# Leash Pulling, Puppy choking himself



## msfarenheit

I'm having some trouble training my puppy to walk on a leash. He is about 5 months old and 20 pounds. I have read some threads on here and in other places about how to deal with pulling. I have been trying to teach him to stop pulling by not moving once he starts pulling on the leash and having him sit for a moment and praising him when we behaves. However, often when he pulls he is not attentive and won't listen to me asking him to sit. What really concerns me about his pulling is that he pulls to the point of choking himself. He will run to the end of the leash and pull until he can't breathe. Today he pulled so much at one point that when he got back to a comfortable point on the leash, he stumbled around for a few seconds, gasping and coughing horribly, due to choking himself. 
I understand that training a dog to walk properly on a leash takes time, but the fact that he is choking himself worries me as I really do not want to see him hurt himself. 
Does any one have some advice on this?
By the way, I walk him with a standard cloth collar and leash and always make sure that the collar has the correct tightness (comfortably fit two fingers under it)


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## Unleashed

have you considered a padded harness? that will help the lil guy out with the choking himself out.


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## DJEtzel

I also recommend the harness, or a head halter, to stop pulling and train easy walking on the leash. That's to keep from hurting himself, then just keep praising when he's walking well on the leash, and stopping when he's not, or walking in the opposite direction.


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## -Anna

I would also recommend getting a harness. Lucky was a very strong puller when we first got him and his harness kept him from hurting himself and gave me better control.

I still use it to this day, although he doesn't really "need" it anymore.


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## qingcong

People are going to think I'm crazy for suggesting this, but stop praising your dog. Your dog could care less about what's coming out of your mouth, and he definitely doesn't know what you're saying. Verbal praise is a weak reward for dogs, especially when the rest of the world is so much more interesting than your words, and often our excited tone of voice just serves to get them even more excited. I'm not saying to stop rewarding your dog, I'm saying that rewards need to actually be rewarding for the dog. 

My dog pulled like yours. He would choke himself blue. I second the suggestions that you try a gentle leader or easy walk harness. The combination of those two tools and a LOT of patience and training got our dog over his pulling habit. A regular buckle collar triggers opposition reflex too easily and makes leash training difficult. It's not just about loose leash walking either, you need to teach him where to walk - right beside or behind you. If you make the rules clear cut for your dog, he will understand faster. Our dog walks calmly at the heel position through the entire walk these days. It's a complete 180 from where he was when we first got him.

As beginner owners, it took us about 1.5 months before we had him consistently walking by our side calmly.


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## pamperedpups

Here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup#p/a/F09632A4A4BD3DDC/0/sFgtqgiAKoQ


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## RedyreRottweilers

pamperedpups said:


> Here ya go: http://www.youtube.com/user/kikopup#p/a/F09632A4A4BD3DDC/0/sFgtqgiAKoQ


yes yes yes yes YES.

And also, it takes a PARTNER for pulling to happen. Stop letting your dog keep a tight lead.

Pull him back, and drop slack. My dogs never get any benefit from going in front of me because EACH time they do, I pull them back into position and then DROP SLACK INTO THE LEASH.

It is very hard for most people to stop pulling on their dogs. Most of the time the dog is a SMALL part of the leash pulling issue. For me, most of the time the issue is much more with the OWNER pulling, and being unable to drop slack into the leash when the dog is near them.

So, in order for the pulling to stop, one partner has to stop playing the game.



I NEVER allow my dogs to have a tight lead. If they get to that point, I do something about it IMMEDIATELY, something that will get me a loose lead again. The tug and release method works very well for me in teaching this to my dogs, but I also begin as SOON as they are walking on the lead to teach this, so by the time they are larger there is no pulling.


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## DJEtzel

I don't agree that you need to make him walk next to you or behind you. This means nothing to them, the only point is that he needs to have lack of tension on the leash. He won't learn any quicker if he's in a certain area. He's going to learn all the same that loose leash= good.


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## RedyreRottweilers

DJEtzel said:


> I don't agree that you need to make him walk next to you or behind you. This means nothing to them, the only point is that he needs to have lack of tension on the leash. He won't learn any quicker if he's in a certain area. He's going to learn all the same that loose leash= good.


No reason at all for heel position all these years, huh?

I'm just curious, how many dogs have you trained, DJEtzel? Any titles? How many dogs have you trained to loose leash walk?

If the dog does not learn to walk beside you, then how is he ever to consistently keep a loose leash? Just curious?


