Dog walking.. or not walking - is this normal or a cause for concern?

Hi all,

We've had our beautiful Cassie for just under two months now (she's just turned four months), and we are so happy with her. From day one she settled in her crate to sleep without any issues at night, she's really well socialised and happy in every new situation we introduce her to (she's turning into a great pub puppy ), puppy biting no more than we were expecting and definitely already easing up, so all in all we are having a dream of a time with her and really happy with how she's getting on.

My only slight worry, and I really don't know if I should be worried (or just being an over protective mum!), is with when I take her for a walk.

We live in a very quite village, so she has maybe 5 minutes of walking along a quiet road (dead end leads to a farm, hardly any traffic), then she's walking down the side of a field, and back home again. On a good day, the round trip takes around 20 minutes. When she gets about 1/2 to 3/4 down the road after we've left the house, she is walking fine, trotting happily just in front of me (on a short lead, attached to a harness), then she's brilliant for the rest of the walk, seems to really enjoy sniffing about and investigating, tail wagging, looks like she's really enjoying herself.

So it's the first part of the walk that is the problem. She'll happily leave the house, gets to the end of the path in our front garden, and then just plants (stops moving) and won't go any further. She doesn't act like she's scared, she's not pulling to go back to the house, she just stops. We've been advised to encourage her with treats, and that will definitely get her going for a few steps, then she'll plant again until she's encouraged again with another treat. Sometimes I can leave it a few minutes standing still in front of her and she'll start up on her own without a treat, but she'll often then walk very slowly until planting again. It's been like this ever since we started taking her out. Some walks she doesn't need much encouragement to get going, some walks I'm doing the walk/plant/treat walk/plant/treat cycle all the way down the road!

So I really don't know if this is just completely normal and will get better over time and I just have to be patient. Or if there's something going on that needs more attention. I really don't think she's in pain, ill or uncomfortable as she is fine after she's got herself going.

I'm also concerned that I'm inadvertently rewarding the unwanted behaviour - ie, that rather than learning that she gets rewarded for walking, she's learning that she's getting rewarded for stopping and then walking !

So any advice would be really appreciated, has anyone else experience this with their puppies, and if so how long did it last for? I have started with puppy training classes (that's a separate issue, I think my class is too large and lasts too long, but I'll post about that separately!), whether some 1-1 training sessions on this specifically will help, or whether I really just need to be a bit patient as she still is very young.

Thanks very much if you've read this far !!

Sharon

 

Hi Sharon,

I am having the same issue! We live in a flat and when we take her out to pee she is fine but when wanting to get her to go for a walk I end up either picking her up to move her past the 'no walking' zone or having to tug/pull on the harness to try encourage her to move. Treats dont work as she is planted and not going anywhere!

 

(Kind of!) glad it's not just us ! I don't think it's a particular place she doesn't like walking past though - we had been taking her out the back garden straight onto fields, but she did the same there too. I'd actually been sticking to the same route hoping the familiarity would help after a while, but it doesn't seem to have. In fact, thinking about it, when we take her somewhere in the car, she doesn't do it when she gets out, though possibly because there's enough exciting things (people!) around to distract her. So again, just concerned that she's starting to "learn" this behaviour and the longer I leave it the more difficult it will be to break...

 

I have put it down to how awake she is. If she has just woken up she takes a while to get going. If she is awake and on the go it isn't as bad, she still stops tho! I do the same route to but she knows where the 'good things' are and it is hard to get her to move past these points to the walk.

Luna is 15 weeks tomorrow and is a really good puppy and learning so quickly. She is just a little madam sometimes and not happy if she doesn't get her own way!

 

Hi ,i don't have any answers I'm afraid but thought I'd post to tell you about my girl.
Isla did exactly the same from the first early walks,she just dug in and refused to move. I sought advice on here and people said maybe she was just interested in the world and to let her sit and take it all in. I did this and she slowly got better.

Roll forward 14 months and Isla still does this,she is much better but every noise,different things such as workmen,children,anything out of the ordinary and she stops and stares and will only move when she's satisfied it's all ok.

We have had 1-1 training and have been told she's a very anxious dog. I don't know why this has happened as she was socialised well i thought. I let her stand and watch and after a few minutes encourage her to walk on, but she will only do that when she's ready.

Maybe it would be a good idea for you to get advice from a trainer early so you can help your pup and avoid a nervous dog like ours on the future. Good luck and let us know how you get on

 

Hi Saffy
I felt the same with Toby. Was it lack of socialisation? However looking back I don’t think it was. I believe his personality comes from his mother who I thought barked at people because she was protecting her litter. I wouldn’t change him for the world but would certainly be more aware if there is a next time! He loves people he knows but barks at strangers who want to say hello unless he has a chance to approach them on his terms and have a sniff first. Even then he isn’t keen on his head being touched by people he doesn’t know. He doesn’t bark then or growl just backs away out of arms reach.

 

Thanks all for taking the time to share your experiences, I really do appreciate it.

Right now at least I don't see any signs that Cassie is an anxious dog, if anything she is maybe a bit too confident, and definitely needs some training to be a little calmer with new people! I do see some sense in talking to a trainer though if only to understand the best way to encourage her out of this before it really becomes a habit that's difficult to break.

Though actually, something Christina has said about it depending on how awake her puppy is, has resonated a little and I wonder if it could be that. Last night for instance, Cassie was super awake and active immediately prior to going for a walk and she needed no encouragement at all the whole time we were out. Which could also explain why she gets better as she gets into the walk, as she's woken herself up sufficiently. So that's something I'm going to keep a closer eye on, seeing if I can spot a correlation between how tired she seems and how she acts on a walk. I guess she is still very young (though not little, she's growing SO fast!!), so maybe I need to be more careful about when we go out based on how awake she is and therefore ready for a bit of exercise.

