It’s something which, if we’re honest, we all wish we were better at. It can make the difference between a really enjoyable walk and a difficult experience.

Remember any skill needs to be trained. You wouldn’t expect a dog to learn any other skill without training it, like any other skill you need to train this. This job is made more challenging because any gundog’s natural place is infant of you.

I wish there was a short and easy way to do this, but there isn’t I’m afraid. Like all things dog related, put the work in and you reap rewards.

The first thing to remember is there is nothing wrong with a walk thats a couple of hundred meters (or even less) long. At the end of the day a walk where you both learn is far more valuable than a longer walk where you both learn little.

So how to manage this? It’s actually fairly easy. A combination of stopping, walking in the other direction and walking backwards every time they pull will work wonders.

Until such time as Their walking nicely don’t use a slip lead as it will just make them uncomfortable. A Halti (head collar) or a harness with a front D ring are really useful tools if you need to get somewhere but they’re not a training solution, just tools to allow you to achieve something.