Dog walking issues

[chemenger]

I’m not a dog person and don’t know anything really about them. We’re living in the US at the moment and dd has picked up a dog walking job. This is a Samoyed, he’s lovely but there are some issues. The owners seem to have no interest in him and I suspect he hasn’t been regularly walked up to now (we don’t know how old he is, the owners’ english isn’t great). He is generally just a bit reluctant to walk, and seems a bit stiff in his hind legs. Sometimes he just sits down and refuses to move. Many years ago, when I was a child, we had a Samoyed and the problem with him was pulling and excess energy, so I’m surprised this one seems so lazy. He doesn’t lift his leg to pee either, could this be down to stiff back legs? Could it be that he just isn’t used to exercise?
He generally has no idea of walking on a lead, stops at every interesting smell, tries to eat anything and everything and occasionally tries to jump on our backs. He is however very friendly and polite with other dogs, happay to be friendly with all the many people who want to pet him (he is a beautiful dog and attracts a lot of attention).
Is there any source of advice on how to train him to walk on the lead better and other simple training that would make walking him more pleasurable? We’re working on getting him to sit while waiting for traffic lights to change, he much prefers barking at the cars!

[wombatron]

If he seems stiff and refusing to walk that to me suggests a potential hip or back issue. One of mine has displaced hips and her walks are short because of this.

If he's never been walked he may be struggling with the idea of being on a lead, but the stiffness you mentioned really waves a bit of a flag for me

[AvocadosBeforeMortgages]

First stop for the dog should be a trip to the vet as it sounds like there are some painful physical issues underlying, which would explain things.

Could she have a conversation using the Google translate app? I once explained a drinking game to a Chinese girl who literally spoke three words of English using Google translate. It was surprisingly successful and a good night!

[chemenger]

While he’s reluctant at times he is now walking for a couple of hours at a time. He doesn’t seem to be in pain, just not enthusiastic. Are dogs like cats and reluctant to show pain? We’ll try and discuss with the owner. It’s an odd set up, we walk him every day, the owner never does, he lives in an apartment. I can’t get used to big dogs like this in small high rise apartments. I would think he’s well cared for in terms of vet checks, he’s regularly groomed and clipped, money seems to be no object. It could be that he’s too hot, it has been in the 30’s here and he’s basically a sledge dog.

[chemenger]

I think I need to find some video of a Samoyed walking to see what their gait looks like. If it was a cat I would recognise stiffness, I’m just not so sure of how dogs should look. It’s nice spending time with him I really like dogs, especially big dogs, but I don’t want the responsibility of owning one.

[tabulahrasa]

m.youtube.com/watch?v=R2O48GZbkZY

No clue what the video’s about, I’ve not got the sound on, lol

Their back legs do tend to look a tiny bit stiff, they’re not, it’s because you can’t actually see their legs

But, if you’re thinking they’re looking stiff and it’s reluctant to walk, then yes, I’d be a bit worried tbh as yes dogs absolutely do carry on in loads of pain like cats do.

[chemenger]

Thanks for putting up that video, tabularasa. I now think “our” dog’s legs look fine, they do seem to have a very straight legged gait. I’ve read about dogs not lifting their legs to pee and apparently that is learned behaviour and some just don’t do it. Who knew! (Probably lots of dog people knew, but cat people like me don’t ). The more I think about it the more I think he’s just unfit because he hasn’t been walking and it’s too hot for him, even though he’s been shaved. We’ll see what happens as he settles in to long walk every day.
Again a complete dog newbie question - his claws (nails? What do dogs have) seem long - a sign that he hasn’t been out much?

[bbcessex]

HI OP

I’m new to dogs too.. our puppy is now 6 months and still doesn’t lift his leg to wee.. don’t know when that will happen.
Our dog groomer says pavement walking keeps dogs claws neat.. I guess if yours hasn’t been walked much that might explain why your dogs claws are long?

[mrsjoyfulprizeforraffiawork]

Yep, claws long - not enough time pavement walking.

[BiteyShark]

My dogs claws get long because we tend to do walking in the forest and across fields rather than pavements.

[Vallahalagonebutnotforgotten]

An excellent facebook page re care for dogs nail is

nail maintenance for dogs

It has files of the impact of long nails and the importance of keeping them trim and how to do it etc - great site.

[chemenger]

An update on this dog, dd has walked him every day since my last post (including weekend, his owners literally never walk him). He now happily walks for the full time. He loves to walk with a group of people, maybe he likes to be part of a pack. He is the friendliest most gentle lump of a dog ever, loves attention. He is great with other dogs, but has no idea how to play, at the dog park other dogs bounce up to him and he just looks at them. Mind you he’s so slow (dd can easily outrun him) that maybe running just isn’t his thing. His absolute favourite thing is eating snow and drinking from icy puddles. Unfortunately I think the owners are moving which is bad for us, and him.