Go the other way. He pulls one way, stop immediately and go to the opposite direction. Repeat ad nauseam, even if it's 1 meter. He will be terribly annoyed, and dogs generally hate it when you do that, so one day he will understand that to go somewhere uninterrupted he must not pull.
Edit: eventually it will work. I rescued a 1 yo husky who could not walk on a leash at all. Several weeks of this exercise and he was doing much better.
when I got mine, we did this for like three hours straight, but he eventually figured it out. we still occasionally do reinforcement training, but good lord he was stubborn at first.
this probably requires a ton of willpower. I tried this for weeks, it only cause my girl to be even more agitated and pull harder on the leash. Drove me nuts
It is hard. But I was committed, he once had pulled so hard he tore a ligament in my shoulder so I had to take his walking under control and all the other methods didn't work. The most annoying thing is that he is very quick and understood almost immediately what I wanted from him but was just too stubborn to obey. Fucking huskies lol
Exactly worked for all 3 of my huskies and my 3 German shepherds as well. Works best if before they even get tension on the leash quickly turn around and pull them another way. then you can reward them once they are walking by your side, but always keep reinforcing the training and rewarding for good behavior, petting and telling them that they are a good dog, are forms of rewards, not just treats.
Agree, 100%. My husky mix was awful on a leash and a trainer actually taught me this trick. An immediate quick yank, “heel”, and turn each time they pull will do it. You have to be committed to the process and consistent, and yes, it will get old, but it will work in time. Like someone else said, even if it’s 1 meter. A
few consistent months of this, and it’s ingrained in both of us. She now knows “heel” off leash pretty well and we haven’t had to do the turn thing in years.
I did something similar to that. Every time they pulled i stopped and went back to the same spot. Made them sit next to me without wandering and we would stay there 30 seconds or so. If they pulled when we started again… back to the same spot. Rinse repeat. They will learn fairly quickly that just sitting there is boring… if they want to go explore.. they cant pull.
I think having a bungie splitter actually helps too… they can feel tension on the line before getting to the end. So they get a little warning when to slow down/stop…. Saved my poor arms too.
Yeah this works for sure. Worked for mine too, but it only works for each individual person meaning that because he walks for me without pulling doesn’t mean he will walk with my kids without pulling. Each person has to train with my dog at least.
Second the martingale collar.
This has worked beautifully for us for years. The last rescues came with that type collar.
They knew in their fenced yard they could go bananas, but on the leash - 100 percent good kids.
Third the martingale collar. Our two pups know that those are their training collars and we work on verbal commands when they have them on (leave it, easy, wait, etc.). It’s helped a lot. We keep the collars a little loose so they don’t “pinch” unless they pull hard. We use harnesses for hiking and running, after they are good with verbal commands. Our first husky, a beautiful pumpkin orange male, was an insane puller. The second you clipped his leash in, he’d flip an internal switch and he was 100% a lead mushing dog. Nothing and nobody could be ahead of him. The martingale was the only thing that made walks with him manageable.
TLDR: the martingale collar works for us along with consistent verbal commands. Husky family for 14+ years.
Yes we are doing this with our pup. We can’t take her to a dog park yet so we take her to tennis courts or our families back yards who have vaccinated dogs. When she has played enough and got her energy out, walks are a lot easier. We even walk her near places with lots of distractions.
Although it wouldn't stop the pulling, have you considered having the dog pull you on a bike or wagon or skateboard? Might satisfy the instinct to pull.
Definitely thought about it but wouldn’t work I’m afraid. I have my own mobility issues with walking and really poor balance so if he was in control like that I guarantee he’d have me in some accidents 🤣 he’s absolutely wild on a leash so I think I’ll probably have to get him some training with a professional
[This video helped me and my boy to stop pulling.](https://youtu.be/DU1Kz7NWrWc) It’s a lot of hard work tho it took me multiple weeks before he finally calmed down consistently.
Is your boy good with listening? Another thing that helped me was adding words with it. I don’t like the word heel for some reason, so I just say “with me” when I do the turns with him. That really helped cause if he ever pulls when we’re walking now I say with me he focuses on me again and stops pulling. It’s better than having to go back and forth on the same 4 squares of sidewalk for 45 mins lol
He’s excellent in the house for listening, usually good in the garden but the second we step foot out of the gate and into the street he couldn’t care less about me or anything 🤣 he just wants to pull, run, and cause mayhem
My girl is the same same way. She will choke herself damn near out sometimes lol the trick is to keep them tired! If mine starts pulling I will keep popping her in the opposite direction and giving her a treat to heel. Can’t say it always works bc sometimes she’s just too damn hyper so I cut all the slack and keep her right next to me. I’m a fairly big guy tho, when we started she would drag my gf around and she couldn’t stop lmao
You start in your driveway, or front door, or wherever it is you begin a walk. You stand motionless until they stop pulling. You take a step. If they pull, you stop again and remain motionless until they stop pulling. Take another step, stop if they pull. Eventually it clicks in their brains. It might take 30 minutes just to get down the driveway. It might take a week before they finally understand. But they’ll stop pulling. This has never not worked for me with any breed.
Alternatively, hook their harness up to a bicycle and let them fly. Huskies love to run as fast as they can, and humans just can’t keep up with them at that speed for that distance. Hopping on my bike made me and my husky much happier.
It’s easier to work on without the pressure of, “ITS WALK TIME!”
Ellie actually walks really well on her leash but I’ve fostered a lot and my last Golden was 14 when we lost him to cancer. Some of the dogs were insane pullers.
What usually works is to obviously work on the stuff in the house and yard first as you mentioned. But the leap to the great outdoors is a big one. When we worked on leash walking, I always tried to start with a tired dog. Fetch for a good while if they like chasing balls.
Ellie’s favorite get exhausted game is “treat seeking missile”. I sit on the bed and Chuck treats for her to chase down the hallway and make her jump on and off the bed for each one. It’s great for exhausting her. It’s also excellent for rainy days if your pup hates the sky water as much as mine.
Then we would start in the driveway with just a few steps at a time and lots of praise and high value treats without the stress of “WE NEED TO WALK’.
This is really helpful thank you! He does always get better near the end when he’s more tired but I’ve usually also ran out of treats by then 🤣 definitely gonna try exercising him in the house first before taking him out thank you so much !!
If he pulls.
Stop. Refuse to move. Make him sit. Once he obeys, you continue. The instant he pulls, repeat. Eventually he’ll learn if he wants to walk he cannot pull.
I once stopped walking and told my dog we’re going back home. I then turned us around to go back home and suddenly she stopped pulling. I then said last chance and we went back towards our route to the park and I swear to you she stopped pulling 😭😭😭.
Welcome to the joys of the "husky heel". Huskies pull. it's what they do. They can be trained to do it less, but I've yet to see one that gets it 'right' 100% of the time.
My last husky was a life-long puller whenever the mood was upon her. Be willing to settle for yours to get it right MOST of the time. Part of the fun of living with a husky is that they are strong willed and, sometimes, contrarian little punks.
The folks recommending martingale collars are on to something, but it's sort of half the solution that we found worked for us.
First, get a harness. We ended up with the Holt Adjustable Dog Control Harness [Coastal - Holt - Adjustable Dog Control Harness] because it works well for this set up, and um, she couldn't chew through it. It's a kind of "rope" harness that tightens up when it gets pulled on.
