Hey all! I've got an 8 month old Lab/Aussie mix puppy. He's incredibly smart and has picked up most commands (sit, down, place, wait, etc) very quickly. However, he's pretty brutal on the leash. He's about 50 pounds and is a strong boy, and pulls almost every step of the way. We have him in a front-lead harness, but he just cannot relax. He pulls so hard to the point that he's wheezing. He also displayed some leash reactivity when we first got him at 4 months old, but that has almost completely gone away with positive association. He's typically not so over threshold that he won't respond to food, but the moment he gets too excited - ie, after playing in the lake, or going somewhere with lots of smells and sounds - he just loses focus and I can't get him to refocus.
I was one of those people who said I would never use a prong collar, but after a lot of research and speaking to a trainer, I decided it was worth a try. When it came in, I spent time getting him used to just having it on, then tested it indoors. I took him on a test drive outside, and it was like I had a completely different dog. Not shut down/subdued, just calm, relaxed, and attentive. I was so excited, but then I did still more reading and some people were saying that prong collars just mask the root of the issue and exacerbate reactivity. He did not bark on the single prong-collar walk I took him on and I did not correct him for any kind of barking/whimpering/etc. But now I'm freaking out and thinking maybe I just need to try harder with treats again first. Thoughts?
I was one of those people who said I would never use a prong collar, but after a lot of research and speaking to a trainer, I decided it was worth a try. When it came in, I spent time getting him used to just having it on, then tested it indoors. I took him on a test drive outside, and it was like I had a completely different dog. Not shut down/subdued, just calm, relaxed, and attentive. I was so excited, but then I did still more reading and some people were saying that prong collars just mask the root of the issue and exacerbate reactivity. He did not bark on the single prong-collar walk I took him on and I did not correct him for any kind of barking/whimpering/etc. But now I'm freaking out and thinking maybe I just need to try harder with treats again first. Thoughts?