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## qingcong

RedyreRottweilers said:


> It is very hard for most people to stop pulling on their dogs. Most of the time the dog is a SMALL part of the leash pulling issue. For me, most of the time the issue is much more with the OWNER pulling, and being unable to drop slack into the leash when the dog is near them.


EXACTLY. My gf and I went on vacation for a week and left our dog with her family that week. When we got back, our dog's leash training had regressed quite a bit (or was it me that was rusty?) Either way, the human equation is a big part of it. We left with a perfectly heeling dog and came back to 50% of what we had before, all because of humans not giving clear direction.

The key to understand is that tightness in the leash should last milliseconds. It's all about mastering the tension and release. Tightness acts as a guide, a sort of feedback for the dog, but it should never be used to physically manipulate where he goes, only to guide where he goes. This is what I did not grasp as a novice handler.




DJEtzel said:


> I don't agree that you need to make him walk next to you or behind you. This means nothing to them, the only point is that he needs to have lack of tension on the leash. He won't learn any quicker if he's in a certain area. He's going to learn all the same that loose leash= good.


In my opinion, heeling isn't so much about establishing that pack leader stuff as much as it is about giving the dog clear cut boundaries. A lot of people think heeling is torture for the dog, but that's anthropomorphism. If we want our dogs to walk nicely on a leash, it's up to us to teach them the rules to accomplish it. 

If the rule is as broad as "loose leash = good", you may end up with a dog who walks on a loose leash but zig zags everywhere in front of you (as was the case with my dog). If we cannot decide on clear cut rules for our dogs, how are they ever going to figure out what we want?


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## poodleholic

Taking an untrained puppy (or adult for that matter) on a walk with all sorts of distractions is, IMO, an exercise in futility! lol 

I FIRST teach "watch me," to get, and keep the puppy's attention, before I start training.

I teach loose-leash walking FIRST inside the house, then in the fenced back yard, then the front yard, down the steet, at the park, and so on. It's important to remember you've got to be more interesting than the FLBs, leaves blowing in the wind, other dogs, etc. If the dog starts to pull, I stop moving. Pat my leg, cluck my tongue, or do a little happy dance and hollar WaHoo! Whatever it takes to get her attention back on me! lol

I play some tug or fetch prior to the walk, to release some of that energy. 

Expecting a puppy to maintain a heel position during a walk isn't fair to that puppy. IMO, as long as there's no tension on the leash, I don't care if my dog is in front of me or by my side.

Here's an interesting method: 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97a2...heptani.blogspot.com/&feature=player_embedded


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## FaithFurMom09

faith and hope both pulled- i tried a couple different methods (standing like a tree, turn away, etc)- nothing worked until i got gentle leader head collars. Well it didnt work so much for Hope- she would just take it off, so I got her a harness and she nor Faith pull now. Youll see a complete difference in your experience when they no longer pull. I can walk them together now and actually WALK!


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## RedyreRottweilers

I am not talking about heeling. Heeling is a precision exercise with absolute attention and position.

I am talking about a puppy or young dog learning to walk beside me naturally without pulling on the leash.

My personal opinion after about 40 years training dogs and training too many puppies to even mention to walk on lead without pulling is that the easiest thing for the pup is to learn to use ME as a marker for position so that he stays near my left side and does not pull. Again, I am NOT talking about heeling, attention, precise position, or doing anything on command. I am talking about a dog learning to walk nicely near my left side without pulling. For me, this means no forging ahead, lagging behind, crossing in front, crossing in behind, or going way wide. I have large powerful dogs, so they must learn early not to pull. I have always taught my dogs that they must walk near my left side. 

If I want to let my dog wander and sniff, I do not insist that he not pull on the leash, because IMO this is an unrealistic expectation.


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## DJEtzel

RedyreRottweilers said:


> No reason at all for heel position all these years, huh?
> 
> I'm just curious, how many dogs have you trained, DJEtzel? Any titles? How many dogs have you trained to loose leash walk?
> 
> If the dog does not learn to walk beside you, then how is he ever to consistently keep a loose leash? Just curious?


I'm not saying there's no need for a heel position. I absolutely agree there is, but in the case of loose-lead walking, I don't feel they should be expected to be on ONE side, next to or behind you. That just seems more like you're leading to a formal heel, which isn't what they're looking for exactly. I'm not saying that they should be walking all over, but when my dogs loose-lead walk, they're allowed to walk on either side, in front of, next to, or behind me, as long as they don't cross in front and don't have tension, and they follow that beautifully. 

