# Tips for walking border collie on the lead?



## Elaine76 (Sep 1, 2010)

Hi, if there are any experienced border collie walkers out there, I'd love to hear from you  !
I could do with some advice on walking our 5 month border collie boy on the lead. We've been going to training class & have just finished the course, but he's really hard work on the lead - walking ahead and pulling, not staying at my side. I've been consistently stopping when he goes ahead & bringing him back to heel, with treats, for the past 5 weeks. I know he CAN do it but the second he sees another person, dog or anything interesting he just goes where he wants & pulls me with him. 
Off lead he is brilliant & he is doing well with toilet training etc. I just wish I could enjoy taking him out ON the lead too. At the moment we're just using a strong buckle collar, my other half's been reluctant to try a head collar & I'm not sure if Dylan's too young? 
Any advice would be v.appreciated, thanks :thumbup:


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## leoti (Dec 9, 2007)

When you were at training were you taught to get your dog to "Watch" you , the reason i ask is i use this with all my dogs and yes it works , i have all my collies sat watching me while other dogs/horses pass them ,this way when your out and he see's another dog or person he wants to go to , you can get him to sit and watch you


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## Twiggy (Jun 24, 2010)

leoti said:


> When you were at training were you taught to get your dog to "Watch" you , the reason i ask is i use this with all my dogs and yes it works , i have all my collies sat watching me while other dogs/horses pass them ,this way when your out and he see's another dog or person he wants to go to , you can get him to sit and watch you


Totally agree, thats what I was going to suggest too.


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## SmokeyRabbit (Aug 28, 2010)

I,ve used a Gentle Leader on my german shephard border collie cross since he was a puppy they work wonders in the show ring, if your planning to show. Also there are hundreds of harnesses available that say they stop 
pulling, try one to one training if you can afford it or the next level of your current training.


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## fifimcq (Oct 14, 2010)

I am having similar problems too only mine does not just pull when she sees anything,its the minute you put the lead on & go out the door.I hve been told that its natural to them for a collie to want to be in front,but flo is strong & I come home with aching shoulders.


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## leoti (Dec 9, 2007)

I have collies all my life and all have been taught to walk to heel the only time they pull is as puppies when we first start at training , SmokeyRabbit i show border collies and no one uses a gentle leader


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## Spellweaver (Jul 17, 2009)

leoti said:


> When you were at training were you taught to get your dog to "Watch" you , the reason i ask is i use this with all my dogs and yes it works , i have all my collies sat watching me while other dogs/horses pass them ,this way when your out and he see's another dog or person he wants to go to , you can get him to sit and watch you


Was going to suggest this - you beat me to it! The other command you can train, which I also do with mine, is the "leave" command. Start off by putting a treat on the floor and telling him to "leave" until you tell him "ok". You will have to hold his collar while you do this at first, but he will soon learn that he doesn't touch anything when you say leave. You can then transfer this to the walks - when he sees another dog he starts to pull towards, for example, just say "leave" and that should work.



SmokeyRabbit said:


> I,ve used a Gentle Leader on my german shephard border collie cross since he was a puppy they work wonders in the show ring, if your planning to show. Also there are hundreds of harnesses available that say they stop
> pulling, try one to one training if you can afford it or the next level of your current training.


I've never seen gentle leaders used in the show ring - show dogs are trained not to need them!

Heh heh - having said that, I do remember the very first time I went to a dog show waaaaaaaaaaaaay back (too many years to even contemplate now!)......... I was the naive person showing a cocker spaniel on an extending lead  :lol:


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## Burrowzig (Feb 18, 2009)

Training the dog to walk nicely is the long-term solution, and you know how to do that. To ease your aching shoulders for now, get a harness, sew an extra d-ring on to the front, at the dog's chest between the neck and the front legs, and clip the lead onto there. Looks weird, but it will stop pulling more or less instantly!


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## doglover94 (Aug 14, 2009)

I have two dogs and one is always a bit keen, I did the training classes which helped a bit but did not solve the problem. It was fine if I was walking her but my 10 year old struggled and did not have much fun so was hard to get the kids to walk the dogs. After doing a bit of research I found this dog harness which has really helped, to be honest I was quite surprised how much difference it made.
good luck.


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## Elaine76 (Sep 1, 2010)

Hi, Thanks so much everyone for the b.collie tips . We've been working on getting him to watch us, as you suggested. He's doing well and can 'look' at me and then 'heel' for a bit. 
My husband says he can even get him to 'sit' and 'look' at him when other dogs are running around them when they're out on walks  !!! (Haven't done that myself.)
It definitely is a good way to re-focus him.
I've also lowered my expectations a bit & don't ask him to 'heel' all the time on lead (which was what we were told to do at puppy training). I reckon if he can do it for a quarter of the walk, then that's good progress so I give him lots of praise! And we're still doing lots of practice which is important I guess.

So all positive :thumbup: thanks lots


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## leoti (Dec 9, 2007)

Elaine76 said:


> Hi, Thanks so much everyone for the b.collie tips . We've been working on getting him to watch us, as you suggested. He's doing well and can 'look' at me and then 'heel' for a bit.
> My husband says he can even get him to 'sit' and 'look' at him when other dogs are running around them when they're out on walks  !!! (Haven't done that myself.)
> It definitely is a good way to re-focus him.
> I've also lowered my expectations a bit & don't ask him to 'heel' all the time on lead (which was what we were told to do at puppy training). I reckon if he can do it for a quarter of the walk, then that's good progress so I give him lots of praise! And we're still doing lots of practice which is important I guess.
> ...


Glad to hear things are working out for you with him , the "watch " is brilliant best thing i ever taught my guys and girls


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