Hi. I have a problem in that Suki a collie x, is very strong on the lead. When she senses somebody is walking behind her she will keep turning her head and then turns her whole body to look at them and refuses to walk in the direction I was originally going. In the end I have to stop as she is too strong for me to try and turn her back and carry on walking. Once the person's gone past we carry on as normal although she pulls on the lead and I'd like to stop this also as it's beginning to make my arm hurt . She also tries to pull towards people that are walking towards us. I think she didn't get taken out much by her previous owner as she didn't recognise a lead when we got her a week ago and she doesn't know the word walk or walkies . I walk her on just a normal fabric lead attached to her collar.

Thanks for your help

Hi. I also have a collie x who looks behind her if somebody is there. I have also just rescued a staffi x who was not used to walking on a lead.

Firstly I would advise a half check collar for walks. This allows you to give a correction for unwanted behaviour. You sharply pull the lead upwards or to the side (not behind or you can play tug of war!), this tightens around the neck and distracts the dog from it's fixation, in your case the person behind you. It is not a choke chain and it does not hurt the dog, it just allows you to give a correction. Without using one of these I'm not sure how you can give a correction? Alternatively I brought a collar from the states, it is the "illusion" collar. It is from the Dog Whisperer show. This collar focuses on keeping it at a higher point on the neck than a standard collar. A standard collar sits at the strongest part of the neck, so if you have a dog which needs a lot of correcting then it makes it quite difficult as you have to be quite physical which tires you out. With the "Illusion" collar it sits just under the ears, which is the most sensitive part of the neck. It means that you use much more gentle corrections and this makes it easier for the handler to control. I used this with my staff x and it worked much quicker.

Once you have given the correction then continue walking. I would not try to teach the dog the word walkies as this can create excitment. If the dog is excited you will have even more of a task controlling her. It all needs to be done in a calm manner. If I said the word walkies to my 4 they would all be jumping about getting excited, I make sure they are all calm before we go. Excitement is not good for dogs.

At only a week it is still early days, but I would defo go to Pets and Home and buy a half check. Remember your goal is to distract her from her fixation so that you can continue walking. The first time she turns around you need to correct, do not allow the brain to escelate.

Hope this helps x

I personally would by some type of aid to stop your arm aching, a halti or something similar then let your dog settle in to it's new life.
The reactions you describe could be symptoms of your dogs insecurity, and as long as they don't escalate into something more, are not something I would be too worried about at this stage.
Have you tried just sitting her until the people have passed, then she has time to assess the situation in her own time but under your control.
Sorry my opinion is completely the opposite of previous post, but hopefully you will be able to match the advice to your dog and your situation

I would try a head collar to counteract the pulling, but it sounds like your dog is nervous of strangers. The advice to get her to sit and wait till they have passed should help. Another thing with a dog that pulls is to get one of those 6 feet long training leads (or longer if the dog is a little one), and instead of holding it n your hand, loop it over one shoulder diagonally. You then have the dog pulling against your whole bodyweight and it doesn't get very far! Also stops your arm hurting!