Balking on walks

[Wallee]

Ok..here's my rant for the night. I have been walking Wallee 2-3 times a day since he was 12 weeks old. He is now 14 months. Right from the start he would pull these stubborn streaks when he would suddenly STOP and not move. I had him at a puppy class and the trainer suggested that perhaps because he was young he was occasionally getting overwhelmed and to encourage him to keep moving forward with treats. I did this for quite some time and thought we grew out of it. It comes and goes at random moments. (Mostly when we walk along a sidewalk on a very busy street). I have tried almost every harness out there thinking perhaps it was the harness. I have tried praise praise praise when he is walking along fine. I try both encouragement and a little tug to get him to move when he stops but he will just dig in and stare at me. He will actually let me pick him up and carry him for a bit and then I will put him down and encourage forward movement again. I feel like an idiot carrying him when he does this..like "really who is getting the exercise"? Today I got him moving by jogging a little and again more encouragement, but trust me I am not a runner so this is not an option for every walk. What in the heck can I do to break him of this annoying stubborn streak he pulls on walks?

[Maximo]

How long does he stop when he does this?

First, when you go walking, never show any annoyance or aggravation when he does this. When I am aggravated with Max, he shuts down and communication is lost.

Keep your feet pointing forward in the direction you want to move at all times. Do not turn to face him. Say, "Let's go" with enthusiasm (or some other key phrase -- always use the same one). Lightly swing the leash (if it isn't taught), but don't tug at him. If he doesn't move, ignore him and stand there with your feet pointing forward. If he still doesn't move after 15 - 20 seconds, try "Let's go" again.

Do not pick him up.

Don't worry about looking silly. I have walked in circles and crazy patterns while training not to pull. My neighbors probably thought I was nuts.

[Wallee]

Originally Posted by Maximo

How long does he stop when he does this?

First, when you go walking, never show any annoyance or aggravation when he does this. When I am aggravated with Max, he shuts down and communication is lost.

Keep your feet pointing forward in the direction you want to move at all times. Do not turn to face him. Say, "Let's go" with enthusiasm (or some other key phrase -- always use the same one). Lightly swing the leash (if it isn't taught), but don't tug at him. If he doesn't move, ignore him and stand there with your feet pointing forward. If he still doesn't move after 15 - 20 seconds, try "Let's go" again.

Do not pick him up.

Don't worry about looking silly. I have walked in circles and crazy patterns while training not to pull. My neighbors probably thought I was nuts.

Thanks for the tips. Most of this I do, keeping the leash always relaxed and saying "let's go". I think that I am probably getting frustrated and he is feeling it cause I will say let's go many many times. He even will do it on occasion when we walk with the neighbors dog despite the fact that she is just strolling along at a great pace in front of him, or beside him. I understand he needs to sniff and I give him plenty of opportunity to do this as well, it's just when he throws on the breaks and just refuses to move. I guess I will try more patience tomorrow. I guess I am probably making it worse as I expected a dog who gets walked as much as he does to be a great walker by this age.

[spiritwings1202]

Pixie does this!!
I know how annoying it can be....but I agree with Kristin you can't show them that you are annoyed. Staying calm is the key bc when you seem frustrated it just makes it worse.

What I do with Pixie is I say common Pixie that's a good girl or I say ok see ya later and she starts walking again. Pixie hates it when I say see ya later bc it means I am going bye bye without her.

I have found with Pixie it is something that she doesn't like walking by and it is usually sewer drains or a parked car or truck. So maybe it is something your lil one is afraid of. We have been working on overcoming those sewer drains but I just think she thinks a nija turtle is going to come up and grab her!! lol

[Maximo]

Originally Posted by spiritwings1202

Pixie does this!!
I know how annoying it can be....but I agree with Kristin you can't show them that you are annoyed. Staying calm is the key bc when you seem frustrated it just makes it worse.

What I do with Pixie is I say common Pixie that's a good girl or I say ok see ya later and she starts walking again. Pixie hates it when I say see ya later bc it means I am going bye bye without her.

I have found with Pixie it is something that she doesn't like walking by and it is usually sewer drains or a parked car or truck. So maybe it is something your lil one is afraid of. We have been working on overcoming those sewer drains but I just think she thinks a nija turtle is going to come up and grab her!! lol

ROTFL! Max is like Pixie and hates sewer drains . . . and manhole covers. Now I know it is the threat of ninja turtles. He puts on the brakes and it annoys the heck out of me, but I can't let him know that.

[Wallee]

*So maybe it is something your lil one is afraid of.

