Leash Training nightmare!

[woogiebear]

Hi guys! Hello again! Time for an update for Rotten and Spoilt.
Well, Rotten must have been a runt because he is nearly twice as small as Spoilt! ( I think he topped at about 18 lbs) Spoilt is now 27 lbs of uncontrolable energy! (Not fat, he is healthy) I know I have posted before on the whoas of training these two bundles of fur but MY GAWD!!
When I take them on the leashes, Rotten does fairly well. But Spoilt...lets just say he lives up to his name! He yanks and tugs and pulls terribly. And if he sees something or someone or another animal the game is on! He barks and carries on and then when he figures out he can not get away he starts snapping at Rotten and have a mini snarling match of about a half a minute. I got shorter leashes to gain more control and that helped a bit. I had massive spinal surgery 9 years ago and this plays havoc on my back! I do not have a fenced in back yard and I do NOT have a hundred bucks to take ONE of them to obediance class. I thought I was done for.

However, the good news is someone at Petco (the topic came up in conversation) had suggested a training collar for him. She first suggested the Halti but I took them down with me this past weekend to check the collars out. (Man was that a mistake! I can not take these guys out in public anywhere....or more accuratly I can't take Spoilt...Rotten doesn't do that bad.) Anyways, I tried the Halti and NO GO. It looked much safer then the alternative collars BUT he just wiggled his big fat head right out of it quicker than spit and proceeded to bark at the huge grey sheepdog with the Easter bunny ears on his head. Ok....lets give the mean evil looking collar a try. It looked purely wicked. Big silver links with what looks like teeth coming out of it once it is pulled. I could just picture a manlged neck in the future.

You guys are not going to believe this but, just as my fears of crate training proved to be unfounded, so did my fears of this evil chain. I slipped it on and it worked instantly!! I could not believe it! I walked him last night and this morning (in fact we left the store with it on his neck) and he did not hurt me ONCE. He tugged once a very little bit when he saw a dog down the street and instantly stopped. I never had to tug or move the leash AT ALL where previously it was a constant tugging match. He did not seem to have any problem with wearing it at all, not like the other one he coudln't wait to get out of. He didn't take off jerking me around or pulling me along causing me to lose my balance. NONE of that business!! It was just great!

I was so scared that he might hurt himself but I had to try something! He is such a lovely, loving dog and so very affectionate! But I was happy to find a way to not totally HATE the potty walking job!!

[ColColt]

You said they first suggested a training collar...what sort of training collar did you end up with that worked?

[Michael Romanos]

I usually only use short and very lightweight chocker chains on my Corgis from day one, and they work perfectly well. If I have two Corgis who might be better off separated at certain occasions during a walk, I'd have one on my left and one on my right. As long as it is at walking pace, my Corgi will usually dictate the pace I go so there is no pulling and the Corgi is happy with the speed. This negates a lot of handlers who move too slow for their Corgis - inbetween their scenting and marking episodes.

[woogiebear]

The first one they suggested was the Halti and it was made of the nylon like some dog collars and leashes are made of. It went around thier head and then they had straps that came up around thier muzzle. That one he just wiggled out of. He didn't like it at all.

I bought the heavy duty chain one. You slip it over his head and attach the leash to the back of it. It has what looks like teeth or chain that once they pull on it, it acts like it is going to poke them and so they instantly stop. They do not pull at it cause they don't want to get poked. I was scared of it at first but it works because it is working with thier natural instinct not to shove thier throat into something pokey .... does that make sense?

[woogiebear]

I used the nylon collars and leashes at first. Thier normal collars are nylon. Rotten I have no control problems with and he can successfully walk with the nylon leash. It was Spoilt that hurt me so bad and short of jogging there was no *pace*. He continually yanked and tugged at me and then when someone or something, animal or human (once even a trash can....I guess he couldn't see it that well in the dark) came into view then the real struggle stared. It was unbearable and extremely painful for me.

[Michael Romanos]

I don't think your problem is much different to anyone else who might have a headstroing Corgi when it comes to on leash walking and running, but a short extremely lightweight chocker chain is very suitable for Corgis because Corgis only weigh upwards of 35 lbs and the control presented with a lightweight chain is better in giving out signals and less hurtful ( if a slight jerk of it is required)) than a heavier kind. And it certainly presents a better look - who really wants to see a little Corgi with a heavy, chunky chain.

[Clogs]

Leash training the Clog was a nightmare to begin with. She tugged and twisted and thrashed all the time. After two weeks, I was getting desperate and rang the breeder for advice as I'd never had such a problem before.
He said to get a short length of light chain that would just touch the ground when the dog was standing, but not drag enough to trip her, and leave it on her collar 24/7. The idea is that the dangling chain becomes an accepted part of the dog, in their minds and so they stop fighting it, allowing you to substitute the chain for a lead.
I left it for three days and it worked like magic. We didn't need to switch to a choker, as we had thought.
I realise the situation here is a little different, but the same approach might be worth a try.

Good luck!

[corgimom]

Woogiebear,

Is the collar you bought for Spoilt a prong collar?

[Chip's Mom]

When Chip was little, I used a small leash about 8 inches long and attached it to his collar and let him drag it around while I could watch him for an hour or two a day It wasn't long before he just walked with his leash. Dale has been easier because he follows Chip leash or no leash. I wouldn't want to use a prong collar either so hopefully some of these suggestions will help you.

