hey all,

Our old Gordon Setter was the best dog ever, but unfortunately passed in April. We rescued an English Pointer in July. She was a rescue, so they had no back story. She was all mellow and calm when we met her and hung out with her, but now that's she's comfy in our house she's clearly younger than we thought.

She's terrible going for walks. Wants to go and enjoys it, but pretty much pulls the whole time. hard. Like my arm out of my socket. She doesn't lunge after squirrels or anything, but gets the leash to full tension and holds it there, no matter what I've tried.

We have used her regular wide leather collar, a choke chain (but she just kept choking herself the whole time) and we bought a harness. That helped for like a week but now she's back to it.

She also doesn't go to the bathroom on walks. She peed once but I'm not sure how to encourage her or show her that it's ok. To teach her in our house she just watched me pee in the yard, but not sure I can do that in our streets.


so what's the right way to get her trained to walk? is there something I can do to teach this not so old dog a new trick?

Use a Gentle Leader. Goes over their snout and doesn’t hurt but is very uncomfortable when they pull. My dog was impossible to walk when I got her. After 6 months with the GL it wasn’t necessary anymore. Be sure to train the heel command.

You can teach a “go word.” Introduce it when the dog goes by choice then start using it when you want the dog to go.

You might try keeping her "at heel" with a short leash. When she attempts to pull ahead, her back legs will lift her front legs off the deck, and discourage the behavior. Also, whenever she pulls, just stop any forward motion until she relents, then you can proceed again. She should be able to figure out that pulling does not get her what she wants. Don't forget to mark and reward. Good luck with your new best friend!

You need to train her to heel. Heeling is the basis of all obedience. Heeling is walking with her head even with your hip.

To do that most effectively you need a way to deliver both punishments (corrections) and rewards (balanced training). Positive only training works on some dogs, but most dogs respond best to balanced training.

Rewards are easy: carry a bait bag (training treat bag). Give her praise and treats when she gives you attention (looks at you) from a position of heel. You can bait her along by holding the treat in your left hand at the position of your hip. Praise is also a reward.

Corrections are easy: apply a leash "pop" (quick tug) and the command "Heel!" when she is not in position. This works for leading or lagging or just haring off in random directions. If she responds to the correction reward with a treat and "Good heel!" while staying in motion.

The major mistake most people make is that they restrain their dogs. Restraining is not training. It has no training value. It is not a correction, just an impediment. Indeed, it will often train the dog to pull harder! Halti's, Gentle Leaders, harnesses--these are all restraints. You can give corrections with flat collars and choke collars but for dogs with a strong pulling instinct it always turns into a tug of war instead of a proper series of corrections (leash pops), the dog learns nothing and could even be injured.

And that brings us to the, yes, you guessed it, the prong collar. Power steering for dogs. Least likely (after an e-collar) to physically hurt your dog. Delivers a very dog-like correction (bite or nip simulant) just like other dogs give each other. Very easy to use with the correct owner training.

To do all this, with a prong or any other kind of collar, you need a 6 foot leather training lead, NOT a Flexi or other retractable leash.

Yes, you can watch Youtube videos on how to train the heel with a prong. However, I am a strong proponent of formal obedience training. This trains YOU just as much as it trains the dog. Find a local reputable trainer (NOT PetSmartCo). Go observe a few classes and see if you like them and if they are effective (any reputable trainer will allow this, if they don't then move on). Get thee and thine to a class and have fun learning about how to communicate with each other. Because it may seem like I wrote a lot of good stuff above, and maybe I did , but there is a TON more stuff that goes with heeling and training in general and we aren't going to cover it here.

she's about 50 pounds, and while I can get her up off the ground (front legs) it gets tough on my shoulder after a while. I've tried the leash pops but that doesn't seem to help. I'll work on the heel stuff, we've been using the term and praise when she does well but it's pretty rare.

+1 On the Gentle Leader

It works great and the dogs learn quickly not to pull.

After a little while you probably won't even need to use it

We used chest harness on our lab, wrks great

My first Golden had a Gentle Leader.  Its like power steering for dogs... where the nose goes, the dog follows.  My current Golden was about to get a GL, but got the front clip harness instead.  Also works well, and has the advantage of being an easy pickup handle when she decides to flop down and roll over for tummy rubs in the middle of the street.

This right here is wonderful advice.

Our rescue dog was a puller too. He would choke himself because he pulled too hard.

We solved by every time he pulled, I would stop and start walking backwards. He learned that if he wanted to go on a walk, he had to walk at our pace.

OP, you should listen to this guy right here, he knows what he's talking about. To reiterate: 6ft leather training lead, prong collar, professional trainer (not Petco/Petsmart) and make the dog heel.

this, OP.

I had an extremely spirited dog, nothing else worked.   The gentle leader solved it in like 20 minutes.