Good Morning everyone!
We adopted a Male Yorkie Pup around Christmas and he's about 6 months now. He's caught up with all his shots and I have some lingering issues I was hoping to get feedback on.
First and most importantly: His walks. He hates to walk. He's receptive to putting on the leash, walking down the driveway...but once he realizes we are leaving the house...he shuts down. Our route is a typical suburban block circle...and the first leg of the path...I need to do light tugs and sweet talk to get him going. (I do have him set up with an "Easy Walk Harness" so no trachea issues)....when we come around the return leg of the walk...he's much more receptive to walking which makes me think he doesn't want to leave the house. I've tried praise..Leading him with treats...no luck. I've also tried doing the path clockwise and counterclockwise to rule out a particular spot in the route that he may fear....and it's always the first part of the walk that's a struggle.
Is it just going to take more time? Anything else I can try?
Second issue: Chewing. When we adopted him, he came with a few toys...the one that he absolutely loved was a raw hide in the shape of a candy cane. I've since learned that raw hide isn't good for him. So I went out and got Kong toys (won't play with unless peanut butter is in it), Nylabone (he's not interested in), Whimzees (he's not interested in), and mini squeeky tennis balls (interested in for about 1.24 minutes).
So between chew things being indigestible (Raw hide) or too hard and likely to break teeth (bully sticks...though he also seems completely disinterested in)...I'm lost as to what to give him to chew on that is constructive. I know he wants to chew because he is always trying to chew on twigs outside or house slippers in the house.....I'm just lost.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advanced and thank you all for creating this forum for people like me..lol