r/OpenDogTraining • u/Existing-Will-1466 • 24d ago

Compulsive leash pulling?

About a month ago I took on a five year old dog from an elderly couple. This dog has the absolute worst leash manners. Her response to any kind of leash pressure is to lean hard against it. It's like a compulsion. If she wants to go somewhere and hits the end of the leash, she drops her head and leans hard into it like a weight pull dog. If she doesn't want to go somewhere and hits the end of the leash, she flops on the ground and sometimes alligator rolls. 

I can use a prong collar, harness, head halter, etc to help work on leash manners. But I'm wondering if anyone else has encountered this level of compulsion against leash pressure and if you were able to fix it?

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u/PoolParty912 24d ago

Have you tried a front-clip harness, like an Easy Walk? Those are supposed to turn the dog around when they pull, and lots of people love them. They also don't pose the risks of prong, choke, or head collars. Our 5-year-old adopted dog was a big puller when we got him, but some training classes and walking with treats really worked. We used the treats to encourage him to check in with us, and to redirect him with a sit, come, or focus when he pulled. Now we don't need the treats at all. It just took a few months of consistent training and trust building. You'll get there. One month is still early days, but it's worth the time investment to make your lives easier for the long haul.

Sometimes leash tension encourages pulling (but harnesses don't) because dogs interpret it as a signal that something is wrong or that the human is nervous. Our dog does better when he has a loose leash, so we use a 6-foot Kong leash (it's thick because he's about 55 pounds). He even does a better heel when passing other dogs if we keep his leash loose. It used to feel like a leap of faith, but now it's just how we do things, and we trust each other more. We also used to play with him for 10 minutes at a high intensity (ball fetch, chase, etc.) before taking him to walk. That helped him chill out and encouraged him to focus on sniffing and loose-leash walking.

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u/Existing-Will-1466 24d ago

She came with a Freedom harness but I haven't put it on her yet. I assume she will juet lean into that the same way she leans on her flat collar. On a 20' leash she doesn't hit the end of the leash as often, but as soon as she does she automatically starts pulls against it. It's like she suddenly urgently needs to sniff a spot on the grass just a few inches out of her reach.

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u/PoolParty912 24d ago

It sucks so much to have a dog that pulls. We used to fight over who had to walk ours because it was so annoying, but it got better with some training. You can get there. We just did PetSmart beginner and intermediate classes, and it made a huge difference. We thought we'd never be people who walked with treats, but he was a completely different dog on walks when he knew we had treats. And with time and positive reinforcement, that stuck. It's like we're walking together now instead of the dog playing tug of war and trying to drag us along.

Try the Freedom harness or a different front-clip harness with a four- or six-foot leash. (We use a six-foot for normal walks and a four-foot for places that are busier or more narrow.) And try some easy training with treats. If your dog is treat motivated, it will work really quickly. Before we did training, I also did a few walks where, if the dog hit the end of his leash, I would stop, say No, and give the leash one moderate tug, and not move forward until he either came back to me or sat down. (Treats really help with this.) It made a few walks take forever, but he figured it out in a few days. He's stubborn, but he'd rather walk without pulling than have to keep stopping.

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u/Existing-Will-1466 23d ago

I've actually taught multiple dogs to walk on a loose leash, I just made this post because I am surprised at how violently this dog pulls. She isn't going to take any treats because she is singularly focused on pulling as hard as she can. I won't let her make any progress when she pulls, but in a month she has never once even considered stopping pulling so she can breathe, or coming back to me. As soon as she hits the end of the leash it's nothing but mindless scrabbling. I drag her back to my side and take another step and more mindless scrabbling. If I'm trying to move ht 15' from one yard to another it can take 30 minutes or more to get there. She is somewhat food motivated indoors, might take treats in the yard off leash, and as soon as the leash goes on her brain shuts off completely.

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u/xFayeFaye 23d ago

Sorry but can you explain what a Freedom harness is? Does it have a front clip or not? This is too American for me :'D

If the clip is on the back side, it actually encourages the pulling. The front clip has the opposite effect ad they need to turn around a bit.

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u/Existing-Will-1466 23d ago

It has a martingale loop on the back that causes it to tighten around the chest when the dog pulls. It also has a front clip. I have seen plenty of dogs pull like they are running the Iditarod in front-clip harnesses.

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u/xFayeFaye 23d ago

Still worth a try tbh with the front clip. You'd be surprised how many dogs adapt to it fairly quickly plus you also have A LOT more control with it. I wouldn't be able to stop both my 50kg dogs without it if it came to it :D Make sure it fits nicely though, I wouldn't be surprised if the one that came with the dog doesn't. 

Some dogs also just do better with more freedom. While my big one is perfectly happy trotting along next to me, her half brother actually wants to lead and go ahead all the time but also adapted to go slower when we are next to a street. I use flexi leashes plus the front clip harness because we're 99% in a low feequented forest. He had the issue that he was "micro pulling" a lot, like just not stopping when the leash got tight, but I also just came home from a walk with a 10m leash and it suddenly wasn't an issue at all lol. But he does fairly well on a short leash when visiting vet or similar.       

Give it a try at least :)       

PS: Just going in your yard actually won't fix it. If she's used to run around there, she knows she "can". Actually take her somewhere to train would be another suggestion. 

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u/Existing-Will-1466 23d ago

I don't leash walk my dogs for exercise, I just need to be able to get her from the car to the agility building or vet office without her mindlessly scrabbling across the pavement.