Category: Common Problems ¤
  Author: Susan Northcutt ¤
   Title: Why Use a Head Halter ¤

Karen Miller wrote:
> 
> Bob McCowan wrote:
> 
> > We've been using a Gentle Leader, and had pretty good luck
> 
> Karen Miller writes:
> 
> I'm sorry if this is off topic, but a dog trainer just told me that a
> gentle leader should not be used on an aggressive dog. *I* thought that
> it would be a good choice for an aggressive dog.
> 
> Does anyone have any opinions about this. Again, I hope that I'm not too
> off topic.
> 
> Karen Miller

I recommend that a gentle leader or a halti be used on agressive dogs
for the following reasons.

1) It makes more sense to the dog.  when dogs communicate with one
another, it usually through a skin grab in the upper neck or face area,
and from what I have seen this piece of equipment is the closest that we
can come to replicating that without actually man handling the dog.

2) It evens up the odds; if you have an enormous dog lunging on a flat
collar, you haven't got a hope of holding him long term.  There is a
very good reason that we attach harnesses to the lower neck and upper
chest areas of a draft animal; that is the strongest part of an animal. 
By attaching the lead to the front of his face, you put him in the
position of trying to use his weakest body part to pull (very important
for those of use with shoulder and neck injuries).

3)  There is an old horsemena's saying of "where the head goes, the body
follows".  When your dog lunges out after another dog, if you turn away
and walk in the opposite direction, he will follow, because that is the
way that his head is being pulled.  He simply cannot run with his head
over his shoulder (try this yourself;  run forward while looking over
either your left or right shoulder).

4) For some dogs, having their face in a halter either tones them right
down or brings them right up.  I have watched this many times.  An
aggressive dog will often react by becoming vary placid, and a very
submissive dog will react by becoming more assertive.  It seems to bring
dogs toward balanced and away from either dominant or submissive.  

5)The final reason that I give for using a halter with an aggressive dog
is that if he does try to start a fight, I can close his mouth by
getting in tight with my lead and pulling directly up.  If you have two
dogs on halters, and you are holding both their halters up high and
their mouths closed, they can wiggle like mad but they can't bite.  This
is a really useful tool in my opinion if you are dealing with a very
aggressive dog.

To make a halter work though, it is important that it be fitted
properly.  You should fit the halter so that it is snug behind the dogs
ears.  They can slip a halter if it is loose and down the back of their
neck.  they should be able to open their mouth to pant and retrieve and
even drink.  If you have a dog who is REALLY upset by the halter and
succeeds in pawing it off, you can attach it to a choke collar, but that
is a last resort.  I have had much better luck with distraction.  It is
very hard to paw off your halter when you are running at a gallop, and
if that is what it takes to convince you that you will wear your halter,
that is what I do!

Hope this helps,

Sue