Gentle Leader

[sweet_ceana]

Ceana is not the best on leash and will pull before she pottys, if she knows we are going to play frisbee, she pulls down stairs, and if there is another dog in the vicinity. She has a pretty good "leave it" and when I say it she drops her interest in whatever she is sniffing, barking, or lunging at, but she still has some pulling issues. Even worse sometimes for no apparent reason she will tuck her tail between her legs and become fearful on walks. One of the girls at work's mom has a fearful dog and has similar problems. She has been using the gentle leader and has had a lot of success so when I went to the vet last night to pick up some heartguard I saw that they carried the gentle leader and then I picked one up. For those unfirmiliar it has a loop high on the nose and puts pressure to the back of the head instead of the front of the neck like a typical leash. If you pull ever so slightly it turns the dog's head sideways as a correction.

 

We watched the instructional DVD (lol I wanted to make sure I knew exactly what I was doing), tried to make wearing it fun by balencing the loop on her nose while giving her treats. LOL we sized it fine and she had a good time with the treats but as soon as we strapped her in she was PO-ed! We went on our first walk with it and she did fairly well. She seemed much more relaxed once she got the hang of it and not once did she tuck her tail in fear. We haven't had such a nice walk since she was itty bitty and would follow us around without a leash.

 

The idea is that the leash lets a fearful dog relax because of the amount of control you have over them. They do not need to worry or be scared because they let you take complete control. What I know about this method is from the DVd and my friend's mom so it is most likely not the full picture. Does anyone have any experience with the gentle leader or does anyone know of any negative consequences that I am not aware of? Before we fully commit to it I want to make sure I am not going to naively cause more problems.

[Aquarius89]

Molly is the worst dog on a leash I've ever seen. So, I used a gentle leader with her. It worked really well and actually helped with her aggression too, because I could easily turn her head and have her focus on me...

 

BUT she eventually started not wanting to go for walks and would run and hide when I would take out the gentle leader. So we're back to a no pull harness.

[Kayleegator]

BUT she eventually started not wanting to go for walks and would run and hide when I would take out the gentle leader. So we're back to a no pull harness.

 

That's exactly our situation, too.

[SoloRiver]

I used a Gentle Leader with Solo for a few years and will still put one on him if we're going to be somewhere particularly crowded. I'll put one on Fly, too, since then people think both of my dogs have muzzles on and won't bother us, and because, well, Fly pulls.

 

Neither of my dogs has ever objected to the GL and for the time we used it regularly Solo simply accepted it as his regular walking collar. He would put his nose into it before we went out, the way he now stands still to have his collar and leash snapped on (my dogs don't wear collars in the house). I am not sure why different dogs react differently. I will say that most of the dogs I see wearing one are improperly fitted. The neck loop is to be very tight -- tighter than you think would be comfortable -- and the nose loop has some play in it. Most people do it the other way around, which is very uncomfortable for the dog.

[Devi]

BUT she eventually started not wanting to go for walks and would run and hide when I would take out the gentle leader. So we're back to a no pull harness.

 

Jess, all of my dogs hated the Gentle Leader but would be fine on it once we were mid-walk. Then I taught them to put their noses through the loop on their own on command, for treats, and started putting it on right before meals. So it'd be something like, "Hey Chaos! Here's your Gentle Leader! Put your nose through the loop!" and he would stick it in and I would feed him and either a.) take it off or b.) go out for a walk. It really worked. I also shaped him to hold the loop on his nose without the other part around his neck for a few seconds for a treat.

[SoloRiver]

Sometimes I wonder if people just need to not make such a big deal about it. All I did was strap the thing on Solo and he was fine. Same with Fly. I didn't think it was a big deal, so why should they, I figure is what they were thinking.

 

My dogs also allow me to dress them up in Halloween costumes and Christmas hats with no fuss, and Solo has even worn Doggles happily, so perhaps they are just weird.

[Aquarius89]

I never make a big deal about things like this with my dogs. It just seemed like the GL took the fun out of walks for her, no matter what amount of shaping I did.

[BayouBC]

I have Halti's instead of GL's, but the idea's the same. I've been able to put it on most dogs without too much fuss. Only occassionally does a dog throw a tantrum, and even with those if I just keep walking and not LET them keep fussing, they usually sort out and start moving again.

 

I've used a halti with Pith for his fear aggression, and it has done wonders. I think more than immediately making the dog comfortable, it allows the HANDLER to be comfortable because they have better control over the dog. Once the handler is comfortable, the dog can feel that and relaxes as well.

