I most respectfully disagree. If a slip lead is used at all (and I used them all the time with mine for speed of on-and-off) the dog needs to be taught to walk on a loose lead. Up behind the ears risks profound damage to neck vertebrae, especially with less solidly-built dogs such as sighthounds.
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7 month puppy jumping and biting on walks
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Ah Hemlock -Hello
"especially with less solidly-built dogs such as sighthounds. "
I know these as what we call Long Dogs (greyhound /x bully ,saluki ,whippet lurcher types), there used for hunting /Ferreting and racing mainly sleek and slender looking but very powerful in stature, having the lead high up on the neck is a starting point puts you control and is the first step to loose lead walking you will not damage the dog!!
training a dog to walk to heel is a process and won't happen overnight but training needs to be regular and consistent.
So a slip lead can be anything from a piece of bailer twine ,Modern synthetics like Biothane ® or the finest high grain leather they all do the same job at the end of the day and have been used far before the world of internet.......
My dogs are hard as nails all trained with slip leads and old school choke chain leads not once have i had an injury due to using them.
"especially with less solidly-built dogs such as sighthounds. "
I know these as what we call Long Dogs (greyhound /x bully ,saluki ,whippet lurcher types), there used for hunting /Ferreting and racing mainly sleek and slender looking but very powerful in stature, having the lead high up on the neck is a starting point puts you control and is the first step to loose lead walking you will not damage the dog!!
training a dog to walk to heel is a process and won't happen overnight but training needs to be regular and consistent.
So a slip lead can be anything from a piece of bailer twine ,Modern synthetics like Biothane ® or the finest high grain leather they all do the same job at the end of the day and have been used far before the world of internet.......
My dogs are hard as nails all trained with slip leads and old school choke chain leads not once have i had an injury due to using them.
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As flobo has mentioned a lower protein may help the raw choice is very controllable and you always know exactly what is in his diet (a great idea)
If you must stay on a kibble I like the "Millies Wolfheart" choices, and always keep a bag of their Lowest protein "Forerunner" for convenient times when I forget to take the meat out of the freezer.
Just to note , we have working gundog's too, they are raw fed and are very controllable. We meet quiet a few gundog owners these days who actually feed raw to their dogs too.
If you must stay on a kibble I like the "Millies Wolfheart" choices, and always keep a bag of their Lowest protein "Forerunner" for convenient times when I forget to take the meat out of the freezer.
Just to note , we have working gundog's too, they are raw fed and are very controllable. We meet quiet a few gundog owners these days who actually feed raw to their dogs too.
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I the working world everyone uses slip leads, quickly on and off as required.
I have never found that they sneak up the neck behind the ears at any time, we use them all the time, not as "chokers" but they are just convenient, quickly on and quickly off as required. I don't think they were ever designed as "Chokers".
A convenient lead that will not slip over the head when pulled.
I have never found that they sneak up the neck behind the ears at any time, we use them all the time, not as "chokers" but they are just convenient, quickly on and quickly off as required. I don't think they were ever designed as "Chokers".
A convenient lead that will not slip over the head when pulled.
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Hi everyone, I just wanted to pop on here to give an update on Otis. We have seen a massive improvement and his tantrums are now a very rare behaviour which is amazing. I wanted to mention some of the things that have contributed to this in case anyone is struggling with the same thing.
One of the first things we did was reduce the protein in his diet (as suggested above). It’s difficult to say whether this has made a huge difference because this was changed at the same time as making other changes but it’s certainly not done any harm!
Unfortunately, Otis was bitten by another dog and sustained a pretty nasty hole on his back leg. Because of this, we had to reduce his exercise to 3 x 10-15 minute walks per day. This was a game changer. We realised that Otis doesn’t yet have the skills to regulate his emotions for more than 20 ish minutes when out on a walk so even though he has made a full recovery, we are keeping to more but shorter walks.
Our walks are on predictable routes that avoid anything that could trigger him. For some reason a big one was crossing the road so we stick to quiet areas that won’t set him up for failure.
We are more assertive on our walks. For example, rather than saying “come on” and waiting for him to follow, we just walk and he has to come with us. This has reduced any ambiguity and he’s definitely realised that saying hi to another dog, or getting to go to the park isn’t always an option and when we start walking away, there isn’t a choice. We still let him have walks where he can go wherever he wants but his daily walks are much more regimented.
We still want him to meet and socialise with other dogs but whether he gets to say hi is dependent on his behaviour as well as the other dogs (obviously). After he says hi, if we see he’s quite frantic with adrenaline pumping through his veins, we give him his lure which is from Amazon. One thing that’s almost as high as his drive to socialise with other dogs is his prey drive so providing him with an outlet for his energy has meant he doesn’t direct it at us and therefore doesn’t practice the behaviour. We also practice cues immediately after something that might be triggering when possible. We will ask him to sit, give us a paw etc. and this has really helped him calm down and focus on us again.
Thank you to everyone for your advice!
One of the first things we did was reduce the protein in his diet (as suggested above). It’s difficult to say whether this has made a huge difference because this was changed at the same time as making other changes but it’s certainly not done any harm!
Unfortunately, Otis was bitten by another dog and sustained a pretty nasty hole on his back leg. Because of this, we had to reduce his exercise to 3 x 10-15 minute walks per day. This was a game changer. We realised that Otis doesn’t yet have the skills to regulate his emotions for more than 20 ish minutes when out on a walk so even though he has made a full recovery, we are keeping to more but shorter walks.
Our walks are on predictable routes that avoid anything that could trigger him. For some reason a big one was crossing the road so we stick to quiet areas that won’t set him up for failure.
We are more assertive on our walks. For example, rather than saying “come on” and waiting for him to follow, we just walk and he has to come with us. This has reduced any ambiguity and he’s definitely realised that saying hi to another dog, or getting to go to the park isn’t always an option and when we start walking away, there isn’t a choice. We still let him have walks where he can go wherever he wants but his daily walks are much more regimented.
We still want him to meet and socialise with other dogs but whether he gets to say hi is dependent on his behaviour as well as the other dogs (obviously). After he says hi, if we see he’s quite frantic with adrenaline pumping through his veins, we give him his lure which is from Amazon. One thing that’s almost as high as his drive to socialise with other dogs is his prey drive so providing him with an outlet for his energy has meant he doesn’t direct it at us and therefore doesn’t practice the behaviour. We also practice cues immediately after something that might be triggering when possible. We will ask him to sit, give us a paw etc. and this has really helped him calm down and focus on us again.
Thank you to everyone for your advice!
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