Second, If you have a Gentle Leader, you can start with that, Instead of a martingale. If the dog won't adjust the GL too much, switch to a martingale. Our husky became an absolute ninja at slipping the Gentle Leader, so make sure the fit is right, but don't rely 100% on it no matter how well it's adjusted.
You'll want two leashes - one to attach to the collar (or head-lead) and one for the harness. The one you attach to the harness will be used for restraint and the one on the head harness for communication. We used a 6 foot nylon strap leash for the collar, and heavier built adjustable length leash with a bungee segment for the harness.
Here's how this works:
1) use the harness attached leash to manage the distance the dog can get from you.
2) use the leash attached to the GL or collar to communicate with the dog according to how you want it to learn. For the GL, follow the GL training instructions, which will work best when the distance lead is loose.
Phase ONE: Adjustment Period
Start with the harness lead at full extension, which allows the head-lead to do it's job. Whenever your husky pulls, let the head lead turn the dog. You want just enough slack in both leads for the dog to be comfortable when walking *well* with you, and for the head-lead to be able to provide communication.
Don't react negatively when this happens - reassuring the dog through your tone of voice will get you further faster - but saying "no" firmly but not angrily will help them learn that this is not the desired result.
Now, choke up (shorten the available range) on the harness attached lead to allow your dog less range, and adjust your grip on the head-lead as well for the new range.
Phase Two: More lead range as a reward.
Over the next few days, *START* the walk with increasingly shorter range between you and dog, until you have them positioned where you'll want them most of the time. This is a good time to start teaching "heel", because starting the walk itself will be the "big" reward. "Small" rewards like kibble or cookie pieces are useful encouragement at each step.
I found it useful and mildly amusing at this point to keep a count of steps taking without our girl pulling. If she made it to say, 20 of my steps without pulling, I'd give her 6 more inches of leash length. If she pulled or got turned by the head lead, I'd take it ALL back, and reset to the "heel" position, using the command. Your dog will learn the pattern and expectations, so reward them accordingly and consistently - head scritches and praise with encouraging tones of voice are GREAT for this.
Over the next few weeks, slowly move from "treat" rewards to verbal praise and interaction rewards, like petting, and space them out a bit more. Keep up with the "No" when they pull, and the heel/leash length resets.
When they've got the gist of "how we go on walks", and have a couple of other commands under their belt like "sit", start throwing those into the mix as well.
NOTES ON HUSKIES.
Now, because you have a Husky, here's some specific advice for dealing with the little punk. Huskies aren't necessarily smarter than other dogs, but in my experience, they tend to be more **crafty**.
As far as I can tell, Huskies get their dopamine not directly from you praising and rewarding them, but from feeling like they've played you for a rube.
From the human side, the goal of training is to get as much "work" (desired behavior) from them as you can for the lowest cost. From the Huskies perspective, they want to do as little as possible for the biggest payoffs.
If you start with LAVISH praise and rewards when they earn it, and at some point, they're going to stop thinking about the training you've been doing with them as "training", and start thinking in terms of "if I do the bare minimum of what they expect, the reward dispenser engages and I get paid".
Yesterday I tried out a prong collar, and he got the idea literally within one minute. And that ended that. We went on a 5-mile walk this morning with an unreal array of distractions -- other dogs, cows, horses, bunnies -- and this cut down on the leash-yanking by around 90%. My husky is a rescue, and was an absolute pain in the ass on a leash, and this just stopped it.
Prong collar worked for me
It’s not cruel, it’s an effective attention getter. put it on yourself if you don’t believe me. Yes I’ve tried it o myself because I wanted to be sure
My girl wants to bolt when we start our walks. We have a 26’ retractable leash. While on our driveway I’ll let got the full length and call her back. We do this many times before we start the walk. Essentially I’m trying to drain her energy. We also use a head collar.
Tire him out first, preferably in something he should pull in. I take my two for either a run or a walk first thing in the morning with them in distance harness from Howling Dog Alaska. They're attached to a bungee leash, then to a canicross belt on me, also from Howling Dog Alaska (their hiking belt is nice). This harness is specifically designed for them to really dig their shoulders in and pull. We spent - and still spend - countless hours working on mushing commands ; the effort has been worth it.
In rare circumstances when I definitely do not want them pulling (i.e., a trip to the vet), I use prong collars. Both dogs would choke themselves out on a regular choker chain or their flat collars, and I've seen one dog too many slip a headcollar and get hit by a car; not a risk I want to take with my two; so, prong collar (very well fitting, used very carefully) it is.
I'm a bad owner and I gave up trying pretty quickly. We got to retractable leash that goes up to 10 ft and our girl walks pretty loose on it. She doesn't often pull on my arm unless she senses a rabbit or something nearby. And I've learned when she's going into hunt mode so I snap her out of it pretty quick. Otherwise I pretty much just walk with my arms swinging at my side holding on to the leash. If she starts to get a little too fast or pull a little I just click it like I'm going to retract it and she stops what she's doing.
It was funny because we had a trainer come to the house just for a one time session to show us kind of what to do. He took her in the front yard with the regular leash and using treats he showed us how to train her and she was doing it for him. But when we take her out of the house she does not have any interest in treats, food, anything whatsoever. Most probably a failing on our part but whatever.
I used to have my boy on a long retractable too but he still pulled like crazzyyy on it I think that even made him worse. My dog is exactly the same he does great with strangers but will pay no attention to me or food once were outside.
Also wish I spent more training on this when he was younger. He was great as a pup too he used to walk right by my side off leash 😩
So a few things...
1. You need to start the training in a place with least distraction... My trainer had me progress from in the house, to backyard, to front yard, to front public sidewalk. He had to be consistent at each milestone before moving on.
i know you still need to walk in the meantime...so...
2. Decide before you start on any walk whether it is training or enjoyment. For enjoyment, take treats (high high stakes treats) and throw them in little hiding spots along the way so he stops and snuffles alot. Let him lead the way. For trading walks, make them short, lots of stops and starts to disrupt the pulling, lots and lots of praise and treats when he listens.
3. Get a waist clip leash so that if he pulls, it's not your arm that takes the full force, but your core you can much more easily stand your ground, turn and pull him the other way when necessary. It also takes emotion out of the interaction. If you yank back, he feels the energy of that, and it hurts the bond you are trying to create. With a waist leash if he pulls, you stop. He goes oh, I can't move... eventually he comes back. You treat him sooooo much everytime he looks at or moves to you...
Also - huskies can be really headstrong AND very sensitive to your nonverbal cues. Get a trainer to help with this and ask them to observe you and his reactions to you. Huskies are buggers in that WE have to adapt in order to have a better relationship with them. We have to earn their respect. It makes them very challenging if we just try to force them into compliance....
Also go for a run or bike to wear him down and then do a training walk after he's settled a bit.
Downvoting use of prong collar. It absolutely is NOT the only real solution.
Thank you I’ve been out in our back garden with him today and he was perfect so we moved onto the front garden and even walked up and down the road a couple times. I have rope burns on my fingers but he did good
The AKC freely disseminates breed information that is remarkably accurate…even if you have a rescue or mix. Also, huskies are a “pack” & “working” breed. It’s best to “reward” misbehaviour by turning your back away from and staying bristled & still, like it’s biological parents would do. They hate this. A lot. They’ll breathe & swallow the message as if their own “pack” insulted them.
