A Real Breakthrough In White Dog’s Training
It’s been a little over a week since my first dog “ccnsultation” from Dave of Walk Fido, and I’ve been practicing his techniques on walking Isis to get her to “heal”- not pull ahead. And then there is the stuff like sitting at stop lights and waiting for my command to go, and letting me go through any doorway first.
I have been walking her consistantly, 4 times a day, for 30-45 min at a time. She was slowly getting better as I became more assertive and consistant in my commands. But the big change came yesterday when I took her out on the Premier Gentle Leader collar for the first time. My trainer highly recommended this collar, and I ordered it from PETCO but I was a little afraid to take Isis on a walk as it is so different to what I and Isis are used to (simple collar or harness). Isis tried to scratch it off, but after a few minutes she was not terribly bothered (massaging the dog’s muzzle helps them become more comfortable). After walking her around the loft some, I decided it was time to hit the streets.
This collar works like a miracle for any dog that pulls on a leash. It looks a little strange, but the funny thing is while waiting for the elevator in my lobby last night I saw the collar on another dog for the first time, and the owner swore by it too. The collar also come with a DVD that explains how to fit it to your dog and has many training tips (some of the tips do not follow what my trainer wants me to do, so I am ignoring them).
The short story is that it makes the dog “train themselves” by providing negative feedback to negative behavior, without using a “choke collar”. It is meant to be used with a slack leash- any tension on the leash will provide negative feedback to the dog by closing it’s mouth and turning it’s head (the weird thing is that the ring for connecting the leash hangs below the dog’s jaw- but that’s what makes the collar special).
Isis Wearing The Gentle Leader (and a regular collar for use when I take Gentle Leader off)
so does this mean we’ll be seeing you and isis at the upcoming downtown dog walk?
October 28th, 2007 at 5:38 pmHey Celia- Isis and I would like to TRY to attend (well, I’m the PROBLEM- dog training is really training the owner…)
But I don’t know when the event is… do you have a link?
Thanks, Eric
October 28th, 2007 at 9:01 pmDate and time can be found here: http://dogwalkdowntownla.blogspot.com/
October 28th, 2007 at 10:21 pmI took my dog to a training class and they required that we obtain the gentle leader collar for our training sessions. It made their job and our training easier. I highly recommend it.
October 29th, 2007 at 7:58 am4urpets - does your dog continue to use the Gentle Leader or once your dog was trained did you switch to a “normal” collar? Just curious as a guy in my building has been using it for 3 months- I hope that is the longest I will need it, but who knows…
October 29th, 2007 at 9:12 amAfter my dog was trained, I used a regular leash. But there is nothing wrong with using the Gentle Leader.
October 29th, 2007 at 11:06 am[...] too much to not plan for some dog walking for White Dog. I called David at walkfido.com, who had previously spent a few hours with me for a dog training consultation. I admit, I have not really shopped around for dog walking [...]
July 8th, 2008 at 6:57 pm[...] not sure what exactly caused it- probably compensating for the tug of the Gentle Leader leash on the side of her head, but now White Dog walks on the leash SIDEWAYS- she can get very crazy [...]
October 26th, 2008 at 3:35 pm