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Old August 19th, 2013, 12:03 PM
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Problem with walking new puppy

Hi everyone,

This is Dave one of the owners of pets.ca

After three years and the loss of Bailey, my family and I have recently adopted a new puppy.

Holly is a Bernedoodle (a cross between a Bernese Mountain Dog and a Standard Poodle).

She is a lovely puppy which we have had for 2 weeks now.

However, we are having a significant issue walking her. Rather, I might describe it as "dragging" her. While we are able to get her outside to "do her stuff" she refuses to walk. Once she takes care of her business she will pull to return to the house. She will refuse to walk in any other direction, even if she is dragged (please note that we use a choke collar with her as advised by out trainer). We have tried carrying her to the corner, and she will (with some but not too much difficulty) return to the house but she will not walk past it or walk in the opposite direction from the corner. We do this multiple times in order to ensure that she gets some exercise. We have tried driving her to a new location away from the house but then she will also refuse to walk, pulling to return to the car. We have also placed her on a treadmill (her front paws in the front of it and she walks with her back paws) so that she will get some exercise. She is displaying some aggression which we feel is likely attributable to not getting enough exercise and because of her lack of exercise we are not yet able to see her true personality.

Of note, she is able to remain in her crate the entire night without waking. In the evening, she will walk into her crate (which we keep by our bed) on her own so we feel as though she knows that this is a "safe" place for her. We have a second crate on our main floor when she wants to nap during the day. Someone is almost always home and as such, she alternates between sleeping in her main floor crate or on the carpet in the kitchen near our back door. She has had very few accidents overall.

Any advice on getting her to walk would be helpful.

Thanks

Dave
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Old August 19th, 2013, 01:31 PM
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How old is she?

Why did the trainer recommend a choke collar?

One of the very best websites on dealing with puppies is Dr. Ian Dunbar's Dog Star Daily. Tons of videos and free downloads with a wealth of info, like this one on leash walking: http://www.dogstardaily.com/files/WalkingOnLeash_1.pdf

Not sure if you have to create an account to access all the videos, but it's free and totally worth doing.
http://www.dogstardaily.com/
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Old August 19th, 2013, 02:46 PM
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Thank you for your reply. The link you provided discusses issues more around pulling than the issue we are having which is that she refuses to walk in the first place.

The reason a choke collar was suggested is simply to have her start walking. A quick tug to her feet and she should start walking. But she refuses... She will put her back feet down and resist. Nothing gets her to walk (she only walks a little to pee and poo and then she is done). We are at out whits end and we have tried everything we could think of. Of note, toys and treats do not work.

We are able to get her onto a treadmill, for about 15 minutes, back paws walking while front paws are on the front of the treadmill.

Holly is 9 weeks old. We have had her for 2 weeks. We got her from a breeder who lives on a farm.


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Old August 19th, 2013, 04:08 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dave View Post
Thank you for your reply. The link you provided discusses issues more around pulling than the issue we are having which is that she refuses to walk in the first place.
You might have missed these parts though:

Quote:
Teach Your Dog to Follow Offff-Leasshh

Your dog's desire to follow and remain close is the necessary foundation for walking politely on leash. You must become the center of your dog's universe. You need to stimulate and strengthen your dog's gravitational attraction towards you by moving away enticingly and heartily praising
your dog all the time he follows. Click your fingers, slap your thigh, or waggle a food treat or a toy in your hand to lure the dog to follow. Proceed with a happy heart and a sunny disposition: talk to your dog, tell him stories, whistle, walk with a jaunty step, or even skip and sing.
.................

Practice indoors and in your yard, where there are fewer distractions, before practicing in the dog park and off-leash walking areas.

Quote:
Originally Posted by dave View Post
Of note, toys and treats do not work.
Do take a look around the Dog Star Daily site. She can (and should) be conditioned to see toys and treats as a reward. It will help immensely with future training: http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/food-critics

Quote:
"My dog doesn't like food."

Since food lure/reward training is so amazingly easy, efficient, and effective, I would teach every dog to like food, before commencing training. Puppies may easily be taught to appreciate food, simply by hand-feeding individual pieces of kibble throughout the day, rather than all at once from a bowl at mealtimes. For adult dogs, instruct them to sit and take a piece of kibble before every enjoyable activity, such as being invited on the couch, or chasing a ball. Soon your dog will enjoy the kibble as much as he enjoys the thrill of couch-time and tennis balls combined.
http://www.dogstardaily.com/training...eward-training

Quote:
Weigh out your puppy’s daily ration of kibble each morning and place it in a jar to use for training throughout the day. Do not waste valuable training lures and rewards by feeding your dog from a bowl. Handfeed your dog. Once your dog is well behaved and mannerly and perfect for you, you may feed your dog when and however you like. For the meantime though, use each piece of kibble as a food lure and handfeed it as a food reward
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Old August 19th, 2013, 02:56 PM
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I hate choke collars and I had standard poodle was told never to use a choke collar on my dog.
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Old August 19th, 2013, 03:12 PM
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I understand the pros and cons of choke collars. We attempted a regular collar and was advised to try a choke collar in order to see if anything would change. This did not work so we are now going to try to use a harness.

