Bruised and battered post sit

I recently finished a week long sit with several dogs. One, a smallish retriever, was a nightmare to walk. She would lunge without warning (and for no apparent reason) so hard that my fingers are actually bruised. I have never had bruised blue fingers except the odd time I slammed them in a door on accident. In areas where she could run off lead one of her favorite things was to pick up large sticks and run full steam down the trails, twice when I didn’t hear her coming she struck my legs (huge bruises as evidence). My right shoulder is either very strained or I’ve injured my rotator cuff. I’m in my early 40’s, I lift weights and I’m 6’ tall so not a slight person. Still, it was such a challenge.

This dog was a year old, so still young, and the video interview was several months before the sit. I was told she walks on a harness and was “learning” still. I guess I assumed they were “teaching” her, which appeared not to be the case. They thought her behavior was “cute”. As well as lunging for no apparent reason, she also would lunge at people. Not because she was vicious, she was very sweet and thought every human would want to be jumped on and have muddy paws on their chest.

I had to switch from the harness to a collar for both our safety (with owners permission) which helped but did not completely remedy the problem. I was very fearful she would get hit by a car (the only way to leave the house was to walk on small country lanes). Her behavior was improved by the end of the sit, partly by consistent corrections and rewards on my part. I don’t think this dog had ever had any teaching or guidance prior to my sit. However the 2 hours a day walking her were not relaxing or pleasant.

I’m lightly traumatized from the experience and want to ask what other sitters do to avoid these types of sits. Is it rude to ask owners if they have shoulder pain or bruises from their dog? :laughing:. I already ask how the dogs walk and what equipment they use. However, owners aren’t always very honest about their pets. I’m also noticing a trend. The dogs that I’ve sat who pull and lunge the worst are those who use harnesses… Has anyone else noticed this? Do you avoid them? I know some are fine with a harness… I just don’t want to repeat an experience like this. I wonder how long it will take for finger bruises to heal so I can use my hands without pain…:woman_shrugging:t2:

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Harnesses encourage pulling, look at sled dogs for example. It allows the dog to pull from the shoulders therefore more strength. They are usually used as a substitute for no training unfortunately.
Regarding selecting dogs to sit, there are more breeds on our No list to Yes

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For ourselves-we have ruled out all sits with young dogs as there is much training ( not just walking ) that needs to take place during the puppy stages and no guarantee that the owner is on top of it all.

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Would love to see your list!

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@DarkAloha
Wouldn’t take you long to look at it :grinning:

It is not just young dogs. I sat for a pit mix, my first sit, who was rescued at 7 years. He would lunge and bark when he saw another dog. A pit is very strong. I am in my 60s, 5ft 5. It was not pleasant but I knew what I signed up for. It was my first sit, taken to get a review. The dog was pleasant enough, slept with me, but the walks were not fun.

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I don’t know what to suggest but would like to hear what is suggested. I had dogs like this on 2 separate sits like, neither of them young. The first I started walking in his harness, but after he pulled enthusiastically I swapped to his collar - immediate change of character, and my arms began to recover. The second was only walked in a collar, and pulled even then. She couldn’t be let off the lead as she would run after deer & rabbits. The pulling has handy when getting up steep hills, but less so going down slippery slopes.
The owners of each one either didn’t experience this pulling, or chose not to disclose it.

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We sit as a couple, so we take turns to hold the leader, but we also don’t apply for too many young dogs deliberately, so we can have a rest in between… unless they are particularly cute :joy::rofl::joy:.

It’s a 1 year old dog, teaching walking is waaaay harder than sit, lay down etc. It can take a much longer time depending on the dog.

Yes, I personally agree, it seems to give them extra strength as they put their full bulk of body weight into the harness, instead of mainly their front section of body with a collar. Harnesses on small dogs word great, but with some larger dogs I think they work the opposite.

I avoid these type of sits by not doing sits with dogs anymore. Too many instances not specifically like this but in the same vein - untrained dogs or dogs with behavioural issues that are not declared by owners. In order to get a sitter in they seem to be forgetful about their dogs real behaviour. THS don’t like it if you suggest the lack of transparancy may be deliberate so I’m not saying the owners are not being honest but the result is the same.

