Do gentle leaders help reactive dogs?
Rene Erdman
2025-06-13 17:05:13
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I made the switch to a gentle leader about a month ago. I slowly introduced it to her, and now that she is fully acclimated to it, I am seeing little to no reactivity while we are on walks. We have passed so many triggers, without any lunges or barks. I just hold the leash closer to me and she stays by my side and looks without reacting. My thoughts are that she feels much more in control on the harness, so she acted without thinking when pushed over threshold. Now that her movements cause some gentle discomfort, I see her look at me and let me shorten the leash when we are near a trigger. It’s almost like she is letting me help her through the situations, when she used to feel like she had to. She is still reactive when given the chance, but this certainly makes walks much more enjoyable and I am beginning to trust her to stay by my side in more crowded areas. Overall, this worked for me and if you are considering it, I think it’s worth a shot.
Izabella Gulgowski
2025-05-30 17:53:12
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We believe: Teaching proper pressure and release with a leash (usually a slip lead, transitional lead, gentle leader, prong collar or starmark collar)
are all necessary components to your foundation to address why your dog is reactive make sure they have a clear understanding of leash pressure.
You can condition dogs to only get what they want when they're more relaxed by doing that in every single situation.
Every reactive dog that I've ever met who reacted on walks to dogs/people/scooters etc was practicing reactivity in some way in the home.
There are so many triggers in the home to work through before expecting your dog to not react outside.
Confidence building fixes 95% of my reactivity cases.
Dogs just want to feel safe with their handler and they want to know what's coming next.
If we're not working our dogs through things that stress them out, we're pretty useless to them in reactivity situations.
Take note of the things at home that make your dog even slightly uncomfortable and get them comfortable with them.
Start adding in structure, rules and consistency in your message to build your dogs confidence.
Norma Durgan
2025-05-30 16:40:09
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The Gentle Leader was not painful for my dog, but it was annoying to him, so the behavior stopped nearly immediately. We've been using this for a week now and it feels like a miracle. We're slowly moving back up to walking a few miles a day, and he isn't pulling or barking at the neighbor dogs. He does occasionally whine at them, like his habit of barking is trying to escape, but knowing how the collar will react to the barking and pulling keeps him from trying. Developed by a veterinary behaviorist, the Gentle Leader is recommended by veterinarians and trainers as a humane solution for dogs that exhibit pulling, lunging, or jumping behaviors during walks. This redirection naturally discourages pulling by guiding the dog to focus on the owner rather than external distractions. The design capitalizes on the principle that where the head goes, the body follows, making it an effective tool for managing leash manners. If you are like me and walking two dogs, one of which being reactive, I'm glad to say that the Gentle Leader works fine with my two-dog leash.
Read also
- What is the difference between leash reactive and leash aggressive?
- Why does my dog listen better off leash than on leash?
- Why is my dog aggressive on leash but not off leash?
- How to manage leash aggression?
- Are dogs more aggressive when on a leash?
- What to do if an off-leash dog attacks your on-leash dog?
- Can a leash reactive dog be cured?