The issue is not the collar and I do not want to get into a discussion about the pros and cons of a choke collar as that is not the issue. The issue is that we have attempted multiple strategies and are still unable to get her to walk.

Dave
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Old August 19th, 2013, 04:09 PM
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It might just be that she's too young to be interested. 9 weeks is a pretty little puppy. Even if you can get her to walk, she shouldn't be doing much on-leash walking at this point, anyway. Repetitive exercise like enforced walks on pavement can be very hard on young joints. It's actually better to have some unstructured, run-around-the-grass play at this age.

Does she play in the yard off leash? Does she like toys? If she goes gaga over balls or frisbees, you might be able to get her to move by tossing a ball in front of her (softly, so she doesn't go tearing off, dragging you behind her! )--teach her to 'give' and work her into picking up the ball then bringing it to you. If you have patience, you might eventually get her to follow the ball down the sidewalk, she comes back to you and you roll it again for her to follow...ad infinitum.

Is she active otherwise? Is it possible she's having joint problems that might make her uncomfortable walking?
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Old August 19th, 2013, 04:29 PM
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could it be she just doesnt like the leash??
i know with both Nyx and Karma at that age they hated the leash. so i would take them where they could walk safely off leash.

Karma would throw fits on the leash. she got better once she saw all the other dos walking nicely on a leash but she didn't like to be leashed by herself, until like 12weeks.
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Old August 19th, 2013, 04:32 PM
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You might try one of these, our Jessie Joy hates does not do well at all on a regular leash and does quite well on this one.

http://www.thundershirt.com/Product/...d-26c277e64b56

good luck.
Diane
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Old August 19th, 2013, 09:14 PM
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Our Setter, Mollie did not like walking on leash for quite sometime. We did the same thing and picked her up about 75 feet into the walk and carried her around the neighbourhood. She LOVED the attention received by all the neighbors which was fabulous for socializing but did not want to walk the walk.

I'm with Hazel and a lot of playtime chasing objects in the yard became the alternative for about a good month and a bit before gradually introducing the leash again with a simple nylon collar. We eventually moved into a prong collar and now we cannot even say the "W" consonant as she spazzes out as soon as I say W.

As noted earlier, this is not a discussion about which collar to use or pro versus con but is a simple matter of choice and what works best for you.

In any event, I'm sure Holly will eventually work into the walks but she seems to be still very young. Give her a little more time and throw more tennis balls to fetch off leash for now.

Good luck Dave.

Oh and BTW...are there any pictures of Holly here to view?
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Old August 20th, 2013, 09:51 AM
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Hi Dave! Glad to hear you have decided to add another dooger to the family!!

I just wanted to say that Hazel hit it right on! I know when I got my last boy he was only 8 weeks old and he wouldnt walk either! I do beleive now he was simply just too young and also the vet advised what Hazel said about not walking them too much anyway as they are way too young. The vet said it is hard on their joints and bodies as they are growing.

Following the ball in the yard is a great idea as well.

Have you thought about clicker training? you may find she is more in tuned to moving forward for you with a treat/clicker in hand because of the intriguing noise.

There is a really great expisode by Cesar Millan on a dog that had a fear of walking, basically patience was what worked. Cesar gave the dog a tiny pull on the leash and if the dog moved forward even the slightest bit he treated and kept repeating and rewarding.

It has only been a couple of weeks as well and I think you will find that as Holly matures, she will bond with you and in a few weeks you will see a change I am sure!

I second the vote on pics!!

Quote:
Originally Posted by hazelrunpack View Post
It might just be that she's too young to be interested. 9 weeks is a pretty little puppy. Even if you can get her to walk, she shouldn't be doing much on-leash walking at this point, anyway. Repetitive exercise like enforced walks on pavement can be very hard on young joints. It's actually better to have some unstructured, run-around-the-grass play at this age.

Does she play in the yard off leash? Does she like toys? If she goes gaga over balls or frisbees, you might be able to get her to move by tossing a ball in front of her (softly, so she doesn't go tearing off, dragging you behind her! )--teach her to 'give' and work her into picking up the ball then bringing it to you. If you have patience, you might eventually get her to follow the ball down the sidewalk, she comes back to you and you roll it again for her to follow...ad infinitum.

Is she active otherwise? Is it possible she's having joint problems that might make her uncomfortable walking?
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Old August 20th, 2013, 10:33 AM
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Well I think the last few posts, like Hazel's are right. Holly is still very young and it's a scary world out there. Just give her time.

When I brought our two 9 week old Malamutes home one was okay with walks the other wanted nothing to do with it. Not a problem now! If you have a yard and can just get her to play and follow you around in the yard for a bit in time the walks will come. Treats worked great with us also.

With the larger dogs it was recommended to me 5 minutes of walking for every month old they are. At 8 months now we just go where ever we want.

Patience will be key with Holly. Continue with the carry to the corner and walk her back if you must, but she will get the hang of it eventually.
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