Working on headcollar desensitization

While we're still at home... Yup! Still under house arrest here. Although he seems really well, we're decreasing the Metacam 5kg dose every two days and he's totally off the Tramadol painkiller. So we've been doing a little headcollar desesitization training to try and turn the headcollar a less scary experience for Grey.

Session 1

Today's training

I tried out a little session in the bathroom of the silky leash method this morning. Went nicely. He had fun, got it and had some bits of hotdog. So all good. Went out to Bekesbourne for a walk. The sun was really out, so a lovely autumn day. Went a slightly different route and so he had to go on the gencon head collar for a stretch of the walk. He got really stressed by this as L kept walking slightly ahead. This really frustrates Grey. We stopped off at the vets, got him weighed: 27.75KG. Walked back to the car across the fields.

At home we ran through more of the silky leash method in the house which again went well. He was then hand fed his dinner as per the RRR DVD.

This evening we've played fetch with two balls to see if that encourages him to give one up any easier. He then took to hiding potatoes from the sack into his bed.

New stuff to try out: He got a large big dog sized nylabone. Also a front fastening harness from Halti.

New collar new day

I knew I was speaking of success before I should have done regarding the halti and the new walking technique. After two days, Grey started struggling against the Halti for the whole walk. He would lean into it and made snuffling sounds with his breathing, so generally a struggle and it was uncomfortable on my arm. That and much throwing himself on the floor in a toddler protest and trying to rub it off on my trousers. He really hated it and would run and hide in his bed when I got it out, even if it meant going for a walk and was offered with a piece of sausage.

So over the weekend it was suggested I look at two more collars. The first the Gencon headcollar, which works by contracting the whole head and at the back of the head, similar to the TTouch calming bands. My friend kindly lent me hers so we did a swapsie and I gave the Halti back. He struggled a bit when it was put on like a pony with a new bridle. But after his initial protests he settled into it and really responded. I need to manage him more proactively as well, by lifting his head from scenting and stopping him lying on the floor. So we managed a while walking round the park and then through the high street with a well behaved more with me Grey that wasn't fighting the collar. It also doesn't ride up in his eyes. We'll see how he goes from here on if it continues.

We also bumped into Obi four times on the walk. Which was lovely and interesting because I got to see how different they are. Ok there's a big age gap with Obi being six weeks younger. But even at that age, Grey was a more determined to do his own thing on the lead character than Obi seems to be. Still so strange to see another one at the same time as Grey!


The other headcollar I had been recommended was the Dogmatic. It works like the Halti, but it doesn't ride up in the eyes and is good for large strong dogs. Hopefully we won't need it if training goes ok on the Gencon. If I do get one, I've been advised to get either the synthetic leather or the cotton one because the original leather versions need a lot of softening up.

A new leash of life

We had a great training session with J today. We tried out a few bits of equipment to see how he got on. The anti-pull harness worked to stop him pulling, but he was still sniffing. This meant he was still very boingy and not with me. The slip lead, he just pulled and pulled and he's clearly not ready for that yet till he walks nicely. The chain we didn't bother. What really made a difference was changing the tactic on the halti head collar. Instead of carrying on with the steering him back on it, he was on a short lead on the head collar end which restricted him from scenting the ground and kept him close to my legs. He seemed to relax into it and it enabled us to walk at a fast pace, which I think he prefers anyway. All in all a much better experience and I felt I had control. Grey was much more focused with his head up. He still got his run off lead, just that on it, he has to be in the game. I can now start taking him everywhere again with me.

I tried it out again this eve on my own and it was still much better. I then had a little go of just training on the flat collar and that was good too. So the pla would be to build up practise of walking in the correct position on the head collar, then to switch to the flat collar eventually.