Need help/advice from people who run with their dog.

My boxer is leash aggressive from being attacked at a dog show by a small white fluffy thing when he was a pup. I had to stop showing him and it has taken all of my patience and a GENTLE LEADER in order to be able to take him on walks at all. Instead of being defensive, he goes on the OFFENSIVE and lunges at anything furry. The Gentle Leader certainly helps control his lunging, but it is next to impossible to take him for walks any more.

He's perfectly fine off-leash, however, so we have lots of play dates and go to the dog park instead. He's three now.

Try a prong collar. Do your research first though so you are aware of exactly how to use it. It has done wonders for my GSD
http://leerburg.com/fit-prong.htm

One concern to keep in mind with a pronged collar is if your dog ever bites someone or gets into a fight, in a civil suit the person sueing you can bring up the use of a pronged collar to show your lack of control over your dog which = negligence.

I have never seen or heard that before. That's a little far fetched. A prong collar is a training tool and is used to give a correction, not unlike other tools.

As others have mentioned I'm not generally a fan of the GL but the fact that he has been through two training classes with no success it is the lesser of two evils.

I worked in a lawyer's office. It isn't far fetched at all.

I would be interested in reading the case.

ETA - are we talking raising the argument? Or actual case law?
I can see the argument being raised but would think a good argument from someone familiar with the training methods would easily counter it.

I run with my lab sometimes. On normal walks he is a puller so I use a special harness that puts the main weight on his front however this limits him rather than stops him from pulling. If we are somewhere he can go off lead all is fine as he has good recall unless there is water near by and then he ignores me until he gets his first dip!! For running usually he is ok. i still use the harness and have it clipped to my belt so I am hands free and no stress on one side or the other. he does zig zag a lot for the first tne mins, usually until he does his business and then he settles down and runs fine. I would recommend energetic play and toileting before you set off and then using some sort of running harness once you go. Back packs on dogs are also supposed to be a good way of calming a dog down but I have not tried it myself..

http://www.snowpawstore.com/canicross/canicross-harness.html

After my dog tripped me and broke 3 bones in my hand, I purchased a haltie (like a gentle leader) & a short leash. She cannot run out in front of me and the haltie controls her head. She is now controlled & by my side. Foot note, it takes the dog a few walks to get use to the haltie. I would walk with it first, then start running. Good Luck I hope you find something that works.

Let me tell you the two things that helped with my BC mix:

A gentle leader for walking

and a specialized harness for running. It attaches at the dog's chest. If he runs off, it torques him a funny direction.

I was just going to suggest the chest harness. We also sometimes use that with a leash that has two loops. The smaller loop allows me to choke up on the leash (like choking a bat in baseball, not choking the dog!) to better keep her at my side. I'm not sure if that's a good fit for everyone's dog, but it certainly helps, since my pooch will cut across me when I run and cut me off just to smell something. It also affords me better control if we run into another dog out of nowhere and I have to pull her back or if she sees something she'd like to chase.

They make running belts that allow you to attach the leash to a belt that you wear. I don't use one of these but I've heard great things from people who do use them.

Try switching directions every time he starts to pull. This lets him know that he has to follow.

Also, go out for training and not a run. Start to run and if he pulls stop running and don't start again until the leash is slack. What you are doing is giving him a signal that pulling on the leash means you are stopping and a slack leash means he gets to go forward.

I agree with the suggestions of a gentle lead or a chest lead but not the prong collar.

Okay, I've trained dogs for 25 years. A Gentle Leader is a terrific tool, but it is only a tool, AND your dog will need to be trained on wearing it before you go out running! It's dogs that are not trained to wear them that jerk ahead and do damage to their necks. I always recommend the Easy Walk Harness made by Premier. It's a harness that the leash hooks in front of the chest and it disengage all the pulling muscles that regular harness engage. And it's also less effective than the Gentle Leader but I like it more. Do not use any kind of pain implementing devices such as prong collars or choke collars on a high drive tracking/hunting dog, that will lead to frustration in the dog and the behavior will get worse, not better. Cesar Milan is a joke, go back and see all the episodes on YouTube where he was bitten but that was cut out of the show and see all the dogs that he "helped" that ended up being euthanized. Victoria Stillwell or Patricia McConnell are amazing trainers. I highly recommend the book "The Other End of the Leash" by Patricia McConnell. It's an easy read and will give you a whole new perspective on your dog's behavior.

As far as motivation. Skip dinner for you pup, take him/her in the backyard where it's not as exciting and start your leash training with the tastiest treat you can find (Lee's chicken livers are a favorite, warm), the treats become dinner. I do encourage clicker training if you can find a trainer in your area who can help you learn how to do it. Or you can PM me and I will explain it. When your dog is perfect in the backyard, move to your driveway and start over, when your dog is perfect there, start down the sidewalk in front of your house, when your dog is perfect there, etc. Do you see where I'm going with this? This is a long and tedious process for a low drive dog, not to mention a high drive dog. Don't plan on running with your dog for 8-12 months if you do this training 5-10 min/day.

Now, find someone who will work with you on training your dog to track! Give your dog an outlet. It should not be hard to train this because that's all your dog wants to do.

I run with a super high drive Belgian Terverun and when she see ducks or any bird herding is all she can think about. I've taught her that when we are done running I will let her herd the ducks at the park we run at on a long line. Now that she knows that her reward is herding she is an angel when we run after her initial burst of energy.

I run with a super high drive Belgian Terverun and when she see ducks or any bird herding is all she can think about. I've taught her that when we are done running I will let her herd the ducks at the park we run at on a long line. Now that she knows that her reward is herding she is an angel when we run after her initial burst of energy.

Great example of premack as a reward for compliance!

Whatever you do, a retractable leash is a terrible idea. The dog doesn't know how long the leash is, and will continue to pull when the get to the end of it. They will never know their boundaries. A regular leash will be fine. We have this harness for our dog: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751027&f=PAD/psNotAvailInUS/No

It works like magic.

Putting a regular harness on a dog will only increase their desire to pull, because they believe they are doing work. This harness pull them to the side so they understand they are pulling too much.

You cannot 'teach' a dog to go against it's DNA. If his DNA has him tracking, he will track until this need is fullfilled.
I suggest fullfilling this need by training his tracking with treasure hunts. Once he has learned what his tracking is for, then you can show him that tracking is not required in all situations. Like you did with him in the house. It will make for a happier/healthier dog and owner
It is not an easy thing to do and does require much time and commitement. I hope you the best of luck. It is a great feeling to share your runs with a buddy.