Hi everyone, Just a small problem hoping for some advice. After much effort, coaxing and bribing we have finally managed to get Indy to walk, its taken a while even now he will still stop and refuse at times. However, he will only walk if we both take him. If only one of us tries he point blank refuses to even get to the end of the road. It is becoming a problem in the mornings when we try and walk him before work as we both cant go as one is getting ready. I have tried everything when I am on my own to get him to walk nothing works he simply refuses. I have even had chunks of chicken under his nose and he still wouldn't budge. Anyone got any advice? He really needs 2 walks a day now as he is getting older but it is really difficult especially at 6.30 in the morning. Thanks for any advice.
Re: Walking with one person What about instead of a walk in the mornings you just do a half hour of training and games in the backyard or house? That sort of thing is just as tiring as a walk as it's mentally taxing (but still fun). How does he go travelling in the car to somewhere he can run off lead? Is that an option for some evenings or weekends?
Re: Walking with one person Hi We do have some playtime in the morning with him and he does have a run around in the garden, in the evening with us both he walks brilliantly and we let him have a run around to burn off steam. My grandparents come in and try and walk him in the day and let him have a good hour of playtime as well whilst we are at work but they are finding the same problem with his walking. Friday afternoon, and the weekends we do better walks and take him out to places but there has always been the 2 of us as we both want to go at the weekends and enjoy taking him. I just feel like he should be having two good 25-30 minute walks a day and nothing we do will get him to move when there is only one of us. Im hoping it is something he will grow out of as (not to grumble about taking him) but by the time we have both been and cooked tea its getting on for 8pm whereas if just one of us went, the other could be cooking tea. x
Re: Walking with one person I was looking at your signature and just wanted to check how old Indy is. It looks like he's only 4-5 months old? If that's the case he really doesn't need two 25-30 minute walks a day. One would be more than enough and some mental stimulation training in the house and garden to tire him mentally. I remember my lab not wanting to walk in the early days too. They definitely get over that! :
Re: Walking with one person Hi Barbara He is coming up to 5 months in the next week or so but I had read 5 minutes per month 2 times a day, felt like the dog police were going to come and get me if he wasn't walked enough lol! Hopefully then he will grow out of it and be more confident as he gets bigger. My partner just thinks we have a lazy lab. I think its a case of keep doing what we are doing and hopefully he will grow out of it. I only worry as one of the neighbours in our street have a gorgeous boxer dog and they never take it out for a walk, he sits in their front window all day looking out. I feel incredibly sorry for him as I know adult boxers need a lot of exercise, the owner just says he doesn't like walking so they just let him in the garden every now and then. I've even considered knocking on and asking if I can take him when I take Indy but I don't want to insult them! I just feel so sorry for the poor thing cooped up in the house all the time. I wouldn't want that for Indy.
Re: Walking with one person My Bella is 6 months old...she gets to play outside in our yard for a few minutes in the morning, and then has some onlead walking throughout the day to get from car to work; outside for onlead potty breaks; and a quick 5-10 minute onlead potty break in the evening and walk around the block before we go home. She does have some indoor free playtime (and cardboard shredding : )during the day while at work. At home, she goofs in the yard for a few minutes, and then plays fetch games in the house with us throughout the evening. We do little spurts of training throughout the day and evening to interact with her...but that's the extent of her week-day activities. On the weekends - I take her for outside off lead walks in our area once a day - usually 45 minutes or so where she can go play in the fields and creek or down old rail road beds....and we work on recall and such. She gets some outside free time to sniff and snoop everyday - but not entirely unsupervised...as the days are getting longer we will have more time to play outside in the evenings, but "adventure walks" will still be limited to the weekends. I think we all have to find solutions that work for our own lives and our own dogs...maintaining mental and physical stimulation that works with our specific situations.
Re: Walking with one person I go by the 5 mins for every month of their age so that means 25-30 mins per day for my Bella but not every day as sometimes she has had over an hour of vigorous puppy play time with other pups. I've been guilty of also taking her walking a bit longer at weekends too so hope it evens out we don't walk until after work mornings we play and train, I'm sure he'll get used to it just keep persevering ;D
Re: Walking with one person Harley (19 months old) dislikes mornings. Unless we are going for a forum walk, she won't go for a walk until at least 11am. Twice a week she is walked for just over an hour between 11am-1pm. The other days I walk her around 4pm weekdays and around 1pm weekends. We do at least 5-6 10 min training sessions at home each day and spend time playing. All dogs are different and need different amounts of exercise. The 5mins per month is once a day from what I understand. Training sessions will tire them out more than a 10-15 min walk.