 

I've used it with Pith for at least a few years. On occasion, if I stand still for too long, he'll lay down and rub at the nose strap with his paw, but he'll leave it alone if I say something to him.

[Geoffrey]

At one time, I used a Halti for Zeke (yellow dog in signature). He tolerated it begrudgingly at first, but as time went on he really grew to dislike it. He'd spend the entire walk (miles) pawing at his face until it bled - so I figured I would just find a different alternative rather than have him shred his face. Plus he isn't deterred by one anyway - if a dog holds his head in the right position and uses his neck muscles (I don't know if a BC can do it quite as well, it requires a very sturdily built lab-ish dog usually) he can just power ahead like he wasn't wearing one.

[BCjetta]

I got one for Hannah when we had agility practice in a barn with horse manure. She'd constantly be straining on her neck to get at it and then coughing and choking from the pressure - not to mention I didn't like constantly telling her no and leave it. The gentle leader took care of that - I'd just keep the leash short enough so she couldn't reach and if she tried, she wouldn't choke herself. She tolerates it fine and walks well on it but if I do stop for a bit she will paw.

Turbo, the aussie hates it. He jerks backwards and fights at the end of the leash or frantically paws at his face with both front legs (even now and he's had it on several times). I sometimes wonder if he has control issues and thats why he fights it so much? He always pulls on the leash and wants to be in front or wherever he wants to be. I highly recommended my fiancee keep using it but he was annoyed with Turbo trying to get it off and fighting it so he just uses a collar and puts up with the pulling. Well, actually he doesn't take Turbo on walks where he has to use a leash because he says its not fun walking him on leash because he pulls....grrr....men! He'll only walk him out in the trails where he can be free and run. We tried a no pull harness but he would still pull with it.

Our friends had a BC that pulled as hard as she absolutely could at all times. The first thing she had was a choke chain. She pulled so hard that it wore all the fur off from around her neck and her skin would be all red poking through all the holes of the choke chain. They then tried a gentle leader but she still pulled so hard that the nose strap pushed against her eyes and made her bleed from the eyes. After that they tried a halti and I think had slightly better luck (dog still pulled but didn't injure herself). Funny thing is, I could walk her on her martingale collar and when she started pulling told her to slow down and she'd slow down and walk in front of me but with a loose leash - after a few minutes she'd slowly start pulling and I'd have to tell her again but she listened. I was also the only one that could bath her and brush her back end...because she would snap, growl or try to bite them when they tried and they thought muzzling her was mean. I only ever had to muzzle her the first time I bathed her for the initial part of the bath, after that she was totally fine and would let me do anything.

[kcdawg]

I used a halti on Casey. It worked really good until he ate it then not so good.

 

I got sick of everybody saying "why is he wearing a muzzle, does he bite?".

I had to get a pinch collar for Wolfie, he is a big, strong, big boned dog and sure can pull,

which helps when i need him to get me uphill!

[NRhodes]

Why not just teach the dog not to pull?

[MaryP]

Why not just teach the dog not to pull?

 

GL is a tool, just like every other training tool out there. A GL can help you to get your dog under control while teaching them not to pull. Some dogs are just going to be crazy and pull like sled dogs no matter what you do. I have a foster dog like that right now. She was absolutely impossible to walk with either a flat collar or a GL harness. She would just put her head down and lean into the collar or harness and just pull like she was pulling a sled. No amount of stopping every time she did it, or tuning and walking the other way, etc., was going to make a hill of beans of difference to her. We put the GL head harness on and she hated it, flipped around like a fish, and tried to rub it off for about half a block. Then, she gave up and started walking normally - no pulling. So, in this case, we used the GL to teach her not to pull.

 

There are other reasons to use them, too. I use the GL on my reactive dog because it allows me better control over him while trying to work on his problem behavior. I think that Melanie is right, too. The trick is to fit it properly. When it is fitted properly, the dog is much less bothered by it. My dog really didn't care about it at all and walked just fine with it on the very first time. His problem was not that he pulled, though. I just needed it to have better control over him in case we encountered a situation that might trigger his reactivity. It has worked wonderfully.

[Aquarius89]

Why not just teach the dog not to pull?

 

Good question. I've been trying to teach Molly for two years. The only time she doesn't pull as much is when we walk alone. Of course, that's only until we see another animal or person.. then she's back to her "normal" self for the rest of the walk.

