Any advice on how to stop our young labrador pulling and dragging me along on walks?!

[Nectar]

We have a 7 month old lab, he's lovely in every way and fairly calm around the house, but the walks are wearing me out!

I only work part time so he's not left alone much, and he gets two walks a day to the local dog exercise area. This is half a mile away from us, we walk him there and back and then he normally gets 20 mins/half hour running around off lead, as it's all fenced in.

You'd think that would wear him out, but he pulls like mad ALL the way there and most of the way back. Neighbours are starting to comment, and a couple up the road from us said they sit and have their morning coffee and always have a laugh, seeing me hurtling up the road at 100 mph, out of breath!

I'm not a particularly small person and fairly fit, so don't understand how a relatively small dog can be that much stronger than me! Admittedly I can't run as far as dh, but I do a fairly fast jog with him. DH is a fast runner and people even comment that the dog's dragging HIM along!

Has anyone got any tips? When we come out of the house I make sure I'm in front of him holding the lead, but it's soon role reversal as I can't sustain that pace! I'm following the tips given at dog training but feel it should be easier.

[Whogivesashit]

I would get him a harness. Stops them pulling at all. Go to your local decent pet shop and get one fitted.

[ender]

Good explanation at beginning about how dog learns to pull on lead. You could do 3 x 10 minute training sessions a day instead of the off lead playtime in the park until he gets the hang of it.

[Lilcamper]

A harness with a lead attached to the back will make a dog pull harder. One with a front attachment would be far better. My huge unit of a lab wears this one dog-games-shop.co.uk/perfect-fit-fleece-dog-harness but nothing is a Maggi wand. Teaching LLW is the way ahead.

[Lilcamper]

Magic wand that should say

[cathpip]

I always changed direction whenever my dogs started pulling. If they were pulling I would just start walking backwards and when they were next to me looking confused start walking forward again. I just repeated this till they didn't pull (and when walking forward and not pulling i gave positive praise and treats), it didn't take too long (couple of weeks) but it did make the walk to the park rather long!:) My 2 year old can walk my 18 month cocker, and even past other dogs without being pulled over now so it has worked.

[Nectar]

Thank you everyone, I clicked on that link about 'loose lead training' and that was helpful. The other tips were useful too, about the harness and changing direction, I'll let you know how I get on!

[Madamecastafiore]

Get a Halti. Worked with our dog who was pulling me along and damaging my shoulder.

[meala]

my MIL also got a halti for her chocolate lab and it worked really well. They used it for about a year and now the dog walks well on the lead without it.

[BulletProofVestyBunny]

My Lab would pull and drag and pant and choke and gasp, etc so I used a Halti until he was about a year old, all the time doing the stop.start training if he tried to creep too far ahead.

He doesn't need the Halti anymore and walks beautifully to heel on and off the lead.

[newpup]

I used the stop and walk in the opposite direction or just stop and wait with my lab. It took a while but she was soon excellent on the lead, the children could hold her no problem. Nip it in the bud now with persistence and it will pay off. Good Luck.