# Advice on anti-pull harness



## Sprocker Dave (Jun 30, 2012)

Our 18 week old Sprocker is great off lead but when we have to use a lead he's a nightmare! We are trying to heel train etc but it's hard work.

Do any of you use an anti pull harness, if so what one?


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## Spendy (Aug 19, 2012)

I picked up the Ancol Padded Harness and for Karma it's worked wonders.
She's still got a way to go, but there was almost immediate improvement.
(The Ancol one was only cheap, but it's does the job)


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## cinnamontoast (Oct 24, 2010)

Persist with lead training with a normal collar, if he goes ahead, stop, wait for a loose leash. If you do decide on a harness, don't use the ones that tighten as this will have an adverse effect on his growing bones.


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## Werehorse (Jul 14, 2010)

Anti-pull harnesses which cause a dog feel discomfort when it pulls towards something, e.g. another dog, a person; can make them fearful of and potentially aggressive towards the thing which they then associate with the discomfort e.g. another dog, a person. You see?

Unfortunately you have a spaniel. You either have to accept the pulling (in which case I would reccommend a normal, comfortable harness to reduce adverse effects on his neck) or you will have to put in a LOT (and, boy I know about it, a LOT) of hard work in order to reep results.

Or, of course you could get a quick fix gadget which hurts your dog and potentially makes him more fearful of the world and within a few weeks he'll be pulling you straight through anyway because... he's a spaniel - they are bred to push through undergrowth and run around madly and something just doesn;t connect in the brain to make them have any respect for a lead, a headcoller, a harness etc etc.

However - have hope! I have a sprocker. And from the moment he stepped into the world on a lead he has been a set on, traction engine of a puller. And there have been many, many times when I have pretty much sat down and cried, nearly been pulled off my feet, wondered whether I would ever be able to walk him on my own without boyfriend with me to take him when he got too much. There was never any moment when the lead went slack for me to work with, he would ignore food lures and I just didn't have any hope at all.

BUT two years on from his first ventures into the world he is slowly but surely improving and there are days when he's a pleasure to walk on a lead instead of an out and out nightmare!

Lots of consistant positive reward based training as well as some very careful and considered use of a "gentle leader" headcoller (I hated using it but it just gave enough breathing space to be able to create some good walking that I could then reward - I used it reasonably regularly for about 3 months, maybe less). Lots of finding less distracting environments for the same reason - so that there *were* moments of relaxed walking to mark and reward. Gradually the moments have got longer and the environments more distracting and we're... getting there. Particularly in the past few months as he has matured, the hours and hours of foundation work have started to pay off.

There is no quick fix to lead pulling - it's quite a complex behaviour I think as it is linked to fear as well as excitement. I honestly thought I had a confirmed puller who would be lengthening my arms until his dotage. But consistant, positive training has started to win through... I reccommend it. As he grows and matures and gains confidence he will calm down and the pulling will ease.

Managing the pulling in the meantime? I have very nice muscle definition in my arms these days.


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## pogo (Jul 25, 2011)

I'd personally go for a head collar instead of non pulling harness and work on teaching walking to heal


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## Sprocker Dave (Jun 30, 2012)

Thanks for your replies. I thought at 18 weeks he was too young for a head collar, surely this would also have an adverse effect on his growing bones?

Perhaps my wording was not the best when I used anti-pull. I'm more worried that he's hurting himself when he's pulling more than me trying to hurt him because he's pulling!


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## Wiz201 (Jun 13, 2012)

No, a headcollar won't have an adverse affect. You can actually get them used to wearing one from a very young age as some people choose to use headcollars for the larger breeds now. Ones I can recommend is
Products : Stop Pull Headcollar
GenCon All-in-1
Also to train him, I would try using clicker training in combination with a stop and sudden turn in the other direction if he does pull. Click and treat when he's not pulling and he'll soon get the message.


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

At 18 weeks he will be teething, so I wouldn't put anything round his face that might cause discomfort. Those that work by causing pressure work in the same way as an anti pull harness, they tighten, which causes discomfort or pain. 

Springers and cockers are both bred to quarter in front of you, flushing out prey, it's what they do naturally which is why you'll see him diving into cover and trying to find anything in there. Springers are wider ranging and cockers have a tighter gait, more like a suction cup in action. Heel work isn't as natural for them as with other gundog breeds, where they are expected to be at your side marking retrieves, but it's definitely achievable. It is all about training though, and if you're not that good a handler yet (and it's taken me several years to think of myself as mildly competent) it is a much more difficult task. I'd suggest getting him on one of the gundog training courses, I'm sure someone will look up a link for you, I'm on my first cuppa and haven't had enough sugar to remember these things yet!


