.

I also saw a guy try to copy his methods a couple of months ago. I was walking my own dogs when we passed a guy walking a Westie. His dog started to react to my two (just got a bit growly that's all) and he yanked the lead so hard that the dog yelped. There was no need for that in that situation and there's certainly no need to yank on the lead of a pulling dog. Doing so creates discomfort and possible pain. You don't want your dog associating walking with those things. The other methods mentioned here would be the way to go. Additionally you make walking calmly the best possible choice for the dog by giving lots of praise and treats and that pulling won't get him anywhere.

Good luck!

I Don't know what kind of harness you use but you could try a Lupi harness. I used one on one of our dogs and it stopped her pulling and I've recommended it and loaned it to several other dog owners to try ..... With success.

GibsonGirl - I wholeheartedly agree with every word of that.

There is a reason every episode begins with "do not try this at home".
And last year, Pets@Home took his books off their shelves.

His methods are potentially cruel and dangerous, and every time he goes on about dominance and being the pack leader I just cringe. Applying pack theory to the canine/human relationship has been long debunked, and he's the only high profile trainer stuck in medieval times. Pretending to be a wolf in human form is just folly.

Punishment methods (even just a snap of the lead whether it chokes them or not) can damage the bond with your dog, and can lead to aggression as one day the dog may decide to fight back. Do you want a dog that looks at you as a nice, lovely caring person or one that thinks mmm sometimes you hurt me and I don't understand why? And you scare me.

The optimal way to train is not to punish a behaviour you don't want, but to teach the dog what you want them to do instead.

Anyone who loves their dogs and want them to enjoy a happy, stress free life should be thinking about reward based training only.

Back the OP - I do understand where you are coming from. It is so easy to read words on what to do and how to train something, but putting it into practice hands-on can be easier said than done. There is no shortage of articles on the www for how to train a dog to walk nicely on the lead, using only reward based, force free methods. If you're finding it hard to put into practice, I would strongly recommend you book some 1-2-1 sessions with an accredited trainer - it's worth its weight in gold to see theory put into practice.

Meanwhile these illustrations might help as sometimes pictures speak far better than words.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lilita...99446/sizes/l/
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lilita...28388/sizes/l/

The reactivity and lunging toward cars/people/dogs is a separate problem entirely which you definitely need professional help with. Teaching him to walk nice on the lead won't cure that, they are two distinct and different issues. You really need an "expert" training plan to snap him out of that, so again I think some hands-on help is the best way forward.

Yep and the reason there's a disclaimer on his shows is due to a recommendation to National Geographic by the American Humane Society. Had the producers gotten their way there wouldn't have been one at all! Pets at Home were bombarded with complaints about his methods and they made the correct decision to withdraw all his books from sale. A lot of his last European tour dates were cancelled due to 'double booking'. Most of his methods and some of his 'tools' are banned in many countries and he even failed a basic dog training test in Germany so was forbidden from working with any dogs on stage there. If you watched his British episodes of Dog Whisperer you will have noticed that his cases were easier and his approach to dealing with them was more subdued. I can also remember seeing police in the background during the filming of one of his segments. I wonder why they were there!

Anyway I really hope the OP doesn't start yanking her dog around and doesn't start watching his show for tips.

No, I didn't start 'yanking my dog around' - because I love him and I wouldn't do that. The only time you could classify him being 'yanked' is if he hurls himself at a car whilst on the lead and I pull him back from the curb. He hasn't learned yet (obviously) but I've been trying the treat method - not with treats but with leaves/sticks ect. It's a slow process.

We found a halti head harness worked with one of our pullers, the halti body harness worked with another, lupi was answer with one. There are a plethora of tools out there just need to find the right one for your dog. One we gave up and just used a harness that prevented the choking as he was not stopped by anything so we just made it easier for him to breath and held on tight to the lead, he was only little so it wasn't too bad and he enjoyed his walks was just too excited to slow down.

Do you actually watch the show?

He doesn't 'yank' the dogs around, he gives a sharp tug on the lead and a 'tsh' sound, which he normally only does with aggressive dogs.

There is no fear or intimidation.

It is obvious some posters here are biased against Cesar and have no real arguments against him.

A lot of owners on the show do more damage to their dogs by treating them as part of the family than he ever could do.

I have watched a lot of his shows in complete awe someone could be so cruel, one always sticks with me is the great dane scared of slippery floors he forced to walk on the shiniest floor ever. Complete contrast to how we managed our retriever's fear of laminate flooring - just put down a few rugs and she was fine, no broken hips etc no fear no force. Another a dog scared of other dogs dragged into a yard with many of his own dogs completely shut down with fear he announced was cured - shut down with fear in his world appears to mean comfortable and cured.

And that is nothing compared to the cruelty the owners force on their dogs by treating them as one of the family.

He treats the dogs as they naturally should be treated, as one of the pack, with him as pack leader. Not as a son or daughter, or worse as a partner like some of the women do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I6JavkIaUE

He's not a dog lover, he's a dog manipulator.

Sorry that is utter rubbish, pack theory was debunked years ago. Shows how behind the times he is if he is still using it.

Better to find a behaviourist who uses positive methods not a man who manipulates and punishes dogs to make them shut down like he does.

LOL you only have to read the comments to see how wrong Titchmarsh is, and it isn't like he is liked that much anyway.

He treated Cesar very poorly, just making accusations,

Yeah right so the animals never respond to his training, because they are not pack animals so all his pack related training would never work. rolleyes

And most of the dogs are far happier once he has been with it than before.

Anyway OP watch the show, if you don't like his techniques you don't have to use them. You asked for advice and he gives it.

But don't take the words of obviously biased people.

Yes because you aren't biased at all

I agree with molliepops with a Halti head harness as it guides your dog very gently by the head. My 16 month old Labradoodle is a big powerful boy weighing in at nearly five stones and nothing I did would get him to walk nicely - as he's just too happy, bouncy and friendly. I bought a Halti two months ago and the result was instantaneous. He's now a pleasure to walk, it's wonderful. He also wears a Julius K9 harness that comes with a big easily accessible 'emergency stop' handle on the top, which is fantastic along with the Halti for stopping him chasing cats (to play with), and calming him down safely and quickly.

Mind you my Springerdoode won't wear her Halti - she wriggles out of it in seconds - but then she doesn't tug on the lead; so it all depends on the dog, whether they can tolerate wearing a Halti or not.

My pup has a Kumfi (a kind of halter thing that goes over the face - like a halti but a bit more padded) and that stopped her pulling.

Longterm though for loose lead training- I have found the Dogs Trust training videos (free on YouTube last time I looked) very good and have watched but not yet implemented the loose lead one as you do it in stages and in fact start indoors, without a lead at all. She breaks it down into very do-able steps.

The Kumfi makes life easier for now but things like Kumfis, Haltis, Lupis etc are only a stop-gap solution - long term you need to train. I have done really well with all the other Dogs Trust methods I have tried so would say at least have a look at it and see what you think.

rolleyes, how am I biased?

I'm suggesting the OP watch the show and see if they like the techniques Cesar uses.

You and the others are categorically saying don't and providing very little evidence as to why.