why wont my dog go for a walk

[whatwoulddexterdo]

I have a sixi month old golden retriever who up til the last few days loved her walks. Now when i take her out she sits on the front step for ages refusing to budge, sometimes for up to ten minutes. When we eventually get going she does enjoy herself, but she will only walk the way we usually go and no deviations.
We do a mixture of pavement pounding, parks and off lead running with a ball.

I don't know what has happened, nothing has spooked her.

As a separate issue she will not retrieve a ball. She will run to it and then past it and wont pick it up.

Any ideas?

Has she maybe injured herself in some way and it's hurting her to walk?

Hi Marrow, no she seems perfectly fine.
It started off with her not going the way I wanted and now its not going at all!

Our lab is 8 months old and we had o teach him to retrieve a ball, starting in the house by putting ball in his mouth and treating when he dropped it. Moved on to throwing a short distance, then moved onto outdoors. Eventually dropped the treats. He's now very keen and loves his ball.

I too needed to train my pup to retrieve. She is a golden Retriever and greedy, so I put a slit in a tennis ball and filled it with some smelly treats. She could only get the food by bringing me the ball to get bits out.

On the walking, any sudden change in behaviour would result in a vet trip for me I'm afraid, just to rule out pain. If there has been no scare involved, then this seems the most likely cause even if it's not immediately obvious

I would get her to a vet very soon this is a dramatic change I would be very worried if either of mine suddenly didn't want to go out.

golden retrievers can have hip problems - are you sure she is not in pain?
Out of interest, how often do you take her out, and how far?

just this week my nearly 5 month old puppy has been digging his heels in on occasion and refusing to budge - this is always because he's been playing with another puppy and doesn't want the game to end. Fortunately he's small enough to pick up if need be and so far has always been coaxable with treats - once he starts walking again he forgets what it was he was being stubborn about ..

is there anything she wants to be doing which she thinks walking with you would stop her from doing?

Is it slippery or shiny near your door? My lab's sometimes fussy about what kind of surface he walks on and refused to go out the front door when it was frosty a few days ago. So we went out the back door where it had melted a bit and he was fine, forgot about the frost once we got going.
Also used to be stubborn on walks and sit down if I didn't go the way he wanted, I bribed him with treats but that made him do it more. So one day I just took him straight home and he hasn't done it since.

I font think she is in any pain as she is quite happy to run about in the garden etc. Obviously I am not an expert so i will take her to the vet.

I exercise her for about 40 mind a day as have been advised not to over walk her.

When we are out if i want to turn left instead of the usual way we go she sits down and refuses.
I don't really want to bribe her with treats to go the way I want as i feel this will only make the problem bigger.

You don't need to 'bribe her with treats' but reward her for when she does go the way you want her to.

I don't see it as bribery. It's more a case of rewarding her for choosing the behaviour you want. A battle of wills doesn't help anyone. Teaching her that cooperation brings rewards, be that praise, play or food treats will get you a far happier dog who actually WANTS to do what you tell it to and develop your bond

Personally, any sudden change in behaviour is something I would always get checked at the vets. It can be very hard to know when some dogs are in pain and you really need the vet to do a full check-up

Is she acting fearful or just refusing? If she seems fearful if could be a fear period.

Some dogs go through a second fear-imprint stage at some point between 6 and 8 months. Just like the earlier one they can suddenly become scared of things they've previously been ok with, as well as new situations. This typically lasts between 1 and 3 weeks and the best way to handle it is to be as matter as fact as possible about things, not force her into anything she doesn't want to do, but reward her if she does choose to try, iyswim.

Could you try thinking around the issue and walking her somewhere different, perhaps putting her in the car and taking her somewhere else and seeing if she shows the same behaviour?

Is it dark now when you set out?

my lab (9 months) used to do this when she realised we weren't going in the car or going the way she wanted to. I used to pick her up and plonk her facing the way I wanted her to go, rewarding her when she walked. Not sure if that's the best way to solve your problem but worked for me!!!!

I would have your dog checked over by the vet. Refusing to go out for a walk was the first sign of a problem when our old Staffie developed leukaemia.

Have now had her checked by the vet and thankfully there is nothing wrong.
The problem seems to have sorted itself out and she is now happy to come out, provided we go out the back door and not the front!