Slip lead on a puppy.....!

[newf]

Used a slip lead on ours straight from the off. She has also been to the vets recently and nothing was said about it causing damage. They aren't that complicated to use.

They seem to be very complicated to a lot of people!

The flat collar seems to be complicated too. Around my area most dogs being walked are wheezing; more especially at the vets as they move about room to room. Not the tool it seems, both can cause damage.

[newf]

Hogwash. It's fine. People who live in town like myself have no choice but to use a lead from day one. Your friend is smoking something

Agree, nothing wrong with the tool. A yank is a yank; hanging a dog is abuse. Properly used slip is loose, while a properly used collar is snug, or otherwise, the pup can go awol. A slip lead can be used with measured force; slight or firm, to correct for pulling; after that, a pup or dog will cease to pull and enjoy the walk, while, ironically, it passes by wheezing collared dogs.

[Springfield Pointers]

And what is it with harnesses in the UK? Every dog has a bloody harness?

[Stacia]

I know Springfield Pointers, I hate them and especially when I see a gun dog wearing one all trussed up. It is probably the 'fashion' now as halter type collars were not long ago. The harnesses are supposed to be 'positive' but I have read many posts saying their dogs hated it and how could they find a way to put them on.

[WGD]

And what is it with harnesses in the UK? Every dog has a bloody harness?

Not every dog

I can only assume the general public like to make it easier for their untrained dogs to pull them along the road?

[trekmoor]

Harnesses are a bit of a sore point with me. My daughter bought one for her GSP pup in order to clip him in place in her car but she walks the pup in it too. I never have liked harnesses, they are for sled dogs and horses.

Wullie

[Suveran]

I find this debate very interesting as it’s one we had and still have in our house. The O.H. Prefers a harness, I prefer the slip lead.
If I’m out around the fields and woods and lanes at home either training or just walking then it’s a slip lead all the time as I feel a lot more in control with this and he seems to walk a lot better on it. When we have to go into town he goes on the harness as we use this whilst traveling and he is a little jumpy in a busy high street.
The only thing I can see wrong with using a harness is the amount of pressure some brands would put on the dogs front shoulders if he were pulling hard all the time. I would never use the halti type again as the oh had one for our staff to try and reduce him pulling, these seem to connect the lead via some rings and straps direct to the snout. The result was a dog that sounded like a little pig snuffling around all the time.

[newf]

The problem is not with the tools but their use. All, the slip lead, halti, flat collar and harness should display the classic loop or J when walking. To walk a dog with either tool with tension in the lead is wrong and ruins what could be pleasurable for both you and the dog. The tool is not suppose to do your job of training ‘not to pull’, the tool is your aid in educating.

If you’ve had no success up to this point in training heel then my suggestion is to see a trainer before your dog gets hardened to the routine.

Please, don’t take my explanation and suggestion as a slight, it is not intended to be such.

[trekmoor]

I was forced to train my lab pup "Ghillie" heelwork without using any kind of lead or other restraining device due to my own ill-health.
She was trained heelwork using mainly my voice combined with a few (very few !) treats. She is now 17 -18 months old and she does walk to heel off-lead ---- after a fashion ! She has done this during last years shooting season even with lots of distractions all around. She keeps within about 4 feet from me …..if I remind her from time to time !

I used to find heelwork so easy to train , using a slip lead, that I found it a very boring thing to train ! Wish I could still use a lead !

A dog at "heel free" should not even be thinking about where it wants to go. It should be thinking "Where is he going to go and what is my position in relation to his movements."

Wullie