Six month old puppy seems overwhelmed and frantic on walks - advice please

[goingonapuppywalk]

I have a 6 month old poodle cross puppy. She is quite high energy at home but has always been a pretty easy and friendly puppy. She's never bitten anyone, only gently mouths during play. If anything she is too friendly - she'll jump up at my face and does not know personal space. She's tiny (2.5kg) but very springy.

On walks she is constantly pulling forwards. She barks and lunges at cars, and when she sees people or dogs she will whine and walk towards them up on two legs. I've started taking her on countryside walks on a longline but she is even pulling at the end of a 10m lead... I give her treats for check ins and for calling her back. I interrupt the walk with some tricks or scattering treats in long grass for her to find to try and reduce her arousal levels but it doesn't really have any impact.

She has been regularly socialised and taken out and about since she was we got her at 10 weeks old. She attends weekly puppy classes and we go on regular walks with a group of friends who have dogs. When she's on group walks she'll happily say hello to any dog that comes up to us, regardless of whether she's on a tight/short lead or on her longline. When I walk her on my own or with my partner she will cry/whine at other dogs and when she gets near them she seems very unsure and conflicted. She'll go towards them happily and then back away. This evening I was walking her and it was getting dark and a man came around the corner and she barked and growled at him! Once he got closer she wagged her tail and wanted to say hello to him so maybe he just made her jump?

I'm not really sure if I'm expecting too much of her or whether there's something I'm doing wrong to cause this. I've had a dog before but the puppy stage was so long ago that I can't remember what's normal for this age.

If you work “all day” she is likely bored and frustrated.

You say yourself:

I work from home all day but can't give her much attention and it's been too hot to walk her during my lunch hour. I usually give her a bully stick and a lickimat at some point during the day and do some kind of confidence-building exercise like scattering her kibble or treats in cardbox boxes or in a small ball pit, etc.

As many experienced dog owners on this thread have said: she’s bored.

i believe my ddog stayed close to me when taken out as a puppy, no fear about running off, she wanted to be by my side. obviously she may become bolder and run towards things
it sounds like on lead is the issue
a shorter lead sounds preferable

what temperature are you calling too hot?

You sound like you're trying really hard OP and you clearly love her and want her to be well adjusted and happy in a human world because here you are seeking advice for her! ❤️

I had good success with a very short leash, and simply stopping every time she pulled. I would wait until she made the correct decision (back at my side) before carrying on.

in the beginning I would ask for even the simplest of acknowledgment back towards me before moving forward again. Over time I asked for more and more. So to begin with when she put one paw back towards me we continued, then I would wait for a full step back towards me, etc... now I judge it by if her nose gets in front of my left shoe then she's overstepped the mark (literally!)

I looked like an absolute lunatic for weeks around the village because I was stop-start-stop-start but she walks nicely on a lead now and this really helped me.

I also used very few words or treats during this. It means I can use this anywhere anytime (I don't have to keep "stops" in my pocket!) and she learned so well by figuring out the correct thing to do by herself without being lured with a food. The treat for her is that we continue forward after she has done the correct thing.

This is just what worked for me, it might help you too.

Other than that I would recommend online resources such as

🇺🇸 Vermont Dog trainer
🇺🇸 Tom Davis dog trainer
🇬🇧 Tom Cantwell trainer
🇬🇧 Southend dog trainer

(edited to say: you will see these trainers using slip leads in a lot of their videos but they wouldn't put them on extreme constant pullers like yours! Reduce that constant pulling first, if you would like to use a slip lead)

I don't think you're giving her enough attention so she is becoming a bit neurotic.

A 6 month puppy needs loads of attention and you can't provide that while working full time if you are the only care giver in the house.

She should be able to go off lead by now, especially if she is being under stimulated at home. A good run around in the park each morning would help her to settle until lunchtime.

The temperature one is confusing because in the UK we freak out when we have "nice" weather and decide daytime walks are too hot....

....but in Italy and Portugal I'm sure they don't just stop walking their dogs for the summer! Similarly in Scandinavia during the Winter.

My sis returned from hot-hot Italy last year and marveled how people were still walking their dogs in the day.

Grass and dirt tracks are best but Is the pavement test the thing to do? Hold your back of hand on the pavement (black asphalt is the hottest) for five seconds and if it's uncomfortably hot vs just warm then don't walk the dog?

She has been socialised. Not every dog problem is due to lack of socialisation

No, but lots are due to socialisation being done incorrectly.

I know it probably feels like people are getting at you a bit but there are lots of really experienced owners on here. A six month old puppy with very little to do all day while you work is going to go frantic on walks. Instead of trying to tire her out with chews or lick mats, you’d be better off working on her loose lead skills in the house and garden, or on her focus on you and away from other dogs.

Maybe they don't have French bulldogs in Italy or Portugal. The one I saw the other day was having to be carried because it had overheated.
Very much depends on your dog and what they are used to and what type of walks you have available to you.
I've got to get going now before it's gets too hot, mine gets lethargic on warm days.

The temperature one is confusing because in the UK we freak out when we have "nice" weather and decide daytime walks are too hot....
....but in Italy and Portugal I'm sure they don't just stop walking their dogs for the summer! Similarly in Scandinavia during the Winter.

The difference with the UK is that we only get those hot (or cold) temperatures for a few days at a time, so the dogs never get the chance to acclimatise properly. I mean, yesterday it was 14 degrees where I am, it’ll be 27 on Friday and back to 17 on Monday.

