Originally posted by stacwase
My son and I took the dogs for a walk this morning. We didn't put Max on his gentle lead because the one we bought is too big for him and we want to return it. He pulled so hard on his lead that my back is sore! But he's pretty obedient. When he got too out of control I would just tell him to sit, and he sat immediately - even when he was getting ready to chase a squirrel.
That is amazaing...the sit immediately part, even when he was getting ready to chase a squirrel. It shows that your dog is highly trainable. So with the pulling, just start teaching a command such as *no pulling*. There is also the method of just stopping in your tracks every time the dog starts to pull and soon he will realize that if he pulls, he isn't going to get to go anywhere. I also teach my dogs the word *stop*.

The best way to prevent pulling is to teach him to heel. Of course a walk at heel is just one form of exercise, a walk with being able to run here and there uses a bit more of the expendable energy.

When you use that 50 ft. leash and Max, being a big strong dog and on a flat out run, you must be prepared to brace yourself when he comes to the extention of that leash. You don't want him to pull your arm out of its socket, and he needs to know there is something he can do to prevent getting the inevitable jerk when he gets to the end of that line. Here's where you'd want to call out that *stop* command.