Is this enough?

[Socre383]

Our dog is 11 months old now. He’s a cocker/terrier cross. He’s really settled at home, potters about, sleeps, plays a bit but generally pretty chilled. Happy to be left for up to 3 hours.

I’m finding the summer holidays quite a juggle as he’s difficult to walk at the minute. He pulls on the lead and his recall is poor so I’m not able to bring him along eg. we’re going for a walk with friends tomorrow but I can’t walk him on the lead and chat with my friends and wrangle the kids. Equally I can’t let him off the lead as at some point he’ll disappear only to return in his own sweet time.

We’ve cracked walking to heal around residential areas and he’s great off lead in a secure field if we fully engage with him.

I’ve got into a routine of DH walking him before work, on lead for about 30 mins just around our neighbourhood. I then take him to the field for a run around mid day and then DH takes him again after work.

At the weekends we take him into the countryside and do his recall/lead training.

I had visions of him joining us on all our family walks as we do go out and about a lot but as I explained I just can’t manage it and I feel like if I take him and let him just run off or pull the whole time then we’ll never reach a point where he can join us. I didn’t think it would be this hard though and I’m feeling deflated that I can’t simply bring him along with me and the kids and our friends.

I could just do with someone to tell me to hang in there and it’ll all fall into place but I feel like I’m not getting anywhere at the minute!

[RunningFromInsanity]

11months -1year is their peak bad behaviour window!

It will get better (with training)
Keep working on the loose lead walking as thats the most important thing.

[Socre383]

The loose lead walking is a bloody nightmare! He’s lovely in a residential area (after a tonne of training) he can do it along the canal but anywhere more interesting than that and he really pulls, even a pocketful of roast chicken doesn’t do the trick to tempt him into position.

At the weekend (I’m following pippa matheson) he’s off lead and we’re doing recall training then on lead and I do the stop start thing and it’s literally one step forward at a time so we get no where! The kids stay at home as it’s impossible to do it properly with them around.

I was so looking forward to bringing him everywhere with us.

[TeddyIsaHe]

You’ve hit the teenage years, most dogs turn into bellends around now.

You need to be suuuuper consistent with training now, work on recall and being polite on a lead as much as you can, because this is when bad behaviour becomes habits and then hard to break.

Can you use a long line on your walks when with the kiddies so you can allow your dog to run, but also work with recall whilst him not being able to dash off?

[Crazyone84]

Keep going!
Reinforce and praise good behavior, he is still very much a puppy and an excitable breed with a good nose to distract him.

We have cracked recall only now we are 20 months with massive thanks to primula squeezy cheese. All other treats on offer would work but not when there was another dog to play with, however cheese, she is there like a shot! also calmer on the lead when others are around ans she now understands what is expected of her.

[Socre383]

I did try taking him on a long line with the kids and it was so stressful, I just couldn’t manage it, it was a disaster!

What I didn’t want to happen was for me to keep taking him-letting him pull and run off because I’m not focused on him properly and then us ending up with bad habits that we can’t break.

Once the kids are back in school I’ll have the time during the week to do more training with him. I just didn’t imagine having to walk him separately to our family walks!

[ruthieness]

What worked for me was to work on recall when at home - not just on walks - so when sitting watching tv I would call the dog to me and give a treat every 10/15 minutes - so it becomes a reflex for the dog to respond. Especially effective when dog is hungry - at one stage almost all his food was given this way.

[EinsteinaGogo]

Don't give up, this is a HARD age

Does he have a good harness? Our lab pulled like mad at this stage - we got him a different harness and he was much much better.

[Socre383]

He’s in a perfect fit harness which has made a huge difference, he was in a K-9 before and my hands would be red raw by the end of it.