Thank God for the Halti!

Some of you may know that I have a standard poodle named Bella who is a joy except when we go on walks! She tugs and pulls for the first 10 minutes or so and it sounds like she is going to kill herself. We have successfully used choker collars on our poodles in the past as a training tool for their walks (recommended by the obedience school we went to). Well, Bella has not had formal obedience training since we have been trying to put what we have learned in the past into use with her. For some reason, starving herself of air and gagging and choking hasn't seemed to bother her. It has however really bothered me!

I got a Halti several days ago after reading about the Gentle Leader and Halti on here months before. I guess I am a little slow to put into action what I read. :rolleyes: Anyway, yesterday I put the Halti on and before we even reached the end of my driveway she had "the message." We had a wonderful nice long walk with no tugging, choking or gagging and my arm stayed in the socket! :D Of course I am exaggerating just a bit here, but I wanted to share with you the tremendous success I had with this and I am so much looking forward to many, many more pleasurable walks with my sweetie because of this little device. A big "thank you" to whoever invented this! :)

We had the same success with Sadie and the Halti...although maybe not quite quickly. Cincy on the other hand, has not gotten the message at all, she still pulls, and does summersaults down the road trying to get the thing off!!! She has even scraped her nose on stones fighting to get it off. I am thinking about trying a body harness with her.

I know what you mean--when the Halti or GL works, it just "clicks" in such an amazing way! Eli pulls like a little truck, and choking doesn't seem to phase him at all. Once we put the Gentle Leader on him, though, he realized he could walk nicely with us. :) Every so often he'll pause and rub his face on our legs to try to get it off, but overall he seems to be used to wearing it. It's great. :D

I have a GL on order. It was really hard finding a retailer in Canada! I'm hoping it works with my girl... we need something and I can't wait until it arrives!

aussieshep,

Keep in mind that most dogs do not like the gentle leader at first. They will try to paw it off their face. Do not let this discourage you. Be consistent with it and the dog will learn to be OK with it around his face.

Good luck.

I've seen the halti used by people in class but haven't used it myself I use harnesses first on Smudge because the little suckers so strong my friend thought he was going to put my arm out of joint, and then Winter got one about a month ago (it has pretty pink and gray roses on it) to take the pressure of her throat.

Could I ask, what is a Halti & Gentle Leader?

Anna, this link should explain them a little better. Basically it is a head harness that has the hook for the leash underneath the head. When the dog begins to pull they are forcing their head down and to the side instead of lunging forward and choking. Hope this helps.

http://www.doglogic.com/collars.html

Thanks for the info. I wonder, Roxey is quite a puller when we go for walks, not when we are in school, mind you, but only on walks! Do you think one of those two above would be good for her, or a prong collar would be better? I've been thinking about one, but just not sure, now with this new info, maby I should get something else. Any suggestions?

I did a search and found this thread. Our basenji mix, Murphy, can be a terrible tugger on his walks. He can barely breathe, he pulls so hard! This only happens sometimes, but when it does, it completely ruins our walks--both for me and for him. We have a regular harness for him, and that helps him breathe better, but he keeps on pulling, which it hurts my hand and arm! So we're considering buying a Halti or a Gentle Leader (no choke collars). My questions:

1. Is there a difference between the Halti and GL? Do people have a preference? I noticed the GL is a few dollars more...
2. Is there any risk of the dog getting hurt while using either of them? I thought I read something about vertebral damage...

Thanks as always! :)

Strass I really don't know the difference between the two. I looked at them both at PetsMart but didn't take them out of the boxes. To be honest, I went with the Halti because it was a couple of dollars cheaper. I guess, like with anything else, if the dog is strong enough they could probably injure themselves but I really doubt it. I put it on Bella in the house for a minute or two before we went outside. Then when we were outside and the urge to pull was strong she knew that it wasn't going to be a good idea. I guess maybe it would be best to practice inside the house first before going outside. I'm not saying she loves it, but she tolerates it well. I am sure she would much rather be pulling me along down the street. :rolleyes:

My friend's german shorthair, Lady, is a MAJOR pulling and choking dog. Melissa never really tried to leash train her, and it's gotten out of hand. I walked (errr...ran? lol) her down from her house to mine. I woke up the next morning and my arms were just killing me. Melissa thought about getting a chock collar for her. At Petco we have the noose type leashes just to put on the dogs to move them and such, and I told her the tightening didn't stop Lady AT ALL when she has been there. So she ended up with a Halti. Poor Nebo, just for curiosity's sake, we tried it on him, and he FREAKED OUT about it...baby.....good thing he doesn't really need one (yet). Anyway, Melissa says Lady walks like a dream on that thing! I guess my question is, is it possible to train them to walk nicely with a halti, and move onto walking them with just a collar?