There are a million (maybe more) articles on the internet about how to stop your dog from pulling you down the street while you try to enjoy a walk with your pooch. It’s a common problem, and Weims seem to be particularly bad! For some reason a lot of these sites claim that teaching a dog to quit pulling is easy. Is it just me? If it were easy, why do so many people have this problem and why are there so many articles on the ‘net about it? Hmm?
One of the main reasons why this is so hard to teach is because we can sometimes have the attention span of a puppy!
Is walking your Weim a pleasure or a pain?
For instance…. You read about the “Stand like a Tree” method, understand the concept (Aha! Use the dog’s motivation to your advantage to shape his behavior!) and you resolve to stick with it. And then… life happens. Someone is waiting for you at the dog park, you are trying to make your vet appointment, you feel like a moron taking 10 mintues to walk 5 feet, a cat saunters by, whatever. Easily distracted by what is going on around us, and in our haste, we let our Weim pull that one time, or maybe we just get sloppy with our timing. And just like that, back to square one. People that are used to training systematically are used to this, but most people just want to take the dog on a walk already for goodness sake! — and get frustrated.
So, the best practical tip I can give you for teaching your Weim not to pull, is to know when you don’t have the time, patience or inclination to concentrate on training. If that is the case, use a tool! A prong collar, halti, harness, whatever, just as long as you are not allowing your dog to pull against his neck.
Here’s another tip. If you don’t have a tool with you, use the ol’ field trial gut cinch/colon squeeze half-hitch method. (Someone has got to come up with a better name for this! I liked the descriptive “gut cinch” and “colon squeeze” methods, but I guess I should be more proper and use correct terminology 
Thanks, Esteri!)
Control pulling using the leash as a tool. Photo courtesy of Meredith Wadsworth.
Here’s how you do it: The leash is clipped to collar like normal. Run the leash down the dog’s back and then loop it around the waist. Then loop the leash back around and under the part that came down the back. When the dog pulls, the leash will squeeze the mid section, not the neck. Most dogs do not like this feeling and will quit pulling.
Tools are just that, tools. If you want a dog to walk nicely without any doo-dads, use “Stand like a Tree” and keep the tools on hand for those times life gets in the way of training.
And one last thought to leave you with. Pulling is not always a bad thing! Stay tuned, pulling is going to be discussed further later.
What tools do you use to teach your Weim to walk nicely on a leash? Please comment below!
About justweims
Field trialers call it a “half hitch”. As in, “Put my dog in a half hitch and walk him to the line for me?” It’s definitely much nicer than “gut cinch / colon squeeze”.
Huh! All these years, and I never knew that was what it’s called! Thanks, Esteri!
If I need absolute control (like in a crowd) I use a prong, however if we’re just out for a stroll I prefer just a regular flat collar and leash. We try and use the “easy” command to mean Lincoln can have the span of the 6ft leash to do what he’d like, a strict heel walk isn’t all that fun! If he gets a bit out of control or focused on something, we’ll stop, tell him to heel up, and start back on our walk, either on a “heel” or an “easy” command.
To tell you the truth, I MUCH prefer off leash walks!
I use the Stand like a Tree when I have time. But using the half-hitch with Ruger is a life saver when I don`t have other options.
Love the half hitch. It’s always good in a pinch. If I know I’m going into a crowd with Milo, I use the pinch collar. I like the leather kind with the little pokey things inside. That way no one can tell I’m using a pinch collar. Embarassingly enough, neither of my dogs know how to heel. We don’t live in the city so they are rarely walked on leash therefore it’s never high on the training priority list. But then we go to the vet or Petsmart and I’m so embarrassed at my dogs’ pulling.
Take your dog to obedience class.
I use a halti or easy walk for June. Blue’s too old to pull now, but he used a halti as well. Was thinking about trying the half-hitch because Junie detests the halti. Prongs are not an option. Any thoughts on a martingale for pulling?
I have never used a martingale, but whatever works! Sometimes you have to try a tool to see if it is the most effective for you and your dog!
What is a martingale?
It’s kind of like a modified choke chain. Easier to see it than describe it
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martingale_(collar)
The Martingale did not work for my Lucy, but the Easy walk halter works miracles!!!
sorry I read about the prong collar soooo not good try putting round your neck and see how it feels, time patience treats and rewards work a lot better. Your Weis are clever and they want to please …. so use your choke chain, lots of rewards and they will work it out….
I use the clicker training method, started when Jimmy was 8 weaks old. That works very well for me.
My Weimi Holly used to make me cry with her pulling…it hurt my arm so much!! Then i discovered the figure 8 lead and walking changed forever!!!!!We do live in the country so off-lead walks are our usual thing but for town walking it worked a treat! I praise her regularly when we walk so she knows she’s doing good…and have actually found that having used the figure 8 she walks alot better on normal collar/lead anyway…the clicker works well too with just collar/lead…excellent for heel training too!!! :0)
Can you tell more about the figure 8 lead. Have not heard of that one.
Thanks
Kahleen.
I have a 6 month old puppy and both the Halti (comfort head halter) and Easy Walk harness work wonders with her…i use the Halti for walking and harness for hiking and she does great with either one. Its no fun to walk her without one or the other..What is the stand like a tree thing about?
Our weimie boy used to pull so much. The neighbors joked that he was walking me, instead of vice versa. We recently got a harness for him with a leash that clips to the front of his chest and the back, like reigns. It’s effortless and doesn’t cause him any discomfort. Now he jogs next to me and walks next to me. If he pulls at all, I give a little tug to the front reign and he immediately stops. It’s great
I have a 14 months old boy Weim and we had this problem since learning how to walk with the leash
Don’t get me wrong, I love my weim very much, he’s a very good dog but when it comes to leashing it just gets me angry….
We have been doing that “Stand like a tree” method when he was a pup (suggested by trainer) but it didn’t work out. Then we tried another way by simply motivating him by food but he is just a very energetic dog and pulls not because he wants to sniff but because he doesn’t enjoy slow walking.
So, I’m really thankful for the suggestion about that leash trick. Most companies creates thousands of so like “stop dog from pulling” leashes, collars but most of them is just an economic trick to get money and they doesn’t help.