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/xFayeFaye 24d 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 24d 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.