Help, Yukon isn't so easy on walks anymore- LONG

[mama23+pyrs2]

First of all, we don't walk them nearly enough. Hubby got lazy and out the habit and then he hurt his back last week. Not to mention it rains here almost every day and has been plain miserable. It's been a couple of months at least since I was the one actually holding the leash and at that time, he was a breeze..strong yes, but a good walker. He's gotten much more hmm...active? I'm not sure what the word is, but he's not nearly as laid back as he used to be. Excitable I guess you could say. Last time hubby walked him he apparently freaked out at a Collie behind a fence that was going ballistic at him from several houses down. Hubby said it took all he had to hold onto Yukon and he was barking at him until he stopped I guess. He said Yukon didn't get completely crazy until the Collie would just not shut up. Yukon may have wanted to play, who really knows.

Well yesterday it was nice and hadn't rained yet so I thougt I'd be daring and take the kids and ONE dog for a walk. I took Yukon knowing he was harder to walk, I guess I wanted to get him used to doing it and before I'm so big and pregnant I wouldn't be able to handle him. Well the first street we went down there were 3 dogs behind a 4ft chainlink fence, a small one, a Golden and some sort of Great Dane mix I think, it was huge. They were going NUTS, again from several houses down and I reall thought the Dane would come over the fence. Yukon started to pull as soon as he noticed them so I wrapped the leash around my hand to get some control and told him to calm down, he really didn't. So I grabbed him by the collar and used all my strength to make him walk slowly so he wouldn't take off dragging me across the street. It entered my mind to turn around and not go past the house but I thought he needed to learn how to act. So..we got past it, with my holding his collar, and tripping over him every 3 steps as he tried to get to the other side of the street. The neighbors saw what was happening so they ran and got treats to distract the dogs as we went past- and that worked for them, but of course Yukon kept lunging and pulling with all his might. Once we got past he relaxed and I told him he was a good boy and kept petting him.

But wow, mental note, never go down that street again by myself any time soon. Anyone want to offer up any training advice to deal with this situation? They've not yet been to obedience classes and are generally really well behaved but obviously some things are changing with Yukon..Yiska still does really well on her walks. He's really good with people and when we got back to the house, I stopped awhile to talk to my neighbor and he sat there the whole time waiting and just being alert to things around him, but she remarked on how patient he was.

I've got harnesses for them.. I think Yukon has pretty much grown out of his but even a snug harness didn't hold him back, though I'm sure it helped. I just want to be able to walk him being pg and not afraid I'm going to be hurt, and also if it's this hard to get control of him now, even with all of a grown man's strength what is it going to be like when he is grown? He's only 6 months old now.

Sorry so long. Thanks in advance for anything you can offer!

[Sillygoose]

Well I don't knowf how you feel about a pinch collar, but that was one of the ways I got my dogs to heal without dragging me down the street. At first I thought it was cruel but I was showed how it works and tried it out on my arm. I was very surprise that all it does is make them uncomfortable. It is much better than using a choke because you  can hurt them if not used properly. Hope this helps.

[mama23+pyrs2]

Thanks for all the replies so far. Training was put off for this and that coming up and now all of a sudden they are 6 months so I think it's time. Not to mention different things like this cropping up. I'll start looking into that again.

[People Whisperer]

Lily was kind of crazy around this age. Every time she saw a person approaching us she would go nuts! All happy... trying to sniff everyone. And when she would see a cat or a rabbit she would drag me all over the place!

I tried turning her away and distract her with treats but she would not want them. Then I tried a choker and it worked but I was really worried of hurting her because her reactions were too sudden. So, finally I came up with the solution (not me but the books I've read). Every time she saw a dog, cat, person, rabbit...you name it, she had "sit" and that's the only way she would gets to look at it. We had to repeat it billion times BUT now when she sees anything super exciting she automatically sits!

[mama23+pyrs2]

The sit sounds like a good thing to try to. I know I kept trying to get him to look at me and stop so he'd settle a little and he would look at me and calm for a second..so he could have been worse. This has come about really recently because he used to pretty much ignore dogs barking at him from behind fences, they would be crazy and he would look at them like, what's your problem? He might give ONE bark but that was it. In fact people would ask how we got him to not bark at dogs and stuff hahahaha.

I'm sure part of it is the age, and I know I read about them coming to their guarding behaviours around 7 months, which they are coming up on here soon. He barks A LOT now when before he really didn't much at all. But he will bark the whole time he's outside if it's dark and if it's light he will bark at every passing person on the street or anyone else he sees..any strange sound coming from the computer or television inside, anyone at the door..you get the idea. Yiska still doesn't bark, bless her heart.

I just emailed the lady I was going to take them to for training before. I'll see when the next classes start and see what we can do.