Harnesses would definitely be a red flag. They are used to ‘protect’ the dog from being hurt by a collar, which only occurs if the dog is reactive on the lead or pulls uncontrollably, or because they escape from a collar, which means they are not controllable on a normal walk. You cannot train a dog on a harness it needs to be trained on a collar and so it shoudl always be able to be walked with a collar if it is trained.

The other thing that can help weed these out is the reviews of previous sitters so hopefully this sit resulted in a less than 5 star review with the behaviour of the dogs and your injuries detailed in it so the next sitter can make a good decision and the owner can be made to be less ‘forgetful’ about detailing their dogs behaviour and needs.

I’ve had an injured should before (not from dogs) so I feel yor pain and hope it heals soon.

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At 1 year a dog should be trained to walk on the lead. If a dog cannot walk on a lead it is because it has not actually been trained. I know these type of dog-owners. When they say the dog is “learning” they mean they are waiting for the dog to figure out via some mystical osmosis process from the other dogs what it should be doing or by interpretting their random complaints when it does something wrong (but only less than half the time and ignoring the other times and never giving corrections).

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I walked a big young dog that lunged. Temporary measure (purely for safety) whilst the dog is being trained as well, is to loop the lead from the collar between the front legs and under the leg closest to you. Then if the dog lunges it pulls its own head down so self corrects after a few times, and isn’t able to pull your arms out of their sockets!
This isn’t a fix or training/teaching method, but a safety tactic for when you’re needing to safely control an untrained dog.

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Regarding the training- this girl did not sit, lie, wait heel or have any sense of recall-she also had occasional accidents in the house! should have specified it was not just walk related issues as to the training she had received (or not received).

One of the saddest things for me was that she had a very sweet nature and wanted to please so at the end of the week she would sit, lie, wait on command (just not while walking). She wanted to learn. I really feel like dogs who aren’t given structure suffer fit it and usually end up anxious. :confused:

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Thank you! Great suggestion.

I agree it’s so sad for the dogs when they don’t receive proper training. They learn so quickly in the right hands. They thrive on having a pack leader who is confident & knows what they are doing.

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I rarely sit dogs for various reasons but at one sit I did a few years ago they had a lead that attached to the waist rather than needing to be held which I found brilliant. I’m sure they have their downsides but it was good for having handsfree and avoiding any sudden jerks (although he was pretty good) plus it was somewhere cold so I could keep my hands warm! If I were to get a dog in the future I’d definitely look at that kind of lead.

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Please include this lunging information and other dog behaviour in your review for future sitters.

We’ve just had a similar experience with lunging pulling cockerpoos and I had my shoulder pulled out of alignment and had to have it treated while on the sit. We are never sitting any oodle breeds as everyone has been the same with some kind of pulling. We also won’t do young dogs in training as they are too much hard work. We sit to enrich our lives not to make them worse.

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We’ve had dogs that like to pull even with the collar leashes. I did watch a video on youtube that the harnesses with the D ring on the bottom chest side can be used to reduce the lunging and help train. The harness is used with a leash on the top and bottom side and you have the dog walking on the side of you so that he/she walks along with you instead of in front of you

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What is the muzzle-led leash called? I sat a wheaten terrier who would pull with the normal leash but not with that on. He hated it being put on him, but he was a delight to walk when on it.

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Having had dogs, including one that originally pulled, I would only use harnesses on my dogs. Neck collars with a leash attached are not good for dogs. You can damage their necks, create thyroid issues. You can still train a dog to walk with a harness but it takes time. You have to stop each time it lunges to teach the dog lunging doesn’t equal moving forward (even though it really does). And positive reward the dog for not lunging. And there are harnesses designed to discourage pulling.

It sounds like the HO’s should be boarding this dog with a trainer while they are gone, so it can learn more skills. But THS is not a dog training service. These HO’s are doing their dog a huge disservice and taking advantage of this platform in a manner it isn’t meant for.

As others have said, please leave an honest review. I’ve also encountered a couple of dogs on THS that were not well-trained and frankly dangerous. It was physically and mentally awful and not what I signed up for.

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@Katie
Are you thinking of a halti? Used one on someone else’s dogs and they make a big difference to a dog that pulls

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