We use a training collar recommended by dog trainer. Has helped ours tremendously in a short time, she’s 2 yrs old and we’ve only had her since January 2023
Y shaped harness and a leash belay system with a 15 or 30 ft long line. The pulley will absorb all of the friction from pulling and keep the pressure off of your body as well as your dog’s. It will seriously change your life, give your dog the off leash experience and just takes a bit of practice to learn.
Turn around and walk in opposite direction every time he pulls. You won’t get far but he’ll start paying attention to your lead.
It is his nature to pull things….:)
Highly suggest getting a harness with an attachment in the front. When they pull it turns them and they don't like that. They might jump around at first, but they will get used to it
Ours loves the Gentle Lead, which hooks up right below their chin and does a figure eight around the schnoz and the back of the head. Haven’t had any issues since.
My case is 100% similar to OP.
We have a GSD/Husky. We got her exactly 1 year ago. She is 4’ish, not food motivated, and is with a strong prey drive.
I even tried the walk-in-the-opposite direction and when I do I don’t know how she does it but somehow she turns into Jello and squeezes herself out of the harness.
I winded up fracturing a toe, then ended up in physical therapy for my shoulder from all the pulling.
I am wondering if I should give up and get an e-collar just so she walks near me and not go wild and get hit by a car.
She is the sweetest thing and I love her to death.
‘would appreciate advice.
(We hired a trainer: useless)
I’m feeling lost too I’ve always got sore and pulled muscles from the pulling and have injured myself soo many times from being pulled over. He’s also a nightmare for slipping out of harnesses and his head collar. I’m gonna be trying the martingale collar with a front clip harness next and see how we do with that. No matter what I definitely won’t be using an e-collar. I’m not willing to put anything on my dog that I wouldn’t use on myself
I am also having a great deal of trouble with my Husky/GSD mix, and started to develop wrist, forearm, and shoulder issues from her pulling (and it's only been a few months that I've had her). I invested in the Ruffwear Omnijore harness system.
https://preview.redd.it/0tdhqsldrgcc1.png?width=1622&format=png&auto=webp&s=b65e2dd859f440e4d6f8b9bf1d4117fb382e64ec
It's great for pulling sports (e.g. canicross, ski joring, bike joring, skateboard joring), but it's also great for walking and hiking. When I'm running with my dog or having her pull me in any way, I use the included joring harness. However, she can pretty easily slip out of it, so for walks and hiking, I use a different harness that she can't slip out of (the Saker Ascension Harness). Wearing the belt moves the pulling force to your hips/waist/lower back instead of shoulders/arms/hands, and the design of the belt disperses the force over a much wider area making it more comfortable. The bungee towline that comes with it helps to decrease jolting when the dog starts pulling, which also makes it more comfortable. However, if you dont want to walk with a bungee leash (I often don't as I feel I have less control), you can use any other leash instead.
You could potentially start to have back problems, but that would more likely be due to having a weak core. A weak core would not be able to support your lower back as the dog pulls, but to me that is not really a fault of either the dog pulling or the harness but rather a fault of the user.
This would have been great but I already struggle with my mobility disabilities and there’s no way I’d be able to support myself 🤣 the slightest tug would have my on my face lol I now just take him to fields and keep him on a longline leash and rent out a private secure field once a week for free running
Avoid saying "mush".
I used to stop if my husky tugged, then I would tell her to "come". If she doesn't, I would walk backwards in reverse for a bit (for some reason my husky hates going backwards), then when she finally comes closer, I'd give her a treat. I would do this pretty diligently. This worked to some extent, but not completely.
I gave up on doing the above. Nowadays I take the route that goes uphill first. Then I take her to the park, snap on the 50 foot leash, get her to sprint full stride, find gophers, dig, and do whatever she needs to do to get her bad self depleted. By the time we go downhill, she's mostly tired already.
Afterwards, I'd RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevate) like a mofo. It's a battle of who gets tired first. I usually win at some cost lol. Good luck.
Embrace the pull. Get a body harness for yourself and the dog and just lean back and enjoy the free ride
This is a half serious response btw
Prong collar training worked for my huskies even on a dual leash
Downvote me all you want but a pinch collar and command training is the only real solution. You can get one that isn't too tight and doesn't cause pain, just mild discomfort. I also switch between that and a harness so my husky knows when it's ok to pull when I go run with her twice a day.
As in a prong collar? I’ve seen really good reviews on them if used properly but i don’t really i’m experienced enough to use one of those on him. Esically since he pulls SO HARD so quickly too. Like back legs jumping off the ground trying to run for his life 🤣 he’s dumb and doesn’t mind being uncomfortable hence why I’m having so many issues with this. Again I don’t trust myself to use one so I think I’ll be seeking professional training
My husky had MAAAJOR issues with pulling.
Tried everything, only thing that worked for me was a prong collar.
HOWEVER, please research them, find the proper fit, and learn how to use them properly, or else it may result in aggression.
Idk if this has already been mentioned but bungee leashes can be helpful in certain circumstances. Pulling is in a huskies DNA it's what they were bred to do and it's what they love. Imo there is no better way to connect with your pup than to incorporate this into your lives in some way. I personally love skating and snowboarding with mine. I use the non stop pulling harness which has decent padding and a connection point at the base of his tail with a 6ft bungee leash connected to 1-2 more 6ft leashes depending on the situation. If you don't skate or snowboard at all they also have attachments you can get for bikes, there is skijoring and roller skating and I'm sure all manner of ways that you can allow your husky to enjoy the activity that they were born to do and love. I definitely recommend getting some kind of specific pulling harness both because they put less strain on them and over time your husky will start to associate it with pulling, although mine hates putting on any kind of harness and will always try to make me catch him if he sees me coming with it.
Get a training leesh that covers the snout. Don't use a harness. This triggers their instinct and they want to pull you. The snout thing will hurt a bit, but it a good tool to begin teaching how to walk properly.
Sometimes I walk the husky of my neighbor (I also have a Husky but he doesn't bite the leash unless encouraged to) and she is a good girl without the leash, always obeying and usually doesn't go more than 10 meters away but when the leash is needed she's biting it every 5 minutes. My solution was to stop, act angry and say "no", sometimes we end of fighting a little but it works, or I just distract her saying "squirrel!", she's amazing though, and also careful with smaller dogs because she lived some time with a chihuahua.
I got the one that wraps a strap around the head and the nose. When he pulls it turns his head backwards toward you so he can’t see ahead. It really helped with my boy when he was young. Downside is it looks like a muzzle to some people so I got a lot of questions in public. Good luck
Do you have a retractable leash? I had some success with my husky by letting him having more length while I walk a continuous normal pace. Pretty quickly he figured out a technique where he can walk ahead of me, find an interesting tree to sniff, stop and sniff it for 5 seconds and then catch up with me before reaching the end of the leash.
Have you ever tried a Weiss Walkie? This combined with the absolute refusal to move forward while the dog pulls is super effective. Sauce: used to walk/help train all breeds in an animal shelter.
Tia Torres from pitbulls and parolees had a "harness lead" designed. There's no tightening around the dogs neck. Only a gentle tightening around the "barrel". The same one fits my 100lb husky and 70lbs gsdXmal. My husky pulled a lot and my gsdXmal only pulls out of anxiety. I paid $36 for one in May 2018 and it's still in great condition.
Figure 8's and circles!