I am thinking it may have something to do with the traffic noise on the street as like I said it is a busy street. We have been walking these streets for over a year but you could be onto something.

[pstinard]

With Bella, I found that it's walking on concrete--she much prefers to walk on grass. Maybe it's the warmer weather and the concrete hurts her feet?

[spiritwings1202]

That is too funny Max is afraid of sewer drains too oh yes Pixie is afraid of manhole covers as well!!! lol I have gotten to the point where I dread them now bc I know what is going to happen when we get near one! lol I find myself avoiding them lol who has who trained!!! lmao

Wallee probably is afraid of the traffic noise....Pixie is just afraid of parked cars I can't imagine traffic!! lol

[yavenay]

Brandi does the same thing. She usually does it for one of two reasons. She is not feeling well or she doesn't want to go home. I can tell when she isn't feeling well because she will stop walking when we are leaving the house. When that happens, I just pick her up and take her back home. She was diagnosed with liver shunts and LP and even though she is doing quite well, I don't push her when she stops.

Now there are times when going home, and if Brandi want's to stay out longer she will come to a screening halt. She does this in front of my neighbhors and just start laughing at me.

I know the difference between the two because when she isn't feeling well, she will still walk when you say let's go......but when she isnt ready to go home, she will come to a halt and no amount of coaxing will budge her unless I start walking in the opposite direction away from my house, then she is like a little puppy dog.

[Vereen]

Reviving this thread as we are dealing with balking. Joni loves her walks but the actual walking is the issue. Instead, it's stop/smell/taste/tinkle/chew. It takes forever to go around the block. Someone wise on this board once said that they give the first half (or third?) of the walk up and give into the smelling and that typically leads to a more pleasant second half real walk. That worked for a while, but now that the weather is cooling off some, Joni prefers to take her time to inspect every blade of grass. I don't mind walking slowly, as she's little, but the standing & waiting is dragging out.

Any new tips? Treats haven't been very successful. It would take too many and trust me, she's not burning off those calories!

[yavenay]

Brandi did this too. It would take forever to go one block. I never did find anything to speed her up on her walks but then again, I tended to let her do what she wanted on her walks. She pretty much had me trained that way. I would walk alone if I wanted to walk exercise.

It can actually be a good thing believe it or not. I was having some work done on the house and one of the workers left the garage door open. She had to been outside for at least 30 minutes before I noticed it. Anyway because of her penchant for stopping to smell every blade of grass prevented her from wandering too far away. She had only gotten as far as the my neighbor's house. In fact she was smelling grass when I ran out the house looking for her. The other thing too is because we walked every day, she knows her way home.

[Jkpal]

Piper goes 90 for the most part, however, recently she's taken to unexpectedly coming to dead stops--she's a powerful little anchor! Now, when we're in park I expect her stop, sniff, drop and roll and since it's her time, I pretty much go along with it. There have also been a couple of times where she has "dropped" to simply cool off in the cool grass and lengthen our time outside. Once we resume, she takes the lead with that feisty, determined, terrier trot! Seems like just when I think I "know" my girl, she incorporates something new---guess she's keeping me on my toes and testing my abilities to keep adapting---a good thing, really!

[DBlain]

I don't think you are doing anything wrong with how you walk, to me it's simple there are times he probably just does not feel like walking. Lola is my 5 th yorkie and all have been different some loved to walk and some are so so about it. Lola will be a great walker one day but not the next, sometimes she just stops and does not want to continue, you would think that meant she was tired but when we get home she runs for her toy and wants to play fetch. Most of us would not feel like walking several times a day every day so I figure some dogs must feel the same way. Why do you feel he needs that many walks anyway, does he get other exercise like running around the house or yard or chase toys, what about Summer does she go along on the walks? Lola plays a lot of fetch and she seems to prefer that so I feel if she does not go on a lot of walks that's fine since she is still active, which is a good thing since my knees can not take a lot of walking.

[DBlain]

another thing I notice is that if we don't walk for several days she is chomping at the bit to go, perhaps take a few days off and see if the next time you go he is more intersted

[DBlain]

ha ha, just noticed that this is an old thread. Lola too is a sniffer and a spotter, worse than any male dog I have ever had, I also noticed potty pad trained dogs sniff and spot less. Anyway, I let her sniff for a little bit at the beginning, but after she wets about 3 times she gets less leash length and we walk in the middle of the street to avoid all the lawns in the neighborhood, this works where I live but I realize not everyone can walk down the middle of the street. Also when I was walking for my exercise instead of hers I found leaving her home worked best, this way we were both happy and I was not frustrated by all the stops.