Do You Want to Lead?

7/8/2012

We got the first dog that I remember when I was five or six years old. We named her Boo-boo. She was a rather ugly little mutt, think Toto from the Wizard of Oz, but she was very loyal and never wandered off. She even rode in front of my dad on the motorcycle, sometimes with me perched on the back! I don't think we even had a leash. We had Boo-boo until I was in college.

After graduating, hubby and I bought our own little puppy. I was delighted with Kirby and loved taking her for walks on the leash. Hubby also took her for walks, but early on he complained that she behaved terribly on the leash. I was puzzled because she heeled smartly beside me whenever I took her out. After a short Q & A, it was revealed that I was walking Kirby like a horse, on my right side. Oops!

Apparently, dogs are taught to heel on the person's LEFT side.

Little Tobias, not so little anymore, is also learning to heel and walk on the leash. Thanks to a tip from Hubby's parents, we are teaching him with the Gentle Leader instead of the old choke chain that we used on our other dogs. It might look a little mean, but Dr. Thurman assured me that it does no harm to their face and is actually safer and more humane than a traditional choke chain.

He would NOT sit still for a cute picture!!!!

How is this in any way horse related? While teaching Tobias to heel, it occurred to me that it's a like like teaching our horses to walk quietly beside us. Like you, I have numerous halters for different purposes.

While endurance riding, I used rope halters exclusively. We were frequently camped in places where a runaway horse could mean death. On occasion, horses at endurance rides get loose and run away from camp. They occasionally run toward traffic. I would rather my horse bang a leg on the trailer than get loose. That's why I used rope halters; they don't break.

Now that I am just in the barn or on show grounds, Speedy goes in a nearly regular halter. It's configured like a regular halter, but it's made out of Biothane, a synthetic material. Biothane washes very easily and dries almost instantly.

Thanks to Now THAT'S a Trot! for the halter tags.

Sydney's old halter.

Sydney, on the hand, doesn't get a regular halter anymore. He has one, but I had to quit using it when he started to try and push me around. Flat, web halters, like the one to the left, don't give you much control. Horses can easily pull or push against the flat webbing with no consequences.

Sydney now gets the rope halter. His behavior improved immediately with its use. Now when he drops his head to graze when I am leading to the arena, a quick tug gets his immediate attention. The thinner strands of the rope halter can be sharp on a thinned-skinned face. Even though there are no side rings, I clip the cross-ties to the single strand of rope that sits behind the cheek knot. It works like a charm.

I know there are many other kinds of halters, but these are the two that work for me. And just like for dogs (harnesses, choke chains, Gentle Leaders), you have to find what works best for your own horse.

Much better behaved with a rope halter.

Val

7/8/2012 01:37:32 am

That was funny about how you were leading Tobias. I would have done the same thing without a second thought.

The rope halter fits nicely under a bridle for lessons where the student needs a leader part of the time. I like the rope halter for obedience work, too, like you said. I normally use the flat halter with Harley, but I still prefer the round lead that works with his rope halter. He respects the flat halter more like a rope halter when the long lead is attached.

Karen

7/8/2012 03:59:19 am

Like Harley, Speedy now goes quite nicely in halter. He needed the rope halter for a few years though. If he gets persnickety, I'll pop the rope halter on as a reminder, but he long ago learned how to behave in whatever I choose to lead him.

I only use "clinician" style lead ropes, the round, 12' ones. Are those what you mean? I love the weight and feel of them. They also serve as a mini lunge line if necessary, and the long "tail" of the rope can be used a bit like a dressage whip - "hey! move your hind end over."

7/8/2012 09:41:15 pm

Yes, that is the kind of rope I mean!

lytha

7/8/2012 03:51:29 am

oh, great post! gentle leaders/haltis for dogs are AWESOME! i recommend them to everyone whose dog pulls. it is not cruel at all, it simply turns the dog's head to the side when he pulls toward something, so he learns very fast if he wants to "see" something, he cannot pull on the lead. ingenious! i have a nice anecdote about these. i was house/dog sitting for a friend and she has an 8 year old daughter and a golden retriever who had no "heel" and i wasn't gonna have time to teach him, but i was expected to walk him. i took dog and girl to petco and tried on a halti in the store. he leaped forward as usual, hit the end of the rope and twisted in midair like a wild horse! then he thought a moment and never pulled on it again. this probably sounds cruel--it could have pulled a muscle on him when he did that, but now that 8 year old can take that dog for walks! and she loves it! and his owner was having actual back issues trying to walk him.

