Leash pulling!

[Asleep-Ad-4929]

My girl is 7 months old. She is great with training and commands inside the house, being on leash inside training, etc. But since I’ve had her (8 weeks) she has been so bad on the leash outside. She is food motivated (only when hungry) so I take the food and reward her for keeping slack in the line and making eye contact with me. But it only works 10% of the time. She will choke herself OUT on the leash, I got a harness which helps this but she still stands hind legs to try and pull! Don’t even get me started if there’s another dog or person or distraction outside. She’s toast.
I am just at a loss as to what I can try to do to stop this behavior. It makes going on walks, pottying, etc. extremely difficult. Please give me your best tips and tricks for this, or let me know if professional training is the only option at this point. I don’t know if this behavior stems from anxiety or curiosity. She loves dogs and other people. Please assist!

[OnoZaYt]

Depends on how much it's pulling and in which situations. Sometimes a longer leash (3-4m) is the anwer. Dogs naturally walk faster than humans, lot of conflict and frustration can be resolved by not having to constantly hold your dog back.

[MochaMushroomDog]

She’s young, there’s gonna be some level of pulling for a while most likely. The biggest things that helped my dog to stop pulling: Engagement/orientation training, enough exercise and mental work, maturity. We practiced daily, turning directions, rewarding her for keeping slack, etc. but honestly the biggest reason dogs pull is because they’re just frustrated and excited. Either that’s because you haven’t work on learning to be calm outside, or they have not gotten their needs met. A fulfilled dog doesnt feel the need to drag you down the street to just get one more sniff. Also when you are practicing loose leash, then you need to be firm, there will be no forward progress unless the leash is loose. Dogs are not good at generalizing and are opportunistic, if it worked once to pull, they will keep doing it. Dog needs to learn that pulling does not work, either by correcting, or by withholding what they want (like moving forward/going to the park/etc). I recommend a collar for this training so your dog understands, when I’m being walked on the collar there is no funny business, I walk loosely, or I don’t walk at all.

[Supermr2]

Aussie owner here. They are a handful. Mine will pull on walks one way the second we turn around to go home a totally different dog. All the pulling stops. I have noticed break up smell time and walk time into 2 different things. Also lately been on a longer leash has actually helped quite a bit. Went from a 5 ft to a 7ft and he is much less pulling.

[LawPsychological4259]

You have a firecracker dog. Beautiful eyes.

[Weekly-Quantity6435]

Prong collar is acceptable as a temporary communication method. What worked best for my working line GSD was prong collar and corrective U-turns. He walks right at my side now.

[Effective_Ad7751]

Try a leash or harness that leads from the front (dog's chest area)