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## Spendy (Aug 19, 2012)

I've just found the packet that Karma's harness came in ... seems it's just a padded harness  

They say it helps with pulling ... but it's not anti-pull ... sorry about the mix up


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## Sprocker Dave (Jun 30, 2012)

Sleeping_Lion said:


> At 18 weeks he will be teething, so I wouldn't put anything round his face that might cause discomfort. Those that work by causing pressure work in the same way as an anti pull harness, they tighten, which causes discomfort or pain.
> 
> Springers and cockers are both bred to quarter in front of you, flushing out prey, it's what they do naturally which is why you'll see him diving into cover and trying to find anything in there. Springers are wider ranging and cockers have a tighter gait, more like a suction cup in action. Heel work isn't as natural for them as with other gundog breeds, where they are expected to be at your side marking retrieves, but it's definitely achievable. It is all about training though, and if you're not that good a handler yet (and it's taken me several years to think of myself as mildly competent) it is a much more difficult task. I'd suggest getting him on one of the gundog training courses, I'm sure someone will look up a link for you, I'm on my first cuppa and haven't had enough sugar to remember these things yet!


Thanks Sleeping Lion.

We are at puppy training classes and he's doing great - even his heel work is good, but only when we're there - far too many distractions elsewhere! We are just starting to look for a gun dog trainer for when he's finished this course. Think I'll put a post on the working dog forum for some recommendations.


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## cinnamontoast (Oct 24, 2010)

You need to make yourself more interesting than his surroundings. One girl I know feeds only when on walks so the dog is hungry and looks to her for food. Maybe not ideal with a puppy! The easy walk harness has been a godsend with my lot. There is hope, Brig, who is 9, has stopped pulling now!


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## Werehorse (Jul 14, 2010)

If he can do heelwork at puppy class then eventually he will get there outside as well.  I would get a nice soft fleecy harness for him to wear to reduce the effect of pulling on his neck. So you can still take him out and about and get him socialised (without hurting his neck) while you are building up his ability to do nice walking in distractions.


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## Sleeping_Lion (Mar 19, 2009)

Sprocker Dave said:


> Thanks Sleeping Lion.
> 
> We are at puppy training classes and he's doing great - even his heel work is good, but only when we're there - far too many distractions elsewhere! We are just starting to look for a gun dog trainer for when he's finished this course. Think I'll put a post on the working dog forum for some recommendations.


Dogs learn in context to their surroundings, that's one of the first things I was taught. So 'sit' doesn't necessarily mean sit everywhere, just where they've learnt it. The penny drops when you teach it in a variety of locations.

I don't walk my dogs as such, I drive them out to where I exercise them, open the boot and let them run, and teach everything else separately, although I will combine exercise with training, so recall certain dogs, and get them to sit before I release them to 'go play' again. I can't imagine anything more boring, particularly for a working bred dog, to have to stay at heel walking down the pavement, which is what makes it so difficult to train, particularly for those who are new to training dogs and have yet to really learn how to read their dog(s) and how to train/handle them as well. If I can do it with chocolate numpty dogs I'm sure you'll be able to do it with your boy, just keep learning how to engage with him, I do find using basic gundog training helps with this. So for example, to get a retrieve, I get my dogs to do a bit of heelwork and steadiness for me first, and then they might get a retrieve. In your instance, allow your boy to do a bit of hunting for you as a reward after he's got the heelwork bit right, treat it almost as a competition so he has to get the first bit right to be offered the reward of something that he loves to do. You'll soon find they then love doing the first bit because it leads to more rewards. So short bouts of heelwork, as close to somewhere you can hide something like a tennis ball as possible, even in thick bracken/brambles, and encourage him to do what he's bred for. Get him to sit first, and then release him to hunt for the ball, if that makes sense. I use 'there' as the command to hunt, or a whistle command which sounds like the tweet twoo of how you imagine an owl, depending on distance and if I've got my whistle in my gob! With short distances, I'd have them in a sit, perhaps with a raised hand, and then release him by removing the hand and letting him hunt to a 'there'. You can buy canvas discs which lie flat to the ground, so are more difficult for them to see which are also good for training dogs to hunt.

I mix things up with my dogs and they do get informal retrieves, but add a lot of structure as well so they know they have to sit and wait unless I tell them otherwise. Sorry, waffled on a bit, but I often find by stringing together a chain of *events* and using part of their training as a reward, the other parts of that chain act as an incentive, hope that makes sense!


