# Walking on a leash- MAJOR PULLING



## Grimm02 (Aug 2, 2015)

We recently got a male 1 year old pup named Grimm. We are his third owners in just one year !! He also isn't neutered. i have never owned a dog before but my husband has and his family pet growing up was a GSD. so please bear with me. 
He weighs about 60lbs and he pulls so hard He starts to choke himself. He has ripped the leash out of my hands but he didn't run off far enough so he couldn't see me. I like to think I'm pretty strong for a female, I lift weights 5x a week and I was struggling holding him back and keeping him to one side of the road. My lats were sore the next day!! Grimm wanders all over the road he can decide which direction, he runs on my left, then my right, walks in circles around me. 
He responds to verbal cues pretty well unless distracted so I've tried to incorporate those. They help but not if we see an animal. I don't bring treats with me as he will loose all interest in the walk and just want treats. We also will sprint as we turn the corner to our road and he is sooooo fast! When it's time to slow down he struggles to do so at my pace and I don't want to hurt his neck. I may be trying to do too much with running with the leash on. He enjoys the short sprint but im too scared to do it without the leash and he needs that kind of exercise. We bought a harness which has been nice to hold the handle strap for when we see other dogs. Any strategies/tips/thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks for reading this novel!


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## Dunkirk (May 7, 2015)

Hi there and welcome! I suggest your best option is to get a trainer experienced with german shepherds to train you to train Grimm. 
Another option is Basic Dog Obedience DVD 
Leerburg | Basic Dog Obedience DVD


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## Sunflowers (Feb 17, 2012)

Welcome.

I really think a good trainer is in order. Please post your location so members can recommend a good one in your area.

A prong will also greatly help.Get a Herm Sprenger, not a cheap Chinese one. Make sure you fit it correctly.

https://leerburg.com/fit-prong.htm


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## sourdough44 (Oct 26, 2013)

I'd also add a 'prong collar' to the list of ideas. Any 'harness' type hookup just sets them up to pull, like a horse hooked to a carriage. With the prong you really don't have to do much of any pulling yourself. If they try to pull it pinches them, they do it and learn. Read up some if not familiar.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

Good trainer to TEACH proper use of the prong would work really well in your situation. Without both I'm sure I'd get dragged down the street on my face  . Young excited dog that CAN pull will pull


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## NINADOG (Oct 3, 2014)

yes, taking this boy to a trainer or enrolling him in group obedience classes is your best bet. Using a prong collar on him seems to be a definite necessity (with instruction for proper use) but you are also overlooking one of your most valuable positive reinforcement training aids.. his food motivation!


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## Grimm02 (Aug 2, 2015)

Thanks for the advice. We are looking into training but we haven't signed him up for anything yet. He's been with us for about two weeks now and we have made great progress on our own but we still have lots of work to do. He still pulls but I have been working with him to not bolt out of the door which is the hardest part of the walk for me - to shut two doors and hold him. Lol he has been listening fairly well when walking but if there's another person or animal, forget about it. I tried to bring treats a few times and it only worked until we made it out of the driveway. I make sure to say good/yes when he is behaving and this way when he gets distracted and that alone has made a huge impact. i don't think his previous owners tried a whole lot with him. She told me he could be an "*******" and he "was always up to no good" with a "peeing problem." we haven't had a single incident with any of those things other than him barking at people but he has never bitten anyone. He was being fed a very low grade kibble and kept in a crate for extended periods of time that was filthy. I think he is extremely excited to be out exploring new things in his new life and I am confident he will master it in time.


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## mburitica181 (Jul 22, 2015)

He is such a handsome boy!! Just thought I'd throw that out there. I'm sure you once you work with him he'll be a charmer. You're right sounds like he had no puppy fun and just wants to be part of the world.


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## wick (Mar 7, 2015)

GORGEOUS! what a cutie, he must just be so excited to have a family who loves him and takes him on walks.  his old owners sound like they are the real *********s here... one thing I would recommend in the mean time is practicing walking on the leash in the back yard or just the front walk or somewhere he will get bored of quickly. Ask him to sit every time he reaches the end if his lead, once you catch up start the walk again. Is he is pulling to sniff at the side and won't keep up use "leave it" . Do this in gradually increasing distractions, but don't move to new places until he does well in a small area. I also think a prong collsr would be useful to allow him to self correct.


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## counter (Feb 20, 2009)

As an option, in case you choose not to use a prong or fursaver collar, I have used and would highly recommend this company for a no-pull harness:

Softouch Concepts, Inc - Product

I had to use it to get my husky to stop pulling, and there's no stronger puller than a born-and-bred-to-pull Siberian! Ha. These harnesses worked like a charm. 










