# The WeissWalkie



## Namrah (Jul 15, 2008)

I have been a bit unhappy with Elka's leash walking. I mean, she's *fantastic* if we're alone, but if we go on a walk with another dog, or on a group walk with a bunch of other dogs, I feel I'd be better served putting a harness and sled (with wheels instead of skates) and not fighting her desire to pull.

This came up most recently on a group walk with the rescue group I foster for. It's always a giant pain in the neck when I have a foster.

I hate the head harnesses, and I hate the GL thing that clips in front, because when Elka is behaving she spends more time tangled in that thing than walking.

She outgrew her Sporn which was only a moderate success.

So I was searching and came across this WeissWalkie thing. It's really simple. A leash, with an extra ring, that lets you put it behind their front legs so it tightens when they pull.

I haven't tried Elka on a group walk with this (arrived about 15 minutes ago), but on a very short test up and down the street it was fantastic. She was, for the first time ever, self-checking instead of waiting to feel the leash tighten, even while distracted.

Now, she was in daycare today and we practiced in a place where I work with her off-leash, so take it with a huge grain of salt. 

I intend to take her on a long walk in a more busy area tomorrow to test this out. So far, it's pretty darn nifty.


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## Miranda16 (Jan 17, 2010)

tell how this works out .... im intrigued


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## hulkamaniac (Feb 11, 2009)

A volunteer (or possibly employee, I can't remember which) of our local shelter invented this actually. Every time I'm there, they're walking dogs on this leash. I'm very skeptical as to whether it works or not. I still see dogs energetically pulling at the leash and jumping at people.


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## Namrah (Jul 15, 2008)

So I took Elka for a long walk today. We started out with the WW. She is still willing to pull, but she's much easier to control as she doesn't pull nearly as hard. I stop and she comes in.

If we keep walking she just ignores the thing. But she comes in immediately when we stop.

So I thought maybe it wasn't really helping and switched it to her neck collar* This was much more frustrating - she pulled much harder, and started going back and forth and even walking around me. I felt like I was getting a workout with it this way and so switched it back to going around behind her front legs.

Overall - this isn't a magic cure for pulling and I never thought it would be. It is a nice training tool, and for some dogs, may make the _training_ process less of a workout on ones arms, shoulders, back and neck. =)

My conern with this also is that because it attaches to the standard collar, if the dog does keep some, even minimal tension going, then the neck collar is going to have continuous tension which isn't good for their throat/trachea. Something like then Sporn collar doesn't have any pressure against the neck.

Of course if this is working well, then this may teach the dog that tension against the neck is also a cue to slow down, somewhat like using a double leash system for training.

Elka's not a jumper so no idea about that.

All in all I think it's a good leash. I like that I can swap it from "harness" kinda thing to normal leash without ever detaching it from her standard collar. That's really handy. I don't like the constant neck tension, but I did like that I felt like I had more control and that she was pulling with much less force. She seemed overall calmer. 

The true bonus though was that we came across a squirrel. Normally that's a real battle between her prey drive and my strength. In this case, she stopped pulling when she felt the tension tightening of the WW and simply watched the squirrel. That alone was worth using this.


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## muriel (Mar 23, 2010)

I had to "google" the weiss walkie because I didn't know what it was, I recognize it but I know it under a different name.
The construction is based on that it hurts under the dogs armpits. 
For now it seemes to work but eventually the dog will get used to it and het will start to pull again. It's possible that his armpits (I had to search with babelfish for that word  ) will get woundend due to the harness. A harness that prevent the dog from pulling without pain/discomfort is the halti harness, but it is much better to train the dog so that he no longer will pull the leash. I will try to explain how:
The dog is pulling the leash because he want to go somewhere he likes (for example: a tree or another dog). The way to prevent the dog from pulling is to not allow him to do what he (the dog) wants to do. Because you are the dogs boss/master you are the one that decides what the dog is allowed to do and what is not allowed. When the dog is starting to pull the leash the best reaction is to stop and stand still, till the dog stops pulling the leash and looks at you. At hat moment you can start walking again untill the dog is starting to pull the leash again; then again you stop and stand still untill the dog stops pulling the leash and looks at you. This training takes a lot of time and effort, but eventually it will work as long as you are very consequent in stopping when your dog pulls the leash.
Another thing you can do is when the dog start pulling the leash; before there is any tension on the leash you change direction then the dog wants to go to immeddiatly. Then you discourage pulling because the dog is not going/getting where he wants to go, so it's no use for him to pull the leash.
This training also needs good timing and a lot of time and effort, but it will work eventually but it can take a long time. And when you allow pulling for a moment again you can start all over with the training, so you have to be very consequent. When your dog is not pulling the leash and looks at you can reward him with your voice (well done!, good boy) and/or with a treat, that will motivate the dog extra.

Good luck!


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## Namrah (Jul 15, 2008)

Thanks for the lesson, but this was meant as a product review.

In any case, I don't put the Weiss Walkie under her armpits, I put it further back. She no longer pulls at all and so the thing is hanging loose around her. She certainly doesn't seem to be in any discomfort, much less pain. 

This is simply a backup for situations when I can *not* train her because of a group dynamic. Being a tree in a group dynamic simply does not work. The WW has worked fantastically for that particular situation and I honestly disagree that this is causing her any pain. It certainly agrees with her much more than a head harness does.

The Halti Harness was one I researched too and may give it a shot at some point.


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