Halti Collars...

Flake said:

In the right situations, yes or no?

I imagine them to be quite contraversial...

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Just wondering why you think they'd be controversial... They're only a tool (and a poor substitute for proper leash training) but I haven't ever thought they'd be controversial...

When I managed the humane society here, we had young teen volunteers who would walk some pretty big, burly, untrained dogs and the Haltis and Gentle Leaders worked well to help get the dogs outside for walks and keep the volunteers from getting pulled willy-nilly down the path.

Most of the dogs got acclimated to the feel of the head harness quickly and because they knew it meant a W-A-L-K, they became very willing to accept it.

I've never needed one for my own dogs, because they are taught proper leash manners from an early age, but, "in the right situation" with a very strong puller, it can prevent the pulling (but not necessarily teach the dog why it's not OK to pull...)

It's a prevention, not a cure... IMO...

In the right situation, yes I think they are fine, is it debatable, possibly. I think people should try what works for them. I have haltis and gentle leaders and every day collars we use most of the time now.

The gentle leader works very well for Olie - not Suri. It helped us aid in Olie being so distracted - but we used it during training/walking. He does not pull though either. I have haltis for my Poms - they in fact do have very fragile trachea's and to avoid later damage we have chose to use these most of the time.

There are so many options out there for leash training and then casual walking. With smaller dogs I think they serve a good purpose, maybe a bit of "prevention" here too.

There are collars out there that are controversial like the prong but I think this is a matter of when to use them and where. I don't see the halti this way.

Okay.
There is one dog by my place that walks past daily who is always in one, and it makes me feel a bit weird, I guess because it looks so restricting? I don't really know how they work but have heard that they are supposedly very gentle.

Duncan does pretty well on the lead. He heels for the most part, but skateboards and teens on the main road can make him pull a bit, as can another dog on the occasion. We head out for an hour a day at the moment, with a normal lead, and he's getting better all of the time. I would continue to use the usual lead on our main walk but...

I want to take him out more now that the weather is getting much cooler, as he doesn't want to be outside as often. To do this I need to walk him with the pram, but he competes with it and is incredibly hard to handle. I know that training, patience and persistance is the key, but to be honest I'm more likely to give up and just walk him the usual once a day, when we could all benefit from that second walk.

Sooo....trying one of these leads just when out with the pram? Worth it or do I need to stop being so lazy?

I personally have never HAD to use a Haltie. I've always leash trained my dogs and (maybe I've just been lucky) have never had difficulty doing it.

But I've seen dogs whose owner SHOULD have been using them because their dogs were so out of control and were literally dragging their people behind them.

I worked with horses when I was younger so I completely understand the concept behind a haltie. It's a lead halter for your dog. Horses have a hard time walking straight when their head is turned in another direction to that which they are moving. Just think how difficult it would be to try to lead a horse somewhere using something around its neck resting at the base of its shoulder....where ALL of its POWER is. Unless the horse wanted to go where you were going you'd never get it to move, it would just drag you along like a rag and hardly notice you were even there.
Same thing with a large untrained dog. The collar is on it's neck but it is still often resting very close to the shoulder where the dog has alot of strength. I get particularly annoyed when I see people putting those shoulder harnesses on their large dog (rotties, boxers, huskies...etc) and then hear them complain that they can't control their dog. You have almost no control over your dog when you put one of those on unless the dog is trained. The dog has been given something that he can put his shoulder against and really pull WITHOUT hurting himself AT ALL.
First; get YOURSELF and your dog to some obedience classes. Second; if it's really that bad, put a haltie on the dog and keep your arm in it's socket until you've had time to train you dog to be polite on a lead.

My rant and 2 cents

Monica