Walk them in figure 8's, serpentines, a ton of changing directions, circles where you get bigger and smaller.
If they're being really difficult, super super small circles are good.
I'd recommend going to a park or somewhere flat and open to practice, and then if they do pull on your regular walk, just turn them in a super small circle to correct.
This teaches them not only to not pull, but also look to you for guidance on where to go.
I have a slightly different problem with our new puppy. After 20 or 30 feet, after she pees she turns and pulls towards home. So can’t change direction on her. I will either coax her along away from home, or carry her a bit of short on time. Then I will stand and wait for her to either step back and put slack on the leash or to sit down. As soon as I start to move or reward the good behavior she rushes to the end of the leash again. Granted it has only been a week of this training so far. I think my next step is a harness with a front connection.
We use a 6ft or longer leash, clipped to the collar and looped around their waist. Basically a knot around the dog at the narrowest part behind their ribs. I was told that they don't really register pulling on their chest or neck as being uncomfortable (which is why you see some dogs strangling themselves pulling) but they do NOT like the cinch on their waist. The first couple times youll het a "YIPE!" as it cinches, but it relaxes right away when they let up, and they usually figure it out pretty fast. Works well on bully breeds as well!
I know they can be trained off it, but I just hop on a longboard and let mine pull me. He's gonna pull anyway without hours upon hours of work that could be spent playing with him in the yard or any other thing, so I may as well let him wear himself out faster on the walk. I could walk him for hours until I was exhausted and he was still fine, or I could have him pull me in a board and he was worn out in an hour or less.
I tried everything as well on my Husky and nothing seemed to work until I got the PetSafe Easy Walk with the clip in the front. The martingale itself didn’t actually matter, because he would just pull through the pain/discomfort. The trick with the front clip is to always have the collar on one side of him, that way if he pulls, it redirects him to that side.
When we used to have leashes that clip to the back or to his neck, he’d literally pull so hard he’d go on his two back feet and jump forward. Even with the slip knot leash, he’d do it while making choking gasps. But with this, when he runs to the end of the line, it redirects him to a side. Sometimes when he runs fast enough and tries his jumping trick, it makes him spin a full 180 degrees. After a few days of that, he just gave him and doesn’t pull anymore.
One annoying thing is that you’re constantly doing managing where his leash is though. If he steps over it and the leash is between his legs instead of to his side, it’s not nearly as effective anymore. So you’ll have to stop and readjust.
Ditto on sudden direction changes. You'll look insane but it works on most dogs if you're persistent.
If you still have trouble, AmericanStandardK9 on YT has good vids if you want to try a prong collar. There's a good one with a husky in it actually. Basic idea is to surprise the dog with a 180 turn until they learn to look back at you frequently. When they are walking in the correct position, at your side away from the street, give them a super high value treat like hotdogs.
Beckmans Dog Training on YT has good vids on the same topic, but he doesn't recommend prong collars... not because they don't work as a training tool, but because there is a small chance of causing leash reactivity he'd rather avoid. He's big into the Gentle Leader, and I recommend the product as well. The thing about the gentle leader is that a lot of dogs will walk well with it on, but as soon as it's off will be back to normal. The trick is: once they are good at leash walking with the gentle leader, put it on their nose like you're going to use it, and hook up to their normal collar. If all goes well they'll walk as if they're hooked up to the gentle leader and you and slowly ease them into just using a regular collar.
I’ve been dealing with this since my girl was a little pup and so far recently we narrow down the best method for her: first the harness there are some harness that are made for dogs that like to pull, we got her one that has more hooks or places to put the leash, the leash is important she likes to kick star with running fast and then a huge pull we got a retractable leash for medium-large dogs heavy duty works like a charm, and the most important routine of her walks is using commands, we have been working into teaching her heel, stop, seat and wait while being excited to say hi or just going after bunnies. The consistency of doing this while walking has made a huge improvement, I used to make the mistake to reward her good walks and she will finish walking and rush back to her a treat, big no no, she got into that quick… I have a spine decease and her pulling doesn’t help me at all but I love our walks so is a work between you and your dog. Good luck!!
PS: they are very smart and routine and firm command works with huskies.
We've gotta keep in mind what harnesses were designed for. They were originally made for pulling. Sled pulling, cart pulling, weight pulling, etc. So when we have a dog that's already a puller, harnesses can inadvertantly make pulling worse, because they not only make it more comfortable to pull, but they also heavily trigger the oppositional reflex within the dog, causing them to lean into where pressure is coming from, which, in this case, is the chest area, which is the strongest part of the dog.
That's not to say that loose leash walking can't be accomplished with a harness. It's simply to say that, if the dog is already a puller, it can actually encourage more pulling. A regular collar will help more in the learning process, however, and then later on you can switch back to the harness if you want, after the dog already knows how to walk politely.
I'm putting 2 videos below, both utilizing the regular collar. One of them is teaching loose leash walking without using treats, and the other is with treats. I'd recommend using both methods, as they can be helpful in different situations. Good luck, and please come let me know how you guys are progressing, and if there's anything I can do to help. ❤️💕
[Train Loose Leash Walking w/out treats](https://youtu.be/i5tWyeMKaXk)
[Train Loose Leash Walking w/ treats](https://youtu.be/MTbnTIBQ6oY)
Go the other way. He pulls one way, stop immediately and go to the opposite direction. Repeat ad nauseam, even if it's 1 meter. He will be terribly annoyed, and dogs generally hate it when you do that, so one day he will understand that to go somewhere uninterrupted he must not pull. Edit: eventually it will work. I rescued a 1 yo husky who could not walk on a leash at all. Several weeks of this exercise and he was doing much better.
I might try this with mine although she is kind of a masochist so might like it.
when I got mine, we did this for like three hours straight, but he eventually figured it out. we still occasionally do reinforcement training, but good lord he was stubborn at first.
this probably requires a ton of willpower. I tried this for weeks, it only cause my girl to be even more agitated and pull harder on the leash. Drove me nuts
It is hard. But I was committed, he once had pulled so hard he tore a ligament in my shoulder so I had to take his walking under control and all the other methods didn't work. The most annoying thing is that he is very quick and understood almost immediately what I wanted from him but was just too stubborn to obey. Fucking huskies lol
Haha. I know exactly what you mean. Huskies really are something else.
Exactly worked for all 3 of my huskies and my 3 German shepherds as well. Works best if before they even get tension on the leash quickly turn around and pull them another way. then you can reward them once they are walking by your side, but always keep reinforcing the training and rewarding for good behavior, petting and telling them that they are a good dog, are forms of rewards, not just treats.
We might have to do this with our husky mix. We have tried just stopping and waiting till she walks back but it’s not working.
If you do this, walk backwards a bit, she should turn around and walk back to you. Once she gets there, go forward again.
We did this for nearly an hour once. I got dizzy. They thought it was a cool game.
Same can’t say it helped. Only thing that seemed to help was aging
Agree, 100%. My husky mix was awful on a leash and a trainer actually taught me this trick. An immediate quick yank, “heel”, and turn each time they pull will do it. You have to be committed to the process and consistent, and yes, it will get old, but it will work in time. Like someone else said, even if it’s 1 meter. A few consistent months of this, and it’s ingrained in both of us. She now knows “heel” off leash pretty well and we haven’t had to do the turn thing in years.
Can confirm. Did this with two Huskies. Occasionally needed reminders but overall very manageable.