So yes - next actions, have a chat with a trainer, keep a note of how awake she is vs how well she walks, and see how we get on. Will report back progress as we go, and definitely if anyone has any other experiences of this, I'd love to still hear it - if only so we don't all think it's just us and something we're doing horribly wrong !

Thanks

 

Hi J.D, Isla is exactly the same, she backs off if anyone reaches out to touch her, and barks at strangers coming to the house or any noise outside.

She was socialised well and went to puppy school and has continued to go to class once a week ever since for training, where they're are obviously other dogs and people. But she just doesn't like situations that are new or different.

Today on our normal regular walk there was a barrier across someone's drive that is not normally there. Isla stopped, went rigid, her hackles instantly up and refused to walk any further. Finally after encouragement she continued towards the barrier but as we came nearer she lunged barking and growing at it! I think she is protecting me but I'm not sure. It is upsetting to think that she feels she needs to protect me.

 

Kyko is exactly the same when we are out walking, he also barks at certain people, although we can't see a connection between them I guess something about them makes him uncomfortable. We were in some community woods the other day & there's a tepee in there made from sticks & it really worried him, usually if we let him go up to what is troubling him without any pressure then he's fine. But his new thing is anyone with carrier bags while we are walking. We too wondered if he was feeling the need to protect us, usually I just ask him to be quiet & reward for that and carrying on his walk. If it really troubles him we will put distance between us. A couple of times he's barked at people who have come across to me as creepy or 'dodgy' I decided to take my cue from him & give them a wide berth

 

Toby is the same. Unfortunately it is sometimes someone with a disability which is a bit embarrassing even if they aren’t coming up to him. He never barks at objects though.
Have either of you tried the LAT training?

 

Hi Leigh, it's very strange isn't it. Isla seems to be more anxious when she's on the lead. Today whilst out on lead it was a discarded burger box!!sent her into a frenzy of barking and lunging. I usually pull her away if it's something that she shouldn't be lunging at, or try to reassure her,maybe I'm inadvertently making her worse? She's usually to fired up to focus on me and a treat, so that wont work.

We were told by our trainer that Isla has separation anxiety,although she doesn't present with the usual signs when left alone. We are attending a class this weekend(without Isla) about separation issues so hopefully we will learn more

 

Hi J.D, yes i can understand why that could be embarrassing. They are funny aren't they these lab pups!

I've tried LAT training with Isla and she can focus but only at home,outdoors is a different game. Has it worked with Toby?

 

I haven’t tried it yet but will give it ago.

 

This sounds somewhat familiar to me with our Gwenni at 8 months.I call her the nosiest dog in Wales as she has to stop and look at all sorts, she will watch people in the garden, workmen, dogs , we had to watch a lady wait and then get on a bus for quite a while one day. She for some reason will stop on a walk and sit. Never too sure why she won’t come sometimes but she must be thinking about something I just can’t see. She’s been described by a behaviourist as nervous so I guess as with all behaviour it serves a purpose to her. You can interrupt her thoughts by another dog for example but sometimes I just follow her lead so I don’t stress her. Somedays she likes her routine walking route in the morning and some days she’s up for an explore.

 

I have for certain things, he used to walk very nicely past cows & sheep etc but now if they move he will bark & lunge at them so we now actively ask him to LAT then reward for calm behaviour. There's 1 man in particular he has taken a dislike to which is unfortunate as we see him almost every day & he loves dogs & just wants to say hello. We seen the man the other day so gave him some off Kyko's favourite ham& just asked him to throw it near him, as soon as he saw the ham in his hand he went straight up & took it from his hand & allowed him to stroke him. We had realised at first he only ever did it to men who had a limp but now he's obviously associating something else (his trainer said could be hair colour, shoes or anything) with what to him was the strange scary gait

 

he has separation anxiety too, to be fair to him there is generally very little time when someone isn't with him, so we just didn't really work too hard on it. If we have to go out we can manage about 20-30 mins before he starts barking & howling (we have a camera to watch him). He will go and have a try at eating his kong for a small time, then just lies behind the door till we come back

 

They are funny aren't they these lab pups!

I agree! I see so many familiar posts on here I’m really getting to thinking about how genes are influencing her behaviour and whilst of course environment plays a huge part some dogs require a different approach and are more of a challenge perhaps for want of a better word. I had to pretend to be so interested in looking at a tree this morning just to get beyond a certain point on the walk today to get her interested in moving rather than sitting watching some teddy in a window

 

Have you tried making her walk less predictable? Leaving the house going in a different direction or taking the car to different spots. Toby seems to more reliable at recall etc if he isn’t familiar with all the smells and where we are heading next.

 

Yes thanks JD our afternoon walks are often varied , if when we end up in a familiar part of the walk you can see her relief and excitement. in the morning I take the lead from her sometimes she’s up for an explore sometimes she is just not. She doesn’t like the car bless her she vomits, she is good in the car as she sleeps but does get car sick and will vomit- that makes two of us !luckily we live on the coast with a number of trails so she doesn’t have to go in the car every day now. Many new things get her over threshold such as a new coat , trousers, rugs, toys. She takes longer to calm from a novel walk or new experience too , so leaving her for work in a calm state in the morning works best for her so I take the lead from her . Real balance of new and routine for her. Plus if the new situation is intense ie one person doing something then it’s worth a look, town however is fun and interesting as she is so distracted by everything she seems to do better and town is predictably unpredictable if you get my mean? Taking time to understand this little dog !

 

Hi,yes your girl sounds exactly like Isla, at first i thought she was just nosy but,she does the same,stops and watches people getting in their cars,gardening ect. Does your girl bark at things as well? Isla seems to just watch people,whereas she barks at objects.