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## Hardwick Hounds (May 30, 2012)

I have a cocker who's nearly 3 (had from pup) and she is also excellent off lead but pulls on a lead. I taught her to walk to heel off lead in ten minutes! But put her back on the lead and she pulls like she's on a mission :001_rolleyes:

We used to use the pets at home head collar for her, which doesn't tighten like the halti (which we use on the danes) it just guides from underneath the chin where the lead is attached. It worked for us but we lost it and never replaced it. Alice knows that pulling is wrong and if I say her name in a stern manner, she slows down - gives me a dirty look - and stops pulling for about 30 seconds. We just cope with that now cos where we walk, she's only on lead for ten minutes till we are past the roads.

You definitely have to be consistent with it and make sure you use really tasty/smelly treats for training.


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## Owned By A Yellow Lab (May 16, 2012)

The Dogmatic headcollar does not tighten - if you email them they will give you sizing advice. If you use any headcollar, do use it with a double ended lead -one end clipped to the normal collar, one end clipped to the headcollar. Be sure not to jerk the lead and NEVER use with an extending/flexi lead.

When I adopted him, Dex had never been walked full stop - he used to literally RACE down the road with me flying along behind him. No method that I tried worked so after six months, and me having been thrown to the ground when he lunged, I started using a Dogmatic. It made a huge difference!

A well fitting headcollar allows you to manage the pulling and to then *reward* for calmer walking.


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## springerpete (Jun 24, 2010)

Sleeping lion has given you good advice, Spaniels are notoriously hard to get walking to heel, every scent HAS to be investigated. But with patience and a litle help you should be able to achieve reasonable results, Rember your pup is just that, a pup, just now the whole world is full of things worthy of investigation . It might be worthwhile, if you get the chance to pay a visit to a local shoot if you have one nearby, and watch how a working spaniel goes about his business it may give you an insight into why your youngster does some of the things he does. My youngster, off lead, never goes in a straight line unless he's on a 'seen retreive or is returning with a pick up. He's constantly quartering the ground ahead of me, trouble arises when he's on the lead and he still wants to do the same. Believe me, you're not the only one to experience this little issue with spanners, Just keep plugging away and sooner or later you'll get there.


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## springerpete (Jun 24, 2010)

Sleeping_Lion said:


> Dogs learn in context to their surroundings, that's one of the first things I was taught. So 'sit' doesn't necessarily mean sit everywhere, just where they've learnt it. The penny drops when you teach it in a variety of locations.
> 
> I don't walk my dogs as such, I drive them out to where I exercise them, open the boot and let them run, and teach everything else separately, although I will combine exercise with training, so recall certain dogs, and get them to sit before I release them to 'go play' again. I can't imagine anything more boring, particularly for a working bred dog, to have to stay at heel walking down the pavement, which is what makes it so difficult to train, particularly for those who are new to training dogs and have yet to really learn how to read their dog(s) and how to train/handle them as well. If I can do it with chocolate numpty dogs I'm sure you'll be able to do it with your boy, just keep learning how to engage with him, I do find using basic gundog training helps with this. So for example, to get a retrieve, I get my dogs to do a bit of heelwork and steadiness for me first, and then they might get a retrieve. In your instance, allow your boy to do a bit of hunting for you as a reward after he's got the heelwork bit right, treat it almost as a competition so he has to get the first bit right to be offered the reward of something that he loves to do. You'll soon find they then love doing the first bit because it leads to more rewards. So short bouts of heelwork, as close to somewhere you can hide something like a tennis ball as possible, even in thick bracken/brambles, and encourage him to do what he's bred for. Get him to sit first, and then release him to hunt for the ball, if that makes sense. I use 'there' as the command to hunt, or a whistle command which sounds like the tweet twoo of how you imagine an owl, depending on distance and if I've got my whistle in my gob! With short distances, I'd have them in a sit, perhaps with a raised hand, and then release him by removing the hand and letting him hunt to a 'there'. You can buy canvas discs which lie flat to the ground, so are more difficult for them to see which are also good for training dogs to hunt.
> 
> I mix things up with my dogs and they do get informal retrieves, but add a lot of structure as well so they know they have to sit and wait unless I tell them otherwise. Sorry, waffled on a bit, but I often find by stringing together a chain of *events* and using part of their training as a reward, the other parts of that chain act as an incentive, hope that makes sense!


Great advice..............


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## cinnamontoast (Oct 24, 2010)

Bloke in the park said he's worried about his cocker spaniel always sniffing. My big lad was off lead and was quartering a different area. I pointed out that mine was doing the same as his dog: it's inbuilt, it's what they do. I told him the dog is looking to spring gamer flush/find game all the time. It's a spangle thing!


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