Hello Dogs, Kitties, PL's, Servants, Apes and what have ya.....
I am in a bit of a quandary....
We had an "INCIDENT" last night.
I normally walk all three dogs by myself. Lacie tugs a bit, but she weighs 12 lbs. Babystan is very good on a leash, but occasionally forgets himself when confronted with a flock of crows or the little Westie chick up the street of whom he is terrified....(Yes, I know...but he's a big marshmallow....)
Scruffy? Well, Scruffy is Scruffy. He loves to chase cars. He's almost been run over when wearing a flat collar as he lunges after them.
I've tried varying options, Gentle Leader head halters being one of them. They work, but Scruff and Stan detest them with passion....so I started using prong collars on the two of them. They worked amazingly well...the dogs know they're on and DON'T PULL... at all.
Well, last night we had a PROBLEM.
Somehow, Stan and Scruffy's prong collars hooked together. Very tightly, right at the necks....Scruffy completely freaked out and bit Stan and I had two snarling terriers trying to free themselves and kill/defend each other at the same time. Lacie, not to be outdone, kept zooming in yapping and shrieking at both of them. Two teenaged girls, whom I could have cheerfully strangled, almost fell over on the sidewalk laughing hysterically. (I do have a very over developed sense of humor, but it did fail me on this occasion.) Some lady ran out of her house on hearing all the racket and looked as if she wanted to call 911. At this point Stan's collar just fell off...and I was able to separate them. Thankfully, though Scruffy had some abrasions, no dog or human was really hurt. Babystan has darn good bite inhibition. (Thank you, Grandma Cathy!)
Does anyone have experience with no pull harnesses? Asta recommended the Gentle Leader Easy Walker and I tried it but think Scruffy is between sizes....
Has anyone used the Halti or the Sporn??????
I may just have to go back to the Gentle Leader for them, but I thought I'd ask you guys for opinions....
Still quaking.....
Love, Mumsie
29 comments:
We use the Gentle Leader Easy Walk on Pappy when DawgMom is walkin him places cause he's so...um...stout. It works great, it hooks in the front instead of the back & keeps him from pullin DawgMom around. Did you get yer award we left you??
Feather, Darla, Pappy & LizzaBella ^..^
oh, it's a harness, not a collar, forgot to say that.
Feather, Darla, Pappy & LizzaBella ^..^
Wow!! How awful. I'd be afraid to get between them, that's for sure.
Sorry, Munsie dear, but I cannot help you. I've only walked one Koobuss at a time, and sometimes that can be a challenge.
Good luck finding a solution.
Sending love and lots of Koobuss Kisses,
Koobie's Mom
hellow there!
I've been reading your bloggie for quite sometime already.
I am sorry to hear that the two boys had to go through this terrible ordeal. It must be pretty scary for you to see them struggling and trying to bite each other. If I was in your place, I would have strangled the two girls laughing at the incident. its just so insensitive!!
anyho, my hoomans use a harness for my walkies. i find that its more comfortable and easier to use for both hoomans and myself, esp. during those times when I'd get my sudden ADHD outbursts. Between using a collar and a harness, I think the "pull" in using a harness is minimized because the pressure spreads.. I'm not too sure if this works for everypup but I hope it will work for the kids!
good luck and we hope that you won't have the same problem again..
drooly kisses,
Aki
What a dreadful experience for you and as you say not funny at all!
Unfortunately we are unable to recommend anything but will watch your post.
We have the problem of Martha being able to do the basset trick of yanking her head to the side and getting her collar off!
We have harnesses which rub and irritate although they were fairly cheap ones.
We lost Martha on Friday at the woods after she took off after a deer.
Good luck and glad everybody OK.
love
Martha & Bailey xx
OMG, what a frightening experience! Now about those girls.............grrrrrrrrrrrr!
I wore 2 of those Gentle Leader harnesses out when I was less than a year old by pulling and mom refused to buy me another one. I now wear the prong collar and I don't mind it a bit!
Hope this helps!
Yer friend,
Mitch
Boy oh Boy - the joys of terriers.... We know the frustration of dogs with agendas of their own - part of their charm really... It must have been very frustrating and upsetting for you - the teenage girls were an added bonus no doubt - I am cursing them with really bad acne on your behalf!
Sadly, our Sally loves to pull - and when scared/frightened she will 'attack' her loved ones (Me, Paddy, pillows). If it is any consolation - you are not alone - we were walking in a village and Sally saw a very large Malamute - she got so scared when he came over that she bit Paddy's neck. I think it is a terrier thing...
But she will try to rip your arm out of its socket for any vermin she sees - for a small dog she has got some pull power.
We used the halti - which was very successful - we tried all kinds of collars - none worked. Now she is off the Halti - we are using the TTouch walk-in halter and the lead that clips on the Halter and the collar - it seems to balance her and she is easier to control if necessary. Paddy is a dream so although I walk two dogs - I only have to worry about the one.
