Yup, yet another question from a novice puppy-owner... My 4 month old Cavoodle has an inability (at the moment) to walk nicely on a lead . (His current set up is a webbing harness where the lead attaches at the back, over the shoulders. )
At the moment all his walks consist of my clicking and treating anything which isn't a full-on lead pull, and not walking when he's pulling in the direction I wish to walk, however this isn't having a very quick effect. He's also prone to being distracted whilst on walks, no matter how good my treats are (he will ignore cooked chicken, cheese, sausage...), so there's a number of instances where I'm clicking and he ignores the treat. When he's hyper he also indulges in lead-plunging (I think that's what it's called?) where he runs really fast to the end of his lead and ends up standing on his back legs in an effort to get somewhere - it looks like quite an uncomfortable habit.
I'm concerned that due to the slow pace of his learning not to pull, his harness-and-lead set up is going to make his pulling worse before I can train him out of it?
Do I need to change him to a front-leading harness (potentially problematic because he chews his lead and it will be right in front of him) ? Or possibly a martingale, which seems to be the Ian Dunbar suggestion for walking puppies? However I'm not sure if this is meant to be "as a training aid" or "so they cannot slip their collars"? To me a martingale looks like it could damage the trachea, especially in a pup who is now a dedicated plunger.
I would consider some sort of halter, however I'm not sure I could get one on him (small dog with a fairly short muzzle). The instructions which I've seen for the "gentle leader" halter show that it has to be fitted to the dog really tightly, and to me this looks pretty uncomfortable.
Ideas and opinions please
At the moment all his walks consist of my clicking and treating anything which isn't a full-on lead pull, and not walking when he's pulling in the direction I wish to walk, however this isn't having a very quick effect. He's also prone to being distracted whilst on walks, no matter how good my treats are (he will ignore cooked chicken, cheese, sausage...), so there's a number of instances where I'm clicking and he ignores the treat. When he's hyper he also indulges in lead-plunging (I think that's what it's called?) where he runs really fast to the end of his lead and ends up standing on his back legs in an effort to get somewhere - it looks like quite an uncomfortable habit.
I'm concerned that due to the slow pace of his learning not to pull, his harness-and-lead set up is going to make his pulling worse before I can train him out of it?
Do I need to change him to a front-leading harness (potentially problematic because he chews his lead and it will be right in front of him) ? Or possibly a martingale, which seems to be the Ian Dunbar suggestion for walking puppies? However I'm not sure if this is meant to be "as a training aid" or "so they cannot slip their collars"? To me a martingale looks like it could damage the trachea, especially in a pup who is now a dedicated plunger.
I would consider some sort of halter, however I'm not sure I could get one on him (small dog with a fairly short muzzle). The instructions which I've seen for the "gentle leader" halter show that it has to be fitted to the dog really tightly, and to me this looks pretty uncomfortable.
Ideas and opinions please
