Distracted dog a nightmare to walk

[Hoppy3283]

Hi! I'm new to these forums as well as to dog ownership. I adopted Chico, a 10 month old, 30 lb. mountain cur mix about a month ago. At first, he was very timid in ALL situations, both inside the house and out, but he has made great strides in just the short time I have had him. Don't get me wrong, he's so sweet and smart and is just a love. The only problem is on our daily walks.
EVERYTHING distracts him. I can't take more than three steps without him stopping for some reason. Every time a car goes by, a person goes by, a squirrel, a mailbox, he freezes and looks. I've always considered this to be a "sleepy little town," but to Chico, it's still overwhelming. And when he's not distracted by someone or something, his nose is to the ground and he's stopping to sniff every little thing. When this happens, I can't seem to do anything to pull his attention back to me. I talk to him, I wave my hands, I get in front of him and try to get him to look me in the eye, I change directions; nothing works. I can't even get his attention with treats when this happens! It's strange, because he is very food motivated indoors, but outdoors he'll barely even sniff them, let alone eat them.
Pretty much the only way I can get him to move forward is to tug on the leash (or pick him up and carry him, which I have had to do before). I feel terrible pulling on the leash; of course I would prefer to use a more positive way of correcting him, but its hard to give him visual or verbal cues when he won't look at me or listen to me no matter what I do.
When we're indoors, he's very attentive. He's a clever dog and has already learned the "sit" "shake" and "down" commands (in less than a month!)
When we're outside in a more rural setting, it is much easier to get his attention. However, I just don't have time to drive out to the country to walk him every single day. I don't have a yard, so his walks are the only exercise he really gets. Like I said, traffic and noise-wise, this town is much quieter than most, and most people find it a lovely place to walk their dogs. I had been looking forward to taking Chico on lots of long walks in the neighborhood, but right now the experience is not very much fun for either of us!
Sorry this first post is so long, I just wanted to give a clear picture of the situation. Has anyone here had experience dealing with a dog like this? I've been to other training sites, but most of the problems discussed deal with dogs who pull on the leash and are overeager. What do you do with a dog who is kind of the opposite?

[joji732]

My Rusty was very much the same when I got him about 3 1/2 months ago. He will always want to sniff - he's a dog, after all, and that's how they get information about their world. The technique I found most useful with the stopping and staring is the body block. That is, I put my body between him and whatever has his attention. He will probably (at least sometimes) change his position to continue his staring. Move into a new position that blocks his view. You may not get much walking done at first, but it will improve over time.

Hope this helps!

[Fundog]

I have a bird-dog. As such, her nose is on the ground all the time. At first, this was frustrating for me, because I got a dog to be my fitness companion. I'm walking to get fit, and that's not happening if we have to putter along, sniffing every rock, light pole, and blade of grass, lol! But I've resigned myself to Annie's nature, and come to realize that, as much as she has to wait for me to read and post on my forum, she also wants that same opportunity on our walks. (She's reading her pee-mail, lol)

So I've worked out a fair compromise: The first twenty minutes are hers to stop and sniff at leisure. Besides, every good fitness session should begin with a warm-up anyway. Then, after that, the walk is mine, and we take off at a brisk pace-- my pace. It has taken a lot of time to get to this point, but I have a couple of verbal cues for Annie when she does hit on something during "my" walk, that she wants to investigate-- they are "leave it" (for something nasty like poop or a discarded food wrapper), and "enough" (for those absolutely irresistable scents that I can't see-- for these, she will plant her feet into the ground and refuse to budge. So I will give her a minute or two, then say "enough, come," and move on. It is a fair compromise, and she will comply). With the "leave it," I just say that, and continue walking. Annie has gotten really good about pulling her head back and coming right with me-- every time she does this, I make sure to reinforce that good behavior by praising her. If it is something I can't see that she really, really must check out, I've found it to be so much easier just to give her a minute, then say "enough, come now." She is pretty good about complying when I do it this way, and it keeps our walks pleasant, since she comes willingly, rather than being pulled or dragged. Again, in this case I also make sure to praise her when she falls into step beside me.

I realize your city may not have a dog park, but if there is anywhere you can get your boy out for a good romp off-leash even just once or twice a week, that will also help. When I have these opportunities for Annie, I often just keep walking (even in an enclosed ball field; I just go round and round the diamond), and let her stop and sniff, then she runs at full tilt to catch up to me, then stops for another sniff, then runs, etc. This type of interval training has proven to be extremely beneficial to humans as well as animals, so if you are able to jog for 15-20 seconds with your boy on leash, alternated by 1-2 minutes of brisk walking, you may get more satisfaction. And these short bursts of jogging also serve to be another good technique for distracting him from whatever has his attention, to what he's supposed to be doing with you. (It works well on Annie, too)

[Fundog]