I hope everyone is ok - generally they are more noise than actual hurt. I hope this helps - please let us know how you get on -
Take care
Diana for Sally and Paddy
I use the gentle leader front clip harness. I like it better than the nose thing and it still provides a way for me to communicate with mom.
Frankly, I am surprised that the Lacie even allows her feet to touch the ground. I would have thought she made you drag her about in a royal coach.
Kisses,
Dexter
We've have used a halti on Lucy until she destroyed it but up until then it did work. I'm lucky I guess because I just walk Noah and he never pulls infact I have to pull him...sigh. Bryan takes the girls and just puts up with them.
I think I'd try the halti on Scruffy. You can only give it a go. Can't hurt right...
Good luck, I feel for you, truly I do.
I know what its like to have dogs turn on each other. Lucy does it often to Tess or Willow. Everyone stares...
D xx
Hi, Mumsie...
Well that wasn't a very fun walk for any of you...
Those teenage girls need to learn some manners...
Anyway...I like my harness best...
But, I don't like to keep it on unless I am walking...
Good Luck finding the best solution...
Abby xxxooo
Okay, I'll admit it. Sometimes I wear a manssiere/manbra (Mommy here - it's a halter). You see, I can sometimes pull on the leash, especially when we get close to the dog run. I also am not afraid of cars (though I don't chase them) and I'm scared of buses. I'm embarrassed to wear my halter but Mommy seems to think I walk more gentlemanly when we use it.
Your pal in true confessions,
Petey
We use a harness with Teka, tried the front clip one, but she just kind of sommersaults all over the place trying to shed the thing. Gussie came with a Halti, hated it, and managed to get out of it before we hit the bottom of the stairs in VA, which was really scarey. So I worked one on one with him for hours, and now he is pretty good, except when he spies shhhhhhhh.....s.q.u.i.r.r.e.l.s!
They are terriers. Ours love to attack one another for no reason. We have finally convinced most of the neighbors we are not killing them. And we have met a lot of nice officers responding to the dog abuse calls.
muzzer
My mom says evfurry khanine is furry difFURent but she had some lukhk with these fur some of her past pullers:
http://www.softecollar.com/page3.html
My mom also says she feels fur woo - that must have been some skhary scene -
I hope Lacie did her best be have a skhream - I mean - CHAT with her brofurs after that!
Hugz&Khysses,
Khyra
Oh, I'm so sorry that happened to you. What an awful experience, and poop on those teenage girls for laughing! I use a Gentle Leader "snout leash" but I still pull and jump if I want to - just not as hard. We started with a Halti because it was recommended by a dog trainer but it didn't fit as well. Good luck!
See ya!
Joey
How scary!
I am so glad no human or animal was injured in the process.
My mum said she would have strangled the teenagers, just relieve the tension....
Deetzy
On Kirby we use the Gentle Leader Easy Walk harness. He loves to pull, especially when he sees one of his pals while we are out walking. I chose the Gentle Leader because all the other harnesses only came in Small, Medium and Large, and Kirby was between a medium and a large, so I could never get a good fit and the front would droop down. Then I saw this harness and saw that it came in inbetween sizes like S/M and M/L. I got the M/L for Kirby and it fits great and we haven't had any more problems. I hope you find something that works for you guys.
Kirstin aka Kirby's Mom
This can happen even with regular collars. One time Trixie and Tucker's collars got stuck together by their tags. They didn't freak out quite as much as your guys did -- Trixie just started whining and trying to pull free, and Tucker was pretty much oblivious.
We tried a Gentle Leader on Tucker once and he hated it so much that he wouldn't even go for a walk once we put it on him. YMMV.
E Gads! Scary stuff. I would advise against a regular halter, but the one several foks have mentioned Gentle Leader type , where the leash attaches to the front of the halter across the chest would be my next try if I were you. Normally the prong works well, but I guess not with terriers battling :)
Yep, ya shoulda choked those teens alright.....
Hugs
Sunny &Jamie
oops I meant to say harness not halter...read harness everywhere I said halter..sheesh
How terrifying that must have been for everyone. We're so glad everyone came out alright, though probably shaken terribly. I've never heard of that happening before but will be sure to remember it and caution others who use prong collars.
You might try it on only one dog at a time, but I'd be afraid to use them again at all. We like choke chains (for walking only, never for running loose!) and a quick snap usually gets my attention for a nano-second or two, anyway. But then, my attention span rivals that of a goldfish.
Obedience classes are wonderful things, too. The people learn as much as the dog!
Wow, what a horrifying experience that must have been! We don't even want to tell you what our mom would have probably done to the teenagers! What jerks!
