Evening all,
Once again i need your help with my boy Riley!
Riley is a 7 month old lab pup who is a very obedient, good natured UNTILL we go out for a walk with the children!!!!!! He pulls and pulls and pulls on his lead! his excitement gets the better of him and he cannot concentrate on anything apart from the kids being infront! he has to be with them!!!
I bought about 2 months ago a Sporn non-pull harness which is absolutely useless, he is a very strong pup and he manages to pull quite hard with it on!! so i was wondering what the halti harness is like! is it suitable for puppies? is it good? does it WORK???
I have previously used the halti collar but we didnt get on very well with it! and we have also tried giving him treats and lots of praise when he is being good!
Please help!
Liz
x
halti harness
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
Re: halti harness
You mean the head collar, right?
The halti really needs to be used correctly, so IF you decide to use it, then you must practice without the kids for a while. I don't use it, never did, never wanted to, because I don't think I would have the self-control to not yank in an emergency situation.
If you're open to it, how about a Walkeez (aka fleece harness). The D-ring is set further on the dog's back than your average harness, so controlling a dog who's over-the-top pulling is not that difficult, and the harness in front is low enough that it doesn't hurt the dog.
Ultimately, it appears you may need to practice loose leash walking first with NO distractions, ie no kids, very close to home (kitchen, back yard, then driveway, then the pavement out front, then just your block), very boring surroundings. viewtopic.php?f=20&t=858 Once you have the hang of that, you can add in distractions and distance slowly.
It doesn't answer your exact question I realize, so someone who's used a halti before will surely be on soon to give you their opinions as well.
The halti really needs to be used correctly, so IF you decide to use it, then you must practice without the kids for a while. I don't use it, never did, never wanted to, because I don't think I would have the self-control to not yank in an emergency situation.
If you're open to it, how about a Walkeez (aka fleece harness). The D-ring is set further on the dog's back than your average harness, so controlling a dog who's over-the-top pulling is not that difficult, and the harness in front is low enough that it doesn't hurt the dog.
Ultimately, it appears you may need to practice loose leash walking first with NO distractions, ie no kids, very close to home (kitchen, back yard, then driveway, then the pavement out front, then just your block), very boring surroundings. viewtopic.php?f=20&t=858 Once you have the hang of that, you can add in distractions and distance slowly.
It doesn't answer your exact question I realize, so someone who's used a halti before will surely be on soon to give you their opinions as well.
Re: halti harness
I have used the Gentle Leader (GL) head collar in the past. I educated myself on its use and all the do's and don'ts of using one. That's important since you can do more harm than good if you use these types of collars wrong.
The GL is much like the Halti in action. My experience was that it did work very well under normal circumstances. By that I mean my dog learned very quickly not to pull and to walk with a fairly loose leash. This was great! Until we saw something that she got super excited about. Then it all fell apart. Even the GL didn't stop her from pulling like crazy.
So for awhile, I had a harness on her AND the GL so I had two points of attachment. This way, if she acted up, I used the leash attached to the harness NOT the GL to get her back under control.
But after awhile, this just felt wrong and cumbersome. I finally did what I should have done right from the start. I put away the GL, got a comfortable no-pull harness for her and began teaching Mattie's loose leash walking outlined on this site. It took a few weeks of dedication on my part, but I can now walk my entire neighborhood with her on a loose leash about 90% of the time. Even when she does pull the other 10% it takes just a few reminder turns to get her back on track.
So I'd say the GL worked, but it was a temporary and not totally reliable fix. The loose leash training method is the long-term solution.
The GL is much like the Halti in action. My experience was that it did work very well under normal circumstances. By that I mean my dog learned very quickly not to pull and to walk with a fairly loose leash. This was great! Until we saw something that she got super excited about. Then it all fell apart. Even the GL didn't stop her from pulling like crazy.
So for awhile, I had a harness on her AND the GL so I had two points of attachment. This way, if she acted up, I used the leash attached to the harness NOT the GL to get her back under control.
But after awhile, this just felt wrong and cumbersome. I finally did what I should have done right from the start. I put away the GL, got a comfortable no-pull harness for her and began teaching Mattie's loose leash walking outlined on this site. It took a few weeks of dedication on my part, but I can now walk my entire neighborhood with her on a loose leash about 90% of the time. Even when she does pull the other 10% it takes just a few reminder turns to get her back on track.
So I'd say the GL worked, but it was a temporary and not totally reliable fix. The loose leash training method is the long-term solution.
Re: halti harness
I used the halti head collar for my husky lab mix for a while, and she quickly figured out varioius methods to still yank me along with her where she wanted to go. It is amazing that she didn't injure herself.
