storm runs away when I get the harness out and I have to drag or bribe her to the car. She loves it when she gets there but if we walk from home in the dark then she literally won't budge unless you offer her a treat. Anyone else have a weird pup?
She might hate the harness - lots of people mention this on the forum. Both my dogs dislike harnesses. I've managed to get my younger dog to be ok with them, my older dog will hate harnesses forever I think. You could try taking her without the harness to see whether it's that.
Stanley HATED walks as a puppy. He spent his entire walk like We used to just treat him for walking nicely and try and make them as fun and interesting as possible. We got a long lead too and if he would lie down we'd just walk away from him and eventually he'd trot along to follow us. Now he loves walks though. As soon as he sees his lead and harness he goes mad!
HeeHee - Stanley isn't impressed! It's not surprising some puppies don't like lead walks. I once heard someone describe a lead walk from a dog's point of view as 'walking in a straight line at the pace of death being asked to ignore anything interesting'. I reckon it can take a bit of time for them to get used to the idea.
Hahahaha this is hilarious and yep this is Storm. She also has the same stance when she doesn't want to leave the pet shop. Tried just the collar and she does the same. Except she nearly backed out of it and scared the life out of me. Hopefully just a weird puppy faze. She doesn't mind being on the lead when we go out in the car first?!?! She is mostly off the lead when we go in the car though as we do beach or common.
Mollie just sits at the moment. I let her take everything in then use my best encouraging voice, fast walk and squeaky toys to gee her along. I only expect short walks out of her - about 50 yards, then go back to carrying. No treats except at the end of a good walk, or as a surprise during a good walk, luring will cause her to expect more and more treats for work. Rewards need to come after the work, not as an incentive. This stage soon passes and we are too soon on to training 'no pull' on lead ...
Corona does the exact same thing. With lots of encouragement and many attempts, she started enjoying the walks. Then she started pulling, so we got a harness, 3 different ones in fact and now she runs away when it's time for a walk. She's fine when we are out actually walking but we have to chase her around the house to get it on. She walks really well on the harness so I am NOT willing to go back to just the collar. She pulls like a mad dog without the harness and no amount of training or treats can get her attention. On the harness, she is right by my side. I think she just doesn't like to be controlled in that way. I do believe she is ready to move up in size though and will be purchasing the larger one later today. She's just gonna have to get used to it, it's either a harness or no walks. And she definitely NEEDS those!
@jeanine storm is exactly the same and she did slip her collar once and has almost on a couple of occasions. I don't think she minds the harness once on. She seems to hate this stepping into it thing. The over the head one was better for her. Will change back when she outgrows this one.
Yes, Libby did the same thing. She is better now but if I want to go for a walk and she doesn't, she just locks up. Sometimes we go for a block and she's had enough and so we turn around and go home (she particularly likes the walk to the mailbox up at the end of the block). Other times, she brings me her leash, usually at times when it is not convenient to go for a walk.