Usually the 3 of us don't get walked all at one time so we each use the prong collar (separately). We didn't know 2 collars could become tangled! Maybe you should try a Martingale collar on Stan and use the prong collar on Scruffy. Just a thought!
Aire-hugs,
Poppy, Penny & Patches
whew. we're so glad that you averted a disaster. those prong collars are dangerous. in our mom's opinion, all collars are dangerous. she lost a 3 month old puppy (Bijou) to a collar strangling accident. it was horrible.
SO! when our mom walks us we all wear martingale collars, which we can't slip out of. we are not big pullers though. mom has Brody wear a regular harness because he does pull and he chokes himself. silly dog.
BUT! when i, Bailey, was a young pup, and a puller, my mom had me wear a Gentle Leader and it cured me 100% completely. i am such a good boy that i didn't mind it too much, and i just walked like a perfect schnoodle, which everyone knows that i am anyway. HOWEVER, it's a head halter and some dogs detest them. i just say "tough love" to that. if you want to walk, then you put up with the head halter - Gentle Leader. most humans who are at least half-witted can adjust it to fit.
i used to slip out of my flat collar when i got to wear it, so now i wear a martingale collar. those tighten when you pull, and you can't get out of them. mom likes that. but the Gentle Leader is really the way to go if you are a bad puller.
good luck and be careful with whatever you put around our necks, okay? we don't recommend a martingale collar for wearing in the back yard or around the house. we wear breakaway collars when we are at home. if you want to know more about those, just email us and our mom will tell you all about them. she is VERY PARANOID about what she puts around our necks (since little Bijou went to heaven - just 3 months old - she lived with us for only 1 week). she won't even let us wear bandanas unless they are fastened with velcro. if they are the tieing kind, she will not let us out of her sight when we wear them.
i guess she just wants to keep us safe.
sorry that i have rambled on. our mom is pretty passionate about the subject of collars!
woofs.
How totally SCARY! I sure do hope you get it worked out. We just use the regular old harnesses that go over the chest and clip on the top. I can't believe Lacie didn't just beat the crap out of both of them.
pay someone else to walk the dogs...lol..i wish i could help...mj is nine and she still pulls some times...she hated the gentle leader and the halti...so now it is just the choke chain..which doesnt really help...and her normal collar...sorry i really am no help...call Ceasar Milano....lol
I used a halti on Sophie and her sister, when her sister was still around. I also used a double leash with them, which was much easier to manage than two separate ones. We had no problems with that.
-Sherry
Lacey! I do give diva lessons. Stella can tell you all about it. In terms of a simple beauty regime, the first thing you need to do is get rid of that hair and grow some fur. Trust me. It is much easier than having to go for clippings all the time. Then walk on pavement a lot. I like to call it nature's nail file.
xo
SB
We have heard good things about the GL harness but we couldn't get one to fit Phantom properly. He has a very long neck and one size was too small and the other was too big and neither really fit on his neck where it is supposed to. We just use the GL collar - only for Phantom, the other two walk nicely. He just LOVES to pull.
Woos, the OP Pack
First my girl tried that Gentle Leader thing that goes on my head. But she quickly gave up on it because I'd rather rub my face against the concrete sidewalk than wear that thing.
Then she tried the Gentle Leader chest harness thing. I could tolerate that but still didn't like it and it didn't work anyhow.
Then she tried the Sporn. That was okay until I'd put my head down to do some sniffing and then it would get all tangled up.
Now she's just given up and we walk Keeley style now which means we zig, zag, off-road it, stop to sniff everything, go backwards 10 feet, run ahead 20 feet, go the wrong way around trees and benches to make my girl look like a chump, I drag her, she drags me, etc.
We just use a fabric harness because it makes my girl feel like she could pull me out of trouble if she had to and if we just used my collar, I'd probably kill myself by pulling to hard.
Sorry for not having any good advice. Let my girl know if you find something that works.
Woof,
Keeley
Let us start by saying that our teenage girl was appalled by the teenage girls' laughter. She understands that girls her age can get goofy and silly sometimes (we just had an hysterical laughing attack while simply folding laundry), but that does NOT excuse their behavior. They have been scolded from afar.
We're probably not going to be of any help. Both of us use the basic harnesses when going for walks. (I've slipped out of my flat collar and that about gave Mom a heart attack.) They work pretty well, even though Fergi's can pull completely to one side when another dog approaches and she freaks out. That's when Mom has to pick her up.
We hope you get it figured out. We keep having visions of your horrible incident. We're glad no one was hurt.
Jake and Fergi
we wear the easy walk harness. it hooks in the front, and is impossible to back out of. Shelties are good at backing out of almost anything... If you look around on line you can even get cool colors - like the pink ones we have, and, because they hook in the front, you might get your leash under your foot, so thats where the bungee leash made by genuine dog gear comes in. you can hook 3 or 4 leashes to one of their handy dandy tabs. one holder, multiple dogs!
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