I hear a lot of people, even a lot of dog trainers say, don't let your dog pull.
And I know that that's sometimes much easier said than done some dogs I've
had have been easy to teach. Not to pull. Others have been very difficult.
People are always looking for the silver bullet.
What tool will just magically stop my dog pulling with no adverse effects.
There is no silver bullet, but there is a better way.
And we're going to show you today. What that way is. Hi , I'm.
Carol. This is Thorpe, Texas. The Burke. Welcome back to McCann Dogs.
We see a lot of comments in the YouTube videos about why don't you use an
untrained dog? Well,
you think you can see that both these dogs are quite willing to pull me.
Both are pretty new to their owners. Now I would not be going for an hour.
Walk like this with these dogs,
I'd be teaching them how to walk nicely on a loose leash.
And we're going to show you how we do that.
I want to talk just for a second about harnesses.
I think there's a lot of misunderstanding about them. Number one,
a lot of people say, put a harness on. Isn't gonna hurt your dog's throat.
Like a collar would.
And a lot of people believe it's going to stop them from pulling,
but you're going to see in this little clip,
the minute we put a back attachment harness on it actually encourages
our dogs to pull us.
They're going to pull harder because when they feel that pressure it's actually
going to cause them to pull into it.
So that back attachment harness, isn't going to help you with pulling.
The other thing is you can see the force that's now on this now. Yes,
it is distributed across the chest,
but for those short nose dogs that we're worried about the trachea,
that's pretty close to the throat. And if they're pulling really hard,
it can still cause damage to that throat or to their shoulders.
I also want to talk about front attachment harnesses.
Now I have taken a piece of Velcro to make a little 2 cent adjustment to my
harness to show you how a front pull, no-pull harness works.
In this case, you attach to the front and the way it works, her harness,
I have on a little loose.
So you can see that it slides from side to side as she pulls.
So it causes the dog to move from side to side. So theoretically,
it's going to teach those dogs. Not to pull.
My experience is it does help with pulling to some extent, however,
it doesn't change the behavior. The minute the harness is off, they pull.
The one thing I want you to notice is many of those harnesses work by
restricting the shoulder motion.
So it actually can see the force on there as it's working.
Studies have also shown that dogs usually have about
60% of their weight on their front end and dogs that wear harnesses actually
will shift that weight so it can affect the gait.
The front harnesses could also lead to bursitis or arthritis if used a long
time. So it may be a tool because you're going out for a walk.
You know,
you've got to take your dog with you and you don't want them to pull for that
instance, but it's really not.
A long, a good long-term solution.
We moved inside to our training hall cause I really think it's important.
You see this and I'm working here with little Cheerio who you saw outside.
He's quite a puller.
Now I'm going to do a little drill and I've got Cheerio on a collar for this
because the collar is so much better at giving information to my dog while I'm
working this, you're going to see in the video, when he pulls that,
that tension, he feels it immediately gives him very good information.
And in this drill,
I want my dog to even realize that they are pulling that it is a thing.
A lot of dogs are totally unaware of it. So I want him to understand he is,
and he's going to figure it out.
Cause he's going to problem solve how to get a prize.
The other thing about this drill that's very important is that there needs to be
low distraction. There can be only one thing he wants.
Otherwise he is not going to work hard to figure out he's pulling on the leash
and stop pulling to get what he wants.
So you're going to see that when we're working this drill,
that leash should be hanging down. That's a loose leash,
the minute that clip comes up, even though it's not super tight,
that's tension on the leash and I want Cheerio and understand.
He should never move. So that there's tension on that leash.
So I'm going to set Cheerio up. I've got a little fish cube.
And we're going to let Cheerio.
Problem-Solve how to earn that fish cube and pulling is not gonna hurt.
Ha gotcha. Yeah. So I'm not really correcting. I'm not getting mad at him.
He's just configuring how I I'm helping him just walk right up.
But whatever he pulls I'm, going back to start,
do not pass, go do not collect $200.
You'd like that. You'd like that treat. Oh, you just can't help yourself.
You just
want to try something different. So he's got to figure out he's even pulling.
Yes.
Good boy! Go get that. And I'm going to give him a quick win to let him go.
The first time he didn't pull it, it was a little bit set up,
it was sort of like. What gives is why can't we get to that bowl?
But in that second, he wasn't pulling and I'm going to say, yes,
you can go have what you want. Again. It's really important.
The only thing he wants in this room is the bowl.
Cause otherwise you'd be pulling me all over the place that I'm not going to
accomplish anything. Cheerio Let's try that again. Let's load it up.
Oh boy, is this exciting? This is exciting.
We'll get that. Let's see if he's learned anything here.
It works almost.
So I'm getting less pulling, but I block and white. Any tension on that.
Leash at all is just not going to earn what he wants.
Yeah. Make it harder. Yes.
Yes.
And I'm making a big show of letting him have that so he can see the difference.
I'm also moving in with him.
I wouldn't want to send him and then have him pull and get rewarded for that.
I'm going to show you this little drill with Freya.
Oh yeah. Whoa. What's back there. Do
you want that? Oh
yeah. Thank you. Try that again.
Yeah.
Good girl. Okay, go get it. Go get it.
You're just too fast at learning that I'm here with Freya again.
