You don't realize it, but in the next few minutes you are going to learn why the so called leash correction is all wrong and should be avoided at all cost. With leash correction what i really mean is pulling hard back on the leash or snap the leash. And you probably have had the same experience as me if you are the ordinary dog handler. Your dog is not behaving as you want him to or just have a bad day, and do not listen to or respond to you as you want him to. So what do you do? You snap the leash to correct him or pulls him back, and if that do not work you may get angry and correct (pull) even harder to make the dog get what you mean.This method is proven not to work because the dog may become scared of you, not listening to you and that is not what you want him to do.
There are also one more thing that any dog owner have to know about.
The truth is that even a soft correction may lead to spine and neck injuries and you can actually give your dog a whiplash if you have a really bad day. Here's a fact for you… in a survey some years ago of dogs that where showing aggressive or had signs of hyperactivity about 78 percent had spinal problems. These dogs actually needed a kiropractor or dogo-practor. So spinal problems are a major problem in dogs because the owner or handler do not understand how much force he is applying to the neck and spine every time he corrects the dog in this way.
So how can you solve this problem?
FACT: The choice is yours…Get your dog trained not to pull from the start, and if you have a problem with your dog pulling, then contact a dog trainer and let him show you how you can correct what you are doing and get a better result from your training. One more thing you can do, is to get rid of the collar and get a harness. A harness may seem to be just for smaller dogs, but there are harness even for large dogs like the German shepherd. And they are really not that more expensive than a collar.
You will do your dog an immense favor by getting a harness, because the power applied to the leash is spread out over the whole body and you will get better control of the dog. People that have bought a harness for their dog reports that the dog will reduce or stop pulling and there even are harnesses with a small handle on the top that can be used for even more control in tense situations. Unfortunately there will be times that the dog will react instinctively to things and a harness will be much better for controlling your dog. I have put up a link under here to show you some examples of the Dean& Tyler harness that have got some great reviews. Thank you for reading, i hope this will be helpful to you and to your dog.
