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My Golden is 4 1/2 months old. (Grace) She is the sweetest calmest dog I have ever seen which makes this whole situation so weird to me. She is very calm but when we go on walks it's like she is on crack/cocaine. When I use a harness or collar it doesn't work to STOP when she PULLS - (stop walking) until she gets the idea that we don't move forward because she is pulling and until she stops pulling - because she is constantly lunging like a crazy person. No I don't get them excited before we walk. I act very calm. When I TRY to walk her she PULLS as hard as a mule. lol. She has actually cut my skin open from pulling so hard. She has no concept of pain.Yes I have soft leashes; the harness doesn't work; a regular collar defiantly doesn't work. She pulls just as hard and can slip it off her neck. I tried my other dog's collar on her, the Cesar Millan Illusion collar a couple months ago and it was like she was being hung and so the only option left that I know of is like the gentle leader (the one suggested in puppy classes); this one to be exact: http://www.petco.com/product/108489/AKC-Burgundy-Padded-Dog-Halter.aspx
I thought the soft thing would be easier on her. Well, it WORKS which is AWESOME - NO PULLING ! BUT she HATES it. The whole time I walk her with it she is pawing at her face, rubbing her face on the ground, and rolling all over any kind of ground: grass, flowers, dirt, weeds, etc. I am constantly trying to get her to move forward. Well, she pulls with this too and it goes over her eyes sometimes because of the pulling but I don't feel the pulling because of the way it is designed. She has worn this for about 2 months. I have physical / muscle problems and only have so much strength and lack of pain. This doesn't help. I am disabled but I have been able to keep up with my very active mini schnauzer because he doesn't resist. He walks perfect. He was horrible but I taught him how to walk with the Illusion collar. Anyways, I took her to a free puppy class at Petco and once again was told, "she'll get used to it". "make it fun" Well, I've had my other dog for almost 8 years and I have never been able to make his collar or leash fun. I have tried food, treats, encouragement of every kind and lots of sweet talk and happy talk and baby talk. blah blah blah. I have tried this with Grace too. After watching Cesar Millan I wonder what the heck am I doing wrong? I do everything he says - yes I've tried the calm thing and after as many episodes as I have watched of his I feel like whatever is going wrong has to be my fault but am I not holding my head in the correct direction or something? sheesh. They sit quietly and nicely at the door until I tell them they can come outside & they stop most of the time when I tell them to stop when on walk. Anyways, I got so tired of "trying to make it fun on walks AND off" and giving treats the whole time that I said to myself, "she'll get used to it" and just started correcting her in a sweet high pitch voice, "up up up" like everyone says to do. DOESNT WORK. After weeks of that I finally feel like I've tried everything and just feel like giving up so now I have resorted to saying, "Shoo! No Gracie! Up!" in a frustrated / stern voice and jerking the leash and it works most of the time (and I know this isn't how it should be done but it's the only thing that works). Sometimes I have to physically pick her up. I'm getting anxiety just from typing this. Today, I thought I would try the Illusion collar again since she wasn't pulling as much as usual. After about 20 minutes she got foam on the sides of her mouth - Is this because she needed water or b/c she was choking or what? I've heard Goldens get foam on their mouth but this is all new to me...never seen the foam on her until today...but I've seen it on other dog's mouth at the dog park. We only walked 15-20 minutes longer than normal today. I gave her some water and she drank a lot as usual - she LOVES water. Then she started whining as she usually does toward the middle / end of the walk - I don't know if it is because she isn't having fun or she just isn't getting her way the whole time. shrugs shoulders. I act like the whole thing is so calm/fun. I make them walk beside me 1/2 the time and they get to sniff 1/2 the time. Most of the time when she is walking beside me she is good but as soon as she gets free time it's non stop trying to get the ding dang gentle leader like collar off. Anyways, I brought her home and after a few minutes she vomitted. I don't know if she threw up because of the food she ate or because she must have choked herself or if it had something to do with the foam or maybe she drank too much water or WHAT. All I know is I feel responsible and I just don't know what to do anymore. I was so tired I didn't fix myself dinner but I made sure to make her some chicken and rice. I love her so much and want her to be happy. I can't afford a trainer to come to my house like my neighbors - must be nice. $1,000.00 Yes, my dogs are spoiled. They get the run of the house and get to go to their yard most of the time that they want to and are very happy dogs but when they do something wrong I am stern and they know they are messing up and listen to me most of the time. I don't know what to do differently. I give them a lot of affection and maybe this is the problem but I live alone and have been abused all my life and I just want to love on them a lot. If my mini schnauzer gets an attitude I try not to love on him until after the exercise but this is really hard for me and also the only time he REALLY wants love is first thing in the morning in bed. I try to get what I can when I can get it. ha ha. My mini schnauzer has always been moody. If I need to do something in the house I will put them behind a child safety gate and if I want something I say let it go and they politely give it to me and they don't mess with my stuff so I feel like I'm the pack leader. Am I a bad dog parent? Please help me.
I don't want to waste more money on puppy classes especially since I know everything they have to say - I've been through 2 whole graduations with other dogs and also the free puppy class I mentioned before.. Is there another collar I can try or SOMETHING? Please HELP ME.
Leah
Added info: SOMETIMES things go well for long periods of time and I feel like we're really progressing and maybe she will get used to the gentle leader and then it all falls apart. Am I being impatient? I'm not used to such a young dog.
