How To Train A Dog With A Head Collar

What’s the best dog head-collar or harness for stopping dogs from pulling on the lead?

Head halters are commonly used as an alternative to neck control collars and have many advantages. First off, they make it easier to control your dog, not requiring as much physical effort, and you won’t end up battling with your puppy or saving your shoulders from being jerked when you go for a walk like you would when you use a flat neck collar.

I’ve been looking….

and researching and more researching and this head collar is the one that I would choose:

There are 5 good reasons why the k9 bridle is the best dog head-collar for helping owners to control their dogs:

1. The point of control is at the back of the head. The dog’s neck is protected from injury and the spine is kept in line. There is no danger of the dog running to the end of the lead then having its neck whipped back causing serious injury, which can happen with other head-collars that attach under the neck or at the side of the head.
2. The k9 bridle is not tight all the time. It releases as soon as the dog stops pulling, giving the dog signals it can understand. This makes it ideal for assisting owners to train their dogs.
3. It is made from very soft, lightweight tubular material with no hard edges that may rub on the dog’s skin and cause sore places.
4. It comes in 5 different sizes and each size is fully adjustable to help you get a perfect fit. This is important because with a good fit, the dog will find it more comfortable and it is much less likely to rub and cause sore places.
5. The bridle can help to control aggression because the bridle dips the nose slightly when a command is given. This has the effect of breaking eye contact between two dogs that are eyeing each other prior to aggressive behavior, giving the owner the chance to move the dog away easily and without incident.

How Head Collars Work

Head halters attached to leashes is a tool designed to help you control your dog by guiding its head, just like halters and lead ropes are used to help control your horses. An animal tends to go where its head goes. So, if the dog (or horse) wants to pull on the leash and its head can’t move, it can’t pull you so well. If the dog (or horse) wants to head in one direction and you want to go in another, gently (but not daintily) guide its head in the direction you want to lead the animal.

The head halter is completely humane, as it doesn’t cause any pain and works much better to prevent a dog from pulling than a choke chain or prong collar.

The first step of training dogs to love the head collar is easy. Just pair the head collar with food and systematically train the dog to stick its head further and further through. In most cases where the food and the collar are handled correctly, the dog can learn to shove his nose through in just a minute or two.

Dog Training with a Head Collar. 

The head collar has become a very popular dog training tool in the past few years. Two of the most well known brands on the market of the head collar are the Gentle Leader, Snoot Loop and the Halti, but there are so many other brands that use the basic head collar design.

Many find the Gentle Leader easier than the Halti. The Gentle Leader is designed to fasten around the dog’s neck. One of the advantages of this design is if your pup is able to wiggle out of the muzzle, she is still wearing a collar which comes in handy. This safety feature is also important, especially when during training outside. On the other hand, the Halti offers better control of the dog, and for this reason alone it is often more popular when working with aggressive dogs.

Training a dog with a head collar has many advantages over training with a traditional or with a training collar. For one thing, head collars are often easier to use for beginners than the training collars. Head collars are also effective at keeping dogs from pulling, or controlling and if you need to retrain your dogs that like to pull.

Head collars is also effective at keeping control of dogs in difficult situations, such as a dog that wants to be with other dogs. Most dog owners know of some situations in which their dogs are hard to control, and head collars can be helpful at controlling these situations.

When your dog associates the halter with going for a walk, he’ll begin to react positively to it, and soon, both you and your dog will enjoy taking walks together!

Head collars can be excellent for handling dogs that are very strong, or if your working with a dog in an area that contains a lots of distractions. For instance, head collars are great for when you and your dog is taking a walk in a park with lots of people around, or in an area where there will be other distractions.

Even though a head collar can be a great tool, it should not be used as a replacement for dog training. A head collar is most effective when it is used in combination with strong and sensible dog training methods, such as reward training and other forms of positive reinforcement.

The Basics of Teaching Dogs To Understand

Head collars give you a lot of control, but dog’s can take several weeks to get used to them.

For head halters that clip under the dog’s chin, use the lightest leash you can get.

Once the dog is good at shoving his nose into the head collar, then put the head collar on. Keep the dog focused on you instead of the funny thing on his face. You can lure him with a treat to hurry and follow you a few steps at a time; if he’s doing well after you repeat this five to ten times, increase the number of steps he must take to get the treat. You can also use targeting instead of luring if he already knows how to touch a target with his nose and loves it.

Once your dog’s walking nicely and no longer has the desire to paw the head collar, it’s time to teach him that the leash has a limit. Every time his front feet pass yours, meaning he’s just a second or two from getting far enough ahead to pull, stop dead in your tracks. That will make it clear you’ve stopped and even the slightest pull will mean a halt to his forward movement. Once he clearly steps back towards you and then stands with a loose leash (or better yet, sits), walk forward briskly on a loose leash.

