Friday, March 9, 2012

Gentle Leader It Is!

In a recent post, I discussed the issues I have been experiencing as G's limp has returned and we've needed to try out alternative collars. As noted, we had been using the standard martingale collar, but G's sheer strength and determination (if that's what you want to call it!) left me feeling less than secure while navigating in the streets. Basically, she would just lean her body weight into a direction she wanted to go and that was that!

I caved and finally pulled out her Gentle Leader head collar. We have stopped using it for some time as it had left a mark on G's snout, people thought it was a muzzle and G had general discomfort (ie she was always trying to take it off - sometimes successfully).

Well, let me tell you, I'd forgotten how great this tool was! For G, it has curbed not only her pulling and random sniffing, but she's now walking easily and sans limp on a slack leash. Her barking on leash, especially in our apartment lobby has decreased ten fold, as well.

I don't know that I will ever not use this collar based on the confidence it's given both me and G in our walks - a success story!


10 comments:

  1. She is SO PRETTY! And great success story!

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  2. Love that pic of her! And Im so glad you found something that works!

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  3. So great, we have definitely considered this for Brodie, for now we are sticking with his martingale but we wont be afraid to bust this out for particularly distracting outings.

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  4. I may have to try this myself! With Summer the problem is the random sniffing and I feel like this would really help.

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  5. We use the Gentle Leader with Badger, but when we put it on Mushroom, it actually rubbed the fur off her nose so she had a little bald spot. Someone recommended putting moleskin on the nose loop, so I'm going to give that a try.

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  6. She is so gorgeous!!! I know you've read what story about what to do re: the Halti, and I think it's so great that you have found something that works well for both of you. I would also suggest Rebelwerewolf's idea of using moleskin -- it helped Zoe too.

    P.S. I will be in NYC June 10-13, and talked to Two Grad Students and A Touch of Pit about getting together! It would be really fun if you're interested! :)

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    1. YES! That would be amazing!! :) I'm definitely going to try the moleskin per your and Rebelwerewolf's suggestion - we have to cut down on the rubbing!

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  7. We use the gentle leader too. I would recommend also clipping it to the ring in the neck collar or if the dog is short enough and wearing a harness to the front ring in the harness. This way if the gentle leader breaks which ours did after years of use you are still be connected to something and the dog is still safely on leash if it does break or even slip off the nose.

    We are glad you found something that works. We too get comments from people about it being a muzzle. I just tell them it's like a horses harness where the head goes the body follows and it helps decrease pulling on leashed walks.

    Emma

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    1. This is SUCH a great way to describe it! I hadn't thought of that, but I'm going to totally use it going forward. Makes complete sense! Thanks! :)

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  8. I hate how it leaves a mark on Madden's snout, too! It's not my favorite but I truly do not have a choice with Madden. If she ever learns to chill out on walks we will switch it up, but for now it's the tool that works for us.

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