What worked for me was the loose leash training listed here as well as getting a dual end leash which I attached one end to her collar and the other end to her car harness. This, in combination with jars of meat baby food to get her attention has worked great. She used to choke herself all the time on even the harnesses that are supposed to be choke free. The combination harness and collar leash attachment has pretty well eliminated any choking.
If your dog walks great when the children aren't present, could you try walking with one child, and rather than the child racing out ahead, maybe the child could walk more with you/beside the dog? Then once the dog does that well, add children one at a time. If the children are racing around in front of you, the dog is naturally going to want to go and play with the children. Perhaps the children need to learn there is play time with the dog and there is calm walk time with the dog.
What worked for me was the loose leash training listed here as well as getting a dual end leash which I attached one end to her collar and the other end to her car harness. This, in combination with jars of meat baby food to get her attention has worked great. She used to choke herself all the time on even the harnesses that are supposed to be choke free. The combination harness and collar leash attachment has pretty well eliminated any choking.
If your dog walks great when the children aren't present, could you try walking with one child, and rather than the child racing out ahead, maybe the child could walk more with you/beside the dog? Then once the dog does that well, add children one at a time. If the children are racing around in front of you, the dog is naturally going to want to go and play with the children. Perhaps the children need to learn there is play time with the dog and there is calm walk time with the dog.
Grammy to Sky and Sirius, who came to live with me, stole my heart, and changed my life forever as I took over their care and learned how to be a dog owner.
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runlikethewind
- Posts: 1166
- Joined: Fri Apr 02, 2010 12:48 pm
Re: halti harness
Hello
I'm no expert but I like to think of the halti (UK term) or head collar as an aversive. I would prefer to teach and show the dog (with a lot of patience etc) the right way to walk and not have his head pulled downwards or sideways with these collars. I have also seen some dogs whose eyes bulge out very badly with these collars if the dog is pulled up all the time and even when the dog is not pulled up. The pressure of the fabric digs upwards into the bottom of the eye. Some vets are also seeing an increase in serious eye problems as a result of these collars. I think they are a bit of a fad - a quick solution - to an everyday problem that can be solved in a much more positive way.
I'm no expert but I like to think of the halti (UK term) or head collar as an aversive. I would prefer to teach and show the dog (with a lot of patience etc) the right way to walk and not have his head pulled downwards or sideways with these collars. I have also seen some dogs whose eyes bulge out very badly with these collars if the dog is pulled up all the time and even when the dog is not pulled up. The pressure of the fabric digs upwards into the bottom of the eye. Some vets are also seeing an increase in serious eye problems as a result of these collars. I think they are a bit of a fad - a quick solution - to an everyday problem that can be solved in a much more positive way.
Re: halti harness
Pup is a big part of your issue. you have a young dog that needs to be taught to walk with a loose leash. some great advice has been given the lose lead thread link, getting a harness (I also suggest the walkeez, note that is just a name it won't it's self do anything to teach a loose lead).**liz** wrote:
Riley is a 7 month old lab pup .....
I would suggest working on the lose lead with little to no distractions. meaning no kids around. then once your dog is getting it, start adding back in the kids.
Just remember, you have a puppy and you may have to revisit this a couple times until riley is an adult dog. you may also have to teach some impulse control in there too.
Walking loose lead near a human isn't a natural behavior/pace for dogs. their natural pace is much faster then ours. They also gather info by exploring the world through their noses so, if your dog is pulling and wanting to sniff etc this is normal and natural dog behavior and not disobedience. If your dog is wanting to run / catch up to the kids, this is impulse control issues and not disobedience. A common puppy issue.
I briefly used the GL, but now I use a walkeez harness and the basic concepts of the loose lead thread.
The solution is patience and training.
Re: halti harness
I wouldnt use either the halti headcollar or the haltiharness on a pup... i like both for certain sorts of problems (though i agree in many cases they are merely used as an aversive, which is NOT how i use a headcollar, i use one on a dog where i need to be able to turn their head away from something, but i use a harness to actually walk the dog off, with the headcollar attached to a light weight lead, only to be used when needed).
On a puppy its too easy to do damage to growing bones/muscles, both devices work by pulling the animal off balance in a particular way and this is not good for growing bodies.
I would use a fixed (ie, no moving parts) harness and stick to the loose leash walking method - remember to shorten the duration of your walks but increase the frequency so you will find it easier to stay calm and consistant.
On a puppy its too easy to do damage to growing bones/muscles, both devices work by pulling the animal off balance in a particular way and this is not good for growing bodies.
I would use a fixed (ie, no moving parts) harness and stick to the loose leash walking method - remember to shorten the duration of your walks but increase the frequency so you will find it easier to stay calm and consistant.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
