My 12 week old pup is really fighting the leash....just about goes ape on me. He just about choke's him self tring to fight it....any sugestion's..??...Thank's....Wayne
Enjoy hunting, racing, and hope to be able to train my new lab pup
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First you might want to leave the leash on him any time he is out and around the house or yard. The leash will snag on things and he'll get tangled on chair legs, shrubs, and other stuff. This gets him used to the feeling of a leash and the pressure of the collar on his neck. Also, when he gets hooked up on something and can't go where he wants, he learns that its no use fighting the leash because he won't get anywhere. Be sure you only do this when he's supervised and don't leave him in the cage with his leash on. You don't want him to choke.
The other thing I would suggest is the Gentle Leader. It's a head harness for dogs, like a halter for horses. A strap goes around their snout and you hook the leash under his chin. Any time he pulls, his head goes down, which is a submissive posission. The harder he pulls, the more his head goes into a submissive position. The dog learns really fast that pulling is going to lead to being put in that position. Works great for an alpha dog. My dog was a real handful and this worked like a charm on her. At about a year, she doesn't pull much using her regular collar.
Wayne,
You need to get a "pinch collar" (sometimes called a claw pinch collar), or a leather pinch collar. With a pinch collar (these are NOT choke collars) the dog is responsible for the amount of pressure he puts on himself (unlike a choke collar, where YOU are the one applying the pressure). The metal claw collars are gonna run you about $10 or so, and the leather ones will run about $25 or so. Either one will work, but most trainers like the leather one best (I've always only used the metal one). You can get one from www.lcsupply.com -- when the home page comes up, do a 'search' for pinch collar.
You got real good advice but I have to add a little on some of it.
Leaving the leash on the pup and letting it drag it around all day is what I do, but labs(mine anyway) are bad about chewing the leash in half if it gets caught on something.
I would try putting a real light weight chain on the pup. You know that ones that don't hardly weight anything? Cut it to where its only about 4 feet long.
You could also tie the pup in a safe place where you can see it and let it raise hell all it wants. I would suggest putting one of those ground stakes all the way into the ground and then put the pups chain on it.
GOODEE.....it worked absoutley great...He fought it for about 5 second's, and that was it.I would have to recomend it for anyone having the same sort of trouble that I was having......... Wayne
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Family, Friend's, Hunting......."Life Is Good"
Fighting The Leash
