So we have a 3 year old Bishonpoo we decided he needed a halti because when he pulls the lease it really tugs on his collar. As A result he starts gagging and making this awful throaty sound. Well the first time I put it on no problem. Yesterday forget it. He wanted nothing to do with it. Started really growling. My husband tried too and he ended up biting him. So here is my question. When a dog growls when he doesn't want something on his body or done to his body do you stop ? If not what should we do to avoid getting bitten. What should we do about the growling and biting
I am sorry to hear about your husband getting bitten, hopefully it wasn't a bad bite.
I think that you will need to deal with this situation in baby steps. If you stop using the halti it will only give him the upper hand and worsen the situation. I suggest you try the "treat in a muzzle" trick if you feel that he may bite you as you put the halti on. This way you can get the halti on safely and then take off the muzzle while walking him. He may be averse to you going anywhere near his face for a while so it may be best to have a few goes at putting the muzzle on and getting him used to it before you use it to help put the halti on. Please have a read though the alpha training bonus books, it has many tips that will help you assert your dominance over him.
I hope this helps. Good luck with training him and as I said before, we would love if you could keep us posted on your progress.
