Hi, I have a 12 week old Labrador pup, she is called Freyja and is fox red. She is very friendly and loves meeting people but when I try going for a walk with her she doesn't like going down our drive and up the road; we don't go far and I have to either carry her or coax her with treats - I am not sure if I am doing the right thing here?
You will want to be using treats anyway to encourage loose leash walking. The carrying could potentially reinforce a stubbornness but she will get big enough at some point that carrying won't be an option and I think it's unlikely. Just remember it is normal for puppies to go through fear stages, every puppy does so there is no need to force her to do anything.
I would suggest that you stop trying to pull her on the lead or to get her to go where you want her to go, and just follow where SHE wants to go. The whole world is new at the moment and she wants to explore. She doesn't understand the idea of a linear walk with a circular route at a pace set by you - that is a very foreign concept for a dog. Have a watch of this video I made for my clients, especially the second part of it:
I had this exact same thing happen at about 14 weeks. I took Jo's advice and I also continued to put her leash on and go out to the driveway. If she didn't want to walk down, we didn't. I followed her lead on what she wanted to do. If we didn't make it down the driveway we would go back inside. I think the biggest thing I learned from this site was that a "walk" really needs to be more about the puppy investigating her world. I used a 30 ft lead at this point and let her wander where she wanted to "smell" everything. before long, she was headed down the drive and on her way. I didn't walk in front of her, I let her walk to the side of me in the grass. Also still to this day, our walks are for her, not me. We now enjoy and hour long stroll with lots of sniffing and stopping. When I ask her if she wants to go for a walk, she runs to the back door. During the time that she wouldn't walk down the drive and around the neighborhood, I did take her out in the car to go to more places for socialization. she always loved that! Hope it helps. It will change if you keep giving her the opportunity when she is ready
