Review of Gentle Leader, Medium w/ DVD, Color: Silver

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Gentle Leader, Medium w/ DVD, Color: Silver
By: Premier Average Rating: 1.0 Total Reviews: 1
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Not Positive, and Not Scientific

On: 2006-12-27

The Gentle Leader is advertised as a scientifically designed, positive training device. Its neither. So before you buy into the hype and purchase an item youll eventually discard (if you love your dog, that is) you should know that dogs hate this device. It feels totally unnatural to them. Its so-called "scientific" design is based on the way a supposed alpha wolf enforces his authority by aggressively gripping a subordinate around the muzzle with his teeth. (Nice, huh?) Since we now know that the alpha theory is false, the rationale behind this torture device for dogs is equally bogus. (Wild wolf packs do not form dominance hierarchies or spend time trying to show each other whos boss by grabbing each other around the snout; such behaviors are only produced when wolves are forced to form unnatural packs while living in captivity.) A device that mimics a totally unnatural act of aggression cannot be considered positive.

As a dog trainer, and just as a human being who loves dogs and hates to see them being mistreated, I cannot stress strongly enough that this device should not be used on any dog, ever.

So what do you do to keep your dog from pulling? Dogs dont really pull on the leash so much as they get pulled on by things in the environment that stimulate and attract their instincts. So the trick to training a dog NOT to pull is to play games that will make YOU more interesting and more appealing to his instincts than the things in the environment are.