Dog Ball Laucher

poohzee

Ok no more ball launcher!!! She does love it though so will use her ball on rope thing instead as i cant chuck it very far!! thanks for all the advise - off to go look at haltis!!

WeirdoMagnet

Great to hear you're ditching the chucker!

You'd be better off with a harness - Haltis or other head collars can damage the neck in a dog. I shudder when I see a dog in a head collar - inevitably, it's head is not in line with it's body, and it's spine is all stiff. They may work for some, but IMO some people use them as a lazy way of control rather than proper (positive) training.

Person_one

Georgina wrote: »

Great to hear you're ditching the chucker!

You'd be better off with a harness - Haltis or other head collars can damage the neck in a dog. I shudder when I see a dog in a head collar - inevitably, it's head is not in line with it's body, and it's spine is all stiff. IMO people use them as a lazy way of control rather than proper (positive) training.

Yeah thanks, quite an assumption there.

Plenty of dogs realise once the halti is on that the most sensible response is to stop pulling and trot happily at heel. If it doesn't work for your dog that's fine, but leave out the nasty judgemental attitude please.

WeirdoMagnet

Person_one wrote: »

Yeah thanks, quite an assumption there.

Plenty of dogs realise once the halti is on that the most sensible response is to stop pulling and trot happily at heel. If it doesn't work for your dog that's fine, but leave out the nasty judgemental attitude please.

Sorry I seem to have upset you - I certainly did not mean to be 'nasty'.

It's great that a halti works for you, but I've rarely seen a dog on a halti trotting happily to heel. I can only go on what I see. Maybe it's just round here?

To clarify, I've seen dogs pawing at their faces while they're walking, trying to get them off - to me that shows that their owner has not taken the time to get the dog used to wearing it. I've seen dogs certainly walking to heel, but with their head being pulled in front of their handler, I've seen dogs walking to heel but with constant tension on the lead and I've evenseen them used with extension leads which could cause injury if the dog reaches the end of the lead for his head to be jerked suddenly.

Personally, and after much research I use a Mekuti harness. This has a similar effect as the halti (controlling the direction of the dog) but does so by using a double ended lead via harness round the body, rather than the head. This, twinned with clicker training worked really quickly and we generally use it as a normal harness now, only using it to it's full capacity on very rare occassions.

I shall amend my post so as not to cause any further offence.

scheming_gypsy

Georgina wrote: »

Great to hear you're ditching the chucker!

You'd be better off with a harness - Haltis or other head collars can damage the neck in a dog. I shudder when I see a dog in a head collar - inevitably, it's head is not in line with it's body, and it's spine is all stiff. They may work for some, but IMO some people use them as a lazy way of control rather than proper (positive) training.

a harness usually has the opposite effect unless you get one where it lifts them up when they pull. A harness is something that you put on an animal to allow them to pull heavy objects; so by using a standard harness you're giving them the tools to pull more.

WeirdoMagnet

scheming_gypsy wrote: »

a harness usually has the opposite effect unless you get one where it lifts them up when they pull. A harness is something that you put on an animal to allow them to pull heavy objects; so by using a standard harness you're giving them the tools to pull more.

That's where the Mekuti differs - they have nothing to pull against as you slightly change the balance.

dizziblonde

I use both at different times - the harness seems to work better for serious pullers (I have the kind where it makes them feel like their front feet are lifting) and doesn't really do the job massively well for my dog that just pulls a little bit more than I'd like him to when he forgets himself. Walking him on a double ended lead with one end clipped to a halti and another to his collar, taking the bulk of the walking through the collar end rather than the halti end works for him as the halti bit only really comes into effect if he forgets himself and does pull. As with most things - multitude of different things that work for different dogs - I know someone who couldn't get on with haltis or gencons or gentle leaders but for whom a dogmatic did the trick, and people who swear by harnesses.

The halti my husband can manage to fit - he just stands there confused with the harness about what bit goes where.

And yes - my dog hates anything on his face and goes through periodic complaining sessions about headcollars - stupid thing comes running to get the thing put ON, cos he knows he'll get a treat for putting his head into it, then forgets he's wearing it - suddenly remembers and complains for 30 seconds and then forgets again... add in the other dog trying to get her muzzle off (not for aggression issues despite what certain loudmouths round our way like to shriek hysterically about - just as an ex-racer still learning that dogs come in little white fluffy badly behaved varieties) and it can make walking an interesting experience.