My Setter puppy is a leash lunger, and he’s a hard headed little guy who is off in whatever direction he pleases when something (like a bird or squirrel) gets his attention. The lunging is so bad that I am afraid that even when I don’t correct him he’ll injure his trachea or neck, so I have gotten a pronged “pinch” collar, which I have used successfully before. I am not a huge fan of using a prong collar forever during our walks, so while the prong collar stops the behavior, I am trying to train him out of the lunging habit so I can go back to a nylon collar as soon as possible. As our walks are mostly for the purpose of potty breaks/ housebreaking, I do not want to obedience train him during our walks. (That can wait a bit.) My first thought was to use a collar and a prong collar at the same time, switching between them so that the pup will can be hooked to the prong collar if he starts misbehaving again. But I have had the prong collar get caught under the regular collar and that isn’t safe for the dog, especially if you are hooked to the nylon collar. It also scared my sensitive drama queen puppy.
The nylon collar is adjusted so that I can insert 2 fingers beneath it, and the prong collar has the proper amount of play in it as well. So it isn’t the fit so far as I can tell.
Any suggestions as to what else I might try?
Please, do not suggest the Gentle Leader. That is a great tool if you aren’t interested in teaching your dog to stop a behavior and just want to control it. I am interested in actually teaching them proper leash manners, which the Gentle Leader isn’t designed for.
I have trained dogs before and I know better than to try to teach conflicting things to a dog. Trying to obedience train when you are trying to give a dog freedom to go to the bathroom is contradictory. One behavior is predicated on the dog having the freedom to sniff around and pick a spot to pee, the other is telling him what and how to behave. It would confuse the pup. That’s why the walks aren’t all about walking at heel. Later, sure. But not when the dog still doesn’t understand that he’s supposed to relieve himself outside.
Posted in Squirrel
Tagged collar, direction, drama queen, first thought, Guy, habit, housebreaking, Leash, lunger, nylon, nylon collar, obedience, pinch collar, potty breaks, prong, prong collar, pup, Puppy, sensitive drama, Setter, Squirrel, trachea, training, Walks
I can’t kill it because there is no way I can , plus i couldn’t hurt the little guy . We don’t have animal control to come out and help . I don’t know what to do .