Ok, so I've started running with the dogs again. The problem I'm having is that Olive wants to go faster and starts to pull. It's a pain in the as$ and I don't know what to do.

Her "heel" command is good when we're walking, but when we're running it doesn't seem to work. The prong collar does nothing to stop her from pulling at all, so I bought a halti, thinking that I'd use it just for runs, but now she's either bucking like a wild bronco because she hates having it across her face OR she's pulling right into it so hard that it squashes her eye closed. And then she doesn't have a good time.

I want the run to be fun, and now it sucks. I'm not really into spending the time training her to run better at a heel, because I just want to get out there and exercise them.

Does anyone have a suggestion of a comfortable but effective tool that I can use to gain a bit of control on runs???

Are you trail running or doing road work? Guess the positive is that you have a dog that WANTS to run with you! (took me almost a year to get Sinbad used to the idea.)

I have two border collies I run with - both love to do it, but BOTH started out pulling and biting my heels - damn herders.
Anyways. I decided to do cross training with them for about two-three months. I do trail running so I would do hurdles and hills to try to tire them out. When they would start to pull, I would turn around and sprint the opposite direction. I'd continue to do that until they sorta picked up that ya, if you pull, then we are switching direction. It might sound weird, but I also did an obstacle course too - weave in and out of the brush, put on the breaks suddenly, jog backwards, stop and make them do sit-down-stay.

Now when we go for runs, I do about an 15 min jogging, then switch it up and sprint with them, obstacle course, or something interesting, then another half hour of just running. They like it. With Sinbad it's the opposite, I have to pull him

Hope this helps. It's frustrating having a dog that pulls when you just want to run. I tie the collies around my waist too, and just use a martingale on them.

Thanks for the tips. We are on the road. Daisy, our border collieX, is great. She just trots along and stays at a good pace. Olive is hard to get into that trotting run, she's either going too slow and sniffing the ground and zig zagging or she's trying to full out gallop!

I guess it will take some work...I was just hoping to be able to have a thoughtless run!

Do you clicker train with Olive? I've started with Sinbad - about a couple months ago - and I use it when I run with him. When he goes to slow, sniffs, or is distracted, I ask him to "here!" and click. He will look at me and keep running. I reward with the look and he does pretty good. We can go for a 45 min run these days without an incident - going in-between my legs and causing a MASSIVE pile up.

It only took a couple of weeks to buff it out - and he is a so-so learner.

I would have to second the changing direction when she pulls thing. I found that worked very well for me. The only thing is if you have one of those dogs that decides "oooh it's a game, I think I am supposed to jump on her when she changes direction!" That is really annoying. But my dog was super smart, so she got it after a very short amount of time.

I was a road jogger, but every now and again, when we were walking trails, I would jog for a bit just to have some fun and show she shouldn't pull no matter what.

I've used every type of pulling-control device out there, and a determined dog can pull through them all. When Timo is away I walk Marlo and Becky together, and I used to walk them in Haltis...they still pulled.

I mainly use a front clip harness. While they can still pull, it's less; they are more comfortable than in a halti; it works the best for sudden lunges (Marlo is a sniff sniff doopty doo SUDDEN RUN FORWARD AT FULL SPEED kinda guy); and doesn't hinder their movement while running.

I second the advice to test out a clicker for teaching correct position...or if you don't have a clicker you can verbally mark and treat for a look in your direction, for checking in, for basically any time she's NOT pulling on the leash. At first you'll have to do it quite a bit but gradually you can lengthen the time between treats.

Awesome, thanks everyone!

I just literally got another tip from an awesome trainer I know. If your dog LIKES running use it as a functional reward: When the leash is loose, you get to run. If there's tension...then slowing or stopping. Easy to do and you don't need to use food (although I think food would make it go faster).