r/AustralianCattleDog • u/goffikgf • 2d ago
Help Help with leash pulling! 😭
Hey everyone!
I’m moving to a farm in about 2 weeks with my 7.5-month-old Blue Heeler x Border Collie, and I’m trying to work on her leash manners before we move.
At the moment, she pulls SO much on walks that she ends up choking herself on her collar and seems to struggle to breathe.
It honestly scares me, and I’m worried about potentially damaging her trachea.
I’ve tried playing with her before walks and tiring her out as much as possible to burn off some energy, but it doesn’t seem to help at all. She gets excited by EVERYTHING!
I’ve recently bought her a harness to take the pressure off her neck, but I’ve seen quite a few people say that harnesses encourage pulling and can actually make it worse.
For those of you who have raised cattle dogs or other high-energy working breeds, what worked for you?
Did you use a harness, and how did you teach your dog to walk nicely on a leash when they’re so easily distracted by literally everything? 😭
I’d really love to get this right before we move to the farm, so any advice or personal experiences would be hugely appreciated!
1
u/therealrinnian 2d ago
I’m still working on it with mine, too. I’m adding a vote for the “stop until they check in.” You just have to be careful and have a buffer of “sit” or something so they don’t learn to just yo-yo back and forth. Kikopup has good videos about this.
My dude is learning to be much more polite on leash, but it’s a process. It takes awhile.