Tug, tug, yank, yank "Come ON I want to go THAT way!" Yank, yank <insert choking, gasping, and sounds of struggle here.>
Is this a familiar scenario? As long as you (and by association, your dog on the other end of the leash) are moving, your dog is fairly content, but stop for just one moment's of conversation and you have to endure the above struggle and accompanying sounds worthy of a strangler movie. Training your dog to stop pulling on a leash is a frustrating process, especially when your dog has a considerable weight (and leverage) on him.
First of all, make sure you are using the right equipment. Retractable leads are useless on larger dogs and teach nothing on smaller dogs. This is my opinion: I think they are utterly useless and a waste of money as far as training goes. A good long rope works just as well (if not better) for recall training.
Body harnesses are another mistake on bigger dogs. While great for hauling, and securing your dog to an inanimate object (like a seatbelt device in a car), if the inanimate object is you, you might be in for a bit of a shock. Body harnesses were never designed as a leash training tool, they were designed to maximize your dog's pulling power when hauling a load behind him. They remove all obstruction to the neck and distribute the resisting force evenly to your dog's shoulders, where most of their forward strength comes from. To put a body harness on a large dog and expect to try and train to walk on a leash nicely is tantamount to asking for wrenched shoulders and skinned knees as you are unceremoniously hauled behind your dog while he goes where he wants.
A standard nylon buckle collar and a six-foot leash is all you will need for this simple training exercise.
My favourite method for leash training is the "tree" method. Become an immovable object until your dog ceases to balk at the leash and allows a slack to develop.
A session might go as follows:
- Stand in place, allow dog to sniff around.
- Dog decides to go in one direction
- Human stands immobile allowing the dog to pull, but neither correcting this pulling, nor enforcing it (allowing dog to pull you in that direction).
- As soon as a 'slack' is evident in the leash, move in the direction your dog wants to go (enforcing the slackness of the leash), and praise loudly.
- Stop dead as soon as your dog starts to pull on the leash again.
- Continue this daily, becoming a tree as soon as he starts to pull.
You may have realized that the above technique works best if done before your large breed dog outwieghs you.Or you can use a good training collar. If you have a large dog with alot of power, these will help immeasurably. I must stress that these collars should be used as a training aid only, not as a permanent control solution. Training your dog to keep slack in a leash is by far the best solution.