I don't know why it's relevant, but I've probably trained 20 or so dogs. Not all completely, but this or that here or there, and I've not titled any dogs yet. That's a goal I'm hoping to accomplish this summer through next summer. I've trained between 5 and 10 dogs to loose lead walk. I think the exact number is 7, but I always seem to forget about somebody..


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## Poly

There are a lot of reasons why it is better for your dog to walk at your side on a loose leash. Here's just one scenario: your dog is on a loose 6' lead but is walking in front of you. He sees - or smells - something ahead on the ground before you see it. He reaches it - still before you see it and still on a loose leash - and gobbles it up. Maybe it's a pill that somebody dropped. You haven't even seen the what the thing was - much less had the time to issue a "leave it" command.

Is it essential that your dog walk at your side? No. Is it better? Yes.

As to whether your dog should be on the left side or the right - that's another question. The correct answer is: it depends. Best would be to train your dog to walk on a loose leash at _either_ side, as well as to _switch_ from one side to the other at your instruction. 

That is going to take some work, however. If you're not inclined to do that, just pick one side for your loose-leash walking. If you're thinking of doing obedience work, you should pick the left side because it will be easier to teach the heel position if your dog is already used to being on that side for his walks.


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## Finkie_Mom

I use a no-pull harness for my puppy, and it seems to work really well. She's at loose-leash 80% of the time, and the rest is her still getting used to cars, people, other dogs, etc. So for me, the harness is working pretty well.



RedyreRottweilers said:


> I am not talking about heeling. Heeling is a precision exercise with absolute attention and position.
> 
> I am talking about a puppy or young dog learning to walk beside me naturally without pulling on the leash.
> 
> My personal opinion after about 40 years training dogs and training too many puppies to even mention to walk on lead without pulling is that the easiest thing for the pup is to learn to use ME as a marker for position so that he stays near my left side and does not pull. Again, I am NOT talking about heeling, attention, precise position, or doing anything on command. I am talking about a dog learning to walk nicely near my left side without pulling. For me, this means no forging ahead, lagging behind, crossing in front, crossing in behind, or going way wide. I have large powerful dogs, so they must learn early not to pull. I have always taught my dogs that they must walk near my left side.





Poly said:


> There are a lot of reasons why it is better for your dog to walk at your side on a loose leash. Here's just one scenario: your dog is on a loose 6' lead but is walking in front of you. He sees - or smells - something ahead on the ground before you see it. He reaches it - still before you see it and still on a loose leash - and gobbles it up. Maybe it's a pill that somebody dropped. You haven't even seen the what the thing was - much less had the time to issue a "leave it" command.
> 
> Is it essential that your dog walk at your side? No. Is it better? Yes.


I agree with both RedyreRottweilers and Poly. While I understand we're not dealing with a "heel" yet, I believe you still need the dog to be at your side (doesn't matter which, I just prefer the left), or behind you. How are they supposed to know where _you_ want to go if they are in front of you? 

Another example: If the dog were to continue going straight and you want to turn, you will have to put tension on the leash, which defeats the purpose of the loose-leash walk, doesn't it? Just a thought, though I know I'm still new at this...


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## Hazak Farms

The Renewal Leader is so awesome for teaching polite walking and it converts to a simple slip lead easily. Head halters should only be used as a tool to get the message across so you can move to a simple collar quickly. 

I used the Renewal Leader for my Swissy puppy (that is her in my avatar) who was really bad about pulling even on a regular head halter. She would get so excited and distracted out around the property that she had a hard time learning and had no interest in the clicker. 

The Leader is designed to use pressure points and the lead comes up from the top just like a regular collar, not from underneath like a head halter, (dogs aren't horses after all) so you don't become dependent on a halter or harness and it does not twist and injure their neck.

My 4 year old son can walk our dogs with it and it doesn't hurt my old Rottie who has chronic neck problems. Here is a little home video of us playing around with it a month or so back. Our 2 puppies have all moved off the halter version of it for the most part now and we use it as a slip lead. http://http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Sz7A3vGx0w


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## poodleholic

> Another example: If the dog were to continue going straight and you want to turn, you will have to put tension on the leash, which defeats the purpose of the loose-leash walk, doesn't it? Just a thought, though I know I'm still new at this...


