Gentle Leader/ Halti Head Collar - Confused!!

[Chrystie22]

Our trainer at the dog class advised us last night to use a head collar on Diva as it may help with stopping her pulling too much on walks; I have done a search and am a bit confused: is there a difference bewteen a Halti collar and a Gentle Leader collar, and if yes which one works best?

No difference, both are head collars. The halti is probably quicker to put on.

There's also a gencon all in one which is often tolerated better by dogs. The good thing with that is you can use it as a slip lead or have the nose part attached for more control.
GenCon All-in-1

[GobbySchäferhund]

I use the Halti head harness (Well i say harness its just a strap that goes round the back of the neck and comes loosley around the mouth like a muzzel, but the dog can still open thier mouths).

She has responded very well with it and i would recommend it to any one with a pully dog.

I picked the HALTI up for £10 in Pets@ Home and they do 4 sizes.

[mackico]

Head harnesses don't really work on Archie anymore. He's worked out how to angle his head just so, so that he can pull like a tank in spite of it. And because it's a head collar, I can't give him a leash correction for fear of injuring his neck. I usually stick with the flat collar and a bag of treats these days.

A head collar will probably work, at least in the beginning, though.

As for the differences between a Halti and a Gentle Leader:

- The Gentle Leader has to be fitted absolutely just-so, or else it will twist the dog's nose/face when the dog pulls.
- The fitting process is actually quite difficult with a Gentle Leader. With Archie, when we tightened it to the recommended tightness about his neck, he began to make an awful snorting choke, which wasn't nice, so he always wore it too loose.
- The noseband and the neck strap are both fitted on the Gentle Leader, whereas the Halti has a sliding noseband.
- The Halti has cheek straps that prevent it from twisting too far to either side. The Gentle Leader does not
- Newly purchased Haltis come with padded nosebands. I adore this feature, as Archie's Gentle Leader used to dig into his nose and I always felt terribly about using it.

[Heather]

Originally Posted by mackico

Head harnesses don't really work on Archie anymore. He's worked out how to angle his head just so, so that he can pull like a tank in spite of it. And because it's a head collar, I can't give him a leash correction for fear of injuring his neck. I usually stick with the flat collar and a bag of treats these days.

Same here! Kira pulled so much that she wore through a couple of Haltis. So I'm doing the stop dead and walk backwards method with her now.

If you're choosing between Halti and Gentle Leader I tried both and preferred the Halti.

[-Wayne-]

Hi we started using a Halti head collar a few months ago on our 20 month old GSD he was 17 months when we started if im honest i think there over rated reggie our boy when first going out will try to pull it off his face ( looking like a right twat walking down the road ) and when he see other dogs as he trys to pull at them the halti will tighten up and slam his mouth shut when they pull which can make him bit his own lips etc.. when he pulls very hard he cuts his mouth everytime he go's out and trys to get to dogs . There is a lead part on the collar that clips to his stantard collar in case the dog gets out of the halti and belive me if you have a stressy dog that dont like things on there face you will need it reggie has got out of his a few times in fact a few times a week every week the only time he walks ok with it on is once his been for a run and on the way home but he will do that with a normal collar .

But yes if you are not a strong person you can hold him a lot better with a halti but NO it will no stop pulling on its own my other half can walk our dog with the halti but not with normal collar

But all dogs are not the same we still use the halti now but he still pulls on it just not as bad

But i would like to add our boy has a few problems when out with trying to get to other dogs which we are trying to get him out of so if you dont have a problem like this or your dog is cailm with things on its face you should be ok

But again i will say yes it will stop him pulling as hard but you will need to still train him/she as other wise soon as you take it off they will pull the halti will only tell them they cant pull with the thing on there face ( which is why our boys trys geting it off at the stat of walks )

At one point we was thinking it was on his face wrong but a vet had a look and said it was put on perfect and other halti users have looked and said it was put on fine ive spoke to a few people on walks about them and people with smaller breeds have got on well with them but 4 people with larger breeds ( 1 being a german shepherd owner ) only 1 said it worked perfect so really it on how your dog takes to it BUT WORTH A TRY !!

[Chrystie22]

Thanks All for the advice! We bought the Halti last night and will introduce it slowly by alowly to Diva over the weekend; I'll let you know how we get on, fingers crossed she'll take to it coz Im finding it increasingly hard to walk her as she pulls liek a train

[LucyA]

I think we will purchase a halti for Blitz - what size did you buy Jess Liam?
How adjustable are they? x

[GobbySchäferhund]

Hi

i bought Jess size 3

[Bonniesmummy]

I have a halti size 3 but think it's rather loose round the muzzle so I'm getting a dogmatic.... Much better fit and they are leather xxx