OMG - yes, she is only 4 1/2 mo old. Goldens don't totally grow up for quite some time! Hopefully, with plenty of exercise and work she'll start shaping up around 6 mo-1 yr....Keep up with it and don't give up. My girl used to bite at her leash. It drove me crazy but she eventually stopped. Can you wear her out a little before you go on a walk - maybe throwing a tennis ball in the backyard or something? Maybe the walks are a bit long for her at this age? Another idea - is there a doggie day care in your area? Maybe she could go one day a week just to wear her out a bit. A tired puppy is a better behaved pup. My girl foams at the mouth too sometimes - I wouldn't worry too much about that.
My at-home trainer taught me a lot about dog psychology. I growl at them like their mama would have done and if they don't behave right away, then I throw a mesh bag with washers in it either in front of them (to get them to back off) or behind them (to get them to come to me). Works like a charm. The bag is sortta like mama dog snapping at them to make them behave. They HATE the bag. Can you practice walkin g around the yard on the leash? I don't like letting them get away from me b/c you have less control when your arm is extended. They will have just as much fun walking beside you. Dogs don't think like we do!
I take them to the dog park once or twice a week. I don't know if I just have a case of the puppy woes or if my insecurities are making my dogs unhappy. I've always thought my dogs were so lucky because I'm always home and they get expensive natural food and treats and I spend so much time with them but now I'm second guessing myself because I am seeing what seems to me to be unhappiness on walks and I've seen this with my older dog for years (and not listening to me right when I say no and only doing what I say sometimes) and it makes me wonder if my insecurities are actually giving my dogs a life not as happy as I thought I was providing in the first place. Maybe I love on them too much. I always get my feelings hurt when I move in to give one of them a kiss and they pull back. I try to back off but it never last more than the majority of a day but sometimes it seems to get THEM to come to me....but then the whole thing starts over again. ...or maybe I'm just being too sensitive and life isn't perfect and I just need to relax and worry more about myself. shrugs shoulders. ...but I still need to do something about her collar.
I second the wear the dog out BEFORE the walk so she can focus. All the illusion collar does is put the pressure right behind the ears on the sensitive part of the neck - a properly fitted prong would do the same thing and give you even more control. An improperly fitted prong would be a cruelty.
Honestly it sounds like they are little furchildren and not dogs and unless you treat them like dogs and give a more structured life and expect more from them things will not work. I think if your puppy started learning who was in control, everything would fall into place.
I do feel sorry for you with all the anxiety your Golden is creating right now but believe it or not she knows how full of anx. you are and is acting bad because of it. Dogs have a sixth sense about their owners and if you are stressed while walking her, then she will know it. From what I know about Goldens, they can be a little "slap happy" and kind of goofy, great dogs but full of the dickens so to speak. My husband and I adopted a dog who was part black lab and part pit. Her full grown fighting weight was about 120 lbs and because of the pit in her she was as strong as an ox. We fenced in our whole side yard for her which was great and she too pulled like a mule on her leash when we did walk her. I put a choke collar on her...just a regular choke collar and it seemed to work. I walked her on my LEFT side and each time she pulled, I would rein her in and stop walking. This too worked. It took a few times but she got it.
Your Golden vomited after walking for several reasons...yes she drank too much water and she was also all geared up and upset because you were. I think probably at this point all she wanted was to go home in her own yard.
For now...I would practice walking her on the leash in her own yard and rewarding her when she is good. Once she gets the idea of how to walk and knows that Mommy is calm and in charge, she will be ok. Oh.....talking in a sweet, high pitched female voice like we do to our animals does absolutely NOTHING for the discipline factor. They have to know that the sweet voice is for hugs, kisses and treats and the deeper stern voice is for business! We don't have our Lab/Pit mix any longer but do have a pure bred Pit who has a mind of her own. We don't walk her that often on the leash although she is good but when she is out in her fenced in side yard..huge area I must say...she will NOT come in when I call her if she is not ready to. More times than not, I go out walk to the corner of the yard and just point towards the house and she goes in...it took a lot of using my stern voice but she did figure it out.
Good luck with your Golden...they are awesome dogs. Don't let her know that you are exasperated with her...take charge and I am sure she will be just fine.
The link wouldnt work for me but how about taking her for a short walk by herself, that way you can concentrate on her - make the walk short and end on a happy note - then would do the same for your other dog - it c/b too much too soon and maybe overload (new scents, things to see etc) - she is only 4.5 months and Im sure will improve soon, right now it's hard though. I know others use the head collars w/ no problems but I'll never forget the time I saw someone walking a big dog (an Akita) and the darn thing was almost over his eyes - I told her about it but I was walking my own dogs and there was a limit to how much I could do - to this day, I dont know if she fixed the darn thing, the poor dog looked majorly uncomfortable, I think I'd prefer a pinch collar to one of those. Anyway, try not to get frustrated, it does take time and practice (and patience too) - hang in there and best of luck!
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Originally Posted by grannynancy
I second the wear the dog out BEFORE the walk so she can focus. All the illusion collar does is put the pressure right behind the ears on the sensitive part of the neck - a properly fitted prong would do the same thing and give you even more control. An improperly fitted prong would be a cruelty.
Honestly it sounds like they are little furchildren and not dogs and unless you treat them like dogs and give a more structured life and expect more from them things will not work. I think if your puppy started learning who was in control, everything would fall into place.
I second Granny's suggestion to get the prong collar. It looks a bit intimidating, but it is more humane when applied properly than any choke collar and will definitely get your point across that puppy walks alongside you, not out in front.
The good thing about goldens is that you can more or less totally wear them out with a minimum of exertion by implementing a few tennis balls. I have a working line golden that sounds similar to your puppy. Always wants to go his own way and can be a bit aloof with affection (which was very strange to me since my experience with goldens had been that they were totally affection motivated). I'll bet that your puppy will do just about anything for the promise of a tennis ball throw once he figures out how much fun retrieving is and how "right" it feels.
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Advice-Please Help
