April 27th, 2014 - The Gentle Leader

Many years ago I had a 135 pound male dog named Parker and also a 110 pound male dog named Gunther. 

 

For the most part they listened really well and I never had any problems walking them together unless they saw a squirrel.

 

I'm only 4'11 and I'm one of those people who will not drop a leash under any circumstances and due to that logic have had my share of bumps, bruises, cuts and abrasions.   After one very painful walk and being dragged through a hedge after a chipmunk off to PetSmart I went and bought two Gentle Leaders for my boys.

 

It took awhile to figure out how to put them on and in the end I was never dragged anywhere again by my two overly and easily excitable 4 legged, furry children.  Our walks got longer and it was very comforting to know that there was no way I ever be jerked off my feet again.  I still have their Gentle Leaders and over the years have used them when training other people's dogs.

 

While visiting with Emmett to get my weekly photos, I asked Veronica if she had every heard of or seen a Gentle Leader and explained why I liked them.  So I thought I look over the Internet to see if I could find any pictures of Great Danes wearing Gentle Leaders and I did.

 



 

 

In fact my Emmett will resemble the dog in the above photo when he's full grown.  During my search of photos I came across a post a woman had written about her Great Dane and her experience with her Gentle Leader.  She had written:

 

"Hi everybody I just want to share my experience with you. My blue (intact) male is 6 1/2 months and a little over 90lbs. He is very strong and used to pull and drag me while on leash all over the place and he was starting to almost embarrass me in stores and public and I could almost hear people whispering (why can't she control her dog??!!)( I'm a small girl weighing a 110+ and being 5'2", I would have to make sure I was wearing sneakers and plant both my feet on the ground trying to control him, at the end of our walks my hands would be raw and almost bleeding from pulling and fighting with him. Well I bought a halti/gentle leader head collar. Let me just say, Merlin is like a different dog. It requires almost NO FORCE on your end. Your dog can still bark, bite chew etc... it is not a muzzle. As soon as I put this collar on he knows I AM THE BOSS!  Needless to say choke collars and all the rest of them didn't work a bit. I can actually take him to PetSmart and Dog Shows now and he doesn't even try to pull now. I guess its like a horse bridal, the body will go wherever the head will go, makes good sense to me. Can u imagine a horse with a choke collar on? Little kids and other people can actually come up to Merlin and pet him without him jumping or getting to wild. I really stand behind this, and I thought it would help somebody else who was at their wits end and didn't know what to do with strong pulling dog...you don't have to yell or anything, people try it, you will notice a difference right away. Hope I have helped another Dane family out there
CINDY AND MERLIN"

I already knew that I would use a Gentle Leader with Emmett once he reached a certain weight.

17 days and counting till Emmett comes home!