Problems with walking

[Lollapy~lou]

Hello, Our puppy Isla is nearly 16 weeks old, she has been with us for around 6 weeks, she is our first dog. She is a lovely pup eager to please and just lovely to be around. We have been walking her for around 3 weeks now and apart from the jumping up at the beginning which we ignored and she does not do it so often now, she has been doing really well. Apart from the last 5/6 days, we get out the door OK, maybe 5 metres down the road she will stop and sit and have a whine, we sometimes manage to get her walking again sometimes not. The past couple of days she has stopped, sat then she will lay down and bark/whine and just will not move, we have tried to encourage her with praise and treats, we maybe get another 2 meters before she does it all again. We have even tried to pick up into the standing position to get her going. We turn her around as if heading for home then turn again to carry on with the walk this has worked a couple of times no more. If we do manage to get her walking again, we get to a certain point and it is as if something in her head goes ping and she will start to pull and will be really low to the ground and panting like there is no tomorrow. We stop make her sit and become calm before carrying on, we get another few feet and she starts again. I spoke to the nurse at the vets and she said to just give the lead a gently tug and start to walk away confidently, not to talk to her to much whilst she is doing this, yes this also worked a couple of times not now. It all seemed to start when she had to go to the vet because she had a reaction to something and her little eyes all swelled up. she was given drops and tablets and she got over it quickly, then a couple of days later she was being sick and had watery poos so back to the vets we went and vet said it was puppy flu, gave her a jab and some pro-kiln +, she is now recovered, she has no problem going to vets as she does her puppy classes there and sees it as a good place, in fact she cant wait to get in there Is this just something puppys do and will she get over it if we just keep trying or our we making it worse? Any help or advice gratefully received.

[Caryll]

Hello & welcome to the forum.

Has anything else changed at all, any routine? Has she been frightened by fireworks?

[Jude]

Does this always happen in the same place or do you go in different directions. Have you tried taking her in the car to somewhere different? If it is always associated with walking from home in the same direction then maybe there is something that she can hear/feel that you are not aware of that is making her fearful.

[Lollapy~lou]

Thanks for replying!! When we leave the house she does not like to turn left at the end at all, although we can make our return journey that way with no problem. We have walked her many times turning left at the end with no problem. We havent had any fireworks going of yet and there is no other dogs down that path. We did go into the forest on Sunday, she is fine in the car, and when we first got there she was fine, she started to have her first sit down about 5 minutes into the walk, but we managed to get her going again and she was fine for the rest of the walk. We wondered if it was the wind in the trees there, but there are not to many trees around where we live. We did wonder if something had frightened her, but we are not quite sure what? We always try to stay calm and in control when this happens so that she knows it is OK. When we first got her she was very nervous and in fact at her first puppy class she sat under the chair all night. The trainers advice was to ignore her when she is nervous and give praise when she does some thing good. I took her every where with me that week to get her used to being out and other people and that worked a treat as at the next class she was out and about and into every thing. We still take her every where with us now. We just want the best for her, but we are finding this a little difficult, we don't like to hear her whingeing/barking and we don't know what to do.

[Jude]

I think the advice given by the vet nurse was right - Isla has already learnt that if she stops and lies down you will stop and even if she is worried about something else she needs to learn that you are in charge and nothing dreadful will happen to her if she stays with you. Attempting to bribe her with treats while she is "stuck" will not help to get her moving as you are in effect rewarding her for stopping. You need to walk on confidently with your head high and keep going. You could use a slightly longer lead/long line and when she stops you actually increase your pace/run/sound excited and praise like mad when she runs to catch up with you. It won't hurt her if she gets a little jerk when you get to the end of the lead and may well help to get her moving again. Whatever you do do not turn and look at her, just keep going, and praise/reward her when she reaches your side. Most pups cannot resist following running legs and find it a great game. You could also take a favourite tug toy and encourage her to run after you to get it. Very important that you make sure that she cannot slip her collar if she decides to fight it at first .

[Caryll]

Can't really add much to that.

I take it you've ruled out any injuries? Pulled muscles etc?

[Stuart]

I agree,..I think she is training you,..GSD are very clever as soon as she found out that stopping means treat, or attention, she did it again and again,... I think from what you are saying, that Jude`s advice is good.

Just make sure that she hasnt something like a bad leg, sore foot etc

[Lollapy~lou]

Good Morning. Thank you so much for your advice yesterday I also had a hunt around on the Internet to see if there was any thing else and found lots of stuff, some things I didn't agree with so I took what I wanted and put it all together. I don't usually take Isla for a walk in the afternoon, but yesterday I did. I put on a slightly longer lead, and I was going to be in charge and she was going to walk and behave! I made her sit at the door before we left and I walked out first, I held my head high, gave her no eye contact at all, got to the end of drive and we turned left ~ yes left ~ and she followed me, I was smiling so broadly, that was all the encouragement I needed and of we went. Once or twice on the way to the park i heard a whimper, and felt the lead go tight as if she was going to sit, I just looked out the corner of my eye, checked she didn't want to go to the toilet and carried on walking. When we got to the road I asked her to sit which she did first time. We then crossed the road fine. We had to walk through a field of horses to get to the park and this is one of her favorite places to have her protest, not today we went straight through that field!!! Once at the park I decided to let her go on her longer lead and have a run around ( We dare not let her of the lead yet, think I am more nervous about that than she will be) Once or twice whilst we were doing this she did sit down and start whimpering I just called her and stood on the spot running, she couldn't get to me quick enough. We then walked around the park, once or twice she started to pull me, so I just stopped turned the other way and started to run on the spot, when I got her interest I made her walk with me in the opposite direction then turn and carry on our way home.
This morning my OH took her out, we had chatted last night about how I had got on and that he had to do the same. So off he went and he turned left to!! He said once or twice he felt the lead go tight he just carried on. The only time she whimpered was when he stopped to clean up her toilet, but he just started walking again and all was fine.
Wow, I can not believe how quick we got the hang of it, we know that we have to carry on with this and that we will have odd bad days again, but we are prepared.
Once again thankyou for your help

[Caryll]

Brilliant! Well done!

Don't forget to let us have some piccies!!!