I have a american cocker spaniel and i have tried loads to get him to walk on a loose lead but he will not and will keep pulling on his collar and lead untill his collar pulls on his throat and he chokes – is this common in american cockers ? do they all have sensitive throats ? also has any 1 got any good tips on keeping his long coat in good condition eg . recommended shampoo's
aditional details – we now have him on a canny collar and we can keep him under controll , it pulls on his nose unstead of his throat – there fore he no longer chokes but he does grunt so we are trying are best to get him to walk normally , any tips ?
extra question – i heard my friends cocker died of distemper , is this common ?
When my puppies are first little, I practice with the leash. In the house, I drape the leash on them and try to call them to me. Outside, I practice in my fenced back yard for about a month before the puppy graduates to the street. I might drape the leash on the puppy and get him to follow me, or drag the leash on the ground and see if he will follow me and try to catch the leash. There are many things in my back yard that scare a puppy, so it is soooo much easier to address, or correct issues when I am in my back yard and not in the street. We just walk laps in the yard and deal with drama as it comes up. Maybe around 3-months-old I might try to clip the leash to the collar, but if there is too much protesting, I drop the leash. They just get better with the leash around 4 to 5-months-old. So anyway, I use the commands "go" when I want to "go" and if the puppy tugs on the leash, I stop and say "wait". It is my walk and we go as fast as I can walk and no faster. If I want to "wait" and look at a flower, change the batteries in my walkman, count to ten, then I do it, it is my walk. When I am ready I say "go" and we "go" again. When the puppy pulls on the leash, I stop and say "wait" and we stop again, even if we just went two steps. I praise the puppy when he is doing good and talk soothing to him and encourage him when he is doing good, so he keeps doing it. It takes several laps of "go" and "wait" until he settles down, and when the walk is over, I make a big fuss and clap and then they get some play time. They don't like the walk at first, but they like the fuss at the end. I have to address "go" and "wait" again the next day, but it won't take me as long to get him to understand what I want from him. I also housesat a dog, and the owner thought he had leash issues, and that dog just didn't like being in front. He walked just fine with my dogs as long as he could be part of the group, but he didn't want to be in the front. If you have a family member, or a neighbor that has a dog that walks well, see if you can practice with them. I also had one dog that didn't like the maroon leash, or the pink one, but did just fine with the blue leash. Sometimes puppies are just puppies.
I am not sure about distemper, I haven't ever heard of an animal I know getting it. For our Cavie, we use a shampoo and grooming spray that has coconut oil in it. We use angels eyes for her eyes, and we clean the eyes and ears everyday and we comb all our dogs hair daily.
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