# Am I expecting too much?



## Woo (Oct 5, 2011)

Hi,

Am I expecting too much of noodle?
She is really good with all her commands in doors and outside. She will come, sit, stay, wait etc, my problem is that on lead walks she will chase leaves, stop and stare at people, sniff everything. She will trot alongside me nicely some off the time and then other times pull like mad, we have had some lead training with a 1 to 1 session and we start puppy classes on monday. I have to get her walking to heal or my partner won't be able to walk her, he walks with a stick and has breathing problems, she can't pull him all over the place.
Am I at 15 weeks old expecting too much of her to walk nicely?


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## Duckdog (Jul 23, 2012)

She sounds like she is doing amazingly!! Binky does all the things noodle does...she only walks to heal if I constantly say 'good walk' and have liver in my hand!! It is an exciting world out there and she wants to sniff EVERYTHING! 

Like all things with pups it will come with time. Keep going sounds like you are doing a cracking job


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## tessybear (May 1, 2011)

I am afraid mine pull like mad on their leads and never learnt to heel properly in the intermediate obedience class! I was never that bothered as all their walking is off lead.Try a harness, mine never pull on their harnesses so if I ever take them out on a lead I use a harness.


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## wilfiboy (Sep 18, 2010)

Mable nearly kills me .... She was top of the class in puppy class at lead walking ... But outside she's so eager to set off, to stop and sniff she crosses in front of you and then back again,how I haven't injured myselfor her I don't know. Then poor Wilf either gets dragged cos on the move r has to wait while she's stopped I'm often looking like a star jump type pose with a Cockapoo at each end ..... Much easier to go off lead x


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## Janev1000 (Oct 4, 2011)

Honey never walks nicely on lead! Thankfully we do mostly off lead walks but she would be a nightmare to train otherwise.....it's definitely the working dog in her and she sniffs everything too. She literally darts all over the place. Biscuit was easier to train, although not perfect, but will still pull like mad if he sees a cat or fox, etc. It sounds like Noodle would be much easier to train if she is already walking nicely at times. It takes a lot of training and time and she's probably too young to be doing it perfectly just yet. x


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## BeckyP (Mar 21, 2012)

I'd like to crack it too. Kipper is 5 months now and doing a lot better. Our trainer said to try to do heel work on the way home on a walk, rather than when he's super excited and bound to fail. He can do it and we are seeing real progress, but he's also quite prone to try and jump into the road in front of an oncoming car to catch a leaf.... hopefully by next autumn he'll have caught enough leaves to know it's not worth it!!


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## Chumphreys (Oct 1, 2011)

Malie at 15 weeks is a bit hit and miss.She will either trot along nicely behind me or dart left and right infront of me.We have also found that if we take her out for her evening walk she almost can't be bothered and we have to drag her along.We have just started lead training and our trainer suggests holding the lead in our left hand,having the dog on your left just behind your leg and everytime they stay there you shout yes and throw a treat using your left hand behind your back at them.She said never feed them a treat across infront of you.I practised today and Malie did really well.By the end of our walk she was behind me all of the way.Like others have said,it is quite difficult for us to be consistent as most of our walk is off lead.
XClare


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## benson (Apr 18, 2012)

Woo said:


> Hi,
> 
> Am I expecting too much of noodle?
> She is really good with all her commands in doors and outside. She will come, sit, stay, wait etc, my problem is that on lead walks she will chase leaves, stop and stare at people, sniff everything. She will trot alongside me nicely some off the time and then other times pull like mad, we have had some lead training with a 1 to 1 session and we start puppy classes on monday. I have to get her walking to heal or my partner won't be able to walk her, he walks with a stick and has breathing problems, she can't pull him all over the place.
> Am I at 15 weeks old expecting too much of her to walk nicely?


Benson is not far off 6 months old and is still a bit of a nightmare walking on the lead, my OH takes him as I like your partner have breathing problems, I invested in a mobility scooter so I could take my turn in walking him, still in shed until we can get him to walk nicely on lead, he spends more time on his hind legs than on all fours whilst on lead,!!! So Noodle is doing really well as Benson doesnt obey any command let alone stay and wait!!


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## KCsunshine (Apr 16, 2012)

I think what Becky said makes alot of sense. Coco is great off lead. But _getting_ to the place where we walk her off lead is on the lead (does that make sense, lol) On the lead she pulls, stops, sniffs, all the things noodle does, on the way home, she always walks a bit better on the lead as it's not so exciting on the way back, that is where she gets all her praise etc. 

Noodle sounds like she is doing fantastically! Well done you x


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## MillieDog (Jun 1, 2011)

Millie is a bit 50/50 with pulling on lead and walking beautifully next to me. It does improve over time, but I think its probably the last thing that really gets right.

One trick your partner can use when he wants Noodle to pay attention to him and walk nicely, is to offer a treat early on for walking to heel and then to hold a treat in his hand. You can extend the heel walking this way. Intermingle it with lots of praise and stretch out the treat giving. You never know, you will probably find that Noodle will walk well for your partner and pull for you


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

Sounds as if Noodle is doing really well, it is tough for puppies to always be good...
Funniest thing ever is to go to a proper obedience show and watch the super trained collies walking in from the car to wherever the show is being held - they all pull their owners like trains... and then get in the ring and do the most amazing heal work!!
Persist, Noodle will get there - a harness may be a good idea or a halti type lead collar to make walking her safe for your husband...
You can also get leads that have a section of bungie cord in them to absorb the dog's pull - seen them being used on big strong dogs, don't know if they do a scaled down version for small dogs.


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## Woo (Oct 5, 2011)

Thanks everyone. I will try walking her with the harness, I have one that I use with her seat belt in the car but never thought to walk her on it. I'll let you know how it goes


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## DB1 (Jan 20, 2012)

The car harness may help but they are not designed specially to stop pulling which many other harness's are. It does sound like Noodle is doing really well. Dudley is 9 months and i'd say its 50/50 now the heel walking or pulling, the trouble is the real walking to heel is more like a training session bit than a general walk if you get what I mean, so that tends to be just part of the walk - I guess like the collies Marzi wrote about (though he is not that good!) he can walk looking up at me close to heel, but when not in 'work mode' is pulling and sniffing in all directions. One thing I think is that Noodle could be trained to be in 'work mode' whenever she walks with your husband - only wearing the harness then or even a different lead, like the assistance dogs do, to know the difference. She sounds as if she is learning really fast so I bet she wouldn't take long to pick the idea up. I must say Dudley pulls much less when I am walking him with a buggy - I used to try to keep him between the buggy and a wall/fence when i could and when he tried to get ahead I would turn the buggy in towards the wall so he couldn't get in front, along with treating him whenever he walked nicely which seems to have worked well.


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## Pollypiglet (Oct 22, 2011)

Hattie took a while to get the message but she will walk on a loose lead beside me with the command 'close'. Minton however is a whole different kettle of fish! He is compact and strong and leans into his harness with enthusiasum! I correct him and he does walk beside me for a few seconds (it is getting longer!). I tried one of the correction harnesses with a ring on the front of the chest but it kept slipping to the side so I have made my own version of a check harness by having a loose half check collar the ring of which I connect to the lead with the rings of the harness. When he is not pulling the check is loose but when he gets strong a quick pull on the lead gives me much more control I release him as soon as he stops pulling and most of the strain is taken by the harness. I would not use a half check collar on its own as I don't want to garrot my dog!


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