[Jeni D]

Dudley was, and to a point still is, a nightmare with leash training too. I didn't want to get the prong collar unless absolutely necessary, so I tried the harness, and it works great! I have much more control over him and he quits pulling as soon as the leash gets tight. I know the harness does not work for many dogs because it supposedly encourages pulling, but it did wonders for Dudley.

[dcole]

I actually like the prong collar. It was what Trevor's obedience instructor recommended. At first, I was hesitant (yes, it looks evil) but then I researched it and found out in fact it is MUCH less dangerous than a choker chain. And, as they suggest, I did try it out on myself (put it around your leg and yank harder than you ever would on a leash - no problem! )

Anyhow, Trev learned to walk great with it, in fact, I still walk him with it, although he needs very little, if any correction these days. Maybe a barely perceptible flick of my wrist and he is going in the direction I want him to.

I got him the prong collar with the smaller links (so he didn't look like a rapper ), and just added links for length as necessary.

One thing about the prong collars: they CAN come undone at the links if twisted in a certain way, resulting in the collar falling to the ground with the leash still attached to it! I had that happen once, but fortunately, Trevor obeyed my "down, stay" while I re-attached the links. BTW, I have since learned that the solution to that problem is to attach a small (4-6 inch) lead from the ring on the prong collar to his normal everyday collar.

[woogiebear]

I did not have a problem with him being on the leash. That is fine. The problem is AFTER he gets on the leash and is obviously much stronger than I am and decides HE is going to walk ME.

With Rotten, when he gets too eager, a slight tug brings him right back in line. That and the word *come!* When we are in the house, he is a little slower following the command so I still need to work with him on it some more. I am not sure if he got off his lead he would respond on command like I want him too YET.

Spoilt does not respond to that command at all yet. Part of the problem in working with these two with that command is the little boogers literally follow me EVERYWHERE around the house LOL!! They are at my feet every waking moment they are out of thier crates. So like I said....I am still working on them following that command and then I will move to another.

Spoilt, once he gets out of the house, immediatly pulls HARD on the leash. He will literally drag me down the walk with no regard to Rotten or me. It is not that he is trying to get off the leash, he simply wants to GO! Let's go here! Let's go there! Let's see if Mommy can become a track star! And if someone or another animal is on the road OMG! He is not aggressive in the means that he would attack but he would surely run up to them and then bark his little fool head off making them think that he would! Cats, dogs, humans, it doesn't matter. He is an equal opportunity barkfest.

The prong collar I got, I had to get the large! (Can you believe it??) His head is so big! I am careful to keep the collar up while walking with him so that there is not a lot of slack so it won't go slipping around and such, but not tight. Does that make sense? I tried a simple choke collar once and it deterred him not one iota. He still ripped my arm off. In fact, this morning he saw another dog, and although he still ran back and forth in front of me at the full extent of the leash, (barking of course) he did not pull my arm out of socket! He maintained the length without pulling me off balance and without hurting himself in the process.

I especially like this as now I feel more comfortable with him in the fact that I can now spend more of my attention on training his behaviour rather than keeping ahold of him while trying to prevent more pain to myself. I had massive spinal surgery 9 years ago. I know I have mentioned this before but if you could only imagine a 27 lb dog yanking and jerking you in every position imaginable I was in immense pain after walking them every time. It got to where I didn't even want to walk them and that was not helping the house training at all! I dreaded walking Spoilt. Rotten I did not have a problem with but Spoilt.....I got to where I could not stand the walking hour. I dreaded it coming because why? I was going to be in excrutiating pain when it was done with. Not to mention I wanted the walk over quickly to minimize my injury, so they were not getting a full walk.

I even tried some of the training commands from that show The Dog Whisperer. Sometimes they work and sometimes not. My husband has been successful with the dominance move, however, they seem to know mommy is a pushover and it doesn't work for me. We keep trying though.

This collar is making everything so much easier. It really is. I stay out with them longer because I am not constantly wrestling with them. Now when he starts barking and acting like a looney, I can concentrate on talking to him, trying commands to see what I get a reaction from him with. I can spend my time more wisely in training (both me and him) because my attention is not focused somewhere else. Plus he is not getting hurt. This collar really is turning out to be a life saver for me.

And it isn't quite as big as a rappers chain LOL!! His fur is so very thick around his neck and I think I am going to have to maybe buy just a few more links. I am careful when I put it on him. He does not wear it all the time, ONLY when we go to walk for potty time.

[milles2]

My Obedience Club encourage the larger dogs who are pullers to use the "pinch collars" in training. Many of them do.

I puppy sat a Corgi w/ a pinch collar once. he certainly didn't pull with it on. But I also walked him w/o it and he did fine.

My puppy sittere tells me there is a right way and a wrony way to position the pinch collar on a dog's neck. I don't know enough about them other than to say I have seen people use them and apparently they work well.

[tandemgal]

removed by T-Gal

[woogiebear]

Yes it is helping immesely! My husband does walk them when he gets home from work but they seem to listen to him more than they do me. Also, he has more arm strength (he is a welder and uses his arms much more than I do) and so they can't do to him what they do to me. I tell you one thing....seeing a welder walking two corgi's down the street sure is a site!! LOL!! I take them early in the morning and late in the evenings. I don't know if it is the deepness in his voice versus mine or if they just know mama is a pushover but they mind him better than they do me. We are trying to use the commands we have seen on that show The Dog Whisperer and for my husband they work wonderfully. Can't say I am having as much luck as he is though.