When working with your dog at home, have him wear the halter for very short time periods while distracting him from the halter and rewarding his patience with treats. Also, practice short walks in your own yard before going out for a longer walk on the head halter.

The Disadvantages of head collars

At times, people confuse the halti with a dog muzzle; however, the two are very different and were built for different purposes. That said, it is important to recognize that some models of dog haltis were purposely crafted to allow the mouth to be closed; a feature which may turn handy when dealing with dogs prone to aggression.

Even though head collars have many advantages, they have some distinct disadvantages as well. For one thing, head collars tend to make many dogs dependent on the equipment, and they quickly learn the difference between their regular collar and the head collar, and adjust their behavior accordingly.

In addition, some dogs, particularly those not accustomed to wearing a head collar, dislike wearing it and paw at it, try to rub it off or pull excessively. If your dog exhibits this behavior, the best strategy is to keep it moving until it learns to accept the collar. A good alternative is to have the dog sit by pulling up on the dog’s head.

Another disadvantage of the head collar is the reaction that many people have to it. Many people think that a head collar is a muzzle, and react to the dog as if it may bite. While this is not necessarily a defect of the head collar, many people do find it troublesome.

There is a risk of neck injury to your dog if you’re complacent. Allowing him plenty of leash, only to have him hit the end of it at a full run and be jerked back can cause whiplash. As with all tools, there are safe, sensible ways to use the Halti and irresponsible ways to use it. Simply ensure your dog is never allowed to jerk his head suddenly (especially at speed) and you’ll be no worse off than any other collar.

In conclusion, training with a head collar is much like training with a training collar or any other equipment. While the head collar can be an important and useful tool, it is important to use it appropriately, follow all package instructions, and to combine its use with solid training methods. The eventual goal of dog training with a head collar should be to have the dog behave as well with a regular collar as it does with the specialized head collar.

Things to remember:

• Make sure the head halter fits your dog properly.
• It should be snug around your dog’s neck and high behind her ears, but loose enough around her nose so that the nose strap can slide easily down to the fleshy part of his nose.
• A head halter is not a muzzle – the dog can still eat, drink, pant, bark and bite, if she chooses too.
• NEVER use a hard jerk with the head halter.
• Do not use the head halter with a retractable lead. It not only teaches your dog to pull, but if your dog runs quickly to the end of the lead, he may give himself a hard jerk.
• Your dog should wear his head halter only during on-leash walks with you and/or when you’re directly supervising him. If your dog wears the head halter around the house, he’ll have plenty of time to work at getting it off, and will eventually succeed.
• Read the information sheet that comes with your dog’s head halter. You can also ask the salesperson where you make your purchase if they can help you to properly fit the halter to your dog.

How long should this take?

Every dog is different. Some dogs, usually the furry-faced ones, get used to this in one walk. Most dogs take a few weeks. Some never like it. If your dog has had the head collar for a month or more, and and yet he still flops around a bunch on the walks, this collar is not for you. You might try the Comfort Trainer or the Easy Walk harness instead. It has most of the physics of the head halters, and works almost as well (but not quite) without the fuss!

Some of the problems with most of the head-collar options currently available are:

1. They tend to pull into or near the dog’s eyes
2. The dog can still pull – they just set their head and neck sideways and pull forwards.
3. The point of control is under the chin, meaning that when the dog pulls, its head is turned sideways. This can lead to neck and spinal injuries, particularly if the dog runs to the end of the lead repeatedly, and is yanked back.
4. They often cover part of the mouth, interfering with the dog’s breathing or annoying him when he’s playing with a toy.
5. As with all dog restraints, if head-collars are not fitted correctly, or if the dog is a very strong puller, occasionally the collars can rub on the dog’s face causing sore places if monitored.

If you buy it from a pet store you can always bring your dog along and they will fit it on your dog for you.

Now that I have some control, what else do I need to do?

Often the key to turning an unruly dog into an acceptable pet is continuous control until you reliably can get the behaviors that you want. This is most easily accomplished by having your dog on a leash (attached to a body harness, non-choke neck collar or head halter). This allows you to immediately interrupt undesirable behavior and teach your dog the correct lesson. Once your dog no longer engages in the undesirable behavior, and responds consistently to verbal commands, the leash can be removed. An integral component of controlling an unruly dog means you must restructure the situations so that the unruly behavior doesn’t take place, or that you stop it immediately. You can do this by keeping the dog on a leash so that she can’t run through the house, closing the doors to the other rooms, and limiting access to areas where your dog is unsupervised. Only interact with the dog in a positive manner and set up situations so that the dog will do as the owner asks.

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