How to use a Halti Training Leads

Never heard of a Halti? Well, you’re in for a treat. Halti training leads are one of our absolute favourites here at Zigzag. They’re a great length, feel soft in your hand, and can be just adjusted to different lengths, which make them perfect for training your dog. They’re good for teaching loose lead walking and also have some  other uses, we’ll get into shortly.

In this article, we’ll help you figure out if a Halti is safe for your dog. Our review of Halti training leads and how to use a Halti training leads. We’ll also give you some alternatives to using a Halti training lead if they might not be right for you and your dog.

For a personalised programme that moves with your puppy’s stage of development, download the Zigzag app. We’re sure you will love what we have in store for you and your pup, and our team of expert dog trainers will be right there to help you 24/7 via our in=app chat. 

Firstly… are Halti’s safe for my pup?

Halti training leads are perfectly safe to use on your puppy and are very useful, you can just use them like a regular lead. If you have a small puppy try the narrower width as the clips aren’t so big, so suit small breeds like Chihuahuas, or Jack Russells. 

Halti head collars are different from Halti training leads. A Halti head collar is a tool that can be used on strong pullers, to help you with loose lead walking, but for most dogs they can take some time to adjust to wearing them. 

We don’t recommend using them on puppies as a starting point, but they are safe if you have a larger breed like a German Shepherd or Labradoodle and walking them is impossible without using a head collar. It will take you time for your puppy to be accepting of wearing them, so you could take that time to teach them to be calm, and walk nicely on a lead instead!

Learn more in our guide how to lead train your pup.

Halti training lead review                        

So here we go, here’s our unbiased review of the Halti training lead. We’ve been using Halti training leads and their alternatives for years, so we know what we’re talking about!

Advantages of the Halti Training Lead

Great value for money

The Halti training lead is an inexpensive piece of walking equipment, and a quality product for the price.

Two different sizes

The classic Halti training lead comes in two widths, with the wider lead having larger clips and the narrower lead having smaller clips. The narrower width with smaller clips suits small dogs, and large, stronger dogs suit the wider length training lead well. 

Soft webbing

The Halti training lead is made of nylon webbing, which feels soft and is easy to handle. We’ve also put ours in the washing machine countless times without issue. 

Adjustable length 

The Halti training lead has clips along it, so you can adjust the length to suit what’s best for you and your dog in that particular situation.

Multiple colours

While the original Halti training lead comes in black and red, the newer version is now available in two-tone colours of lilac, grey, red and blue, as well as the original plain black and plain red. 

Several designs

The red and black original training leads are a soft simple webbing, the new Halti training leads are a two-tone design. There is also a Halti active lead which can be attached around your waist and features a bungee so can be used for running with your dog, not for jumping in case you were worried! . The Halti control lead also has grab handles built into the lead, which many people also find useful. 

Two points of contact

With a clip at either end of the lead, you can have one end clipped to the back of your dog’s harness and the other to a head collar, to the front connection of a harness, or a regular collar. 

Having two points of contact is great for balancing your dog when loose lead walking, and provides safety in case your dog slips their collar.

Disadvantages of the Halti training lead

Won’t train your dog

Although called a training lead, the lead won’t actually train your puppy, at all! It’s simply a nice length of lead that many professional dog trainers like to use. Sorry to burst your bubble! We’re sure it would be way more expensive if it actually did the training too! 

But you can learn how to lead walk your dog in the Zigzag app, and we have a team of experts on hand to help you too. 

Heavy clips

Although they do two different widths, we prefer how the wider type feels in our hands, but would prefer slightly lighter clips. 

How to use a Halti training lead

You can use the Halti training lead for a variety of different training purposes

Hands-free walking

You can use the rings to put the lead around your waist, and the other end connected to your dog for hands-free walking. This makes it easier to do loose lead walking as there’s no danger of you pulling or jerking on the lead, and you have both hands free to reward your dog with a treat.

It’s also really handy (ha, geddit) to have both hands free if you’re walking through busy places or need your hands to carry bags or do other things. 

Walking two dogs at once

Having a double ended lead means you can connect one end of the lead to one dog’s harness, and the other to the other dog. This makes the lead work like a coupler you often see two dogs walking on.

Relaxing at a café

A Halti training lead can be tied around a table or chair leg. Useful when teaching your dog to settle when you’re having brunch with friends, or a cheeky pint. 

Teaching recall on lead

As the lead extends to 2 m when opened up, you can practice some on lead recalls.

Learn more about recall on a lead in our article all about training leads, or how to use a long lead for recall. 

Balancing your dog

Having a connection to the front and back of your dog’s harness makes loose lead walking training much easier, as you’ll have more control. 

Connecting to a head collar

Having one end attached to a Halti head collar, and the other attached to a harness, means you can teach even the strongest of dogs not to pull.

For the ultimate guide to loose lead walking, as well as teaching your dog many other life skills, download the Zigzag app. You’ll get access to the best content to deliver the results you need, and you’ll be able to get help from our team of professional dog trainers too.

Alternatives to Halti Training Leads for puppy parents 

Now we’re not saying you have to use a training lead for training your puppy, and the training lead doesn’t actually train your puppy in any particular way, it just makes life easier due to its versatility. We still think it’s worth getting one, it really will make your lead walking training much easier if you have a good length of lead to work with.

To train your puppy it’s best to follow a reward based training programme, rewarding your puppy when they do the right thing, it will make your training go faster. Read more in our article about rewards and treats.

Reward based training is one of Zigzags guiding principles, we strongly believe in using positive reinforcement, and we use this in all of our puppy training programmes. Download the app today, and start your pup’s training journey.