Hi
i was wondering if someone could give me advise for our 20mon old golden male. we have 2 concerns.
firstly, when walking on leash he walks well on a harness with no pulling. we use the front leading harness by ruffwear but have only had leash attached to the back of harness not the front as yet. a couple of months ago when he saw dogs on the other side of the road he would bark and pull like crazy to get over there. i was worried i might get pulled off my feet, not to mention him getting free and run over by a car. So we looked into a trainer. we had a private training session first with this particular club, the trainer took of the harness and attached a black dog head halter, he then pulled hard on it when he took him out walking, so much so we had a very quiet and subdued dog, that was practically perfect at heeling instaneously.
a miracle so we thought at the time. 2 days later he was sick - couldnt eat from his bowl or drink, we had to lift his food and water bowl up to him. He was very quiet for a few days seemed in pain when walking but after a few days was back to his lively self so didnt think to much about it.
i was unusure about the head halter at the time so we used the harness and the head halter for about 1 month after this sickness BUT the difference we didnt pull and tug on head halter like the trainer did, our golden didnt really like the halter but he walked well on it and didnt carry on when he saw other dogs.
fast forward to this weekend, we had our first group session last weekend, they once again told us to take of harness and just use the head halter and they tugged on it several times in the session, yesterday 2 days later he is sick again, walking slowly, cant eat from bowl on floor etc. we have just come back from vet and he has a sore neck from the head halter and the vet says NOT to use it again. He has had a shot for an antiflam and should be back to normally hopefully but he is in a great deal of pain at the moment.
researching the head halters i have seen they can cause damage i certainly hope he doesnt have any long lasting issues with this.
so my first question now is suggestions on how we can get him to stop barking and carrying on when he sees other dogs? he isnt aggressive when he does meet them, he just wants to play but not always possible.
we will put him back on the ruffwear harness, should i be using it from the front? i have noticed manufacturing instructions say dont only use from front but use a double ended leash and also attach to back.
our second issue, he can be very stubborn. for example if he doesnt want to walk a particular way, he will just lie down. last week he saw the park entrance and thats the way he wanted to go, i wanted to go the other way, we had a 15min standoff he lied down and wouldnt budge. if i took 2 steps towards the park he got up, if i tried to lead any other way he would lie down. i tried treats, even a toy. the only thing that eventually worked was a couple walking by so i seized that moment and said lets go in their direction, we crossed the street towards them and then they crossed towards the park and he dropped down again when we didnt go that direction, i then growled at him in a deep low growl lol and he got up and we continued on finally in the direction i wanted to go but its really frustrating as he does it to the housesitter as well.
advise greatly appreciated thankyou
i was wondering if someone could give me advise for our 20mon old golden male. we have 2 concerns.
firstly, when walking on leash he walks well on a harness with no pulling. we use the front leading harness by ruffwear but have only had leash attached to the back of harness not the front as yet. a couple of months ago when he saw dogs on the other side of the road he would bark and pull like crazy to get over there. i was worried i might get pulled off my feet, not to mention him getting free and run over by a car. So we looked into a trainer. we had a private training session first with this particular club, the trainer took of the harness and attached a black dog head halter, he then pulled hard on it when he took him out walking, so much so we had a very quiet and subdued dog, that was practically perfect at heeling instaneously.
a miracle so we thought at the time. 2 days later he was sick - couldnt eat from his bowl or drink, we had to lift his food and water bowl up to him. He was very quiet for a few days seemed in pain when walking but after a few days was back to his lively self so didnt think to much about it.
i was unusure about the head halter at the time so we used the harness and the head halter for about 1 month after this sickness BUT the difference we didnt pull and tug on head halter like the trainer did, our golden didnt really like the halter but he walked well on it and didnt carry on when he saw other dogs.
fast forward to this weekend, we had our first group session last weekend, they once again told us to take of harness and just use the head halter and they tugged on it several times in the session, yesterday 2 days later he is sick again, walking slowly, cant eat from bowl on floor etc. we have just come back from vet and he has a sore neck from the head halter and the vet says NOT to use it again. He has had a shot for an antiflam and should be back to normally hopefully but he is in a great deal of pain at the moment.
researching the head halters i have seen they can cause damage i certainly hope he doesnt have any long lasting issues with this.
so my first question now is suggestions on how we can get him to stop barking and carrying on when he sees other dogs? he isnt aggressive when he does meet them, he just wants to play but not always possible.
we will put him back on the ruffwear harness, should i be using it from the front? i have noticed manufacturing instructions say dont only use from front but use a double ended leash and also attach to back.
our second issue, he can be very stubborn. for example if he doesnt want to walk a particular way, he will just lie down. last week he saw the park entrance and thats the way he wanted to go, i wanted to go the other way, we had a 15min standoff he lied down and wouldnt budge. if i took 2 steps towards the park he got up, if i tried to lead any other way he would lie down. i tried treats, even a toy. the only thing that eventually worked was a couple walking by so i seized that moment and said lets go in their direction, we crossed the street towards them and then they crossed towards the park and he dropped down again when we didnt go that direction, i then growled at him in a deep low growl lol and he got up and we continued on finally in the direction i wanted to go but its really frustrating as he does it to the housesitter as well.
advise greatly appreciated thankyou