[People Whisperer]

I have to agree with Julie! I would not recommend using pinch collar yet. They are very young and you don't want to make walking an unpleasant experience for them.
I will PM you Kristina 

[mama23+pyrs2]

Thanks! I never thought of the harnesses as actally letting them pull better, that won't work.  I will try the special treats or have hubby use them if he takes them and do the leave it. They know that command but silly me didn't even think to try it at that time, I think I just panicked thinking he was gonna take me down and I'd get hurt in the process. I did use it for many other things when we were walking.

You're right about something always coming up- it's inevitable. Back when they were very small, I said I wanted to enroll them around 6 months..I thought it would be a good age and then it's like I just forgot all about it with everything else that's come up. It IS a good idea to get them into it now before the new baby is here though and there are even more challenges. In the meantime, I will also look into the other harnesses suggested.

[heidismom]

i have had really good luck with headcollars with heidi, as of yet they do not stop her getting excited about things but they do stop her dragging me everywhere...a nd i think bit by bit she is improving on the squirrels, other dogs, etc.. and as someone said you do have to take them out frequently to get them used to this stuff, otherwise it will continue to be novel and exciting, and who can blame them for getting all hyped up if they haven't seen it for months? and classes are always a good idea, if nothing else you get to see other people's cute dogs..you have the opportunity to do all this now while they are young and impressionable, don't be in my position where you are trying to do remedial"let's not be psycho today" work!=)  i am sure you will sort it out, good luck!

[Duramax]

max loves to pull, he knows he's not supposed to but he'll forget and instantly pull when he sees something of intrest. i bought a gentle leader after hearing about it on the forum and it SERIOUSLY was like a complete turnaround they dont like to wear it at first but it is realy a great thing and honestly a 5 year old could walk max when he's wearing his! i also know that the gentle leader has not worked for some people on the board so it's not a guarantee, but i'd give it a shot! i think they are sold at target, petstores and on ebay. ebay was the cheapest last time i checked followed by target. good luck with the training i know it's frustrating.

[NoDogNow]

I've been 'sitting' for some friends who are on vaca this week, and their dog has NEVER been walked--Rabbit, a pit/German shepherd mix with a tendency to jump--and what's worked like a charm has been the New Skete/Brother Christopher redirect.

The minute she pulls, barks, anything other than walks nicely at heel--I GO THE OTHER DIRECTION! And don't stop--just keep walking.

Rabbit is almost fully cured since Monday. I didn't even use treats, just "you're so smart" while I rubbed her ears. We didn't get off the block on Monday or Tuesday, but on Wednesday we crossed the street, and yesterday we got all the way to the park almost half a mile away and back with only 3 changes of direction.

I'm not necessarily a believer in the total Monk's philosophy, but the redirect is a workable method.

[mama23+pyrs2]

I've been 'sitting' for some friends who are on vaca this week, and their dog has NEVER been walked--Rabbit, a pit/German shepherd mix with a tendency to jump--and what's worked like a charm has been the New Skete/Brother Christopher redirect.

The minute she pulls, barks, anything other than walks nicely at heel--I GO THE OTHER DIRECTION! And don't stop--just keep walking.

Rabbit is almost fully cured since Monday. I didn't even use treats, just "you're so smart" while I rubbed her ears. We didn't get off the block on Monday or Tuesday, but on Wednesday we crossed the street, and yesterday we got all the way to the park almost half a mile away and back with only 3 changes of direction.

I'm not necessarily a believer in the total Monk's philosophy, but the redirect is a workable method.

Thank you for reminding me of this! I watched him once (I don't even know when he's on) and the redirect is what caught my attention. I remember wanting to practice it on my dogs and then like everything else, it slipped my mind. I will practice this with him/her and see if we can make any progress.

[GoldenPyrs]

Hi Kristina, I haven't been on much the last day or two.  Everytime I would start to post on a few threads my broadband would crash.     Anyway, it looks like you've gotten great advice.  I just wanted to add that I can totally relate.  We used to grouse that Cara thought that she was a sled dog and that I was the darn sled.  She was  almost 100#, strong as an ox, and so friendly that she just had to meet every dog, human, squirrel, bird, etc. that she saw along the way!      She very nearly outweighed me at the time, so her puppy exuberence nearly wiped me out a few times.  I would definately let your hubby do the training with the pups for now.  They are so big that if they took you for a "fly" it could really hurt you and the baby both.  Last year I was walking Daisy on the Flexi leash when she forgot her leash manners for a moment and ran like a rocket for the neighbor dog (just to snuffle him, it turned out.        I didn't let go of the leash and literally flew a couple of feet and landed face first on asphalt.  I looked like I'd been in a bar brawl for a couple of weeks and I still have a partially torn rotator cuff in my right shoulder.  I don't even want to think what would've happened if I'd been pregnant.  Maybe for now you can practice sit, stay, come, leave it, etc. in the backyard (off leash) with Yukon & Yiska and let hubby handle the obedience classes and leash training?  Though he may need to wait a little bit now until his back is feeling better.