[~Karla~]

I've had Bickie walking beautifully on the Halti even though she hates it. She keeps pawing at it and rubbing her face on the ground when she's got it on, and yesterday, she has clearly rubbed her face in something she's allergic to as she has big patches of skin irritation around her nose etc now. The vet thinks its purely a contact allergy so nothing to be concerned about at this stage, but I don't want to put the Halti on her face when it's already irritated.

What's the next best thing to try? She will be wearing a chest harness once she's completed her training, so should I get some sort of anti-pulling chest harness for now? She's much better on the lead, but still pulls and jumps when she sees other people and dogs. I'm hoping it will only be a temporary thing until she's properly lead trained.

[judeact2]

I'd love to have ideas on this too. Our 18mth old labrador can't stand the Halti on his head either.

[*Spikey*]

Ouch. I'm wincing on Bickie's behalf.

I would go back to using either a flat collar or shift to a martingale style one.



I tend to avoid harnesses, and a lot of dogs can pull on those quite successfully. They're also not as sensitive to the feel of your movement across their chest - the neck and face collars do work much better.

[~Karla~]

Thanks Spikey. Yes, poor little Bickie is quite sore. She's pawing and rubbing less today though, which is good.

Maybe I'll just go back to using her normal collar and lead and being firmer with her. She's really paying much more attention to the "bah!" now - it's like she's really decided she wants to do the right thing for me now. I just hate when she lunges and pulls and the ends up coughing and gagging.

[~*Twilight~Zone*...]

Maybe use a combination of a collar and a harnass. Harnass to hold her and the collar to control her IYKWIM.

I do this with my great dane except I use a harnass and a halti. He is too strong for me otherwise.

[FiveAus]

I've hit on a method that works with my pulling girl. I usually use a front attaching harness, which is successful but the other night, I grabbed a slip lead to walk her on, as I was in a hurry to get out the door.

The slip lead has a sliding leather tab to keep the loop in place and to stop her head fom coming out. I placed the loop very high on her thrat and pushed the leather tab down firmly to keep it in place. I walked with a short lead at first, then loosened it as we progressed on the walk. If she pulls, the loop tightens around her throat. When she backs off, the loop loosens slightly and takes the pressure off.

The lead is soft, thick rope and doesn't cut into her, just tightens until she backs off. It works beautifully but the trick is o keep it high on her neck, with the tab holding the loop in place behind her ear.