I would pair the harness with a 12" traffic lead to keep him right at my side while walking through the city streets of Portland, OR. Here's what the traffic lead looks like:


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## Grimm02 (Aug 2, 2015)

What a great idea! I'm embarrassed I didn't think of that! We have a wonderful back yard for him to play in and unfortunately he came across a couple of raccoons and he has been scared to go in the grass now. Haha that is a great exercise idea to help him gain confidence out there. I appreciate everyone's suggestions!


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## BenGSD (Aug 13, 2015)

Hey Grimm, 

If you want to try and train him yourself, this video could help you: 
youtube.com/watch?v=tBeztw0ZUGg

Sounds like this is exactly the problem you are facing, hope this helps!


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Grimm02 said:


> Thanks for the advice. We are looking into training but we haven't signed him up for anything yet. He's been with us for about two weeks now and we have made great progress on our own but we still have lots of work to do. He still pulls but I have been working with him to not bolt out of the door which is the hardest part of the walk for me - to shut two doors and hold him.


This is actually pretty easy to train, although it will take some time and patience. Does he get excited when he sees his leash? If so, start there. Pick up his leash, walk around with it for a few seconds, and then put it down numerous times a day. Completely ignore him when you do this. You want to make the sight of his leash totally routine, so it no longer signals "walk". 

Next step is to put the leash on. Make him sit first. If he gets up while you start to attach the leash, stand up again and wait for his sit. You can cue it at first if you need to, but I like to train this as default behavior, so every time I grab a leash off the hook by the door, the dog sits automatically. Try this a few times, and if he just won't maintain the sit until the leash is attached, you can say something like "oops!", or "sorry"!, or "too bad!", then put the leash up and walk away. Try again a few minutes later. If he keeps breaking the sit, put the leash away and find something else to do for awhile - again, completely ignoring him.

Once you can get the leash on, walk towards the door, touch the knob, and then walk him away from the door. Practice this until he's calm, with you staying happy and upbeat. Praise him for being good. From there you would approach the door and start to open it a bit, then close it and walk away. Progress to opening the door further and further until it's open all the way without him lunging forward. Each time he lunges, the door slams shut. He gets several tries before you remove the leash, put it away, then go sit down and read or watch TV or something while ignoring him. 

Once you can open the door without him lunging forward, ask for a sit and eye contact. (You are working on eye contact with him, yes? If not - start now!) When he sits and looks at you, release him immediately to walk through with you. If he bolts forward, "oops!", pull him back and slam the door shut again. 

There are probably faster ways to fix door dashing, but I like this method because it teaches the dog to make good choices. It shows the dog exactly what behavior I expect in order for him/her to get what they want, and it puts the responsibility on the dog to just do those things without being told. I will correct behavior when necessary, but there are certain things I want my dogs to do without having to constantly remind them, and sitting and looking at me at doorways is one of them. 

One place I like to work on this is at the door to the garage at mealtimes. I feed the dogs in the garage, and that's where we keep their bully sticks, so good things happen out there. I work on it off leash, so I'll body block if to prevent them from running through the door before released. Because this is such a strong default behavior, if I approach that door with my dogs and just stand there and do nothing and say nothing, they automatically sit and look at me. If I fling the door open and they run through before I release, I remain standing inside the house, letting the door close with them out there by themselves. I let them stew on that a bit.  Then I open the door and wait for them to come back in, sit and look at me, and then I try again. Even now that my dogs are adults and know the program, I don't make them sit and look at me every time I let them out (that's the potty door too), but I do ALWAYS say "okay" (my release word), when I open the door. Once in awhile Halo gets so excited by the prospect of dinner that she runs through the door before I say okay, and now that she knows that delaying dinner is the consequence she'll turn and run back in before the door even closes on her. I can practically see "oh, crap!" run through her brain as she does it, lol. 



> I make sure to say good/yes when he is behaving and this way when he gets distracted and that alone has made a huge impact.


Are you rewarding him when you say yes? With marker training, either with a clicker or a verbal marker, you always reward once you've marked the behavior.


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## Grimm02 (Aug 2, 2015)

I loved the suggestions regarding bolting out the door. I have been working on this but not as well as you have suggested. And I will start to incorporate some of these suggestions into our training. 
We have not started on eye contact but I will definitely look into it. Currently he lies down when I put the leash on. I then stand with my back to the screen door and tell him to stay, when I start to open screen door he will move. So I shut it and we do it again and again until he stays there until I say go. He is rewarded sometimes with treats but mostly just pets. He isn't fixed which I think contributes to some problems we face when we go for walks but overall I'm really impressed with how much he has improved! he has only pulled me really hard a handful of times since our first initial walk, mostly due to bunnies and other dogs. If I can I try to stop walking when he starts to pull hard and I wait until he looks at me to go again. He's not consistent yet but I'm doing my best until I can get him into professional training.


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