[Atlasdog]

So we’ve regressed and I need some help. We moved overseas to Morocco (on the beach, beautiful!). Atlas is a little over a year and is an intact male. His recall is excellent with an ecollar. Before moving here we rarely walked on a leash. He was heel trained, but we just never needed it outside of a vet visit and that was a short distance without issue. He would run out to car, or the mailbox, out to the park, fields etc. all off lead and with or without an ecollar with great recall. Now, we take him to the beach frequently early in the morning to swim and play and he does excellent with just the ecollar (no need to stimulate unless he’s too far or the wild dogs are getting too close). I guess we’ve been relying on the ecollar way too much and now walking him (to the beach, to potty outside etc.) is a COMPLETE NIGHTMARE. He chokes himself on his slip knot and doesn’t care! I’ve also tried using his martingale. It’s the same response as his slip knot. He pulls like crazy while wheezing. My husband is even having issues controlling him on lead. I’m so disappointed in myself that I wasn’t consistant with this command. Now I need to learn techniques to teach him to heel again, because my tactics aren’t working. He’s 100% distracted by the trash and thrown out food, all the feral cats and dogs. The command “heel” isn’t working. Stopping isn’t working. I’d like advice on how you’ve gotten your dog to learn to heel on lead without pulling. It’s really important to me to have a tight heel right on my left leg/thigh for street safety. I want to know how you also relax the command heel and when to incorporate that? Do you use the command “break” to give the leash slack?! When I’m not commanding heel I feel like he pulls so I’m being consistent with heel while walking but would like to allow him to have some slack at times to urinate and empty his bowels off my leg . I’ve seen a couple different YouTube videos but would like advice from you guys before implementing anything. Thanks so much and hope you & your pups are doing well

 

[Atlasdog]

 

[Atlasdog]

 

[3goldens2keep]

Years ago we attended a obedience training class with out 15 week old Golden. In the class were about 15 dogs of many breeds. I recall we had 4 Great Danes, 1 other Golden, 2 Scotties, etc. etc.
On the first night of the class the instructor introduced us to a pinch collar. by the end of the evening we all had our dogs wearing these collars and had a good understanding of how to properly use them. They are extremely good had stopping a dog from pulling on lead. The quickly allow you to teach the dog where and how to heal on command. Many are critical of these training tools, but if used properly, they work for most all basic obedience training. The collar I prefer, I order on line from a company called lolalimited.net. Check it out!

 

[pawsnpaca]

I'll leave it to others to advise you on the whole pulling thing, since I am not a fan of things like e and pinch collars so I'll just agree to disagree from the start for once.

If you are willing to consider teaching a formal heel using more positive techniques, you may want to take a look at the online training offered by Petra Ford (2020 winner of the AKC National Obedience Championships). She offers private online instruction, but also often teaches through the Fenzi Dog sports Academy. Denise Fenzi, who owns the business, is also a skilled instructor who offers workshops on precision heeling.

 

[Atlasdog]

Thank you guys I’ll look into the suggestions. I’m not sure if they carry pinch collars here in Morocco. Shipping is very pricey here as well! There aren’t obedience classes here that I can find so I’m looking for a YouTube video, or some sort of direction to work towards that others have used successfully.
And, I just want everyone to know that my pup really loves his ecollar - he associates it with off lead play - we didn’t use it for negative feedback at all. Just recall when he’s too far off or too distracted by other senses. He actually goes nuts when I pull it out with excitement! I’m looking into picking up a whistle of some sort too for recall training.

 

[pawsnpaca]

Well, then... I'll share a few other online resources for you to consider (all based in positive reinforcement):

Episode 74: Yes, Susan Garrett's Dogs Sniff On Walks

Why I let my dogs sniff on walks, the top reasons for walking dogs, and how to walk safely anywhere.

dogsthat.com

Susan Garret/DogsThat and KikoPup has lots of online stuff on loose leash walking.

For relatively little money you could also try this: Fenzi Dog Sports Academy - LS140: Stop Leash Pulling: Multiple Methods to Loose Leash Walking

 

[Atlasdog]

Thanks! I’ll look into it.