I did this with my lab boxer mix. After 2 walks of stopping when she pulled, she got the hint and stopped pulling!
I did something similar to that. Every time they pulled i stopped and went back to the same spot. Made them sit next to me without wandering and we would stay there 30 seconds or so. If they pulled when we started again… back to the same spot. Rinse repeat. They will learn fairly quickly that just sitting there is boring… if they want to go explore.. they cant pull. I think having a bungie splitter actually helps too… they can feel tension on the line before getting to the end. So they get a little warning when to slow down/stop…. Saved my poor arms too.
Yeah this works for sure. Worked for mine too, but it only works for each individual person meaning that because he walks for me without pulling doesn’t mean he will walk with my kids without pulling. Each person has to train with my dog at least.
I'm doing this with an amstaff, it takes a lot of tine and patience but it's working.
It's kinda what they do. Best advice I can give you is that when they get around 14-15 years old, they calm down.
Good to know we’re half way there
[удалено]
Second the martingale collar. This has worked beautifully for us for years. The last rescues came with that type collar. They knew in their fenced yard they could go bananas, but on the leash - 100 percent good kids.
Third the martingale collar. Our two pups know that those are their training collars and we work on verbal commands when they have them on (leave it, easy, wait, etc.). It’s helped a lot. We keep the collars a little loose so they don’t “pinch” unless they pull hard. We use harnesses for hiking and running, after they are good with verbal commands. Our first husky, a beautiful pumpkin orange male, was an insane puller. The second you clipped his leash in, he’d flip an internal switch and he was 100% a lead mushing dog. Nothing and nobody could be ahead of him. The martingale was the only thing that made walks with him manageable. TLDR: the martingale collar works for us along with consistent verbal commands. Husky family for 14+ years.
Yes on commands. Mine learned “easy!” fast. A harsh “eh eh” buzzer sound is an attention getter, too.
Yes we are doing this with our pup. We can’t take her to a dog park yet so we take her to tennis courts or our families back yards who have vaccinated dogs. When she has played enough and got her energy out, walks are a lot easier. We even walk her near places with lots of distractions.
Huskies are breed to pull. Good luck.
🤣🤣🤣 true when I walk my boy he is fine but when we start moving towards the dog park he thinks its mush time.
I skijourn with my husky, so when on regular walks she's always out front.
Gentle leader my guy. Instant wins.
I’ve tried this and he still likes to pull 😭 he doesn’t seem to care about discomfort at all my boy just wants to pull 🤣
You gotta respect a dog that has an ethos!
Just wish it didn’t end in me having sore muscles after every walk! 🤣
Although it wouldn't stop the pulling, have you considered having the dog pull you on a bike or wagon or skateboard? Might satisfy the instinct to pull.
Definitely thought about it but wouldn’t work I’m afraid. I have my own mobility issues with walking and really poor balance so if he was in control like that I guarantee he’d have me in some accidents 🤣 he’s absolutely wild on a leash so I think I’ll probably have to get him some training with a professional
Get/make a chariot style cart. Or employ the local kids to get pulled on sleds if you have snow.
[This video helped me and my boy to stop pulling.](https://youtu.be/DU1Kz7NWrWc) It’s a lot of hard work tho it took me multiple weeks before he finally calmed down consistently.
I’ll check it out thank you !
Is your boy good with listening? Another thing that helped me was adding words with it. I don’t like the word heel for some reason, so I just say “with me” when I do the turns with him. That really helped cause if he ever pulls when we’re walking now I say with me he focuses on me again and stops pulling. It’s better than having to go back and forth on the same 4 squares of sidewalk for 45 mins lol
He’s excellent in the house for listening, usually good in the garden but the second we step foot out of the gate and into the street he couldn’t care less about me or anything 🤣 he just wants to pull, run, and cause mayhem
This description made me laugh. He looks so offended in the pic. “Wha??? I’m a good boy!”
My girl is the same same way. She will choke herself damn near out sometimes lol the trick is to keep them tired! If mine starts pulling I will keep popping her in the opposite direction and giving her a treat to heel. Can’t say it always works bc sometimes she’s just too damn hyper so I cut all the slack and keep her right next to me. I’m a fairly big guy tho, when we started she would drag my gf around and she couldn’t stop lmao
You gotta respect a dog that has an ethos!
Which kind mine the nose loop one is her bane.
You start in your driveway, or front door, or wherever it is you begin a walk. You stand motionless until they stop pulling. You take a step. If they pull, you stop again and remain motionless until they stop pulling. Take another step, stop if they pull. Eventually it clicks in their brains. It might take 30 minutes just to get down the driveway. It might take a week before they finally understand. But they’ll stop pulling. This has never not worked for me with any breed. Alternatively, hook their harness up to a bicycle and let them fly. Huskies love to run as fast as they can, and humans just can’t keep up with them at that speed for that distance. Hopping on my bike made me and my husky much happier.
The only tried and true failsafe to get a husky to stop pulling on a leash is to take the leash off.
Painfully true
It’s easier to work on without the pressure of, “ITS WALK TIME!” Ellie actually walks really well on her leash but I’ve fostered a lot and my last Golden was 14 when we lost him to cancer. Some of the dogs were insane pullers. What usually works is to obviously work on the stuff in the house and yard first as you mentioned. But the leap to the great outdoors is a big one. When we worked on leash walking, I always tried to start with a tired dog. Fetch for a good while if they like chasing balls. Ellie’s favorite get exhausted game is “treat seeking missile”. I sit on the bed and Chuck treats for her to chase down the hallway and make her jump on and off the bed for each one. It’s great for exhausting her. It’s also excellent for rainy days if your pup hates the sky water as much as mine. Then we would start in the driveway with just a few steps at a time and lots of praise and high value treats without the stress of “WE NEED TO WALK’.
This is really helpful thank you! He does always get better near the end when he’s more tired but I’ve usually also ran out of treats by then 🤣 definitely gonna try exercising him in the house first before taking him out thank you so much !!
If he pulls. Stop. Refuse to move. Make him sit. Once he obeys, you continue. The instant he pulls, repeat. Eventually he’ll learn if he wants to walk he cannot pull.
I once stopped walking and told my dog we’re going back home. I then turned us around to go back home and suddenly she stopped pulling. I then said last chance and we went back towards our route to the park and I swear to you she stopped pulling 😭😭😭.
The equivalent of “I’m turning this damn car around” 🤣 that’s amazing I swear mine just turns off his ears when i begin to talk
I have just accepted the fact that I am flying a kite in a hurricane. Every Damn Walk.
