Walking doodles that want to pull your arm off.

[Charlie De Gregorio]

I have 2 doodles they are Banjo and Mandy When I tale them for a Walk or put them on the leash to go out they want to jerk my arm out of the socket.  When I have them heal they will sit next to me and as soon as we start walking they start all over again.  The weird thing is when they are off the leash at the doggie park or at the beach they dont go far from me and will come as soon as I call them.  Any Ideas?

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

This is actually a response from Linda, Webber and Seda which I copied from the Comments section below...


Webber and I had to do an exercise in Rally obedience that might be fun to practice. Start with heel/sit. Take one step and do heel/sit. Take two more steps and do heel/sit and then three steps and heel/sit. You treat (or praise) as soon as the dog is in the sit position each time. After doing this a bunch of times on a walk, heel sit gets more automatic. Eventually you phase out the treats if you are using them.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

YES, Linda. We also do this for heel and for come. I had a few people ask me this week about the simple game of come we use. It is similar to your Heel/3 steps/Heel. Thanks for reminding me..I need to go post that also.

I highly recommend what Linda mentioned. We had a lot of trouble with Spud on a leash
( mainly because I always had him in a gentle leader so he really never learned properly). This takes patience but gets good results

[Linda, Webber and Seda]

Intro to Rally obedience is a lot of fun and is a good way to remind you and your doodle about your basic obedience classes. It can be very challenging to make it through 20 stations, with different skills, in the four minutes you get! If your doodle is the kind of dog that craves "a job" it is so rewarding. Webber seemed to love it! He was focused (loves treats) and was a performer. Check your local humane society for classes. My favorite trainer did this one but it is offered at our local shelter as well.

[Kyoko]

I love rally class as well! It gives Charlie a lots of confidence!!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Let me ask a couple of questions..
-Have they had any formal "heel" training?
-What are you using for a collar and leash...are you using a retractable lead?
-Are they pulling "all the time" or just when they see a distraction?

[Charlie De Gregorio]

I think they had some training I have only had them for 2 month but I can see that they have had some training. right now we just have a regular collor on them. Yes we have a retractable leash but I keep it locked up close to me. Mandy the female gets distracted at squrrils and cats but Banjo the male is a little more layed back and will react only after he sees Mandy start chasing.

[Adina P]

Regardless of whether they had any training in their prior home, it doesn't sound like it has 'stuck'. So it will be up to you to train each one separately from scratch and really work on leash manners with each one before you can expect either to be well behaved on leash (together or individually).

However, if simply having control of them on walks is what you want, using one of those Gentle Leader head harnesses or body harnesses will do the trick.

The problem with the retractable leash is that it is always tense. There is never slack in a retractable leash so the dog becomes very accustomed to leash pulling being okay...short, long, or medium it's always in a pulled/tense state. If you decide to use a Gentle Leader head harness you would not want to use a retractable leash...but it usually comes with a video to show you how to use it.

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

I can totally understand and empathize with your problem with walking your two Doodles. My older Dood was trained to walk well on a leash, but now that we have a second dog, I can't walk them together. I'm "knee deep" in training my 10 month old right now, and being able to heel and refuse distractions on our walks are major goals. As Adina said, I'd definitely get rid of the retractable lead for your walks, and then you'll have to decide whether you want to go the "training route" or manage the pulling through your collar and leash. Let us know what you decide, and keep us posted on your progress.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I love your idea and used the Sporn and the Gentle Leader HOWEVER, I was once told these are a " Container, NOT a Trainer" and they were right. I thought they were being rude, but they were right. Spud, still pulls on a leash because we used these devices.
I warn against them because once these are off, many dogs go right back into pulling! At least in my case and I regret using them to teach walking in a heel.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

:) Gotta love 4 legged devils though

[Carol Brand]

As Adina said, the dogs need to be trained separately. Only once they are 100% reliable at loose leash walking alone can you take them out together.

Retractable leashes are the worst. They don't fit well in your hand, they give you no control and because of their variable length, the dogs never learn the boundaries of loose leash walking. Also, I find that when a dog gets a certain distance from you, say 8-10ft, it stops thinking about you. Instead of working for and with its handler on a walk, dogs on retractables seem to be in their own world: thinking about squirrels, jogger, bikers, other dogs etc.

I personally love prong collars. I feel like they are power steering for dogs that lack training. I also like them because I can transition my dogs out of them. I really dislike harnesses because I feel like they encourage dogs to pull. I also don't feel like I have good control of a dog in a harness. Funny thing. I recently started Tracking with my dogs and we put them in harnesses to encourage them to work independently and to pull down the track that is laid.

Anyway... I love Joanne's comment: Container, NOT a Trainer. I'm going to use that!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I love the prong! Yep, when I first saw them they look scary. But if you understand the method and meaning behind them they are great. I do feel though that the handler must be taught to use this tool and all tools correctly. I still am very uncomfortable using a choke and I use them slow for corrections or I use them incorrectly, therefore it is not the training tool for me personally. Even after months of training, my dogs still need a prong to heel nicely on walks but I think/hope this can be eliminated with time, training, and maturity.