Olly is 14 weeks old he had his last injection on the 17th of September and he was allowed out on the 23rd of September and will not leave the house or the garden to go for a walk and we have tried treats and still will not go out we have to pick him up for a couple of minutes then he will start walking anyone got any ideas that might help and also people have told me not to use a harness with a retractable lead or a chain lead or use a collar
Hi Alison, welcome to you and Olly. How has Olly been in the garden? Has he had a collar on regularly? Sometimes good to just get him used to having a collar and lead on around the house. Though to be frank, a harness is a safer and better idea for your pup when starting to walk outside. Best advice is to just make it FUN! Make yourself really interesting and exciting and tempt him out. Nothing wrong with taking him out and then putting him down, but you can't do it forever! Is there some reason he may not want to go out a door or gate? Has he had a fright at them, or maybe been put off going through doors for some reason?
For now I'd just keep going with picking him up and carrying him for a little way until he feels ok to go down on the ground. At the moment he's a baby and to him the world is big, loud and scary outside your yard. It's kind of a survival mechanism - puppies have an in-built aversion to straying from home or from the familiar because s/he who does so got eaten (in the past) by the sabre toothed lion. He probably thinks it is not safe on the ground and needs the reassurance of being closer to a person for a short way. Another thing you can do is drive him to places where you can just sit with him and watch the world go by (with some tasty treats). Give him more experience of the world in a way that feels safe to him. In time he will be perfectly fine with walking out of your yard on lead - just be patient, give him time, and remember that he has only been in the world for 14 weeks Also, a harness is a very good thing to walk a puppy in. You can use a normal lead. I'd go for a back fastening harness in a fairly soft material, making sure it doesn't rub anywhere between his legs or under or behind his elbow.
Olly has been great in the garden and he has not had fright he will sit in the front yard watching the world go by wagging his tail and getting a fuss of people as they go by
