spiderbitten
Well-Known Member
Looking for some advice, suggestions, training tips, anything really. I'm at a point where I'm really not sure what else to do, besides a professional trainer. I do plan on taking him to a trainer eventually, but in the meantime...
In the meantime, I feel terrible, because I have chosen to temporarily stop taking poor Draki out for walks. I get stressed, he gets stressed, and instead of an enjoyable, relaxing activity, it turns into a frustrating mess.
Draki was always a bit more difficult to train than most dogs I've owned, but walking him is a nightmare. I would think I was doing something horribly wrong as his owner, but I have two other rescue dogs who had no leash manners when I got them, who are both perfectly fine on lead now.
A little background - I adopted Draki, a Cane Corso, from a shelter when he was 5 months old. The shelter told me was 10 months to 1 year old, and of course wouldn't allow him to be adopted out without neutering him. And if ever there was an example of waiting for a male to reach maturity before fixing them, my poor Draki is it. He's now just shy of 3 years old, and never grew out of the gangly awkward stage. He seems to have also retained a lot of adolescent traits, most noticeably in that he just doesn't seem to get things.
As far as walks, Draki simply won't stop pulling and attempting to drag me all over. He goes crazy when he sees another dog, whether the dog is also being walked or behind a fence. It's embarassing, of course, and very frustrating.
I have tried so many different techniques - I've tried entirely positive training, where he completely ignores me. I've tried carrying treats to get his attention, but this has only brought very limited success. I've tried sharp leash correction, which works for about two seconds before he starts pulling again. I've used a halti, and used it for almost four months before giving up, because he never. stopped. rolling, and I was spending more time getting him back on his feet than actually walking. I tried a harness - ha ha. The only thing that half-works is a prong collar, but it didn't stop him from losing his mind when those other dogs came into sight, and I got so worried that he'd hurt himself that was when I chose to stop walking him.
So anything might be helpful, really. He's a good boy, but I just don't know what else to do.
In the meantime, I feel terrible, because I have chosen to temporarily stop taking poor Draki out for walks. I get stressed, he gets stressed, and instead of an enjoyable, relaxing activity, it turns into a frustrating mess.
Draki was always a bit more difficult to train than most dogs I've owned, but walking him is a nightmare. I would think I was doing something horribly wrong as his owner, but I have two other rescue dogs who had no leash manners when I got them, who are both perfectly fine on lead now.
A little background - I adopted Draki, a Cane Corso, from a shelter when he was 5 months old. The shelter told me was 10 months to 1 year old, and of course wouldn't allow him to be adopted out without neutering him. And if ever there was an example of waiting for a male to reach maturity before fixing them, my poor Draki is it. He's now just shy of 3 years old, and never grew out of the gangly awkward stage. He seems to have also retained a lot of adolescent traits, most noticeably in that he just doesn't seem to get things.
As far as walks, Draki simply won't stop pulling and attempting to drag me all over. He goes crazy when he sees another dog, whether the dog is also being walked or behind a fence. It's embarassing, of course, and very frustrating.
I have tried so many different techniques - I've tried entirely positive training, where he completely ignores me. I've tried carrying treats to get his attention, but this has only brought very limited success. I've tried sharp leash correction, which works for about two seconds before he starts pulling again. I've used a halti, and used it for almost four months before giving up, because he never. stopped. rolling, and I was spending more time getting him back on his feet than actually walking. I tried a harness - ha ha. The only thing that half-works is a prong collar, but it didn't stop him from losing his mind when those other dogs came into sight, and I got so worried that he'd hurt himself that was when I chose to stop walking him.
So anything might be helpful, really. He's a good boy, but I just don't know what else to do.