Hi there I've used the gentle leader very succesfully with Mali, a female lab I adopted from the Boston MSPCA shelter. She'd beene adopted out and returned a couple of times and as soon as I took her home I could see why- she had separation anxiety and just about every undesirable problem in the dog problem list! Tugging desperately while on walks was one of them. The head collar was a great aide in her leash training, because depsite her not being a big dog, she was amazingly strong and walking was simply hell wihtout it. The head collar was close to miraculous in that as soon as she got used to it walks became pleasurable affairs, not desprate tug-of-wars on ice.
I did wean her from the head collar though, and went on to a no-pull harness, basically because I didn't want to be dependent on the head collar and also becuase I got a lot of negative reactions on the street- many people thought it was a muzzle and therefore that this was a dangerous dog and would not come anywhere near her- so this beat my purpose of socializing her. I was also sick of explanining to people that it wasn't a muzzle and that yes she could breathe and drink and eat with it. I used the gentle leader on two more occasions_ when we moved, Mali's separation anxiety returned ; I resorted to the gentle leader as a calming device and it worked wonders. She had it on when we left the house , along with treats and kongs and a contained area of the house, and voila- the desparation disappeared. The third occasion was when I moved back to Brazil and stayed for a month at my mom's while househunting. Mali was not too great with sharing her space with other dogs and my mom had kept our very oversized great dane who likewise was not too keen with sharing his space. I used gentle leaders on both for about three or four days of mutual adaptation. It gave me more of a sense of control if fights were to break out and it also sedated both of them . With my Berner pup (8 months old) I have been lucky in that despite his weight and size and might he is a good natual heeler- he just likes walking right by me, so I haven't had the need for a gentle leader. At this point I feel the gentle leader is a wonderful tool for managing difficult dogs in stressful situations and rehabbing bad heelers, but I believe that save problems where the owner has problems with strength (elderly , with motor compromise, etc), it would be better at least to start leash training with an ordinary flat collar, and even before that, off-leash heeling work such as suggested by Ian Dunbar. That will give you real control over the dog. That saide, I have to admit that for the problem situations the gentle leader was almost too good to be true- I'd never seen a commercial promise being lived up to in that way. Best, Simone de Lima Brasilia, Brazil with Doppo, 8 month berner babe, Mali, rescue Lab mix "imported" form Jamaica Plain, Boston, Gimli , 1 yr old Schnauzer who won't heel for anyhting in his life, Rebecca, guest dachshund , who came for a week but has satyed for over a month, and Godot the best tree-climbing cat in the world (when he's not sleeping on the printer) From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Bernese Mountain Dog Mailing List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Wednesday, January 08, 2003 9:51 PM Subject: Gentle Leader head collar > I have been a member on the list for about 2 years but do not recall any > discussions on the Gentle Leader Head Collar. I apologize if this has > already been discussed previously. I am about to become a first time berner > owner in about 6 weeks and recently came across this product at a dog > training web site. I would appreciate hearing about any experiences with > this product both good and bad. > Thanks, > Mike Lamson >
