Martingale Styles

[take4roll10]

The martingale won't solve pulling...its not a choke chain!

lol I know it's not a choke chain. I would never use that. But a dog is less likely to pull wearing a collar than wearing a harness. A collar makes it more uncomfortable to pull. Sometimes just switching from a harness to a collar is enough to make a dog stop pulling. I figured it was worth a shot.

 

[take4roll10]

When she pulls....stop. Do not move again until she lets some tension on the leash. When she is not pulling....talk to her and praise her and keep her attention. The key is consistency. Don't move ever if she is pulling. Frustrating at first, but Shelties are not bred for pulling, so it should be a relatively easy habit to fix.

I've tried that and it didn't work, but I will try again.

 

[vicky2]

What about stopping and putting her into a heel position for a minute, then keep going and stopping every ten steps or even mix it up but make her sit every time you stop. She'll have to watch you and pay attention to the way you move if she wants to keep going.

 

[corbinam]

When we were teaching Bentley to walk nicely on a leash we were taught the stopping method (which can definitely be tiresome), and also to change direction before the dog starts to pull. Obviously you can't do this if you're really walking somewhere, but if you're in the yard or a lot, you can do this. It forces the dog to pay attention to where you're going. If not, they get left behind (and they may feel a little tug on the leash when you change direction).

Once they start to get the idea, we worked on it by coming to a very slow stop and exaggeratedly shuffling our feet. Once Bentley heard the "shuffling" stop noise, he pays attention and slows down with us.

 

[ruckusluvr]

I stopped Lynns pulling by stopping, or just turning the other way. Just two walks of this and she has stopped pulling. every great once in a while i have to remind her that pulling never gets her anywhere.

 

[take4roll10]

I walked Bailey around my neighborhood with the martingale collar this morning. I also stopped when she pulled, which I always do. I think the combination of a collar (instead of a harness) and stopping helped a lot.

She hardly pulled at all. The only time she really pulled was when she saw another dog.

This collar is great.

My only question is, where do you put your dog tags? I know they don't go on the martingale. That collar is only for walks. Right now all her tags are on her harness. So do your dogs wear a separate collar with dog tags when you walk them?

 

[danisgoat]

My only question is, where do you put your dog tags? I know they don't go on the martingale. That collar is only for walks. Right now all her tags are on her harness. So do your dogs wear a separate collar with dog tags when you walk them?

Yes....Chloe has a buckle collar that she wears all the time with her tags. I just keep the martingale attached to a leash and slip it on for her walks.

 

[take4roll10]

Yes....Chloe has a buckle collar that she wears all the time with her tags. I just keep the martingale attached to a leash and slip it on for her walks.

Yea that's what I figured. I'm just a little worried because she stays in a wired crate when we can't watch her. I'm just afraid my parents will forget to take the collar with the tags off. The tags can get caught in the crate.

Maybe I'll get her another collar. So she'll wear a collar with tags and her martingale when we go for walks and then a tagless collar in the house and for when we take her in the yard to make.

Sounds a little crazy, but I want to have tags when we walk, just in case she does get off the leash.

 

[danisgoat]

You can never be too careful! It doesn't sound crazy at all. What does your leash look like? Can you attach the tags to the leash near where it clips onto the collar?

 

[BarbV]

I don't see why you couldn't still attach tags to the martingale.

Mine has three larger links. Two that attach to the collar itself, and the larger one in the middle that you attach the leash to. You could attach the tag to any one of the larger links without impacting the margingales performance, I think.

Also, somewhere on the forum, is a thread about some kind of tag covers that won't grab fur.