Collar and lead, halti or harness?

[bigpaws]

When walking your dog(s) do you use a collar and lead, a halti head collar (or simular) or harness? Which of those do you prefer? And why?

Also what would you recomend for a young pup? Please.

[Jon]

I use a collar and lead, I brought them from a friend who has them made.

I was lucky with Jackson, he caught onto heel walking easily, and can walk to step if he concentrates.

[Stuart]

Each has their own good uses,... there is no beating good training and being able to walk a dog on a normal leather collar, [ or half choke ] and a nice lead, and that I think is what most people would like to do.

However some people do have problems, and a head collar is a great tool in controling a pulling dog. The `Gencon` is a very good item, and has been proved to be a good training tool many times

I use both the above at different times,.. I personaly dont like harnesses, but I am sure they do have their place

To anwser your question regarding the pup,... then it has to be a nomal collar and lead, and train to the perfect walk from an early age, you will benifit greatly if you get it right,... just please bear in mind, that it will not be worth spending lots on a collar in the early days, as the pup will out grow quite a few of them as he/she grows, and care must be taken in checking the collar regular,... dont use a head collar on a pup, I am also against extenable leads

[Jon]

Originally Posted by Stuart

To anwser your question regarding the pup,... then it has to be a nomal collar and lead, and train to the perfect walk from an early age, you will benifit greatly if you get it right,... just please bear in mind, that it will not be worth spending lots on a collar in the early days, as the pup will out grow quite a few of them as he/she grows, and care must be taken in checking the collar regular,... dont use a head collar on a pup, I am also against extenable leads

this is basically what u wanted to say....

When you spend lots of time with the training in the early days you have to be warned... it gets addictive...

I've found myself making up games to test Jackson... recently we have been doing seeking games... I've been catapulting his ball across the field with him in a down.. (sometimes when he stays) and then releasing him... he can find it... but I want to see if he can when there is no visual... SO..... I've hidden a ball in a bush in the park this morning... I'm going to see if he can find it tonight....

[zetstaff]

Flat collar + lead for a little puppy, please don't use a check or half check on a little bubba. With a harness you don't have as much control so collar + lead is better.

If you start training very early, your pup will be walking to heel well within no time + you won't need to use a head collar

Good luck

[wildmoor]

I only use a headcollar on my male on the estate due to latchkey dogs roaming, I only use a harness for tracking

[ROXY]

Normal collar and lead for me but my other half prefers a harness as she feels she has more control but I don`t agree. A harness can be good to control a dog that leaps up or working on the recall as the long line won`t get wrapped up on their legs but there are too many straps everywhere and when dogs meet and play they get tangled up.

Tried the Halti but had too many tangles and was not fun for either of us.

In my eyes extendable leads are dangerous unless used in a small area like a garden.

A normal collar and lead is what I want to use all the time and it is good for correcting so I have stuck with this and with time and paitence we are getting there. In my opinion only a comfortable collar and lead should be used on a growing puppy and simple and consistent training with loose lead walking will mean you won`t need to use anything else


Matt

[LucyA]

As a tiny pup, we walked our boy on a normal flat collar and lead.
As he got bigger and stronger we moved on to various different methods but the one I use now and swear by is a gencon.
However, initially, I would get your pup used to a flat collar, train, train and train, take advantage of the time you have while your pup is small enough to be shown without a struggle!
If you start finding he is pulling and you are not able to correct it properly then I would try a gencon.
However, I will say that for safety (my boy is a handful and can be sneaky) I walk him with his gencon, control with his gencon but I always also have his flat collar and clip lead on just incase he ever managed to slip it, there are times when I have seen him do it in the car and it worries me - I have not had to resort to using the lead as a back up yet but it always there just incase.

[LOVEGSD]

My lad is walked on a normal flat collar and lead and this is the way to go with a young pup. I did use a halti for a bit but we cracked the walking to heel so I haven't used this for years.

Nothing wrong with using headcollars or harness' to walk your dog on as he/she gets older, use whatever you feel happy with and works for you, better to have control than be dragged down the road...lol

[bigpaws]

Thank you, you all said what i thought a plain collar and lead. I have had a few people telling me i should use a harness from the start. ( I think thats just being lazy and not training a puppy properly )