Walking with OH

[JudyN]

At the weekends, OH usually walks Jasper in the morning to give me a break. But Jasper isn't so keen on walking with OH. He usually needs bribery to get out of the house, and will walk for just a few minutes before he puts the brakes on. He'll go through phases of this - last weekend they didn't get much further than the end of the drive, but then again he hadn't seemed too keen on morning walks with me the days leading up to it.

If OH takes him in the car then Jasper is fine and seems to enjoy the walk as much as ever.

It's not really a problem - after a curtailed walk and a bit of a play in the garden he's happy until his afternoon walk, and if we really want him to have a decent walk OH can take him somewhere in the car. But it would be nice if Jasper felt that a walk with OH was at least nearly as nice as a walk with me.

In general Jasper is a Mummy's boy, but he relates well to OH too, is responsive to his requests, and OH is affectionate to him and doesn't use any negatives. If I go out and leave Jasper at home with OH Jasper can be a bit whingy but is generally OK. It might even be that it's not that Jasper prefers to be with me than OH, but that he's not happy to leave me behind Is there any way we can make him more confident about going out with OH and leaving me at home? Or should I just accept that he's naturally a bit clingy and I'm the best thing since sliced liver cake?

[easilyconfused]

Get your OH to drive him to the nearest park, walk goes well. Yay
Next time get him to park a street away from the park, walk goes well, Yay
get further away with the parking until he is driving out the end of your street then parking before the walk
then progress to jumping in the car, staring engine, getting out, having a walk. etc etc,

long winded but should work

[bendog]

I would just be happy to have a dog that thinks I'm the best thing since sliced liver cake to be honest

However, Ben won't leave me behind either (I think he would go with OH but he rarely walks them if I'm there so I don't know!) but is (usually) happy to go with someone he trusts if I'm not there.

Kind of defeats the point of you having a break but you could try going out (to the shops or just to hide round the corner!) 10 mins before your OH takes jasper out then sneak back in once they've gone.

[JudyN]

Kind of defeats the point of you having a break but you could try going out (to the shops or just to hide round the corner!) 10 mins before your OH takes jasper out then sneak back in once they've gone.

Tried that - he won't leave the house at all then!

easilyconfused, your plan could work, as it could get him out of the habit... Whether we want to put in the time I'm not sure. Sometimes it's quite nice when his morning walk only takes ten minutes! But I'll give it some thought...

[Sanna]

Just out of curiosity, have you ever been away for a couple of days with OH looking after Jasper? I wonder if he did everything (walks, food, play etc) with him for a few days especially if you weren't even there, whether that'd change anything (and its a great excuse for a spa weekend for you ) or would he just get completely stressed out (Jasper not OH, though in my experience it would probably be the other way around... )?

[JudyN]

Sanna... No, the longest I've left him with OH is a few hours, and never overnight. I sometimes wonder if I should, just to find out what he'd be like, but for some reason OH isn't keen I suppose he could be 'cured' if I left him for a few days but on the other hand I might return home to two gibbering wrecks who have both developed a whole host of undesirable behaviours

[Sanna]

Well obv Jasper is all sorts of special (and so good looking!).. So I don't know if it'd work for him. But I recently went away for four days with hubby taking care of Precious. Hubby was completely shattered by the end but I can see its totally changed the way he looks at 'daddy' for the better- he's much more responsive to him and is also far better when hubby walks him (which he rarely did before as he found it so hard to deal with him), so I thought that might work in your circumstances too
I should probably mention Precious was apparently completely out of control for the first day tho..

[JudyN]

I can see its totally changed the way Precious sees him for the better- he's much more responsive to him and is also far better when hubby walks him

That's encouraging Though whether I can persuade OH that I really need a spa weekend is another matter....

[Sanna]

That's encouraging Though whether I can persuade OH that I really need a spa weekend is another matter....

I'm sure you'll come up with something