Rant My Father My Dog

[NYboy]

My parents where married for almost 50 years, when my mom passed away. My father was all alone in the house and become very lonely and depressed. My father is a big dog lover, and wanted a dog. Because he is 83 a puppy was out. I also knew there was a good chance of the dog out living him, then I would end up with the dog. I gave him one of my dogs, 3 year old housetrained Cavalier. It was love at first sight!! They became inseparable, she really helped my father with being alone. Problem is I have a fenced in yard, and never had to walk her. My fathers yard is not fenced, and he really enjoys their walks. When Holly is walked she pulls constantly on the leash (she is on a harness) I told my father a choke collar would really help.My father flipped out and refuses to put anything around her neck. I know my mistake was using the word choke. Winter is here, I am worried about him being pulled on snow or ice. A fall at his age can be very bad. No matter what I say he will only use the harness. It is driving me crazy, it's something that can be corrected with the right collar.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

This may help: http://www.dog.com/item/easy-walk-harness/100612/

I HATE harnesses, as a serious dog person. I hate the ez-walk ones too. They're management tools that people think can replace training, as though when you put a six-foot fence in front of a dog and the dog doesn't go through it you can say that the dog is trained not to run away. I would always rather have a dog on a training collar (for pulling I'd use a micro-prong on a toy dog, not a choke). HOWEVER, when people are convinced that collars are "mean" and they're unwilling to listen, the front-clip harnesses can solve a problem without creating a fight.

 

[annanicole18]

gentle leader. they are amazing. it takes a little time and work to get them to leave it on their nose but it really does work. i agree about disliking harnesses because they don't hinder the dog in anyway like pulling on a collar limits their air they can just keep on trucking with a harness with no negative results.

 

[danischi24]

Actually, that easy walker just gave me a good idea. Get him the gentle leader head collar. It's got a nice name that he will like immediately & it is effective. Should solve your problems. You can let him look at the site cause it says all sorts of nice things that should soothe him: http://www.buygentleleader.com/View.aspx?page=dogs/products/behavior/gentleleader/description

ETA: lol, you beat me to it Annanicole!

 

[FourPawz]

Quote:
Amen! I have papillons. Every one of my dogs can walk perfectly on a lead and collar. The ONLY time they wear a harness is if we're out tracking and the dogs know that when they wear the harness it's time to work/have fun.

In the case of the dad and the Cavalier, perhaps a solution for bad weather would be to purchase a couple of portable exercise pens (you can get them at Petsmart or online) and link them together, so the dog has a fairly large potty area.

 

[NYboy]

Thanks guys I ordered both. Guess what dads getting for Christmas.

 

[BlacksheepCardigans]

Gentle leaders are AWFUL. Especially for Cavaliers. Return/cancel the head collar. Any Cavalier is going to have a weak and vulnerable spot where the spinal cord inserts into the brain; it's a breed-wide problem (it's actually a toy-dog-wide problem, but Cavaliers are the worst). That's right where the GL's neck strap sits. One of my vet friends says he's seeing a dramatic increase in c-spine injuries since head halters have gotten so popular. You can try it on yourself - put your hand under your chin and force up and to the side. Notice how little space you have before it starts to hurt, and then look at what a dog does when she hits the end of a leash and is wearing a head halter. Head halters are also universally despised by all dogs; they fight them like crazy. You can spend weeks and weeks training them to accept it, but what you're doing is training them to ignore an uncomfortable sensation. That's NOT what I want my dogs to do. I want them to be happy, willing workers and to assume that any uncomfortable sensation is me telling them to quit doing something wrong.

I can stand the ez-walk harness because at least it's not hurting the dog. They drive me nuts because people substitute them for training, but it's not like it's actively harmful. The head halters are a totally different story.

 

[NYboy]

Wow blacksheep thankyou! I have oftered to pay for a dog run, but my father likes the walks.

 

[dutchhollow]

What black sheep said x 2. Harnesses and head halters are just methods of control. The dogs don't learn anything, and the head things are an injury risk should the dog try to run if it gets scared, and the harnesses actually encourage dogs to pull. You should get a micro prong and you can teach her to heel in a very short time.

 

[welsummerchicks]

Get in a martingale collar - it's a training collar, but doesn't upset people who don't like choke collars.

...older folks having dogs often is very, very problematic. Getting the dog the proper nutrition and exercise...it never seems to be easy.