Fortunately ,Bailey seems fine no reaction up to now ,the vet said he appears to be o.k willbe watching closely for a couple of days.I never even got to try the cake!
Can anyone recommend a good harness/ lead to help stop pulling preferably one thats suitable for a large breed? Rodney is a massive puller (In more ways than one) and he has finally managed to drag my wife over quite badly when he was trying to pull towards another dog. I’ve used a Halti in the past but are there better alternatives nowadays? Cheers Chris.
Harnesses don’t stop big dogs from pulling in my experience. Spend the money on a decent trainer who can help you if it’s that bad imo.
We use a Dogmatic for ours (GSD and a Great Dane) similar to the halti but a better fit. Just have to get the measurements right. https://www.dogmatic.org.uk/
It’s just to break that initial pull, then he’s controllable. He has been walked with food used as a distraction by his previous owners but it has made him an absolute food obsessed twat so I’m trying to avoid resorting to that. I’ve had a lot of big male Ridgebacks but I’ve never known one with his power, he towed me over a field the other month like I was water skiing!
We used to do scent tracking with our last hound and for that you don't want to impart any control over the dog and you also want them to have a mindset where they are working & pushing forwards with purpose i.e. pulling. And the harness specifically made for that job has a chest strap and the (long) lead clipped to a strap on the back just behind the shoulders. So yeah, harnesses may make it a little easier to initially hold a dog, and perhaps ease the guilt of it not choking, but what they don't do is stop it from pulling. In fact the harness will, in most cases, encourage pulling. Not our hound btw.
I'm pretty sure he’s referring to one of those harness which are designed to reduce pulling because being asymmetric, they knock the dog off balance if they pull, which annoys them and so they stop doing it.
A properly used 'Gundog' lead and plenty of early training IMO...Harnesses are for pulling, or man handling (i.e. search & rescue dogs)
I tried one of those leads with my, ahem, “gun dog”, but it only stopped him pulling by virtue of the fact that instead of walking he would just sit there on the pavement clawing at his face until he’d managed to remove it.
How on earth did he 'remove' a gundog lead ?? It's impossible if you've got hold of the other end Using it correctly depends on which side of you you walk your dog. Get it wrong and it will stay tight/won't loosen when they stop pulling.
It was one of those that you make a figure 8, one loop goes around the neck and the other around the dog’s muzzle. He would hook his claw underneath the muzzle loop and then shake his head until it came loose.
