Stephanie and Nathalie's letter was sent to Element Productions, the makers of the third series of People & Pets for HTV Television. As this sounded like the ideal case to capture for the show, the crew and I set off to visit them in their ideal home in the prestigious Royal Crescent in the beautiful city of Bath

Dogs pull on leads for different reasons. Some have their nose to the floor following scents, others see it as their right to be out front leading their family pack protecting their owners, they may want to get away from them, and some like Charley simply want to discover what is round the next corner. Dogs like Charley simply can't wait for slowcoach people on two legs!

Whatever the reason, once they reach the end of the lead, all dogs have a natural instinct to pull against pressure and even when walked on choke or regular collars will still pull even though the pressure on the throat causes pain and choking. Stephanie and Nathalie had given up hope that Charley would ever walk sensibly on the lead and long ago stopped yanking, tugging back or trying to distract him. Now they put his lead on to get him safely across the road and simply tried to outrun him until they got through the park gate and could let him free.

Long ago, a trainer had recommended a choke chain for Charley but, quite rightly, the girls were very upset at the prospect of using this. In any case, it made no difference except Charley's eyes looked as though they might pop out with the extra pressure around the major blood vessels in his neck! Kinder methods of teaching dogs not to pull have, of course, since been developed to enable all sensible trainers and owners to 'chuck the choke'. These methods are based on the use of positive reinforcement for walking on a slack lead and often involve the use of more cleverly designed equipment than a chain around the neck.

Head collars, especially the Gentle Leader, provide non-confrontational physical control for the owner, which facilitates effective communication with the dog. Such approaches are far more effective than yanking, shouting, choking or simply putting up with sore arms from all that pulling, even for little dogs like Charley. The Gentle Leader head collar system for training was first developed in the USA by top vet Professor Bob Anderson and Ruth Foster, a former President of the National Association of Obedience Instructors. The Gentle Leader is so effective because it helps owners mimic the way that dogs naturally communicate. The Gentle Leader is well accepted by dogs that had rejected other head collar designs because they rose up into their eyes or lay uncomfortably across their lips, or simply because many are made of cheap nylon webbing with a rather sharp edge that rubs into the dog's nose. The Gentle Leader, on the other hand, is made from Canac Pet Product's famous soft comfortable nylon webbing which is used for making thousands of leads and ordinary collars every year.

Adjustable
The Gentle Leader is specifically designed to be adjustable to fit the contours of each individual dog's face and so is very well accepted as a result. It's no surprise than that the Gentle Leader recently won the 'Best Dog Training Product' (Pet Product Marketing trade magazine) hands down in a nationwide magazine survey.

Gentle Leader stops your dog pulling on the lead in two ways. Puppies instinctively relax when their mother picks them up and pressure is applied to the scruff of their necks. This is a natural reflex behaviour and is an adaptation for survival as it enables the mother dog to transport each puppy with minimal fuss and to escape from enemies or threats. The neck-strap of the Gentle Leader causes this instinctive relaxation response by cleverly diverting some of the forwards energy of a pulling dog to exert gentle pressure on the back of his neck when he tries to pull ahead.

Dogs of any age often also respond instinctively with relaxed subordination when a higher ranking animal gently grasps their muzzle with his (or her) mouth. This demonstrates natural leadership, but in a reassuring manner, not a threatening one. The Gentle Leader's nose loop encircles the dog's nose and jaw and acts in the same manner as a pack-leader's mouth. The Gentle Leader does not choke, but is scientifically designed to direct the dog's entire body by controlling his head and wherever his head goes, his body must gently follow! The dog's your requests. It's important to take instinctive resistance to these two time to fit the Gentle Leader correctly redirected pressures cause him to stop pulling to relieve the pressure at the ' back of the neck and to relax and walk easily by your side.

It was great fun demonstrating Charley’s pulling problem on camera for the show, and for such a little chap, he certainly could pull his owners along at a pace! We watched and filmed him appear like a rocket out of his front door and drag Nathalie and Stephanie through the park gates. The only thing that seemed to slow him up a bit was the long uncut grass at one end of the park – I guess he just couldn’t get his little legs through it fast enough to pull hard on the lead- there! It was time for the treatment. Live on camera, I fitted a nice red Gentle Leader to Charley, expecting some of the initial resistance and head shaking But, like a true star, he simply trotted off walking very calmly and easily by Stephanie’s side. The head collar didn’t worry him at all and it was certainly doing its job. The girls (and the film crew!) were astonished and we very quickly wrapped the 'after' shots showing a nice little dog out for a walk in the park with his owners on a warm summer day, with the beautiful Royal Crescent in the background!

Then we filmed a little lure training to teach Charley where he was supposed to walk without the Gentle Leader. Hopefully Charley could be taught not to pull on the lead on a normal collar and the Gentle Leader's job would be done. But if there wasn't time, the Gentle Leader could always be relied on for Safer, kinder walks.Now Charley can be happily taken into town or to exciting new walks in the countryside further away from home instead of just pulling his way to the old park across the road. Charley has never pulled or jumped around on the lead since, which is what the girls had always wanted. A special training guide is supplied with each Gentle Leader to help you get the best results and guide you through training your dog to be obedient and calmly responsive to your requests. It’s important to take time to fit the Gentle Leader correctly and a separate instructions leaflet will guide you through this procedure. Once fitted, all you will need, aside from your Gentle Leader, is his usual lead, a supply of his favourite small titbits to use as rewards, a positive, happy and rewarding attitude and, as ever, a little patience, especially with young dogs.

There are only three sizes of Gentle Leader to choose from that adjust to suit all types of dogs with a nose: Small for toy breeds and most terriers medium for Springers, Labs, GSDs, Boxers and smaller or younger Rotties and large for Newfies, Great Danes, St Bernards etc. The Gentle Leader is available in a choice of black, brown and red and now, for the first time in burgundy and field green to enable everyone to show off with their Gentle Leader and their calm, well- behaved dog.