[sweet_ceana]

When we come out of the house Ceana is always anxious/nervous and pulls. I have been trying everything known to man to get her to stop. She learned to stop pulling when she is relaxed, but when she is nervous or possibly scared she will pull. It seems to be more of a reaction that I cannot train away. Once she is relaxed she is fine. We had day two of our GL walks. She was a lot more relaxed again. We saw a lot less fear and her leave it command has gone from efficient to instant when she is wearing the GL. Mentally I think it is doing her a lot of good. She still paws at it a bit in the beggining and at the end of the walk- but while we are moving she is fine. I pretty sure it is just going to take a bit of her getting use to it.

[Sasha's Mom]

I used GLs on Sasha my BC, who hated it (and would dig her nose in the dirt at every opportunity), and Sassy, my setter/lab mix, who heeled perfectly the first time. I don't need it anymore for Sassy, as it worked so well as a training tool. Sasha, on the other hand, was a terrible puller. I switched to the Gentle Leader Easy-Walk harness (similar principle) for her, and it works like a charm. So I ended up getting one for my big GSD, and it works beautifully - especially if there's a squirrel and I don't get the "leave it" command out fast enough.

[Tip]

I used one of these to walk my sisters sibe when i baby-sat him for a few months. He was so uncontrollable that this was the only way I could get him out for a walk- He basically had a love/hate relationship with it- wagging when I brought it out because he knew it was walk time, but when he'd want to run he'd paw at it and rub his face on the ground- I learned not to let him do this (he made himself bleed one day by rubbing at it) and finally we got to the point where after the first ten minutes of fuss we could walk 3-5 miles with no problems. It was a life-saver- he went from pulling my arm off to being able to litterally dangle the leash by my pinky- but when I gave the dog back to her, my little sis refused to keep using it, thinking it looked cruel i think its crueler not to walk your dog, but thats just me.

 

At first I had a black one, and EVERYONE acted terrified of the dog- 'why's he wearing a muzzle?does he bite?' comments out the wazzoo. Then I took it back and exchanged it for one that matched his fur color and it was wierd because as soon as I did that people's reactions on walks changed to "oh cool, your using a gentle leader"

I'm not sure how that happened....

[Guest SweetJordan]

I spent a lot of time trying to teach my BC to walk on a leash, finally she did make some progress. I took her to class to help socialize her, because she has fear aggression issues with strange dogs(probably because she was never socialized when she should have been by her former owners). Anyway, she went crazy and the trainer put one on her. It made a big difference right away. By the end of class(and with working with it outside of class) she was able to heel and to walk to the middle of the room surrounded by the other dogs without even paying attention to them. This was a big improvement for her, and I think the gentle leader helped alot in combination with everything else. She is a very soft and timid dog so she accepted it right away with out making a fuss, though she would try to paw it off during class on occasion. In the real world she is much improved as well. I always thought part of her problem with walking was that she would rather run than walk. So she gets to go biking which she loves. I read something by the dog whisper where he said walking is just too boring for some dogs so why fight it. If you're comfortable with using it give it a try.

[ClickMeBC]

I use the GL on Quynn when we walk or hike to keep him at my side and reinforce attention. Treats did not interest him when there were a great many distractions, and toys aren't always practical to have in public, so I bought a Gentle Leader - it works wonderfully. He couldn't care less that it's there, only throwing a mild fit once or twice when I first introduced it to him, and his behavior is improving every day. I still practice heelwork with rewards so that I can eventually eliminate the GL, but for now it's easier to reinforce his focus on me as I can get him focused on me without a toy. He's a work in progress.

[NRhodes]

When we come out of the house Ceana is always anxious/nervous and pulls. I have been trying everything known to man to get her to stop.

 

What methods have you tried? Maybe someone can suggest something different if they know what you've done or a modification of what you've done to improve on the method?

[sweet_ceana]

We have tried food to refocus her, toys, not moving if she pulls...we succeed in making outside the best thing in the world but we cannot shake the fear & nervousness. We tried positive only when she is on a leash, we have tried verbal corrections, making her sit, do tricks, and changing directions frequently. we have let other people try walks (to see if it was just us)-- she was even worse. She knows what "no pulling" means, she will not pull if she is calm and relaxed. The only way we have been able to get her out of the house in a calm mindset is with the gentle leader.

 

This morning she let me put it on her without any growling I had to give her a cookie, but positive associations with it will take sometime. Her behavior towards me has improved in the last couple of days as well. I am the one she challenges with growls and teeth the most. I am the trick teacher & the rule maker. Chris is the one who ruff houses so he gets less of the attitude lol. We actually redirect her through ruff housing when she gets growly. She is told" no bitting" and when the lips go down we start to play ruff. You'd think this would scare her but nope, as soon as you make a BZZT noise and start poking her the ears go up and she is no longer afraid. The GL seems to be having the same effect by re-directing her instantly. So far so good.