Dog Community

refusal to walk

Posted : 8/15/2006 4:49:50 PM

Ever since Diego turned 8 months he has developed the charming behavior of plopping his butt down on the pavement during our walks and refusing to move. I take him for a 1.5 mile walk in the morning and it isn't much fun lately! I bring lots of treats with me, and have successfully taught him "heel" in all this. But he still does it!

I think the actually problem might be that he's bored with the walk we take. It's the same one every day. He just has sooooo much energy I have to walk him! It's a leisurly walk, it's not like I'm jogging him or anything. He gets his puppy zoomies when we get back to my apartement too (love it!).

Oh, and if I take him somewhere completely different he doesn't do it!

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Posted : 8/15/2006 5:10:20 PM

HHmmm, what a brat, lol! It sounds like you have a idea of what the prob may be, is it possible to take alternate routes on different days, walk on the other side of the street where their are different smells.....that is if you havnt tried some of that already. Coincidently I choose differetn walking routes due to MY boredom. One day around the lake where we can watch the geese, one day around the neighborhood, and the alternate days I actually drive 5 minutes to the beach where we can walk on the sand. Other days that I just dont feel like walking I will take her to this isolated field and play fetch for a hour or so and let her sniff around. I was reading a interview with this great dog trainer and he mentioned that our leisurly walks dont stimulate the heart rate as it would be if we were actually jogging, he ALMOST insinuiated that our leisurly walks are worthless but I refuse to beleive that however I do see the difference he was speaking of.

Fallen

Posted : 8/16/2006 8:20:02 AM

Oh, the joys of lazy dogs! Firstly, does he seem tired after the walks? Extremely tired? 1.5 miles is a long distance for a pup, even if he's already 8 months old. What type of dog is he? Big, medium or small? Also, be sure to provide fresh water for him on these walks - if a dog's uncomfortable on walks, he's less likely to go willingly on them (Or at least, my two dogs won't

)

One way to motivate him is by running and/or jumping up and down. I find this works really well with almost all dogs I meet, as it's doggy instinct. This is the method I used with my first pup, Toby.

I'm not sure if dogs like different routes. I know for a fact that dogs are animals of routine, and are happier when they know what comes next. Maybe the thing you need to do is make these walks comfortable and fun for the dog, which in turn will makes things better for you.

Good Luck!

SheltieGirl

Posted : 8/22/2006 3:56:25 PM

I have been working with my lil pumkin the past few days. [

] He's shown much improvement!

We actually do take a different path now...and don't go as far. He's still full of energy and today I had to take both the kids out in the yard to play. Diego ran and ran and ran around Casey. It's was too cute.

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