Gentle Leader headcollar

[keljo]

I finally picked up one of these collars for Peanut tonight. I had taken the advice of others and picked up a prong collar, but I just couldn't use it with Peanut. Especially since I'm realizing her aggression is from fear. I'm hoping to have great success with this new collar :)

[nancy]

Hi Keljo, I picked up Breaghs one yeasterday and she does not like it but I am not giving up, I took her out on it this morning and got half way round the wood before she tried to get it off and I will use it again tonight . The other two walks I put her on her other coller I'm trying not to upset her too much before she gets used too it. Let me know how you get on.

[keljo]

Peanut is pretty good, especially with me. She has issue when we encounter otehr dogs and some people. One person she has weird issues with is my husband. He can take her for a walk.. bring her in and when he goes to take the leash off.. she will occasionally snarl/snap at him. I can't figure out why. She also does the same behavior if we are lying down in bed or if she's on the chair or couch with him. I want to increase her time in the headcollar so that we can use it to retrain her with those behaviors. She doesn't do any of that behavior with me.

what i did last night was I left the head part on, but let the nose loop off so that it dangled under her chin. It didn't bother her and let her get accustomed to the one part. I took it off at bedtime and her regular collar is on right now. When I get home I'll put the headcollar back on and work with her, and again leave it on till bedtime. It seemed to work well last night this way.

[keeks62]

I bought one for Teagan when she was a pup. She HATED it. It must have looked very funny- me versus a small puppy. She wouldn't even walk and tried to bite me when I went to put it on her. I bought the Easy Walk Harness (made by the same people as the Gentle Leader) and it made a WORLD of difference. She isn't too fond of it, but walking is sooo much easier!

[nancy]

Breagh was much better on the G/L tonight and we went round the wood on our very best behavour it was a lovely walk usually she pulls untill we get into the wood but not tonight. Even when we met the one dog she hates because he barked at her over the fence her first night here she did not lunge at him or even pull towards him she just kept walking with me looking at him I'm so proud of her.

[keljo]

ooo sounds good nancy. I have to get Peanuts back on her soon :)

[retriever crazy]

i should get one of those for Lilly. do they work on aggressive dogs ?

[nancy]

Yes they do , it turns the dogs head towards you and as the lead is attached to a strap under the chin it puts you in total controll. I could not believe the differance.

[retriever crazy]

wow, maybe i should get one for her ;) thanks

[Cheetah]

Actually, I find that it's not good for aggressive dogs. If they are prone to lunging at other dogs, and you put one of these on them, it can seriously injure their neck during a lunge. >O.o<

[nancy]

My friends dog wants to fight other male dogs but when he is on the G/L he totally ignores them, I suppose it depends on how aggressive the dog is and how in controll you are. I am taking Breagh to her first Car Boot sale tomorrow on the G/L . This is to stop her jumping up on people and being too friendly with other dogs, she wants to play all the time. I will let you know tomorrow how we get on.

[ChessieLvr]

My friends dog wants to fight other male dogs but when he is on the G/L he totally ignores them, I suppose it depends on how aggressive the dog is and how in controll you are. I am taking Breagh to her first Car Boot sale tomorrow on the G/L . This is to stop her jumping up on people and being too friendly with other dogs, she wants to play all the time. I will let you know tomorrow how we get on.

Curious...What's a Car Boot sale?

[nancy]

A Car boot sale people load up things they want to sell into thier car and go to an organised sale whare they set up a stall and sell thier goods , They are on every Sunday up here. Breagh was a little star today did'nt put a foot wrong. She was looking at other dogs but not pulling towards them and just waitting till people came to her to pat her but no pulling. I spoke to her all the way round to reassure her as she has never been among so many people.

[Zoes_mama]

One person she has weird issues with is my husband. He can take her for a walk.. bring her in and when he goes to take the leash off.. she will occasionally snarl/snap at him. I can't figure out why. She also does the same behavior if we are lying down in bed or if she's on the chair or couch with him. I want to increase her time in the headcollar so that we can use it to retrain her with those behaviors. She doesn't do any of that behavior with me.

I think what your husband needs to do is establish his place with your dog. Your dog seems to think he/she is above him which is why he/she snaps and snarls. This was how Zoe was up until a little while ago. I started doing things like making her sit before I feed her, take her out, before I give her a treat. Basically make them work for everything. Don't let them sit on furniture or be on your level. When you get up in the morning, when you come home anytime, ignore them for 5 minutes, then give them a treat. This usually helps. Worked wonderfully with Zoe.
I have the Gentle Leader for Zoe as well and it does work very well. Way better then that harness by the same company. The Harness usually just encourages pulling for a lot of breeds. But she really seems to hate the G/L. The first half of the walk, she'll stop every 7min to pull it off. by the second half, she's calmed down pretty good, though. Zoe is also an alpha, so she really tries to get at other dogs and snaps if they are not submissive. She really loves the submissive ones :D So when I see a dog coming I make her sit, then I'll ask if the person's dog is friendly. If yes, I let her smell it out. This, however, makes for very long walks lol.

[Becky]

I agree with the above.

If she snaps at him, he needs to establish himself as a [benevolent] leader. Everybody in the family should put the dog on the NILIF program (Nothing in Life is Free). What that means it that the dog litterally has to do some kind of work (such as sit/shake/down) before it can have what it wants (that includes petting, playing, etc). And, for now, have your husband be the only one that feeds her. Before he puts the bowl down, she must (just for instance) sit, shake, down before she gets her food. Also, she should be the last one out the door for walks/potty breaks.

You might also be interested in the pamphlet by Patricia McConnell : How to be the Leader of the Pack, and Have Your Dog Love You for it

[Cheetah]

I've been looking for that pamphlet... where can I find it?

[Mike_SK]

I was just wondering if you find the Halti to be the same as the GL and if there are any differences. I'm using a Halti right now and it seems to work quite well, but have heard more people using the GL.

[nancy]

The G/L is less likely to move once on the dog and gives much better controll as it attaches to the lead under the dogs chin.

[Zoes_mama]

I made a mistake. It's actually the Halti that I have for Zoe. It works well for my needs. Her body follows wherever I lead her head. No pulling. I'm not sure how the G/L works. But here is a link for each one that shows you the differences.
Halti - http://www.companyofanimals.co.uk/halti.php
Gentle Leader - http://www.premier.com/pages.cfm?ID=29

Hope this helps!

[Becky]

I've been looking for that pamphlet... where can I find it?

I got mine off of amazon, but I think a lot of dog oriented sites might also have it. I'm thinking sitstay.com has it.