I wanted to do a post about our pup today. Why? Because today something amazing happened! Okay, maybe it's not amazing but it's still pretty awesome. *laughs*
About two days ago we took him into the vet clinic to get his rabies shot and to test for heart worms. Thankfully he only needs to get his rabies shot once every three years. He is always such a sweet but hyper mutt and going to the vet clinic is no different. Our vet really likes him and treats him very well. As usual the shot and the blood test went smoothly. The results came back that he was heart worm free so we could proceed with giving him his monthly dose of heart worm prevention pills.
Like I said our dog can be very hyper. He's a good dog but when it comes to talking him for walks he pulls like there is no tomorrow. We had purchased a training collar, other wise known as a choke chain, and his pulling went down a little bit but not much. (To clarify I do not mean the pinch collar. I hate those and refuse to use them. However, the "choke chain" is something all of Master's dogs have had and He feels they are more reliable, as far as not breaking, rather than a typical collar. Our dog still wears a typical collar which his tags are attached to.)
As a result, Master had to take him out to the car while I paid the bill so he wouldn't be trying to drag Master all over the office. Our dog is almost as tall as me when he's standing on his hind legs and weighs about 67lbs. He is very strong.
As I was paying the bill and waiting for the receptionist to give me the new rabies tag and certificate the vet himself was standing there finishing up our dog's paperwork. The receptionist and I were joking around a bit about how our dog is so happy and hyper all the time. That's when the vet popped in and suggested a head collar. He said that our mutt should be a lot easier to handle during walks and better behaved when we take him to the vet or to a store.
Aside from pulling our dog is very well behaved. But he's 5 years old and has always pulled. Always.
After we got home from the vet visit I talked to Master about it a little bit and He told me to look into it. I did some research on it and found that the best place to go would be to Petco.
Anyway, today we decided that since he just had his rabies shot booster done we could take him to the store and look for a head collar. The most talked about one one the internet was the Halti head collar. As a result that is what I looked for first. I found it but Master pointed out the Gentle Leader head collar. It stuck out more because rather than just a size, it came with a weight recommendation. Since he is a bigger dog we feel better whenever we see a weight recommendation on the package. We also didn't have to try it on the mutt since it was fully adjustable. Awesome.
We went home and I was a little surprised at the instruction booklet that came with it. At first I was thinking that this was going to be way too complicated just because of how many steps were listed. But once I read through them all it was actually pretty simple once I got it fitted properly. From now on putting it on him will be easier.
As soon as we were sure that it was on and sized correctly we took him for a walk. Of course at first all our dog wanted to do was wipe his face with his paws to try and get it off. It didn't hurt him or anything, he just didn't like the way it felt. It allows his mouth to open and close all the way. It isn't a muzzle. But once we got on with the walk it was amazing how well behaved he was. Rather than trying to pull ahead he walked at our sides.
It has been a long time since I've actually been able to walk our dog. He weighs about half as much as I do and he's muscular. I could take him out to use the bathroom and take him in and out of the car with no problem but during an actual walk I wasn't able to comfortably control him.
But this time once our dog got a little more use to the head collar I was able to take the leash and walk him with absolutely no problem. It was awesome! I am very glad that we took the vet's advice!
Now, to get our dog use to the head collar, Master wants it put on every time we take him outside. There is the hope that we won't have to put it on him after quite some time (Master said about a year) of having it on but I have a feeling that once the dog knows it's not on he'll go right back to pulling. Only time will tell. For right now it was worth every penny and we've only had it one day.
I'm only raving about it because it was so nice to be able to walk our dog myself rather than just walking beside Master while He held the leash.
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