I forgot to address your questions about the fear-freezing: If it is something Annie hasn't encountered before, or is suspicious of because the light conditions distort the appearance (we always walk after dark, so shadows and other objects can freak her out), Annie will also stop and stare, suspiciously. In these cases (remember, I'm walking after dark, and being female, my dog becomes a very valuable tool), I'm watching her body language very carefully. If her stance indicates curiosity at all, I will put on a cheerful tone, and say, "what's that? Let's go see!" And we both cautiously investigate what's got her attention-- most often something benign, like a cardboard box, a discarded toy or jacket, or even our shadows, lol! If it's something I know happens to be one of her triggers, like a cat, I've found saying, "let's run!" and jogging past the offending thing will divert her attention back to me so she forgets all about chasing the cat. The same thing with a dad watching his babies in the playground-- she is otherwise trained to aggress toward strange men, being that I am female, and walk alone after dark. So jogging past the daddies helps to keep everyone safe, and prevent an awkward situation.

[Ponies_and_Pups]

I can sympathize with your situation because my Border Collie was the same, either freezing or bolting. I realized that I would have to work on this a little at a time and like your dog she loved her treats but wouldn't give them a second look outdoors when walking. I started in the yard and would do the WATCH ME and treat. After a few days I would take a toy and a treat and tell her WATCH ME and drop the toy until she concentrated on ME and not the toy. This is when I knew she was ready for step 2. 2 was to go out down the dirt road. There are dogs and squirrels cats and trucks you name it so I would just take her to the gate and do the WATCH ME and treat heavily and stop on a GOOD note. Even if it meant we just went to the gate that morning. In about a week she was focusing more on me but I also did a second session of only about 5 minutes that really worked. I had used this on a horse many years ago so thought I would give it a go with her. Here is what I did. Now mind you she was already 50 pounds. I would put her collar and lead on her and take her into the yard, I used a long lead at first tying two together. I would have her sit and watch me and treat her then I would say HEEL and start walking. If she went away from me I didnt pull I just bent at the waist and changed directions, WALKING BACKWARDS so I could LOOK at her and watch her body language, calling her name so that when she got to the end of the lead she felt the tug and I didnt actually have to tug her.
I would do this over and over and treat to the point that in a couple of sessions she knew when I would bend slightly she would come back to me. I then took the extra lead off and worked with a regular lead and did the same. I am sure she thought I was out of my mind but keeping my eyes on her seemed to really work and give me a heads up as to what she was about to do. I didn't go ANYWHERE without treats in my pocket in a ziploc bag for about 2 weeks LOL. Either way now I can take her down the road and as soon as I see something or she stiffens I can call her name and say AAAAAAAAAAAAA LEAVE IT and she does, then I call her name and have her come to me. We now go check the post daily with the kids and squirrels and cats and I trust her even off lead (still on my property as I wouldn't take her off lead off my property).

Best of luck and enjoy it, we learn more from them than they do from us, I promise you LOL.

[Ponies_and_Pups]

I can sympathize with your situation because my Border Collie was the same, either freezing or bolting. I realized that I would have to work on this a little at a time and like your dog she loved her treats but wouldn't give them a second look outdoors when walking. I started in the yard and would do the WATCH ME and treat. After a few days I would take a toy and a treat and tell her WATCH ME and drop the toy until she concentrated on ME and not the toy. This is when I knew she was ready for step 2. 2 was to go out down the dirt road. There are dogs and squirrels cats and trucks you name it so I would just take her to the gate and do the WATCH ME and treat heavily and stop on a GOOD note. Even if it meant we just went to the gate that morning. In about a week she was focusing more on me but I also did a second session of only about 5 minutes that really worked. I had used this on a horse many years ago so thought I would give it a go with her. Here is what I did. Now mind you she was already 50 pounds. I would put her collar and lead on her and take her into the yard, I used a long lead at first tying two together. I would have her sit and watch me and treat her then I would say HEEL and start walking. If she went away from me I didnt pull I just bent at the waist and changed directions, WALKING BACKWARDS so I could LOOK at her and watch her body language, calling her name so that when she got to the end of the lead she felt the tug and I didnt actually have to tug her.
I would do this over and over and treat to the point that in a couple of sessions she knew when I would bend slightly she would come back to me. I then took the extra lead off and worked with a regular lead and did the same. I am sure she thought I was out of my mind but keeping my eyes on her seemed to really work and give me a heads up as to what she was about to do. I didn't go ANYWHERE without treats in my pocket in a ziploc bag for about 2 weeks LOL. Either way now I can take her down the road and as soon as I see something or she stiffens I can call her name and say AAAAAAAAAAAAA LEAVE IT and she does, then I call her name and have her come to me. We now go check the post daily with the kids and squirrels and cats and I trust her even off lead (still on my property as I wouldn't take her off lead off my property).

Best of luck and enjoy it, we learn more from them than they do from us, I promise you LOL.

[Ponies_and_Pups]

Ohhhh terribly sorry about the double posts, please pardon them.
Thanks heaps