I walk 3 (Standard Poodles) at the same time, and have trained "left" and "right," so even though they walk in front of me, they take a right or a left when I cue it. Our walks are not for exercise (I couldn't possibly walk or run fast enough for it to be called exercise for them), it's just an outing for them to enjoy sights and scents. I do mix it up by askinig for heel position, with 2 on my left, one on my right, and will do fast forwards, zig zags, figure 8, U-turns, fast backward, fast forward, circles, and so on. It's fun for them, and they have gotten remarkably precise in keeping with my movement - it's become like a competition for them, and they want to win! lol Two of my neighbors often stand outside their front door to watch us - told me that my dogs look like they're attached to me somehow, and they've never seen anything like it!


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## KBLover

RedyreRottweilers said:


> If I want to let my dog wander and sniff, I do not insist that he not pull on the leash, because IMO this is an unrealistic expectation.


I use those times as times for me to practice moving with him. Make it a dance of sorts.

We also have this kinda thing where some tension is him "asking" to go in a direction. It's not really a pull-tight leash, but I can feel him moving. If I move with him (allowing him to go) then it's purely slack again. If I don't move - then it becomes tight, and he comes back to my side.



qingcong said:


> People are going to think I'm crazy for suggesting this, but stop praising your dog. Your dog could care less about what's coming out of your mouth, and he definitely doesn't know what you're saying. Verbal praise is a weak reward for dogs, especially when the rest of the world is so much more interesting than your words, and often our excited tone of voice just serves to get them even more excited.


I don't know where I stand with this. Part of me sees what your saying. Part of me sees what Wally's reaction to my praise is and it doesn't seem "weak" to me.

Also, considering I use my voice as a marker as if it were a clicker, I think that changes things. He doesn't know what I'm saying in that "good boy" actually has a meaning in human terms, but that sound has been taught to mean he's doing something right just like I taught him what the clicker sound (another intrinsically meaningless sound) means.

Using the logic of what's more interesting - wouldn't the whole wide world be more interesting than that click sound? But if I make that sound - he gets whiplash turning around no matter what he's looking at/sniffing/etc.


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## Elana55

I find this thread very interesting because I have a dog who walks loose lead but is often ahead of me.. just not pulling or tightening the leash. I also have a "by me" cue that means walking in a very loose sort of heel position with permission to be relaxed, look aroud at stuff and give thning s passing sniff (no getting 'stuck'). 

Since I AM into titling my dogs, I would like to tap in to Redyre's knowledge. In your opinion, does keeping the dog in what sounds to me like my 'by me' cue (walking on your left, not forging or lagging) help with the more precise, attention focused heel work? 

I also work on the "paying attention" business that Poodleholic discusses and I use praise but I also use food.. especially with a very young puppy. Geting them to pay attention to your location and direction requires something really motivating such as a good toy or GREAT food (string cheese, hot dogs, Spam, Steak, chicken..).


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## RedyreRottweilers

Elana55 said:


> I find this thread very interesting because I have a dog who walks loose lead but is often ahead of me.. just not pulling or tightening the leash. I also have a "by me" cue that means walking in a very loose sort of heel position with permission to be relaxed, look aroud at stuff and give thning s passing sniff (no getting 'stuck').
> 
> Since I AM into titling my dogs, I would like to tap in to Redyre's knowledge. In your opinion, does keeping the dog in what sounds to me like my 'by me' cue (walking on your left, not forging or lagging) help with the more precise, attention focused heel work?
> 
> I also work on the "paying attention" business that Poodleholic discusses and I use praise but I also use food.. especially with a very young puppy. Geting them to pay attention to your location and direction requires something really motivating such as a good toy or GREAT food (string cheese, hot dogs, Spam, Steak, chicken..).


For me, yes it does. I do not in general put this on command. However, I make sure my dogs are rewarded for being near or by my left side, as often as possible.

I never have issues with lagging (which I completely ignore, BTW, except to reward and praise the dog when he catches up), but forging can quickly become a very bad habit. All you have to do is read the boat load of continuous postings about dogs pulling on the lead. 

My dogs learn not to forge or pull because it gets them nothing except being placed back into position.

Again I will say that most of this problem with pulling on the leash is caused NOT by the dog or puppy pulling, but by the person holding the leash allowing the dog to keep a tight lead.

If you get a tight lead, you have to DO something about it. It doesn't really matter IMO how you get away from the tight lead, you just have to stop the cycle.


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