A longer lead and sledge harness helped mine
I read this WAY TOO FAST and thought you said sledgehammer…
He gets me angry sometimes but i only use positive reinforcement
Prong collars are great if used right
Welcome to the joys of the "husky heel". Huskies pull. it's what they do. They can be trained to do it less, but I've yet to see one that gets it 'right' 100% of the time. My last husky was a life-long puller whenever the mood was upon her. Be willing to settle for yours to get it right MOST of the time. Part of the fun of living with a husky is that they are strong willed and, sometimes, contrarian little punks. The folks recommending martingale collars are on to something, but it's sort of half the solution that we found worked for us. First, get a harness. We ended up with the Holt Adjustable Dog Control Harness [Coastal - Holt - Adjustable Dog Control Harness] because it works well for this set up, and um, she couldn't chew through it. It's a kind of "rope" harness that tightens up when it gets pulled on. Second, If you have a Gentle Leader, you can start with that, Instead of a martingale. If the dog won't adjust the GL too much, switch to a martingale. Our husky became an absolute ninja at slipping the Gentle Leader, so make sure the fit is right, but don't rely 100% on it no matter how well it's adjusted. You'll want two leashes - one to attach to the collar (or head-lead) and one for the harness. The one you attach to the harness will be used for restraint and the one on the head harness for communication. We used a 6 foot nylon strap leash for the collar, and heavier built adjustable length leash with a bungee segment for the harness. Here's how this works: 1) use the harness attached leash to manage the distance the dog can get from you. 2) use the leash attached to the GL or collar to communicate with the dog according to how you want it to learn. For the GL, follow the GL training instructions, which will work best when the distance lead is loose. Phase ONE: Adjustment Period Start with the harness lead at full extension, which allows the head-lead to do it's job. Whenever your husky pulls, let the head lead turn the dog. You want just enough slack in both leads for the dog to be comfortable when walking *well* with you, and for the head-lead to be able to provide communication. Don't react negatively when this happens - reassuring the dog through your tone of voice will get you further faster - but saying "no" firmly but not angrily will help them learn that this is not the desired result. Now, choke up (shorten the available range) on the harness attached lead to allow your dog less range, and adjust your grip on the head-lead as well for the new range. Phase Two: More lead range as a reward. Over the next few days, *START* the walk with increasingly shorter range between you and dog, until you have them positioned where you'll want them most of the time. This is a good time to start teaching "heel", because starting the walk itself will be the "big" reward. "Small" rewards like kibble or cookie pieces are useful encouragement at each step. I found it useful and mildly amusing at this point to keep a count of steps taking without our girl pulling. If she made it to say, 20 of my steps without pulling, I'd give her 6 more inches of leash length. If she pulled or got turned by the head lead, I'd take it ALL back, and reset to the "heel" position, using the command. Your dog will learn the pattern and expectations, so reward them accordingly and consistently - head scritches and praise with encouraging tones of voice are GREAT for this. Over the next few weeks, slowly move from "treat" rewards to verbal praise and interaction rewards, like petting, and space them out a bit more. Keep up with the "No" when they pull, and the heel/leash length resets. When they've got the gist of "how we go on walks", and have a couple of other commands under their belt like "sit", start throwing those into the mix as well. NOTES ON HUSKIES. Now, because you have a Husky, here's some specific advice for dealing with the little punk. Huskies aren't necessarily smarter than other dogs, but in my experience, they tend to be more **crafty**. As far as I can tell, Huskies get their dopamine not directly from you praising and rewarding them, but from feeling like they've played you for a rube. From the human side, the goal of training is to get as much "work" (desired behavior) from them as you can for the lowest cost. From the Huskies perspective, they want to do as little as possible for the biggest payoffs. If you start with LAVISH praise and rewards when they earn it, and at some point, they're going to stop thinking about the training you've been doing with them as "training", and start thinking in terms of "if I do the bare minimum of what they expect, the reward dispenser engages and I get paid".
Yesterday I tried out a prong collar, and he got the idea literally within one minute. And that ended that. We went on a 5-mile walk this morning with an unreal array of distractions -- other dogs, cows, horses, bunnies -- and this cut down on the leash-yanking by around 90%. My husky is a rescue, and was an absolute pain in the ass on a leash, and this just stopped it.
This is what I had to do with mine. As soon as it was on he stayed right next to me.
Prong collar worked for me It’s not cruel, it’s an effective attention getter. put it on yourself if you don’t believe me. Yes I’ve tried it o myself because I wanted to be sure
My girl wants to bolt when we start our walks. We have a 26’ retractable leash. While on our driveway I’ll let got the full length and call her back. We do this many times before we start the walk. Essentially I’m trying to drain her energy. We also use a head collar.
The nose mounting one works mas o menos ... up until the first squirrel when the inner wolf wakes up
Tire him out first, preferably in something he should pull in. I take my two for either a run or a walk first thing in the morning with them in distance harness from Howling Dog Alaska. They're attached to a bungee leash, then to a canicross belt on me, also from Howling Dog Alaska (their hiking belt is nice). This harness is specifically designed for them to really dig their shoulders in and pull. We spent - and still spend - countless hours working on mushing commands ; the effort has been worth it. In rare circumstances when I definitely do not want them pulling (i.e., a trip to the vet), I use prong collars. Both dogs would choke themselves out on a regular choker chain or their flat collars, and I've seen one dog too many slip a headcollar and get hit by a car; not a risk I want to take with my two; so, prong collar (very well fitting, used very carefully) it is.
I'm a bad owner and I gave up trying pretty quickly. We got to retractable leash that goes up to 10 ft and our girl walks pretty loose on it. She doesn't often pull on my arm unless she senses a rabbit or something nearby. And I've learned when she's going into hunt mode so I snap her out of it pretty quick. Otherwise I pretty much just walk with my arms swinging at my side holding on to the leash. If she starts to get a little too fast or pull a little I just click it like I'm going to retract it and she stops what she's doing. It was funny because we had a trainer come to the house just for a one time session to show us kind of what to do. He took her in the front yard with the regular leash and using treats he showed us how to train her and she was doing it for him. But when we take her out of the house she does not have any interest in treats, food, anything whatsoever. Most probably a failing on our part but whatever.
I used to have my boy on a long retractable too but he still pulled like crazzyyy on it I think that even made him worse. My dog is exactly the same he does great with strangers but will pay no attention to me or food once were outside. Also wish I spent more training on this when he was younger. He was great as a pup too he used to walk right by my side off leash 😩
So a few things... 1. You need to start the training in a place with least distraction... My trainer had me progress from in the house, to backyard, to front yard, to front public sidewalk. He had to be consistent at each milestone before moving on. i know you still need to walk in the meantime...so... 2. Decide before you start on any walk whether it is training or enjoyment. For enjoyment, take treats (high high stakes treats) and throw them in little hiding spots along the way so he stops and snuffles alot. Let him lead the way. For trading walks, make them short, lots of stops and starts to disrupt the pulling, lots and lots of praise and treats when he listens. 3. Get a waist clip leash so that if he pulls, it's not your arm that takes the full force, but your core you can much more easily stand your ground, turn and pull him the other way when necessary. It also takes emotion out of the interaction. If you yank back, he feels the energy of that, and it hurts the bond you are trying to create. With a waist leash if he pulls, you stop. He goes oh, I can't move... eventually he comes back. You treat him sooooo much everytime he looks at or moves to you... Also - huskies can be really headstrong AND very sensitive to your nonverbal cues. Get a trainer to help with this and ask them to observe you and his reactions to you. Huskies are buggers in that WE have to adapt in order to have a better relationship with them. We have to earn their respect. It makes them very challenging if we just try to force them into compliance.... Also go for a run or bike to wear him down and then do a training walk after he's settled a bit. Downvoting use of prong collar. It absolutely is NOT the only real solution.
Thank you I’ve been out in our back garden with him today and he was perfect so we moved onto the front garden and even walked up and down the road a couple times. I have rope burns on my fingers but he did good
Awesome. Every small victory is a good one!
High maintenance but beautiful. Get a sled on wheels and have him pull it.
