Dogs And Halti's???

churchrat

Hi
do any dog owners out there use haltis? and what do you think of them?? any problems, easy to use, cause sore eyes???? anything??
many thanks

Cassa

Hi

I use one, and I've never had any problems. Generally don't need it one the 'way home' from a walk - it's just my dog cannot contain herself when we set off - even though she get's loads of excercise. She tore one of my shoulder muscles last year - and i am not going through that again.

proudmum_3

Hello,
I tried one on my Labrador a few years ago but he was having none of it! He cut his face trying to get it off, and spent most of his walk with his nose along the ground trying to remove it! It might be better with a smaller dog though.
I now have a harness which goes under the front two legs and around the collar with the lead attatched to it. Although my dog is now elderly & doesn't need it, i found it to be great particularly as am 5ft and weigh 7 stone. My dog is considerably larger than me & used to take me a walk! I can't remember the name but i am sure the large pet stores sell them.

Jellicat

They can be terrific or rubbish. It depends on the dog. Some dogs accept them, some dont. Putting it on your dog for short periods in the house before taking them out in it (and praising them) will help. You may find the Halti just feels cruel if the dog just keeps pulling and pulling and is basically walking with its head twisted around towards you. If your dog does learn to respect them they can be invaluable...slowly and gently pulling the dogs head round so you have eye contact is a great way of letting them know you are not pleased...they may be less likely to disobey whilst looking right at you.

If Haltis dont work for you, you could try a Lupi harness instead. These work particularly well on really large, strong dogs.

churchrat

hi
thanks for the replies--we are going to try one, they're not too expensive, so shall give it a go.

elsien

Haltis - best thing I ever bought, - the mutt strongly disagrees.:D
She tolerates it because she doesn't have a choice. I started using it when due to an infection she couldn't have anything round her neck at all, and the vet suggested giving it a go. She got used to it quite quickly with the aid of lots of bribes. I found that she hated having it on in the house, so getting her to wear it indoors to get used to it didn't work at all. I put it on her to go out, and she knows she gets a treat and a walk once it's on - she doesn't actively fight it, but she messes around a bit, then caves in coz she knows she's not going out otherwise.
I use one of the padded haltis, because she does try to rub her nose on the grass when she's wearing it and her nose started to get quite sore. The padded halti doesn't seem to irritate her quite as much.
A couple of times she has managed to get it off ( due to a very silly shaped head!) , but I'm wise to her now and usually spot what she's doing in time.

I stick with it because she's prone to panicking, and it's the only thing I've found that lets me keep control of her long enough to calm her down. (Large dog, small owner.) I've also found that I can control her scavenging better, and she also snaps when things scare her - I can pull her head away before she makes contact. ( She can't wear a muzzle due to her head shape.)

So the dog is not a fan, and is happier without it, but a lot safer with it - I'm much happier knowing what the head end is doing. Also, as a BT she has a very strong neck, so there aren't the issues around damaging the neck that are a problem for some dogs.

MrsTinks

We're fans too! Well as elsien then I am a fan... the mutt not quite so enthusiastic She will take every oppertunerty to try and rub it off on the ground, posts or best of all people!
Whilst Kira is good on walks with me she can be a handfull with other people and even if with me she will still have the occasional crack at other dogs (still!) and it just means I don't get my wrists and shoulders yanked which causes my inflamed tendons to flare up.
When we first got Kira though she was a nightmare to walk! Back then I would be dragged down the road if she happened to feel like it, until we got the Halti... It meant it was easier to keep her attention and therefor keep control of her. Never yank on it though! If the dog runs to the end and pulls herself round that's one thing, pulling on it purposely to "punish" them might really hurt their necks. Oh and some dogs will develop a strong neck and can ignore you so don't forget it's a training tool, not really a permanent solution

redmel1621

Hi

We have one for our dog too....
He had never been walked on a lead when we got him at 1.5/2yrs old and he is labxnewfie, so a big strong dog. At first we thought we were making progrss with a normal lead/choke chain, but he had other ideas and seemed to get worse the more we tried with him....anyway end result oth me and dh pulled a muscle in our arm trying to walk him to the school in the mornings.
Went out, bought Halti, never looked back.........I would love for him to come off it eventually but he is just terrible for pulling, even tries pulling on this (without much luck)

Strange thing is, if we walk him to the little green down the end of our street, or through the alleyways to a larger field nearby, we don't even need him on a lead he walks by our side good as gold????? I'm just too weary to do this when walking by main roads in case he runs into the road and causes an accident.

Mel x

churchrat

thanks all for the great advice. went and got one this afternoon!!!!!!! tried it out, fisrt in house and then outside. he got out of it the first time, my fault as didn't do it up tightly enough. 2nd time out--what a difference!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ruff is a
jackrussell xsheep with springs for legs. also a rescue which did not seem to have been walked much on a lead before. even one walk has been so different to the others. only had him a couple of weeks and he is a great little dog, hopefully walking down first and the rest to follow.
again
many thanks
churchrat:beer:

mrs_pepperpot_3

couldnt cope without the haltis. great design.

tobykim

We have 2 Jack Russells and due to the fact that my Husband walks them out in the open neither are used to collars and leads and pulled like crazy, I invested in non pull harnesses which are really great, they just slip over the head and then each leg goes through a padded strap really easy to put on, had harnesses in the past that were really difficult, got them from vio-vet

http://www.viovet.co.uk/p1016/Company_of_Animals_-_Non-Pull_Harness_-__Medium/product_info.html

cheapest I could find, available in small, med and large we use the medium