When a puppy doesn't see the point of a walk!

[meerkate]

Hi all - I am new to this dog ownership business, let me confess straightaway, but we are loving our new pup - he is a 12-week-old fawn whippet and has a fabulous temperament, is doing brilliantly with toilet-training, sleeps through the night (after two or three hellish nights of whining/weeping at the beginning!) and is generally an absolute charmer.

The one area we are really struggling with, however, is walking him from the house! He is most reluctant to do this - partly because he doesn't like the cold, I guess, being a shivery little whippet boy - but mainly, I think, because it's leaving his patch? I say this because he is much better when we walk from the car (ie in an area not known to him, eg a new park, a wood, etc). We've tried the advice we've read, such as staying relaxed, not looking at him, just giving the lead a gentle tug and striding forth, encouraging him - sometimes this works, but very often it doesn't. It takes an age just to get out of our cul-de-sac to the main road! He constantly tries to turn around and scurry back home (to the warmth, the kids, his food, etc - who can blame him, in some ways?!)

I have no idea whether I need to worry about this at all, at this early stage - maybe this is common - but I am a walker, and live in town, and am used to striding forth to do my errands, and really hope this is just a temporary blip!

Thanks for any advice. I know he's only young and can only walk short distances anyway right now but any techniques you know about that might be help would be gratefully received

(I know there is a very helpful pointy dog thread but I decided this was a more general kind of problem, which can presumably apply to any breed!)

Does he have a coat? At this time of year, unless they are running hard, a pointy is going to need something cosy on. In fact, my lurcher is wearing a house coat inside as he gets a bit cold even indoors

Yes, he has either a coat or a (rather ludicrous but irresistible) little jumper - so I don't think it's that, though he is of course no fan of the cold, it's true! But he loves the garden and stays out there playing for ages at a time, so it's not a temperature issue - thanks for the thought, though!

Our pup was like this at 14 weeks when we got her, I eventually tried taking a cupful of chopped up pork and gave her a bit every time she made any move forwards. It was the longest walk of my life, but she is making progress now!

Also, maybe he dislikes the collar/lead combo and might do better with a harness?

My puppy was also like this for the first four weeks of walks from the house. He also used to prefer to walk from the car as he used to pull to get to the car rather than go out onto the pavement!

But it only lasted a few weeks, I think he was intimidated by the noise of the road as our road has buses on and he used to cower when a bus was looming. I used treats like previous poster, lots of leaning down to offer treats just to get him out the driveway, really took its toll on my back, but was a short phase.

Maybe try 'upping' the treats?

Treats - of course! Sounds labour-intensive but worthwhile! I reckon I will have to give them every 15 seconds Not been taking them with me, like an idiot. Will try tomorrow morning. Traffic noise does bother him at times, so that is probably part of it. I have just been taken aback - was so focussed on what I thought might be the nightmare part of puppy-training (toilet accidents, sleep), all of which have gone smoothly, that it never occurred to me he wouldn't love a walk straightaway!

Do you have any friends with dogs who he gets on with? He might find the idea of a walk more interesting if he had another dog to play with?

Have you tried carrying him to the end of the road and starting from there if he's happy to go once the house is out of sight .

He will get better I'm sure .
Ours hated walking for ages and would hide when I got his lead out , but now he loves it .
When they are small they don't seem to do all the sniffing business that they do when they are older .
I do think they find walks pointless when very young .
Ours now comes running when I get his lead and spends most walks sniffing out who and what has been around :)

He loves other dogs, you're right, that's a good tip - and we do resort to carrying him but he still doesn't like it much as long as we remain within the area that is close to the house! However, I think we're expecting far too much of him too early, as I just got a helpful email from the woman who runs the local puppy classes he'll be starting in a fortnight or so, and she was saying three minutes is plenty at this stage on the road, and to remember he is still really young and only just settling in! I think I need to manage my expectations, in short

Sounds like you've got there! It's easy to overestimate their abilities and confidence when they're little. I was a bit like this too - I kept having to remind myself he's just a puppy!

I'm now in danger of going the other way now and not realising when he's ready to be more grown-up! So I still take mountains of treats on each walk and have a handful in my hand ALL the time incase he needs recalling - might be OK but was a bit yucky when DH tried to hold hands today on a walk and it was full of sticky sausage chunks!!

mmmh - romantic
thanks girls - i'll see how tomorrow goes. he's doing so well in every way that i need to just be patient about the walking - i am sure you're all quite right and he will get there!

Make the most of it! I'd have paid a lot of money for my mud-magnet dog not to have fancied a walk this morning.

Snort!! Yes you're right - let's look on the bright side...however, I am pleased to report that despite lashing rain, dark and cold, we tempted our boy out this morning with a small bag of tiny cheese pieces and got on MUCH better I'll persevere

Actually, as a puppy, mine used to do exactly the same thing as yours though, as in sitting on his bottom craning his head round to look longingly back at the house. We'd be pulling him along like a stuffed toy on a piece of string.

He got over it. We now only have to look in the direction of where the "yellow dog-walking jacket" hangs, and he goes bananas.

Brilliant. That is really reassuring. I am a broken woman - house full of kids, more kids, dogs all day; Xmas tree baubles been eaten, house generally trashed; and I've had to fit in not one but two visits to the vet (dog in morning, cat in evening) - argh!!! Puppy has eaten a load of polystyrene at some point, too - just hoping for the best on that front (I know if I google 'puppies and polystyrene' I will be informed it's desperately toxic and I can't handle that knowledge just at the moment!)