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So, last week we had a discussion about how collars could be potentially harmful... I mentioned that we use a harness, and until now I've been pretty satisfied with that. But tonight Rudy was rolling around, and I noticed a sore under his "armpit" - I put him on my lap to look more closely, and discovered a small scab on one side, and a large-ish sore on the other. Obviously this is from his harness, but we use a Gentle Leader for crying out loud. So what exactly IS safe for dogs?
I tried taking him for a walk with the collar tonight, and he was hard to control... nearly choked himself a few times (especially when we ran into a skunk!), wouldn't heel for long, and broke out of the collar once. He is a difficult one to walk, since he tries to sniff & mark everything, and gets excited or aggressive around other dogs. I've found the Gentle Leader to work really well, but now I am afraid to use it for fear of hurting him. And with an open sore right now, I'm not about to put anything over it. Help!! What do I do?? And should I take him to the vet for the sore? TIA for any advice...
I use harnesess on all my dogs but one. The Yorkie mix walks very well with a collar and doesn't pull, the others are a diferent story and so I have to use a harness, but they are quite cushioned. If you look around you will find harness that are very gentle on your dog. I also don't leave harnesses or collars on them when at home and because I live close to wooded areas, I let them run leash free.
I agree on the padded harnesses....they work well. As for the sore....I would treat it with a little peroxide and neosporin...see how it does before rushing off to the vet.
Just a quick training tip...this will take you a few repetitions to get the dog to understand. We prefer flat buckle collars at our house, we do not have fence jumpers and they are not allowed unsupervised in the yard. Our dogs are 60lbs and 75lbs each. Pick a side that you want your dog to walk on (we prefer having our dogs on our left side). As the dog moves to get a head of you, take your right leg and cut the dog off. You will pivot on your left leg and at the end of the right leg turn you will be facing your dog. Once you are facing your dog...walk at your dog (you are now moving in the opposite direction of your walk)...backing your dog up. Dogs like to move in a forward motion, they do not like backward movement. Praise and "treat" your dog for staying at your side (we love using clicker training and dogs pick up on it VERY fast)...when the dog makes the move again to get in front of you, use your right leg again and step in front of your dog and back your dog up. I still do this once in a while with our BC mix who loves to want to lead...but isn't allowed to. As with any training you HAVE to be consistent. If your dog tries to get in front of you 100x's you correct the dog 101x's. The one time you don't correct is the one time the dog think "ah, I can do this x amount of times and then I get my way." Also, you get to dictate when your dog can mark or sniff else where...don't allow the dog to drag you. Use the method above or if needed switch directions. If the dog wants to go one way (example: off to the left), go the exact opposite (you go right) and the dog will follow.
I hope this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
It is tedious but put on a flat collar and when you dog starts pulling plant your feet. You only move foward when the lead is slack. It does take awhile but the dog does "get it"
[sorry I am having trouble this morning with posting, not sure what is going on..............{last partial post}.......................
anyway I don't let my dogs sniff and pee and poop when we go for a walk until we get to designated areas where I say "be a dog" and let them.
So, last week we had a discussion about how collars could be potentially harmful... I mentioned that we use a harness, and until now I've been pretty satisfied with that. But tonight Rudy was rolling around, and I noticed a sore under his "armpit" - I put him on my lap to look more closely, and discovered a small scab on one side, and a large-ish sore on the other. Obviously this is from his harness, but we use a Gentle Leader for crying out loud. So what exactly IS safe for dogs?
I tried taking him for a walk with the collar tonight, and he was hard to control... nearly choked himself a few times (especially when we ran into a skunk!), wouldn't heel for long, and broke out of the collar once. He is a difficult one to walk, since he tries to sniff & mark everything, and gets excited or aggressive around other dogs. I've found the Gentle Leader to work really well, but now I am afraid to use it for fear of hurting him. And with an open sore right now, I'm not about to put anything over it. Help!! What do I do?? And should I take him to the vet for the sore? TIA for any advice...
Clean the wound out with peroxide and then apply neosporin, he should heal up fine.
Now, I'm confused- then again I was born that way , but why can't you use a Gentle Leader without fear of harming Rudy?
Gentle leader has a version that is like a muzzle, sort of. It goes around the dog's nose/mouth and has the strap to one side. It won't work on short-nosed dogs. The martingale is what is recommended by BarkBusters trainers. You will have to work with your dog first, to get rid of the pulling. You can walk around the house, in the yard, on your driveway - no walks off the property until there is no pulling.
I use halters on my hounds for Search and Rescue and can stop my 115 pound stud in one jerk and can pull him off his feet. They know difference between halter and collar and pull less in halter as means work while collar means play.
Thank you all for the advice, and I will definitely take it into consideration... he's getting MUCH better about not pulling, thanks to that Gentle Leader harness, but we do need to work more with the collar. I don't let him sniff & pee at will, so he is already used to that, although he still tries to get away with it. We live in the city (San Francisco), so walking does require some creative efforts - since everyone parks on the sidewalks AND double-parks, which means we have to zig-zag around. It also means we don't have a yard to speak of, more like a patio, and also not much of a driveway. Guess we'll have to practice in the park! Anyway, I will look into getting a padded harness, and hopefully some neosporin will clear up the sores... thanks again.
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Obviously this is from his harness, but we use a Gentle Leader for crying out loud. So what exactly IS safe for dogs?
TIA for any advice...
We live in the city (San Francisco), so walking does require some creative efforts - since everyone parks on the sidewalks AND double-parks, which means we have to zig-zag around. It also means we don't have a yard to speak of, more like a patio, and also not much of a driveway. Guess we'll have to practice in the park! Anyway, I will look into getting a padded harness, and hopefully some neosporin will clear up the sores... thanks again.
