How to stop leash pulling
I adopted my boy when he was 1 year old, it’s been around 3 months, he’s been great and has done a change to my life, however he has 2 main issues that I am trying to fix 1. Is separation anxiety, which is a topic for another day but the one I am trying to work on now is leash pulling. He walks perfectly IF there is no distractions or if he isn’t too excited, but the second he sees a stray cat (which is very common where I live) he lunges and pulls as hard as he could with the sole purpose of catching said cat, I even noticed that he sometimes walks while looking under cars and in bushes just scanning for cats, he is also reactive to stray dogs (which are also common where I live), I wouldn’t say in an aggressive way but he definitely carries too much energy and excitement to have any other dog on edge. So how did you guys fix pulling? He currently walks on a flat collar, I got a prong collar but the prongs aren’t rounded so I am very hesitant to use it and herm sprenger isn’t available where I live, I’ve tried using a slip lead though it’s effective if he’s already calm it can’t hold up for actual pulling and ends up just slipping down towards the chest, I’ve got an ecollar but it doesn’t work with him because the pins are too short and his hair is too long. I know it’s not something that gets fixed overnight but how do you go about it?
I’ve tried stopping and putting him in a calm position (sit or down) but even though he does the command he’s locked on target and gets back to pulling the second I release him, even if the cat or the target is gone he just lunges where he last saw them. I’ve tried changing directions but once he starts pulling it amps up even after direction change. I’ve tried leaning back and bracing my body the moment he starts pulling in order create a pop correction but he either doesn’t feel it or doesn’t care.