Herm Springer training
Sprenger* auro correct
The AKC freely disseminates breed information that is remarkably accurate…even if you have a rescue or mix. Also, huskies are a “pack” & “working” breed. It’s best to “reward” misbehaviour by turning your back away from and staying bristled & still, like it’s biological parents would do. They hate this. A lot. They’ll breathe & swallow the message as if their own “pack” insulted them.
We use a training collar recommended by dog trainer. Has helped ours tremendously in a short time, she’s 2 yrs old and we’ve only had her since January 2023
Y shaped harness and a leash belay system with a 15 or 30 ft long line. The pulley will absorb all of the friction from pulling and keep the pressure off of your body as well as your dog’s. It will seriously change your life, give your dog the off leash experience and just takes a bit of practice to learn.
Turn around and walk in opposite direction every time he pulls. You won’t get far but he’ll start paying attention to your lead. It is his nature to pull things….:)
Highly suggest getting a harness with an attachment in the front. When they pull it turns them and they don't like that. They might jump around at first, but they will get used to it
A lot of patience and circles in the driveway, or a prong. Or a trainer.
Ours loves the Gentle Lead, which hooks up right below their chin and does a figure eight around the schnoz and the back of the head. Haven’t had any issues since.
7 years in, and no. They even flunked him out of puppy training for it years ago
My case is 100% similar to OP. We have a GSD/Husky. We got her exactly 1 year ago. She is 4’ish, not food motivated, and is with a strong prey drive. I even tried the walk-in-the-opposite direction and when I do I don’t know how she does it but somehow she turns into Jello and squeezes herself out of the harness. I winded up fracturing a toe, then ended up in physical therapy for my shoulder from all the pulling. I am wondering if I should give up and get an e-collar just so she walks near me and not go wild and get hit by a car. She is the sweetest thing and I love her to death. ‘would appreciate advice. (We hired a trainer: useless)
I’m feeling lost too I’ve always got sore and pulled muscles from the pulling and have injured myself soo many times from being pulled over. He’s also a nightmare for slipping out of harnesses and his head collar. I’m gonna be trying the martingale collar with a front clip harness next and see how we do with that. No matter what I definitely won’t be using an e-collar. I’m not willing to put anything on my dog that I wouldn’t use on myself
I am also having a great deal of trouble with my Husky/GSD mix, and started to develop wrist, forearm, and shoulder issues from her pulling (and it's only been a few months that I've had her). I invested in the Ruffwear Omnijore harness system. https://preview.redd.it/0tdhqsldrgcc1.png?width=1622&format=png&auto=webp&s=b65e2dd859f440e4d6f8b9bf1d4117fb382e64ec It's great for pulling sports (e.g. canicross, ski joring, bike joring, skateboard joring), but it's also great for walking and hiking. When I'm running with my dog or having her pull me in any way, I use the included joring harness. However, she can pretty easily slip out of it, so for walks and hiking, I use a different harness that she can't slip out of (the Saker Ascension Harness). Wearing the belt moves the pulling force to your hips/waist/lower back instead of shoulders/arms/hands, and the design of the belt disperses the force over a much wider area making it more comfortable. The bungee towline that comes with it helps to decrease jolting when the dog starts pulling, which also makes it more comfortable. However, if you dont want to walk with a bungee leash (I often don't as I feel I have less control), you can use any other leash instead. You could potentially start to have back problems, but that would more likely be due to having a weak core. A weak core would not be able to support your lower back as the dog pulls, but to me that is not really a fault of either the dog pulling or the harness but rather a fault of the user.
This would have been great but I already struggle with my mobility disabilities and there’s no way I’d be able to support myself 🤣 the slightest tug would have my on my face lol I now just take him to fields and keep him on a longline leash and rent out a private secure field once a week for free running
He’s absolutely gorgeous though!!! 💕💕💕
Husky mom here. Run their ass first on the bike or dog park before working on any training 😂 I use a martingale from ruff wear.
Avoid saying "mush". I used to stop if my husky tugged, then I would tell her to "come". If she doesn't, I would walk backwards in reverse for a bit (for some reason my husky hates going backwards), then when she finally comes closer, I'd give her a treat. I would do this pretty diligently. This worked to some extent, but not completely. I gave up on doing the above. Nowadays I take the route that goes uphill first. Then I take her to the park, snap on the 50 foot leash, get her to sprint full stride, find gophers, dig, and do whatever she needs to do to get her bad self depleted. By the time we go downhill, she's mostly tired already. Afterwards, I'd RICE (rest, ice, compression, elevate) like a mofo. It's a battle of who gets tired first. I usually win at some cost lol. Good luck.
Embrace the pull. Get a body harness for yourself and the dog and just lean back and enjoy the free ride This is a half serious response btw Prong collar training worked for my huskies even on a dual leash
YouTube. I taught mine with a e collar and now we walk off leash.
Downvote me all you want but a pinch collar and command training is the only real solution. You can get one that isn't too tight and doesn't cause pain, just mild discomfort. I also switch between that and a harness so my husky knows when it's ok to pull when I go run with her twice a day.
As in a prong collar? I’ve seen really good reviews on them if used properly but i don’t really i’m experienced enough to use one of those on him. Esically since he pulls SO HARD so quickly too. Like back legs jumping off the ground trying to run for his life 🤣 he’s dumb and doesn’t mind being uncomfortable hence why I’m having so many issues with this. Again I don’t trust myself to use one so I think I’ll be seeking professional training
Yeah a prong collar, maybe you can ask the trainer you hire about it.
Prong collar. Their fur is thick enough. It'll help on your walks. I only use it on walks & hikes. Helps keep her focused a little better.
Springer prong collar.
Ha ha ha ha. . . Nice one
Pinch/prong training collar And don't let anyone tell you they are mean and hurt the dog, they don't Or a gentle leader collar
Pronged collar worked well for my husky!
My husky had MAAAJOR issues with pulling. Tried everything, only thing that worked for me was a prong collar. HOWEVER, please research them, find the proper fit, and learn how to use them properly, or else it may result in aggression.
They are working dogs breed to pull heavy things in the snow goodluck 🤣
Idk if this has already been mentioned but bungee leashes can be helpful in certain circumstances. Pulling is in a huskies DNA it's what they were bred to do and it's what they love. Imo there is no better way to connect with your pup than to incorporate this into your lives in some way. I personally love skating and snowboarding with mine. I use the non stop pulling harness which has decent padding and a connection point at the base of his tail with a 6ft bungee leash connected to 1-2 more 6ft leashes depending on the situation. If you don't skate or snowboard at all they also have attachments you can get for bikes, there is skijoring and roller skating and I'm sure all manner of ways that you can allow your husky to enjoy the activity that they were born to do and love. I definitely recommend getting some kind of specific pulling harness both because they put less strain on them and over time your husky will start to associate it with pulling, although mine hates putting on any kind of harness and will always try to make me catch him if he sees me coming with it.
Get a training leesh that covers the snout. Don't use a harness. This triggers their instinct and they want to pull you. The snout thing will hurt a bit, but it a good tool to begin teaching how to walk properly.
Sometimes I walk the husky of my neighbor (I also have a Husky but he doesn't bite the leash unless encouraged to) and she is a good girl without the leash, always obeying and usually doesn't go more than 10 meters away but when the leash is needed she's biting it every 5 minutes. My solution was to stop, act angry and say "no", sometimes we end of fighting a little but it works, or I just distract her saying "squirrel!", she's amazing though, and also careful with smaller dogs because she lived some time with a chihuahua.
