[matkotomic11]

Hi, we have a 8 month old girl Csilla and are having problems with walking on leash.
She is pulling a lot, it's not like she is pulling in 100 directions all at the same time (her behaviour isn't hectic).
But pressure on lead is constant. I've read pretty much all posts here for this problem. I've tried using "let's go/good girl" command so she looks at me every time I say it during the walk (then I give her the treat), because I want her to focus on me. I've also been doing changing directions technique, so that she knows that she needs to follow me if she wants to go somewhere.

We've been dealing with this for few months now. Some days are better some are worse, I guess that's normal for teenage phase.
But she is so interested in everything, her mind is in thousand places all at same time when she's out, and her nose is working overtime.
I've used all kinds of treats, but she seems like she cannot help herself when there are new smells/dogs/things (hard for her to focus).
She didn't have her first heat, also wanted to mention.

Maybe I'm not doing it with enough consistency and should develop strict schedule for every day. To focus more on let's say technique/quality of walking instead of walking for the sake of it.
it. Perhaps play fetch so she is more tired before our walks in order to focus more (she is of leash for 1-1.5h a day).

It's funny because inside the house, she never ever destroyed anything, amazing in terms of walking, recall, focus. So she apparently knows it all, but once outside everything else is more important.

Thank you for all the answers in advance!

Matko A first time V owner

 

[Gabica]

Sounds very normal for an 8 month old vizsla and good that you called out how much of a good girl she is at home.
I have learned to change my expectation regarding leash walking with my first boy and lowered the amount of leash walking while significantly increasing the off leash runs and games, like playing fetch, just as you mentioned. One trainer even told me to do a walk like 5 steps on loose leash and then reward with a free to sniff session, gradually increasing the steps on loose leash. He was also not that interested on treats when we were outdoors, the new scents were higher motivator. My second boy was more into treats on the street as well, so it was a little bit easier with him, after he finally accepted that the leash is not a toy
When i felt that i am beginning to fly on the other end of the leash instead of getting frustrated i had to remind myself many times that they were bred to walk in front os us to find birds and small game and not next to us.
When out at exciting places i use a leash which wraps around their bodies, that helps immensely and does not put pressure on their neck / trachea area.
Hope this helps

 

[matkotomic11]

Since she's still a puppy and not fully trained, I have to keep her on leash during walks because I don't trust her yet to walk off leash. Ultimate plan is to have our walks without the leash and her being fully aware of where she can and cannot go with full gas. Thnx for your advice

 

[Sophie01]

What helps a lot for me is to attach the leash to the ring at her chest, not the ring on her back. I heard someone say it's like sled dogs - they naturally pull against the pressure if they're held back. Hooking the leash in the front doesn't allow them to do that. It's a bit awkward at first but my V adjusted to it on the first walk. Good luck!

 

[Arnaldo Quintini]

Hi Matko,

Kinda crazy but I feel you're basically describing our dog. She's about 15 months old now and starting to get the walking on a leash thing. She has never destroyed any furniture in the house besides some blankets we allow her to have. We spayed her at the 12 month mark. She's always been a super puller on the leash, always wanting to get to places and getting sometimes too excited for any type of encounter with another dog, person, etc. Because of that we reduced walking her on a leash everyday from the time she was 10 months until maybe 2-3 weeks.

This is what has been working for us so far: First we let her go to the dog park and run around for about 45min, after that when she's more tired we would put a Halti Headcollar on her and start walking very short sessions with her and lots of treats, about 5-10min for a couple of weeks. I feel that the head collar slowly reset her way of walking on a leash. Now, instead of the Halti, we get her on a 6ft leash iso she has some more wiggle room and start walking with her in different directions and praising her when she's not pulling. It's been about a week now of this routine and I can say her pulling has diminished to a 10-15% of the time so we are really happy as it has only been a couple of weeks with the new routine. Still lots to work on but it's super encouraging when the pup starts realizing how to behave in the world.

Keep at it

 

[TrumpetBlast]

Walking nicely on leash has been on the back burner but we've touched on it at certain points since she was a puppy, so she knows the general idea. Definitely does better walking after she has had her time running off leash! Since she has turned two, I have refocused my efforts on walking nicely. She is getting it, but it's definitely been a slow process. Her command is "By me" and then it's lots of praise and treats every few steps. I am gradually increasing the amount of time she is to walk nicely before being released to go ahead or sniff, etc; When she does it, she does it well and I am the proudest dog mom around! Just keep at it and it will eventually click!

 

[matkotomic11]

Hi Matko,

Kinda crazy but I feel you're basically describing our dog. She's about 15 months old now and starting to get the walking on a leash thing. She has never destroyed any furniture in the house besides some blankets we allow her to have. We spayed her at the 12 month mark. She's always been a super puller on the leash, always wanting to get to places and getting sometimes too excited for any type of encounter with another dog, person, etc. Because of that we reduced walking her on a leash everyday from the time she was 10 months until maybe 2-3 weeks.

This is what has been working for us so far: First we let her go to the dog park and run around for about 45min, after that when she's more tired we would put a Halti Headcollar on her and start walking very short sessions with her and lots of treats, about 5-10min for a couple of weeks. I feel that the head collar slowly reset her way of walking on a leash. Now, instead of the Halti, we get her on a 6ft leash iso she has some more wiggle room and start walking with her in different directions and praising her when she's not pulling. It's been about a week now of this routine and I can say her pulling has diminished to a 10-15% of the time so we are really happy as it has only been a couple of weeks with the new routine. Still lots to work on but it's super encouraging when the pup starts realizing how to behave in the world.

Keep at it

Thnx for sharing . That's exactly what I've started doing few days ago. 30-40 minutes of constant fetch, and then 10-20 minutes sessions of walking exercises. Changing directons, bumping into her (that is especially effective because she's looking at me "what the **** are you doing" ) and lot's of treats and praise. It's a lot of work, I've been planning of getting Vizsla or GSP for 2 years. But you cannot be fully prepared just with reading and videos

 

[callagyl]

I highly recommend the gentle leader - around $16 on Amazon. Miracle for leash pulling, and just getting out 'taking him' for a walk, rather than the other way around. It's super easy, effective and I just use it when walking on leash. He's off leash most of the time I let him, but, when I need him to come along it's a dream.