PetSafe Gentle Leader Head Collar with Training DVD, MEDIUM 25-60 LBS., DEEP PURPLE

With our (now eight month old) cocker/retriever, we were struggling with pulling and lunging. Despite her intelligence and training, her exuberance meant every walk was a challenge. We tried almost every kind of collar, lead, harness and halter. Nothing worked: she's still pulled like a train and wriggled out of anything on her nose. Until we tried this one. A complete transformation! Our pup now trots along happily and obediently. It's a simple device without heavy, complex straps and buckles. Very easy to slip on (a persuasive treat helps but she waits patiently while it's fitted now). She can still eat, sniff etc without discomfort. Most importantly, the lightest of touches turns her head to me when needed, so the lead is loose and our dog walks safely and alongside us with ease. I use it with a 2m x 6mm rope lead which is light (the clip is below dog's jaw so a heavy lead would pull down). Now we use this halter every day and every walk is a pleasure for us and our dog. Cannot recommend enough!

Great product. Works as designed. Stops my husky from going full sled dog. I can even walk her without her normal harness (though I still have it in my pack just in case). I have a full size husky approximately 50lbs and ordered a medium. It fits around her 17” neck with an inch or so to spare but not much more.

I have 3 doodles. Medium to Medium-Large in size (44 to 62 lbs), and varying degrees of poodle (75, 50, and 25%). The most poodle-y of them all (75%) is reactive when she is anxious. She just wants to sniff or play, but she barks like a maniac. She is amazing on a leash, but the barking is why I bought this for her. The walking is why I bought them for the other 2. They all hate the gentle leader. Why? Well, many reasons. 1) I did not gently coax them into wearing the leader. I just grabbed them and put it on. 2) Take an ace bandage and wrap it around your head and tey to take or eat. It isn't bad, but you would rather not have it on, right? I would imagine the same logic with the dogs. 3) The poodle-y one cannot bark maniacally at new things she wants to sniff. I can get her to stop barking faster. She is not a fan of shutting up. She has to be desensitized, and the gentle leader helps immensely. The other two. One was causing me some knee dysplasia because he would lean into me during a walk, if he wasn't pulling, when he was scared. (He is a chicken.) The gentle leader, with the leash on yhe opposite side of his head has stopped him from leaning into my knee. Its been great going feom thinking I might have to go have kneee surgery, to just getting the dog to walk on a leash properly. The 3rd dog... he isn't super bright, but he makes up for it in being extremely happy. That means he is ALL OVER THE PLACE. I was able to put a gentle leader on him and lead him around with just my index finger in the loop. These have been fabulous and I am so glad my neighbor recommended them. She also recommended getting a little piece that attaches to the BACK of the gentle leader and onto the regular harness, in case the leader isn't on well enough and they slip out. Can my dogs easily get the muzzle part off? You betcha. It does help to follow the directions for adjusting and putting it on properly. Does it bother their muzzle? They say it does, but I think we've had them for a month. I do not leave these on after a walk because they would chew on them to prove a point. They do have some padding on the inside of the muzzle part. One dog seems to be particularly sensitive to the hard edges (the melted nylon) on the front of the neck portion of the gentle leader. I corrected that just with a couple of bandaids over those spots. There isn't a whole lot you can do for that. These have skinny straps, so a dog can chew threw them easily, if they get the muzzle part off. Again, if you just take it off after a walk, and put them away where they can't get them, tou shouldn't have an issue. I don't even think I got these on sale. My neighbor gave me one to try. It was too big, but it worked well enough to convince me to buy them for all 3 dogs. So, it is worth the money, if you are struggling training with barking and walking.

Works like charm! Dog hates it and he does not pull me down

We adopted a very cautious and fearful 6 mo old mutt about a week before the COVID shut down. We had planned to work with a trainer to get her up to speed and more comfortable on a leash. We live in an apartment so trips outside are frequent and necessary. And, since we are in a very busy area, it was quite difficult to train her outside of our apartment without ALL the distractions. I was initially against getting something like a gentle leader because I felt she should know how to walk on a leash, and I was worried a leader would be a crutch used in place of real training. But I had to find a way to make trips outside, when training wasn't feasible, more enjoyable for her and me. I was worried I'd be sending very mixed messaged if I let her pull and lunge all she wanted on "get it done" trips and then slowed her down to train other times. Enter the gentle leader. It really really has helped. I feel much less frustrated with her which in turn helps our relationship! I'm still greatly looking forward to putting all this COVID stuff behind us so we can get some help from a professional who can train us (yes, me too!) but for the time being this is an excellent tool. A few notes. Our pupper is about 30 pounds, so not big. Based on the size chart we got her a medium, which seems about right...but it still seems like it would work better for larger dogs. When she's sniffing for the perfect spot to go, she seems to step on her leash frequently which then forces her head down as if she suddenly pulled on the leash. She really hates it when that happens, so I've had to learn to be very aware of holding her leash at exactly the right height so it doesn't happen while she's sniffing around. It also was very very difficult to size correctly. The clip for the nose part is very hard to clip and unclip. I'm sure that's because it's made to hold up for a long time and not slide. But... I had to measure it on her nose, mark it with a pencil, take it off, then clip it, try it back on, mark it again, try once more. It was very frustrating for me and confusing for her. But she got a lot of treats! I'm honestly still not sure if it's correct. It seems a tad tight, but any looser and she can get it off her nose. She doesn't have a huge nose, but it isn't flat either. Seems like a pretty normal size nose! I don't have a DVD player (I don't think many people do anymore!) and it comes with a DVD with "training". So I can't say what that included and perhaps it covers what I'm about to recommend. But I would highly encourage anyone new to this to first take the time to watch something like "Jean Donaldson gets conditioned emotional response while fitting Gentle Leader" on YouTube before diving in and using this. Our dog seemed to take to it pretty quickly indoors, until we got outside and she realized she couldn't pull happily. Then she hated it. I think if we'd put in the effort to research training BEFORE using it outdoors it would have been easier than trying to undo the negative feelings she now has for it.