Help needed for harness suggestion for a puppy that pulls ALOT....

[romeosangiovese]

A front clip harness like the Easy Walk or the SENSE-ation harness are great tools to use to encourage a dog to walk nicely.

However, I do think that, unless you REWARD the good behaviour, you will eventually still get a dog that pulls, only it won't pull as much as if it was on a normal collar or a back clip harness.

When walking your dog, imagine a big circle on your right or left side (better to pick one - most dogs walks on the left side of a person). Any time your pup is walking next to you in that circle on your left, you give the dog a little tasty treat. Anytime the dog is outside that circle, he gets nothing.

The front clip harness works to encourage the dog to be within that circle more, so you can reward more! And the most important training tip I ever got was "Rewarded behaviours get repeated!" So the more you reward walking next to you, the more of that behaviour you're going to get!

 

[bwibwigouza]

Maybe something like this soft harness?


http://www.petvalu.com/in-our-store...sories/collars-tags-and-leashes/rc-pet-cirque

I'll have to give this a try. I always thought the more "fabric" there is to cover the coat more of the fur will get matted. This does look very soft and no rough parts to further agitate those bald spots.

Shelties are so smart and I can see that in Mozart at times...he know he can't pull when I walk him but he will pull if I have my hands full of things and can't restrain him when he lunges ahead. I'm also trying to teach him not to bark at cars leaving our driveway since he will also pull on the leash to bark. He knows I can tell when he is about to start his barking frenzy so he looks at me then sits quietly. However, if it was someone else in the family handling him when a car is leaving our driveway he pulls and barks like crazy.

 

[allendj]

stop the pulling

Shelties are brilliant dogs and will learn quickly. My method (I use a regular collar) is, every time they start to pull I stop and have them sit. They soon learn that to get anywhere they can't pull. As to lunging at children, people or other dogs, I do the same. Make them sit. Then you can invite the child to pet them. This method has worked, so far, on a sheltie / border cross, a Australian cattle dog and three shelties. I use the sit command to stop any unwanted behavior. It is usually the first or second command they learn and the one most used.