A Dog Must: the Gentle Leader

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I cannot say enough good things about the Gentle Leader. Maybe I should have listened to my mother two or three months ago when she first said I should use it on both Monty & Sullivan. Now do my boys like it, no, but they will learn to love it because that's how they will get their walks from now on. Until I can get it under control without needing treats (rewards - the basis of the leader) I will only be walking them one at a time. It may be a shorter walk than they are used to, but it's summertime and much hotter now than normal, so I think they'll live.

What is so great about this oddly placed leader? It seriously gives me all the control in the world over even my most hyper and active dog, Sully. He usually tends to jump 3 feet in the air and bark when he sees another person, stroller, or God forbid another dog. This leader keeps me in control where they are not pulling me towards the unexpected visitor or "casual passerby". So Sully has now used it 4 times (2 times the day I got it), the next day, then we took off with the massive heat wave that's come, and again this morning. He is so well behaved now, he barely tries to get it off his nose (maybe that happened twice today). He actually passed another itty bitty dog, barked, but couldn't pull. I was able to keep him moving with me and he eventually sat on my command and got a treat which distracted him. It was wondrous.

Well obviously taking Sully made me leave Monty behind. Tim was still sleeping and I feel bad because clearly Monty was not happy. I came back and Monty was no where in sight...clearly Tim locked him upstairs in bed with him to quiet him down. So I asked Tim how bad he was. He said it sounded like he was going to die, that's how upset he was, haha, I chuckle at this! If they would just behave on walks they'd go together.

So it was Monty's turn. He's only used the Gentle Leader one other time. It was not very successful the first time. We made it about 75 yards down from the house and back. So we set off again trying to improve from the last time. He initially tried to get it off before we made it out the house, but I quickly refocused him, made him sit and gave him his yummy Little Jacs reward. YUM! We made it out (this time leaving Sullivan behind) and set off behaving, yes, I said BEHAVING! He barely sniffed and he just walked right next to me as I held a treat for him by my waist. He'd get one every time he was behaving beautifully. At times I made him sit, especially if he would try to get the GL off. Sure enough it was working. He was so well behaved that we passed a dog (inside), barking and jumping at the door, and Monty turned to bark back, but as I kept walking he could only do one thing, follow me. I AM THE PACK LEADER (so I'd like to think...or I am working on being). He was soooo good. We made it back, took the GL off and praised the heck out of him being such a good boy.

I am in love with this product. I HIGHLY recommend it, because if it can work on my two knuckleheads, it can work on anyone's pup.

Here it is: It seems as if it might be hurting them, especially as they try and get it off, but it's not...they can breath, eat treats, and even hold a ball in their mouth when worn properly.