Puppy wont walk

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Daijard
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Joined: Sat May 13, 2017 6:34 pm

Puppy wont walk

Post by Daijard »

Hi. I have a puppy, a mongrel. Its 6 months old. I found it 3 months ago. The problem is that the last couple of weeks the dog doesnt wanna walk. Mostly in the morning or at night. Around noon or in the afternoon, most of the the times, there is no problem. I usually take him to the park so he can play with other dogs.
In the morning sometimes he likes to walk a couple of blocks to pee and mark the territory, other days he wants to go back to the apartment and pee in the balcony where he has a space with artificial lawn.
At night, I have to drag him with the leash to make him walk, so i desist because i dont like it. I go outside for him, not for me. He has very good character with others dogs and with people. When a dog pass by he wants to follow it to play with it. Some people he also follows. Its the only way for him to walk.
I dont have a problem with him doing his needs in the balcony where he learnt to. But i want for him to walk so he could exercise and lose some energy.
Sorry for my english, its not my first language.
emmabeth
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Joined: Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:24 pm
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Re: Puppy wont walk

Post by emmabeth »

Your english is fine (but generally, we refer to a dog by gender, he or she, rather than 'it' as that feels a bit impersonal and like the dog has no personality of their own)

You are doing fine, listening to your dog - you are correct, you go out for his needs, rather than yours so if he is telling you 'no I don't want to walk' it's not wrong to listen to that and do what your dog would prefer.

I would take a pocket full of really high value food rewards - think things like cheese, cooked meat, and probably not dry dog food... and see if offering a reward every few paces encourages him.

I would start out offering food BEFORE he refuses to walk, the food is a nice reward that happens randomly.. NOT a bribe to get him to move. If he then says he'd rather go inside that's fine.. but there are no treats for that.

Try also to end a walk before he has truly had enough (particularly if he is in that funny mood) so that you end each walk with him wanting MORE and not with him overwhelmed and wishing he was back home.
West Midlands based 1-2-1 Training & Behaviour Canine Consultant
JudyN
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Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2011 1:20 pm
Location: Dorset, UK
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Re: Puppy wont walk

Post by JudyN »

Also, if he's lively in the house but not keen to walk, playing and training in the house can tire him out - mental exercise can be even more calming than physical. There's lots of ideas for exercising his mind here: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=1135
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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