Hi everyone I know this has probably been covered somewhere in one of the posts however I am a little short of time this morning so thought I would ask. Friday was Indie's first walk outside in the big wide world and he did brilliantly, we just went round the block. Saturday as well he did very well met some nice dogs and lots of different people stopped to say hello. We get to Sunday and Lee takes him out he refuses to walk further than our drive. We both go thinking he likes 2 people rather than one and we only make it to the end of the street before he panics refuses to walk or tries to walk the opposite direction we want to go. My father in law is in the hospital at the moment so after 15-20 minutes of this we had to give in so we could go to visiting hours. I tried him again when we got home and had the same problem, we take treats with us for when he does something good nothing worked. I ended up having to take him back in and had an overexcited bouncing puppy driving us crazy till bed time last night as he wouldn't walk. This morning I have tried him before work and faced the same problem. Instead of taking him back I kept picking him up and putting him down on sections around the block but he still wouldn't walk. I ended up having to carry him (he's getting very heavy) no idea if this was the right or wrong thing to do. Any help guys, I did expect this to be honest and have tried the techniques I have read about such as carrying and treats but they don't seem to be working very well. thanks for any advice x
Re: Walking problems This happens a lot with pups! Carry him to the end of his walk and let him walk back. He will find the walk back a lot easier. Fear not - it doesn't last! He'll soon be very keen on his walks and you'll be asking how to stop him pulling!
Re: Walking problems This happens a lot. Sometimes referred to as "concrete bum". Just one of the many little curves our pups throw us.
Re: Walking problems Work with him in the garden or yard, without lead on. Using treats to get him to to follow you around with him along side. Then progress with his lead on, when he happy with this walk straight out onto his walk. By the sound of it he is still very young, if it was his first walk out. I can remember one of our first labs 40+ years ago would not walk out on the streets for a long time, so we had to take her in the car to some fields to play and train. She grew up to be one of the most confident dogs we have ever owned, don't despair. Great name by the way
Re: Walking problems First time Bella went out she was on a puppy collar and lead and she did some of that. She's now got a harness and is really good with it and doesn't stop very often or pull. Loving the harness!!!!!! ;D
Re: Walking problems Thanks everyone, its work in progress really if the 2 of us take him out he is really good and gets into it, if just one of us then he sits and refuses to walk lol, will keep bribing him with cuddles and treats. x
Re: Walking problems I've trained a "let's go" cue with mine.. she also had concrete bum the first few times we were out walking (well maybe the first ten or so times… haha). I was trying to give her treats every 5-10 good steps she took forwards, but she sort of interpreted this as "I'll sit down nice and then get a treat, why walk forwards?" since she mostly only knew sit as a command at that point. I then started teaching her "let's go" which means we are moving forwards. It's helpful for when she is spending too much time sniffing something or paying attention to something somewhere else and pausing and I want to move on. We do a lot of stops and pauses, but eventually enough is enough.. we're on a walk after all, not a "sniff"! To teach it: See below for a good way! Mine didn't make any sense outside the context of what I had been doing with the cue before I formalized it the way I described. Oops! Youc an also treat every 10 steps or so that are nice. I was doing this at the start, now I treat her every time she voluntarily turns her head to check in on me. She has become a lot better on her walks!
Re: Walking problems [quote author=maisiesmomma link=topic=9561.msg138702#msg138702 date=1421883615] Say "let's go!" very encouraging tone. Give him some time to respond (a few seconds). If he won't go, give him a very gentle tug forwards (better if in a harness rather than tugging on the neck) or wave a treat in front of him to get him moving towards the treat. [/quote] If you wanted to teach this in a completely hands off way (not using a physical force on the dog) you would do this differently. You have to get the behaviour you want (let's go) to which you add the cue. Not say the cue, which doesn't mean anything to the dog, and then make the dog comply by tugging on the lead. Ideally, by not bribing with a treat either. In this example, "let's go" means follow me. Sit down with a pot of treats in an area where your dog has nothing whatsoever to do. Say "let's go" in a happy, upbeat, exciting voice. Puppy should turn towards you. Click and treat. Repeat, repeat, repeat. (you can throw the treat slightly away from you if otherwise the puppy won't turn away). Next, stand up. Repeat. Then, click as he turns, but step away from the puppy as he comes to get his treat. Repeat. Now change direction, so puppy follows you whatever direction you are heading. Still in your kitchen (or wherever) repeat with a dog on the lead, with the lead slack - always the lead slack, never put any pressure on the lead yourself. Now the dog has learned to turn towards you and follow you on the cue "let's go". In your kitchen. Repeat in garden, repeat in very quiet street. And so on.
Re: Walking problems Fair enough. I should add she already knew the cue when I formally added it in, after doing more of the "let's go let's go" in a happy tone with lots of fun noises. So we did some of that background work previously. I want to clarify I'm not pulling her, it's more a "hey this way" movement of the leash to get attention rather than to move her. I don't move her by force. We might try the hands off method to reinforce it so I never do that at all, though! Thanks for suggesting a better method.
