Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
Pets

Join our community on the Pet forum to discuss anything related to pets.

Original poster

Puppy Hates Walks and car travel

17 replies

Regg · 11/05/2018 15:08

Hi
My 14 week old flat coated retriever hates going for walks - as soon as he sees the lead he will dig his heels in in the hall and refuse to budge. If we do take him by pulling him, the minute he's off the lead, he will try to run home. Getting him into the car is even worse. If I pick up the car keys he will run and hide . I have read a few similar postings on Mumsnet which was comforting.Having a dog is only fun if you can walk with it as well as playing in the garden?
Quite sad about this - we've had dogs before and never come across these problems.Will he grow out of it? I'm becoming obsessed with trying to find a way around it. Help!

OP posts:
TheDairyQueen · 13/05/2018 20:05

Have you tried stroking ON the lead whilst it is attached to his collar? I saw a programme on BBC One recently where the behaviourist suggest this for a dog that was extremely excitable when outside. It seemed to work a treat.

Original poster
Regg · 14/05/2018 07:33

Thanks Dairy Queen - it sounds interesting and I'll certainly give it a go

OP posts:
billybagpuss · 14/05/2018 07:42

We have ever so slightly younger puppy, she will sometimes sit and refuse to walk we've been trying various techniques.

  1. Pick her up and carry her to the field then taking plenty of time so she can just sit and watch if she wants we eventually get all the way around it. She's not supposed to go too quickly yet anyway as joints need months to fuse.
  2. Saturday afternoon we went to a local park where loads was going on and just sat on the grass and watched. She was very happy and eventually we did a nice little walk around it. It was a proper park with enclosed kids play area, concrete paths, boating lake with ducks kids playing football so plenty going on.
  3. Clickers and treats (thats how the kids got her to the pub the other night)
  4. Put the lead on her and let her drag it around the house and walk her around the garden with it. Lots of places she feels safe.

Most important is time to feel safe, so taking her places and just letting her watch for a while is perfect.

As for the car, is she in the boot yet? Ours felt much happier when she had the boot and a pee pad and one of us sat in the back so we could comfort her.

niceupthedance · 14/05/2018 07:54

Treats! Some really nice chicken or sausage just for having the lead on and going outside and coming back in. Go a bit further each time. Lots of praise.

SweetCheeks1980 · 14/05/2018 21:19

Put the lead on the sofa, without her knowing, and leave it there. Ignore it and give her treats when she comes over to you.
After a little while of this (say 2 days) hold the lead in your hand and carry it around, but ignoring it and not drawing attention to it. Give her treats when she approaches but still hold the lead.
If she doesn't mind you holding the lead up can pop it on her in the house, giving her a treat as you clip it on. Just ignore her and let her walk around the house for a while, then take it off and leave it off and then randomly repeat putting it on/ off.
When she's totally comfortable with this you can try walking her around the house, again not making a fuss, just be nonchalant but reward if she takes a step. Try not to pull the lead. If it goes tense just stop and when the pressure loosens reward her with a treat.
I'm sure you're getting the picture here, but small baby steps. Practice in the house and then the garden and eventually the car. Just have the car door open to start with and sit in the front seat with her on lead on the pavement. Ignore her and just read a few pages of a book or something but reward her for sitting calmly. Then you can build up to getting her in and straight out of a stationary car , eventually building up to having the engine on and then the first small trips to really good doggy places, rewarding with treats.

TheHodgeoftheHedge · 14/05/2018 21:31

Has she been to the vets recently? Could she be in pain?
How long are you walking her for? She should only be having 15 minutes at that age.

Original poster
Regg · 15/05/2018 07:47

Thanks for all your messages everyone - I feel very reassured and will try these techniques to see how they go. Great to have a community prepared to take time share such useful advice

OP posts:
TheHodgeoftheHedge · 15/05/2018 08:22

Another thought, are you walking him via lead on collar or harness?

Tinkobell · 15/05/2018 08:28

Our 10 week old was rearing up and grabbing the lead. I now hold a lump of cooked chicken in my non lead hand and literally lure her along with lots of positive words. She gets the old nibble or lick of the lure. She also likes it if DH walks ahead at a very slow steady pace as she likes to follow him. Try this?

Original poster
Regg · 15/05/2018 11:25

Hi
Initially on lead and collar but now switched to harness as he was constantly pulling and causing himself to make strangling noises on a collar. Seems better on a harness - the other advantage is that he can be on the seat of the car in a harness rather than in the boot which he really hates

OP posts:
Original poster
Regg · 15/05/2018 11:29

Hi Tinkobell
Your message cheered me up - we went out yesterday, chicken in free hand, and him already in harness, he followed the 'lure' which got him out of the house. we let him set the pace and used the 'lure' when he tried to turn tail or refused to get up.
We actually had a reasonable short walk which we all enjoyed.
Knowing that someone has had the same problems and used the same solution is a very cheering thought - thankyou

OP posts:
Yogagirl123 · 15/05/2018 12:00

When our dog was a puppy, he was scared of the wind and refused to walk on a windy day, he grew out of it of course.

Our dog was in and out if the car most days and he really seemed to enjoy his cars trips once he got used to the car.

Your pup is very young, and has all these new experiences to get used to and he will.

Just take one step at a time, perhaps a walk using the lead in the garden or anywhere else he is familiar with. Putting him in the car, even if you not going anywhere just sit in the back with him, so it doesn’t seem so scary.

Try not to worry OP, just teething troubles he will be fine.

Tinkobell · 15/05/2018 12:19

Once you've got him moving well with the lure start to reduce the amount of lure.....I'm talking teeniest scrape of chicken per stop and lots and lots of praise. Then try switching to pup treats ....again just the tiniest crumble only when needed. Keep the walks very brief and end on a big high. Someone's idea of just clipping the lead on in the house is also very good I think. You want to normalise the lead.

Tinkobell · 15/05/2018 12:41

Another tip. We've always found over the years a good way of grabbing the dogs attention is to say their name plus "wasiss".....there's something about that sound that quickly makes them look up again. If you keep saying "wasiss" with lure well held in your fist you can keep bringing him back to moving forward.

Original poster
Regg · 15/05/2018 14:49

Haha - I can imagine the reaction! Will do!

OP posts:
Original poster
Regg · 15/05/2018 14:49

Thanks Yogagirl

OP posts:
fivedogstofeed · 15/05/2018 20:12

Second what pp said about 'normalising ' the lead so it becomes something that may be on the sofa rather than only coming out for walks.

Also the car can be fairly easily solved with food - eating breakfast in the car and just getting out again without even going anywhere, gradually building up to a few minutes drive and home again etc

New posts on this thread. Refresh page