And I want to talk about what a loose leash actually looks like. So you can see,
obviously now that's totally loose.
This would be totally tight, but this one,
what would you say? I'm gonna to say it seems like it's loose,
but our dogs can feel the weight of that clip. So as soon as that clip comes up,
that's when I need to react.
It's not when my dog is pulling my arm out of its socket.
The other thing is notice nice. The collar is not overly loose,
so my timing can be good at when I use the leash to redirect remember.
It's like an arrow. If I'm pulsing upward that I'm telling Freya.
I want her to jump into my arms. That's not what I want.
I'm also not going to do it straight back.
I'm not expecting my dog to do a backwards somersault.
I would actually step off to the side and you can see even that got her
attention. I'm going to add my redirection off to the side. You can see,
she turns just on that pressure cause it's giving her good information
and then I can step back and turn this exercise.
We just did was very set up done with one distraction.
But you're going to be in situations when there's more,
this next exercise is going to show you how to work on your dog.
Not pulling in any situation at all. No. This exercise is a little different.
In this case, I'm absolutely going to reward Cheerio. You know,
I don't want to use food forever.
Same as I don't want to use a gentle leader forever,
but I am going to put some value, just hanging close to me.
So dogs learn by association.
So Cheerio's learning that hanging close to me is wonderful.
I talk to him. I pet him you know, we play, I can reward him.
So absolutely. I'm going to use a little bit of food here. On the other hand,
he needs to learn what happens if he's not close to me in that leash goes tight
again, loose leash clip hangs down the minute it's coming up. There's tension.
So I'm going to move around now. I'm not going for a long walk.
You saw he's not ready for that, but I might go a few steps.
So I'm going to teach him, are you ready with me? Oh, what a good boy?
What a good man. Now dogs like to chase.
So we're going to pull out that chase instinct.
You're going to become the squirrel. You're going to move around.
Encourage the dog, talk to them, touch them. Oh, what a good boy.
So I'm setting him up to be. I want learning to be fun.
I want him to learn what right, what a good boy,
but he's going to see some natural distractions is we're up there and he might
not be so good when he sees the distraction.
So notice I just put a little tension. I redirect him.
So I'm not harsh on him. I'm just adding a little,
so a little tugs. Now notice my leash is parallel to the ground.
So picture,
an arrow going from the clip on his collar back to me,
that's giving him information that says that's where I need you to go.
Is back towards me. What a good man. Now, when he comes back,
I'm not immediately giving a big yes.
Thank you for pulling my arm out of the socket. Or feeding him.
But I started to praise immediately because he was now. Right.
Then if he can go a few more steps with me ha gotcha. Yeah.
It's the gotcha game. Good work. Now he's hanging with me.
He can do a couple of steps. Absolutely. I'll get back in and reward.
Now I could offer a little bit of play. I could offer food. I can pet him.
Praise him. It's more about timing than force.
Of course.
Yeah.
Go ahead and work. But if there was another little distraction over there. Oh,
go ahead. Good choice, I saw that you wanted to run a poll on that leash.
Yeah, that deserves a reward. What a good man.
Notice I'm always rewarding and close.
I want to reinforce being close to me is wonderful.
Good choice, good work.
Now Cheerio is doing a fantastic job.
If you find your dog is a huge puller,
so distracted by everything then you can't have success.
You may need to go into a lower distraction environment.
If you're around where there's lots of dogs or rabbits,
you're setting yourself up for failure. They're just not ready for that yet.
So start out in a lower distraction for some of you,
you may need to go back in the house, just do a little bit,
build some value for this game. The dogs are gonna figure it out.
And if we do it with the other exercises as well,
they're really going to understand what tension on the leash is all about.
With my young dogs.
I don't take them necessarily for walks because it's just painful.
Isn't it Texas more often,
I spend the time training them to walk nicely on a loose leash,
but there are times I was camping this fall. And you know of,
I'm going to take her when I take my other dogs and I go for a walk with my
husband. He does not like it when I spend my time training.
So if I want a nice peaceful walk, you know what?
The gentle leader saved my marriage. We can go for a walk.
She's not rehearsing pulling on her collar. She's not pulling my arm off.
Now I can also use a front pull harness.
The only thing I don't like about the harness is one, the stress on the joints,
but short term, that's probably not a factor.
However if I was to run into another dog with a harness,
I have no control at all. You know,
whether it's attached to the front or the back, just no control, you know,
in the extreme picture, a horse. If you had to walk a horse along,
where would you want to have the attachment? Probably a halter over its head.
A bridle not have something anchored to his back or his chest.
You'd have no control of that animal at all.
As much as that gentle leader saved my marriage on the camping trip.
I don't want to have to carry a pocket full of food or be dependent on a gentle
leader or a harness for my whole dog's life.
And remember when some of those harnesses,
even though they're not resting on the throat,
they can still hurt my dog if I use them long-term.
So I want to teach my dog to be able to walk on a loose leash,
make it a pleasant walk for all of us. Ultimately,
I want to be able to walk off leash with my dogs. If you're interested in that,
check out this video right here. If this is the first time on our channel,
make sure you click that subscribe button on that note. I'm Carol.
This is Freya. This is Cheerio Happy Training.