a different friend (who thinks they are cruel, ironically) has a husky with no heel and asked me to help her walk her dogs. as soon as the husky tried to barge forward, i turned 90degrees left quickly so that i ran into the dog's face. the dog didn't like getting ran into by me unexpectedly, so she stayed with her nose at my leg for our walks. her owner is a very gentle person and i'm not sure she implemented this trick. i am no dog trainer, i just got lucky with that trick.

when i took my GSD to obedience, i got the booby prize, "most improved" or somesuch. ugh, i was abysmal.

rope halters - i hate the look of them but i am going to order one from mrs mom as soon as i own a horse who does not respect a flat halter. i agree with you that they can make a huge difference in behavior. and i've even used them on a TB who tried to set back and break things while tied and she stopped that, but only when i had that rope halter on her. i daresay they eliminate the need for a studchain - what do you think?

i love the look in Sydney's face, is he camera shy? he's observing you with that look, "what? i didn't do anything!" this is baasha's expression everytime i point a camera at him.

7/8/2012 03:58:13 am

sorry, i think it's "sit back" and not "set back" ? doh.

7/8/2012 04:10:24 am

Hey Lytha! I love your dog anecdotes! I had never heard of the Gentle Leader before it was recommended to us. I do a lot of equine research, but I don't want to spend the time doing it for dogs too. Don't get me wrong. We LOVE our dog(s) and provide the best veterinarian care possible. They have impeccable manners, but I don't keep up on "new" things. We also don't get puppies very often. Our last two dogs lived for 11 and 15 years.

I am glad to hear that others have found the GL to be useful. Tobi does just what you describe: wild lunges. As soon as he hits the end of the leash, he gets a very surprised look on his face and immediately returns to the "heel" position. He'll go along nicely for a bit and then forget what his job is. He tries the wild horse thing and whamo! hits the end of the GL. Those forgetful moments don't happen very often now. At six months old, he's become a very nice dog to walk (mostly!).

I don't need a stud chain with a rope halter. If you do some of the "lunging for respect" exercise (Clinton Anderson), horses start to lead pretty nicely. And like I was saying to Val, the long "clinician" leads give you a way to move the horse around while on the halter.

Even though Speedy goes fine in a flat halter, he still gets the rope halter now and again. They're so much like the Gentle Leader! When a horse gets bumped with a knot or the thin rope, it gets his attention without having to jerk your arm off.

Speedy used to pull back, even with the rope halter. It won't break, but it doesn't always fix the problem either. As soon as I switched to the Blocker tie ring, Speedy quit pulling back. You can read about the BTR here: http://www.bakersfielddressage.com/1/post/2011/3/gizmos-that-i-like-part-2.html

Sarah link

7/9/2012 04:17:01 am

For dogs, I know people who have used the GL very successfully, mostly on larger dogs. For my two dogs, we use a harness like this one:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3046348
It straps around their chest and a little tug is felt in several places, so it allows for more subtlety than just leashing to a collar.
For horses, I have never bought a rope halter for the same reason you specifically needed one: they don't break. But I've never been in that kind of situation that warranted it. I didn't even think about the rope halter as a ground-manner aid. I grew up using stud chains so I know various ways to wrap them around the halter to be either more or less impactful.=) Learn something new every day. And BTW love the halter tags.

7/10/2012 10:08:26 am

Halter tag info here: http://www.bakersfielddressage.com/1/post/2011/8/new-cool-gizmo.html

I asked my vet about the harness option, but he thought with the larger breed dogs the Gentle Leader was easier. Tobias will be at least 90 pounds as an adult and probably larger. That's a lot of dog to haul around. :0) At six months old he's already just a bit under 50 pounds and he still looks like a baby!

7/16/2012 07:33:49 am

Karen, may I please use the above picture of Speedy with his halter tag for a post on my blog?

7/16/2012 07:35:17 am

Of course!

Comments are closed.

Not-So-Speedy Dressage