First night of puppy class

[ArthurDudley]

i've been looking at classes to maybe attend, there are so many i think i need to ask the vet who is good as i'd probably battle with the teacher if they suggested either a prong or a chocker, for ours we use harness's too as i was concerned with the constant sniffing & pulling on the collars doing long term damage to their necks, i got some Company Of Animals non pull harness's in small, they make a massive difference as the lead is above so i am lifting them rather than pulling them, i have the tape extended extractable leads too so they can be close on paths & run about in the open fields till/if i can ever trust them to be let off, halti's are great as you lead with the nose but Beagles generally have their noses to the floor so i'm not sure they'd do the job

[kathiam]

Yeah I don't want to hurt her but I need find something that works with her. My biggest concern isn't keeping her from wandering so much as she wants to run out into the road when cars come and for a little dog she has a great pull there are times where I have struggled to pull her back with the conventional collar and leash I use now. I am afraid that with the collar stretching out that it will pop off and away she would go. I will have to look into a harness and see if that will help.

[kathiam]

Originally Posted by ArthurDudley

i've been looking at classes to maybe attend, there are so many i think i need to ask the vet who is good as i'd probably battle with the teacher if they suggested either a prong or a chocker

The thing is this trainer was recommended to me by our vet. They give out her card in all their puppy packs. The trainer had loaned a prong collar to one of the lab owners in our class to use and the woman said she absolutely loved it and it worked wonders on her dog but I was nervous looking at it thinking about putting it on my Lily. I have talked to other dog owners and they all seem to swear by one or the other of those collars...but I wanted to get opinions of others before I go buy anything.

[ArthurDudley]

i found most things do work short term, i have never used the prong collar but i had a choker for my husky & it didn't stop him, though neither did the harness or the canny collar, i used the gentle leader nose band for him on days i wasn't feeling quite so strong to handle him, as he was intelligent enough to work out how to be the most well behaved hound in dog class but back out at home he reverted to normal, i'm suprised just how strong the Beagles are now at nearly 5 months & you can imagine how difficult it is to teach a pair together, i'm just hoping constant routine/schedule/teaching will sink in eventually but its hard to get them to listen when they are so busy =)

[Tucker]

I wouldn't use a prong collar on a beagle. I think they work better on bigger breeds. We used a chain (choke) on Tucker just for training purposes. Otherwise we use a harness for him. I am trying to just use the harness for the girls as the chain occasionally choked Tucker when he was insistant on sniffing something despite the chain. I tug on the harness and it seems to get the same message accross, just not as quickly. We NEVER use the regular collars to take the dogs for walks. It is too easy for them to choke and they can come off.

[deardaisy]

I use a harness on Seamus as well. It IS much better than the collar alone, but even with it he still pulls. And since Seamus wants to befriend every person, dog, slowing car he can, on top of his Beagle super-nose, he pulls a lot.

[kathiam]

Originally Posted by deardaisy

I use a harness on Seamus as well. It IS much better than the collar alone, but even with it he still pulls. And since Seamus wants to befriend every person, dog, slowing car he can, on top of his Beagle super-nose, he pulls a lot.

Slowing car? Lol Lily likes to go for any vehicle no matter how fast it's zooming by. She wants to be friends with anything that moves (unless of course it's bugs or butterflies those she just wants to eat). I felt so bad for her when we were camping we had to run to the grocery store. I wandered the parking lot with her and she whined and cried and tried following everyone in the parking lot and NOBODY would stop to pet her. I asked myself why nobody would want to pet such a cute 'lil thing as Lily but I guess not everyone is a dog person as odd of a concept as that may be. Finally right before my husband came out a lady stopped to pet her and she was so excited she peed. Luckily it was not on the lady's foot but that made my day that someone took the time to stop and pet my beloved furry baby.

[ljas]

Has anyone tried a Halti? It is similar to a gentle leader. I have used it with rescues who are large, strong, and have damaged windpipes from abuse. It seems to work well on otherwise difficult to manage dogs.

[ArthurDudley]

aww i think its lovely how Beagles assume everyone will be their best friend on the street

i've used a halti but not on the Beagles

[sr41056]

I agree with Deardaisy, go with the Halti.

Read my article at ezine.com about Beagle leash pulling:

Beagle Training - How To Stop Your Beagle From Leash Pulling For Good!