Hey! We have a 14 week old fox red lab and was reading online to let them off the lead early so we did. His recall is very good and was loving lead walks/non lead walks. However all of a sudden when we are taking him on the lead he refuses to move, sits and digs his heels in! Despite yummy treats, and over exaggerated noises from me he won’t budge!? Any ideas of how to get him to love his lead again?
This is very common and it's not likely to be caused by you exercising him off lead. (Which is fine to do, as long as you are practising your recalls and he is coming every single time without fail for an incredibly tasty treat - if he is ever not coming when called, you need to get a long-line on him ASAP to prevent him from learning how reinforcing it is to ignore you.) If you are walking him on lead and he refuses to follow, do not pull on the lead or let it go tight - this will only cause him to lean back the other way and resist it. Instead, keep the lead slack and use your voice and your personality and/or pat your leg, to encourage him to follow. You can also use treats to practise your loose-lead or heelwork.
