Sniffing Everything!! - Small Progress

The difference with teh easy-walk is that you hook the leash to the front (and the entire harness is constructed to stay-put with that--a normal harness like you have, if you clipped the leash to the front ring would just twist around...I know, I've tried). So all the pulling force forward is redirected and the dog essentially has to turn around.

There are other varieties of no-pull harness as well that work on different principles:
Sporn harness:


Halti Harness:


No-Pull Harness:



But any which way, training also has to be a part of it.

I am going through this exact same thing with my one year old beagle.  I don't know if he is going through doggy adolescence or what but he has completely regressed on some aspects of his training, leash walking being a biggie.  I tried to take him for a walk last night and we only made it down the street and back because of all his pulling/obsessive sniffing.  It does not help that we have about a million rabits running around our neighborhood right now.  I am going to go back and re-read everyone suggestions.  The other problem we are having is him not listening to us at all when he is outside.  He is so possessed by his nose it is like he doesn't even hear us.  

I am so frustrated with him right now.  We are starting him in another obedience class as a refresher but it does not start until the end of September.  I swear I feel like I am at my wits end with him sometimes.  Thanks listening to my vent.  I really needed it! []
 
I forgot to add that I have tried the gentle leader and the canny collar that I had to special order from the UK (someone posted on it a while back) and he refused to walk with them on.  He will go a couple of feet and the throw himself down and tried to paw it off his face.  Even the stinkiest treats will not entice him to walk.  He has actually laid down in the street and refused to walk home with it on.  He has also tried going after rabbits with it on and I was afraid he was going to hurt himself.

Usually when this happens I just stand perfectly still and give the heel command. However, it's like he doesn't hear me anymore...he just ignores me and continues to pull. I then bring out a piece of kibble, and give the command. He comes over, gets the kibble and goes right back to pulling. Other times he will stop and smell a specific spot for what seems like forever and ignore the heel command. If I bring out the piece of kibble he will come but will then go right back to what he was doing.

 
all of these strategies are actually rewarding him for pulling and not-moving-- he only gets food if he mis-behaves first, plus he gets the reward of smelling. Try randomly rewarding him (food, praise, stopping and telling him to go sniff to his heart's content) when he is walking nicely, and if he mis-behaves by pulling or stopping just keep going on your merry way. Unless he pulls FORWARD in which case freezing until he stops pulling forward is effective.

OK - I think I am seeing some progress.  You all very definitely right.  What we were doing was rewarding his bad behavior.  Instead I have been rewarding him when he is walking good, head up, etc. and it's working.  We went for a 45 minute walk last night and he didn't do one of his stop and not move routines once.  Also when he did stop to sniff, he was quick and moved on.  There was a little bump when he saw another dog.  He gets so excited and wants to play, but even his lingering after the pup left was shorter.
 
Thank you so much for the tips and ideas.  We are going to keep working with him, but it is so rewarding to see progress so fast!!!!

Chopper has her nose glued to the ground and will pull in every direction if I let her.  I posted this in the "job" thread in General Chat as well, but basically the first half of our walk is when I keep her at heel, head up, focused on me, going at MY pace, etc.  The second half, I slow down a bit, let her use the length of the lead (which is still only 4') to go ahead or fall behind, move off to the side to sniff, I'll even stop and let her sniff or let her choose the direction based on her tracking.  I don't want it to become obsessive, I don't want her always being in control, so I use her sniffing as a reward for first behaving as I want.  If it's my turn and she tries to stop and sniff or starts to pull, I give her a slight tug back (not a collar pop, just enough to re-establish slack in the line b/c I don't want it tight) and say "eh eh" and she falls back into place.  Sometimes I feel her fall behind as if she is going to stop and sniff and I just keep going.  She gets the point that I am not stopping.  If I hesistat or stop to try to command her, she will just sniff like she wants.

My beagle loves to stop and sniff also.  It would take us an hour just to go down one block and I was getting to work later and later each day!!!!  Finally, for the morning walk I would walk briskly and give him a tug when he sniffed too long in any one spot and for our evening walk I let him sniff as much as he wants.  He finally learned that the morning walk for all business and the evening walk was for all pleasure.  We also have a fenced in yard, that he can sniff all day if he wants!!!
 
Deb W.

I didn't read all of the posts, but one small thing is that maybe you want to not use kibbel for training.

I've always been taught that kibbel should never be used for training because it really isn't a reward.  The dog gets this anyways at dinner so why should he work extra hard for it when training?  Get something savory that he just can't live without.  Hot dogs cut into very small pieces are what Bauer loves.  He never gets this unless we are training, which makes it all the more tempting to train with me.