If we got 27 every day for three months every summer, it’d be different and the dogs would likely be fine - but they just don’t have the chance to adapt to it at the moment.

Dogs can acclimatise to the heat - it takes them a few weeks depending on breed, age and how fit they are.

OP, perhaps she needs more off-lead time. I was listening to something the other day about how exercise sets the dogs brain up for learning - the interviewee on the podcast (I think it was Dr Melanie Uhde) was very strong on the benefits for the dog of 20-30 minutes of trotting (which is a dog's normal pace.

I can try and find the link if you like.

Good sensible advice on here. Agree with the recall. I've got 2 border collies,both of them lunged at cars, the dog trainer said cheese! I used a tube of cream cheese under their noses as soon as they lunged it worked. That really is tiny,we had a Phalene last time,he was 4kg at his heaviest and I thought that was tiny. Our youngest 2 next month,DH said let her off lead as soon as she had had her injections, I was terrified, she has better recall than the older one. Too late now, but my vet of 25 years said get them out as soon as you get them, this one was 7 weeks,in a back pack on my front,to socialise, because borders especially can be very reactive to a certain sight or sound . He said it was the only thing he absolutely wanted me to do

Yup I get my pups off the lead as soon as possible. Young puppies tend to have excellent recall because their natural instinct is to stay close to their caregivers. It’s when they become teenagers they can get a bit more distracted as their confidence grows.

Sure, breed, age, and individual tolerance all factor in.

What I find interesting is how, in the UK, any warm weather seems to trigger panic about walking dogs regardless of breed. People will act like 26°C is a danger zone even for a Labrador on a shady dirt path at 11am.

Italy was all kinds of dogs, and while I appreciate frenchies are probably more popular here than southern Europe, it certainly wasn’t some kind of carefully regulated French bulldog-free region. Not that she mentioned anyway 😅

It just made me wonder how much of our concern is based on real risk, and how much is just cultural differences.

Dogs in hotter countries are acclimatised to higher temperatures - dogs in the UK are not - that’s the difference. We just don’t get long enough periods of hot weather for that to be possible.

Sadly dogs do die every year in the UK because people don’t think it’s that hot, or they think their dog is young and slim so they’ll be fine. For me personally, it’s just not a risk I’m willing to take with my dog - a few days of early walks (or even no walks) won’t kill him, but a walk when it’s too hot might.

It just made me wonder how much of our concern is based on real risk, and how much is just cultural differences.

Yes, I take your point @OnlyHerefortheBiscuits
And French bulldogs are obviously an extreme example.
I'm not one to take risks with my dog but there does seem to be a level of paranoia and panic around at times.

Some dogs acclimatise to heat pretty quickly. You just have to know your own dog, consider what weather the dog has been exercised in over the previous few weeks and how it's coped, and if the weather is very hot have the options of patches of shade or walk in woodland, consider providing water (and the chance to swim), and be prepared to call in and keep at heel a dog who is being a bit over-enthusiastic and clearly getting vey hot.

We have never that I can remember broken our walking routine because of the heat (we've had dogs for >20 years, and more than one dog for most of that time). We once had one dog start to look uncomfortable (he kept stopping in the shade). He was large and old, so we headed slowly straight back to the car, letting him have rest stops in the shade, and by the time we'd driven the 15mins home he was happy to wolf down his dinner and was back to normal.

I spent a chunk of my childhood in a fairly extreme climate, and our dog, and the dogs I saw around me, coped absolutely fine, which has definitely coloured my view towards the annual panic about how hot is too hot.

Oh it absolutely depends on the dog @EdithStourton but I also don’t think there’s anything wrong with people being a bit over-cautious. It’ll be 28 here tomorrow and I won’t be walking any of my client dogs in that temperature - they’ll be getting home visits instead.

@tumblingdowntherabbithole I'd probably more cautious with someone else's dog than my own!

I know my duo very, very well... Other dogs, even ones I see regularly, not so much.

Ha - I was just saying the same thing to someone today - I’m way more cautious with other people’s dogs!

I'm in the South and it's been over 20 most days at lunch time. Today it was 28. She has really thick fur as has only just turned 6 months (she's booked in for Friday) and no local groomers will give a puppy a full groom until 6 months. She struggles with the heat more than my last (short-haired) dog did.

I'm not the only one home with her on weekdays either. We're a big family so there's always others around for her.

She's not my first dog, although she is my first poodle mix so still lots to learn.

Hi OP - something that hasn't been suggested (I don't think) is the possibility that she's become a bit magnetised by other dogs. This happened with my pup too - I thought I'd been really careful with socialisation like you, but for a while I had to start taking him to quieter places like a local cemetery where we could see other dogs at a distance and he could just sit and watch. Now he's an adolescent nobhead and we're doing exactly the same thing again, although from a greater distance, for when he sees other entire males and fixates a bit.

We play 'look at that' - DTAS call it 'click the trigger'. The idea is that you get her at a distance where she's under threshold, that is, she's not barking and lunging yet. You wait until she notices whatever it is, then click (or use your marker word) and give a treat. Eventually they look at the trigger and look straight back at you for the treat without waiting for the marker - and what you've done is changed both their actual response, and their emotional response; the trigger is now a good thing but it means looking at you, not fixating on the other dog. Does that make any sense?