Hello, I'm a new owner of a beautiful 13 week old Labrador puppy, we're making progress every week with everything else, it's just trying to get her on a morning walk, she's fine when there's 2 of us myself and my partner, does anyone else have this issue? She just sits down and doesn't want to move forward, I make sure she's fed and watered and left enough time for it to digest. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Lisa, welcome to the forum At 13 weeks, it's unlikely that she needs a morning walk at all. She may just be finding it too much. This article on our main site looks at how much exercise puppies need, and how much is too much.
When my lab was a puppy, I took him for little strolls on the street, just afew hundred metres (or yards) at first. He suffers from anxiety, new situations (and people) spook him - so it was a bit of a challenge. We'd walk one direction from home, past a couple of houses, then turn around and come back - he quickly got comfortable with that because he met a super lovely neighbour (who, as it turns out, used to own labs himself, so knew just how to talk and interact with him) - but the moment I tried to walk him back past our house, to walk past afew houses on the other side, he wasn't having any of it. He'd sit down and face home, with his back to the street. He wasn't tired - because if I turned around to go back the way we came, he'd happily go. So I'm not sure what spooked him - but it took months of perseverance, and bribes with extra treats (and sometimes silly dances or running with him) to encourage him to start to walk further. Some days he'd whine, and be really hesitant, and I'd let him dictate how far we'd go (usually not far at all). Other times, I'd encourage (or bribe) him to go a bit further. Now he's almost 7 months, and he happily walks around the neighbourhood, looking for the neighbours that like to pat (and occasionally feed!) him, and the dogs that usually bark from behind their fences. He's still not comfortable in new environments, but he is comfortable in our neighbourhood now, which I felt was important. The section which he struggled with a few months ago, is covered by trees, so can feel darker at times - but it means there are usually alot of sticks on the ground too. We've made it a game that he'll find a stick there, and pick it up on the way home - that usually takes his mind off any ill feelings he has of the area too, I think.
