Midnight is growing up. It’s hard to believe that she’s just over 9 months old now! She’s been with us for 6 months and it’s amazing how many changes she’s gone through in that time.
Last week we took her to the vet for a heartworm test and to start her on her first prescription of heartworm preventative medications. She’s had needles at the vets before but this was her first blood work. She did well and the heartworm test was negative.
While we were at the vets she got weighed and she’s up to 27.1 kg or 59.7 lb. Considering how sick she was the first two months she was with us I thought she’d probably top out at around this weight, but she’s still got some growing to do, so she might get a little bigger.
Anyway, with her weight up to close to 60 pounds I now know why she’s pretty much pulling Chris and I off our feet when we walk her. You wouldn’t think she’d be strong enough to pretty much drag an adult around, but she’s darn strong! I guess because she’s still quite low to the ground she’s able to pull us off balance.
We’ve tried taking her for walks with just a leash on – way too much pulling, used a gentle leader for a while but that took the hair off her muzzle, tried the Sporn halter for a few months and that worked well up until about a month and a half ago and then now we’re using a Comfort Wrap harness. The comfort wrap is working much better than the Sporn, but walks are still almost unbearable.
It’s gotten to the point that Chris complains that his knees are sore when he comes back from walking her. His shoulder is also sore too. I’m barely walking her these days. In an earlier post I explained that I’ve been dizzy several times over the last couple of weeks. If I’m feeling dizzy or weak or if my stomach is causing me pain the chances of her making me fall when I walk her is even greater. Just letting outside on her leash to do her business is a tug of war too.
It’s not like she hasn’t had any training. I work with her all the time to teach her new commands and tricks, plus she’s been through puppy training and intermediate dog training as well.
Earlier today I took her for a walk to the local corner store. Walking there was ok but she was acting up in the store. The store owner needed to get one of the things I was buying from a back storage area so I decided to continue our walk and then return to the store. Well, on our way back the store owner saw me being dragged around by Midnight. She thought it was funny, but I was exhausted by then! I was also frustrated and angry at Midnight. Crazy hyper Labrador Retriever puppy.
Any suggestions as to how we can get her to stop tugging, or do we just have to wait for her to calm down a bit more? She’s pretty good when she’s indoors, but she gets so excited when she’s outside that she barely listens to our commands.
It is amazing how soon they go from cute to huge!
The picture of the doggies are sooo cute! I have a kitten that is beginning to grow into a cat. When my family brought it home, it was so adorable but now it is getting bigger and more rambunctious. And when the cat/kitten jumps on the dining room table, it’s not so cute anymore. We now see the effort it takes to raise a pet that continues to grow.
I’m no dog training expert. You may want to try what I call a choker collar. We used on with my dog when I was a kid. It didn’t hurt the dog but would be uncomfortable when he pulled real hard.
The dog I have now I walk with no leash. I have trained her to stay on the sidewalk or not far up the lawns when walking in the neighborhood. When we walk through fields or trails she goes further from me but always stays in sight. When in the neighborhoods she is trained to sit near the curb and wait for a “cross” command before crossing the street. All of this off of the leash. I still have issues with her pulling when on a leash, probably because she prefers being off of it.
My current dog I am using a technique I have read about called “escape training”. You can read about it here
http://www.loucastle.com/escape.htm
It uses an ECollar.
Good luck with your dogs.
I would be very wary of choker collars and personally wouldn’t use one, they are like a lassoo which tightens around the dogs neck when they pull.
If your dug pulls, try a gentle tug to stop as soon as your dog starts to pull and then turn around and walk back the other way. Then as soon as she tugs again, do the same, stop and turn around.
Praise when she walks beside you calmly, it may take time, eventually she will grow tired and bored and will stop pulling.
My Pit bull pulls like she is on a daily pulling competition. I can completely relate to how you feel about your dog going from a cute puppy to a over powering big dog. I wish that I would have started the no pulling training early when my dog was younger and easier to control.
Lately I’ve been using a leather dog harness for walks these days and apply the turn and walk in a different direction method when ever she starts to pull. It’s been working, and my morning walks have been getting more and more enjoyable.
I do recommend the choker collar. Every time your dog pulls the leash you should give her a swift pull with the leash.