Halti Optifit Headcollar - Stop Your Dog Pulling on the Leash. Adjustable, Reflective and Lightweight, with Padded Nose Band. Dog Training Anti-Pull Collar for Small Dogs (Size Small)

We have a Small Munsterlander, similar to a German Shorthaired Pointer. He is very smart, very energetic, and is hard to contain on a short leash. We have done lots of hunting dog training with him, he works really well in the field, but is challenged by having to stay so close to us on a leash. We have previously tried traditional leashes, slip leashes, a shoulder harness, and a "figure 8" leash. None of them worked, and yet we know our dog is trainable. I knew that we needed a leash that would put some pressure on his face as a deterrent, but I didn't want to hurt him, and didn't want to sue a choke chain.The Halti changed the way our dog walked in ONE DAY! I took some time to fit him correctly in it, it slips over his snout, and then clasps high on his head behind his ears. It is adjusted under his chin to ensure that it is secure, but NOT tight or uncomfortable. I gave him a treat at this point. He can eat, drink, and act completely normally while he wears it. When it is time to walk him, a traditional leash clips onto a hook under his chin, not around his neck.Immediately, when the dog started pulling forward, the leash forced his head to turn, because it is clipped directly under his chin. It isn't painful for him, and it doesn't create any pressure, it just makes his head turn left. He immediately felt this was annoying enough not to repeat. Again, it is not PAIN that is making him stop, it's annoyance. There is no benefit to tugging harder rather than lighter.Now that he is used to the leash, he does sometimes forget his composure and start to pull forward again, sometimes walking with tension in the leash (but not nearly as much tension as every other leash we tried, where my hands would be raw after a walk!). I don't want him to get used to this, so I give a quick flick/tug on the leash so that his head turns, and he remembers how much he hates doing that.On particularly bad instances, for example seeing a squirrel, when he lunges forward, the leash turns his head so fast that he ends up turning around. Again, this is really annoying for him, so he doesn't want to repeat that behavior.Altogether, he now gets MORE walks, MORE treats, and spends less time panting from pulling so hard. I strongly feel there is NO PAIN for either of us when we walk with the Halti.THANK YOU HALTI!

My dog is definitely head-strong (husky/shephard) and this has helped redirect him and reduce his pull. It's not going to fix a strong puller by itself or be a 'magic cure' for most dogs but it is a very useful training aid. The construction is well made, soft nose and I like the extra security of being able to connect it to the collar. My dog can take it off his nose by himself, but only does so after the walks and can't get the whole thing off on his own. He's not a huge fan, but it helps to keep him under control. Not magic, but helps.2023 update... I love this thing! After 2 years of heavy use, still going strong. Only problem is the price has doubled! A family member 'requisitioned' one so I'm down to just one and foster so use it a lot. I purchased another brand (still not as cheap as this one was) and it is sooo low quality in comparison! I recently started fostering a hound who has a serious nose and pull instinct and tried many different combos (no pull harness, front strap, martingale, etc) and this one did work like magic! I still double clip her just in case, but control the nose control the hound! 1 week with this and she walks on a loose leash (unless she smells something but is controllable!)! The other one was so low quality in comparison I'm just going to bite the bullet and order another one of this brand vs trying for something else that wont compare... the details are great!

I bought this product about 4.5 months ago and genuinely waited to review it so I could see how it held up and performed over time. To begin, I just bought a new one which is good and bad. Bad because it ended up tearing (see below), but good because I liked it enough to buy it again. A quick summary: There are definitely some noteworthy cons, but almost all of them can be avoided with PROPER use of the product and making sure it fits correctly. With proper use, this is a wonderful tool.Pros: I'm a ~175 lb man with a dog who is only about 60lb, but a pit/aussie mix who's strength is only exceeded by his relentless energy and desire to chase everything from animals to kids to airplanes. This made walks with a regular collar and even a full body harness quite exhausting and stressful. Before buying it, I had tried a million things to stop the pulling with no luck. With the Halti, walks are MUCH more manageable.Although he still tried to pull (see cons), the strength with which he's able to pull is SIGNIFICANTLY less than before. The pulling is now more of an annoyance at the beginning of a walk, rather than a full body workout. With even the slightest resistance, he can't pull very hard before it becomes uncomfortable for him. So in a sense, it does what it advertises in a roundabout way.Another pro is that because the Halti attaches to his face instead of his neck or body, it is MUCH easier to redirect his attention when he becomes overstimulated by something. Instead of using a traditional collar or harness and pulling his body away while his head is completely turned and still focused on the stimulus, the Halti allows you to physically turn his head away from the stimulus and get it out of his eyesight. This in COMBINATION with a variety of other training techniques can become extremely valuable in making walks much more manageable with a reactive dog.Cons: The Halti is not magic. You can't buy a $13 product expecting it to just magically make your dog a dream on leashed walks...if you do, you'll be severely disappointed and still frustrated. This however should be expected. Additionally to be expected, it takes quite a bit of work to get your dog to be comfortable with this foreign object on its face. It takes TIME and PATIENCE. You have to work hard to develop a positive association with the Halti by continuing to treat while first introducing it to them, then resting it on their snout while treating, then clipping it for very short amounts of time, then longer amounts of time, then short walks on leash down a hallway, then longer walks back and forth, all while treating and slowly reducing spacing out the treats. If you don't have the patience to work with your dog in this manner, you will never get it on the dog for a walk, and you'll have wasted your money.The clip on this product that can be adjusted to fit your dogs face is lacking in strength and should be improved. At the end of almost every long walk, it has become a little bit looser than when I started. It doesn't become loose enough on a walk to reduce it's effectiveness, but it IS sort of a nuisance. Before every walk I have to make sure I adjust the clip to the correct position in case it got loose on the last.---SUGGESTION: set it to the correct position for your dogs face, take it off, and mark that spot on the Halti with a silver sharpie. In reality, resizing the collar takes all of about 2 seconds, and if you already have the spot marked on the Halti to the optimal position, any extra time it takes to get it ready and on your dog before a walk is pretty much negligent.Lastly, but possibly most important: If the Halti is not PERFECTLY snug around your dogs nose, it can cause quite a bit of problems.The lesser problem is that if it is too loose and you're not 100% aware, your dog will be able to paw it off of his/her nose and you'll have to stop to tighten it and put it back on. Luckily, if this happens, you have the backup strap that should always be connected to their regular collar, so your dog still won't be able to go anywhere.The more significant problem, in my opinion, is that if its even a little too loose and your dog pulls directly AWAY from you with his face towards you (imagine him backing up away from you), the bottom strap of the Halti that goes underneath the chin, can get pulled up around their jaw and stuck in their mouth pulling at the back of their jowels. This can be pretty traumatic for the dog and damaging for the Halti. The first time this happened, my dogs molars actually tore the strap halfway through. It has held up for the past couple months even being torn halfway through, but this is the reason I am finally purchasing a new one.Additionally, please make sure the Halti is tight enough around their nose so that it does not injure their eyes. If it is too loose, the circumference becomes larger than their snout, and pulling on the leash can cause the Halti to move up and put pressure on the bottom of their eyes. Once again, this is easily avoided with proper use.