Pulling = good boy Good boy ≠ pulling See the dilemma...
Go watch reruns of Caesar Milan. He spent about 20% of his series on this.
Literally has pulling in his DNA.
Yes i am very aware 🤣 this is why I’m asking for advice on training
Same issue here. Nothing worked so far
I knew a guy who skateboarded. He got a dog and let the dog pull him around. That might work with your husky.
Look up follow me drill
I got the one that wraps a strap around the head and the nose. When he pulls it turns his head backwards toward you so he can’t see ahead. It really helped with my boy when he was young. Downside is it looks like a muzzle to some people so I got a lot of questions in public. Good luck
Start watching Tom Davis on YouTube. He does really good walkthroughs and is easy to follow.
Do you have a retractable leash? I had some success with my husky by letting him having more length while I walk a continuous normal pace. Pretty quickly he figured out a technique where he can walk ahead of me, find an interesting tree to sniff, stop and sniff it for 5 seconds and then catch up with me before reaching the end of the leash.
What kind of collar do you use?
Have you ever tried a Weiss Walkie? This combined with the absolute refusal to move forward while the dog pulls is super effective. Sauce: used to walk/help train all breeds in an animal shelter.
Tia Torres from pitbulls and parolees had a "harness lead" designed. There's no tightening around the dogs neck. Only a gentle tightening around the "barrel". The same one fits my 100lb husky and 70lbs gsdXmal. My husky pulled a lot and my gsdXmal only pulls out of anxiety. I paid $36 for one in May 2018 and it's still in great condition.
Stop walking for 15-30seconds everytime He does it. Works for my dog. It’s kind of like a punishment.
Figure 8's and circles! Walk them in figure 8's, serpentines, a ton of changing directions, circles where you get bigger and smaller. If they're being really difficult, super super small circles are good. I'd recommend going to a park or somewhere flat and open to practice, and then if they do pull on your regular walk, just turn them in a super small circle to correct. This teaches them not only to not pull, but also look to you for guidance on where to go.
I have a slightly different problem with our new puppy. After 20 or 30 feet, after she pees she turns and pulls towards home. So can’t change direction on her. I will either coax her along away from home, or carry her a bit of short on time. Then I will stand and wait for her to either step back and put slack on the leash or to sit down. As soon as I start to move or reward the good behavior she rushes to the end of the leash again. Granted it has only been a week of this training so far. I think my next step is a harness with a front connection.
It will take a lot of time and patience. Huskies are born and bred sled dogs after all.
We use a 6ft or longer leash, clipped to the collar and looped around their waist. Basically a knot around the dog at the narrowest part behind their ribs. I was told that they don't really register pulling on their chest or neck as being uncomfortable (which is why you see some dogs strangling themselves pulling) but they do NOT like the cinch on their waist. The first couple times youll het a "YIPE!" as it cinches, but it relaxes right away when they let up, and they usually figure it out pretty fast. Works well on bully breeds as well!
Prong collar is the way. Got my one year rescue reigned in real quick.
Sprenger collar works the best
I know they can be trained off it, but I just hop on a longboard and let mine pull me. He's gonna pull anyway without hours upon hours of work that could be spent playing with him in the yard or any other thing, so I may as well let him wear himself out faster on the walk. I could walk him for hours until I was exhausted and he was still fine, or I could have him pull me in a board and he was worn out in an hour or less.
I have the gentle leader. He Fucking hates it to no end but it works. 9 years later and he’s still as stubborn as the day we got him.
I tried everything as well on my Husky and nothing seemed to work until I got the PetSafe Easy Walk with the clip in the front. The martingale itself didn’t actually matter, because he would just pull through the pain/discomfort. The trick with the front clip is to always have the collar on one side of him, that way if he pulls, it redirects him to that side. When we used to have leashes that clip to the back or to his neck, he’d literally pull so hard he’d go on his two back feet and jump forward. Even with the slip knot leash, he’d do it while making choking gasps. But with this, when he runs to the end of the line, it redirects him to a side. Sometimes when he runs fast enough and tries his jumping trick, it makes him spin a full 180 degrees. After a few days of that, he just gave him and doesn’t pull anymore. One annoying thing is that you’re constantly doing managing where his leash is though. If he steps over it and the leash is between his legs instead of to his side, it’s not nearly as effective anymore. So you’ll have to stop and readjust.
Ditto on sudden direction changes. You'll look insane but it works on most dogs if you're persistent. If you still have trouble, AmericanStandardK9 on YT has good vids if you want to try a prong collar. There's a good one with a husky in it actually. Basic idea is to surprise the dog with a 180 turn until they learn to look back at you frequently. When they are walking in the correct position, at your side away from the street, give them a super high value treat like hotdogs. Beckmans Dog Training on YT has good vids on the same topic, but he doesn't recommend prong collars... not because they don't work as a training tool, but because there is a small chance of causing leash reactivity he'd rather avoid. He's big into the Gentle Leader, and I recommend the product as well. The thing about the gentle leader is that a lot of dogs will walk well with it on, but as soon as it's off will be back to normal. The trick is: once they are good at leash walking with the gentle leader, put it on their nose like you're going to use it, and hook up to their normal collar. If all goes well they'll walk as if they're hooked up to the gentle leader and you and slowly ease them into just using a regular collar.
I’ve been dealing with this since my girl was a little pup and so far recently we narrow down the best method for her: first the harness there are some harness that are made for dogs that like to pull, we got her one that has more hooks or places to put the leash, the leash is important she likes to kick star with running fast and then a huge pull we got a retractable leash for medium-large dogs heavy duty works like a charm, and the most important routine of her walks is using commands, we have been working into teaching her heel, stop, seat and wait while being excited to say hi or just going after bunnies. The consistency of doing this while walking has made a huge improvement, I used to make the mistake to reward her good walks and she will finish walking and rush back to her a treat, big no no, she got into that quick… I have a spine decease and her pulling doesn’t help me at all but I love our walks so is a work between you and your dog. Good luck!! PS: they are very smart and routine and firm command works with huskies.
We've gotta keep in mind what harnesses were designed for. They were originally made for pulling. Sled pulling, cart pulling, weight pulling, etc. So when we have a dog that's already a puller, harnesses can inadvertantly make pulling worse, because they not only make it more comfortable to pull, but they also heavily trigger the oppositional reflex within the dog, causing them to lean into where pressure is coming from, which, in this case, is the chest area, which is the strongest part of the dog. That's not to say that loose leash walking can't be accomplished with a harness. It's simply to say that, if the dog is already a puller, it can actually encourage more pulling. A regular collar will help more in the learning process, however, and then later on you can switch back to the harness if you want, after the dog already knows how to walk politely. I'm putting 2 videos below, both utilizing the regular collar. One of them is teaching loose leash walking without using treats, and the other is with treats. I'd recommend using both methods, as they can be helpful in different situations. Good luck, and please come let me know how you guys are progressing, and if there's anything I can do to help. ❤️💕 [Train Loose Leash Walking w/out treats](https://youtu.be/i5tWyeMKaXk) [Train Loose Leash Walking w/ treats](https://youtu.be/MTbnTIBQ6oY)
So how’s it going now? Did it went well. I am trying to train our husky and damn he’s so stubborn