Dog refuses to walk
I picked up my dog from the rescue centre last weekend and so far she has been perfect in every way, except one, she hates going for walks!
We had 3 meetings with her before we adopted her and each time she was happy to go for a 30 mins walk, except the last time when she stopped for about 2 mins then carried on again. We were warned that she can be quite stubborn on walks but to just carry on and she soon carries on too, however I think they underplayed that quite a bit!
The first day we got her home we walked her both in the evening to our local park and she was fine.
The following morning I tried to take her back to the same park and she stopped and steadfastly refused to carry on just before we got to the park, so we turned round and she bounded home.
Lunchtime, same again, although this time she stopped at the end of the road. I thought maybe it was too hot for her so we both tried again in the evening and she was fine.
Next morning, got to the end of the road and stopped and refused to go anywhere. So I thought maybe she didn't like the park, so turned the other direction and she was fine.
That afternoon tried again going to the same direction as earlier and again she refused.
I then got my OH to try and walk her and she also refused.
Thing is she will walk to the car and expect us to take her somewhere in it, if we walk past the car then she knows she knows she's going for a walk and refuses!
If the two of us are walking her then she is fine, if only one of us walks her then thats a no no!
She simply refuses to budge, dragging her won't work, bribing her with treats doesn't work, changing her lead from normal lead to head collar or body collar doesn't work, toys don't work.
Even if I manage to drag her to the park she doesn't even want to walk in the park, just looks at the entrance begging me to take her home.
Our dogwalker, who is going to take her out in the afternoons, also tried and she walked for about 10 mins before refusing again.
I have no idea what to do next as driving to the park is out of the question every time, especially if the park is 2 mins away. As is the both of us walking her each time.
I've heard of lazy dogs but not this lazy!
Any ideas?
We had 3 meetings with her before we adopted her and each time she was happy to go for a 30 mins walk, except the last time when she stopped for about 2 mins then carried on again. We were warned that she can be quite stubborn on walks but to just carry on and she soon carries on too, however I think they underplayed that quite a bit!
The first day we got her home we walked her both in the evening to our local park and she was fine.
The following morning I tried to take her back to the same park and she stopped and steadfastly refused to carry on just before we got to the park, so we turned round and she bounded home.
Lunchtime, same again, although this time she stopped at the end of the road. I thought maybe it was too hot for her so we both tried again in the evening and she was fine.
Next morning, got to the end of the road and stopped and refused to go anywhere. So I thought maybe she didn't like the park, so turned the other direction and she was fine.
That afternoon tried again going to the same direction as earlier and again she refused.
I then got my OH to try and walk her and she also refused.
Thing is she will walk to the car and expect us to take her somewhere in it, if we walk past the car then she knows she knows she's going for a walk and refuses!
If the two of us are walking her then she is fine, if only one of us walks her then thats a no no!
She simply refuses to budge, dragging her won't work, bribing her with treats doesn't work, changing her lead from normal lead to head collar or body collar doesn't work, toys don't work.
Even if I manage to drag her to the park she doesn't even want to walk in the park, just looks at the entrance begging me to take her home.
Our dogwalker, who is going to take her out in the afternoons, also tried and she walked for about 10 mins before refusing again.
I have no idea what to do next as driving to the park is out of the question every time, especially if the park is 2 mins away. As is the both of us walking her each time.
I've heard of lazy dogs but not this lazy!
Any ideas?
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Took her to the vets for a check up and she was given a clean bill of health.
She doesn't seem to have any issue with walking generally and can leap up onto sofa ok (thought it might a problem with her bones but they are fine).
https://www.cesarsway.com/dog-training/walking/disinterested-in-the-walk
Anyway last night was another terrible walk, tried a new road, went a couple of hundred yards and then she dragged me back home.
However this morning I changed her routine completely and it seems to be more successful. I normally walk her before I feed her because I read that you shouldn't exercise a dog straight after feeding to prevent bloat. However I thought maybe she wants to come straight back home as she knows she gets fed afterwards.
So this morning I fed her first and I didn't let her into the garden which I normally do. I then waited half an hour after her feed and by this time she was desperate to get out the house.
She did her usual of stopping at the end of the road but this time I was as stubborn as her and waited about 5 mins before she realised she wasn't going home so she then continued, also went down a new road so she did eventually walk for 30 mins this morning without too much of a fuss.
Fingers crossed for tonight.....
Excellent news. Good luck.
So after the entire weekend trying lots of different tactics, it looks like she will happily walk if its a new road she has never been down, however if she knows she's been on that road before she will just stop and try and turn round or refuse to go any further.
If however my partner and I both walk her then she will happily walk for hours.
Problem is there are only so many roads near my house and she's been down all of them now. We now have to try and confuse her by double backing on ourselves and taking alleyway short cuts so she doesn't know where she is but soon as she sees a landmark or smells the same thing then she just stops.
The dog walker now has to take her in the car with him and he finds a new route each time. For us we can both walk her in the evenings which is fine, but morning walks are still a nightmare as I'm on my own (OH leaves earlier than me for work) and I can't keep driving somewhere new every morning!!
She ends up probably walking for only 10 mins in the morning.
Can folks advise if thats enough? especially as she gets walked for an hour midday and then at least 30-60 mins early evening?
More than enough Bulldogs are not high energy dogs:D
Phew!
I just thought because she's an old tyme bulldog (with longer legs and body etc) she might require more exercise than a British bulldog for example.
To be fair she does just sleep the rest of the day after a walk so probably is exercised enough!
Poor Duncan was kept in a shed for first 6 months of his life, a shed with hundreds of other dogs, he was then taken for a walk and given to a man who put him in another shed, a garden shed and another 2 months passed with food chucked in occasionally.
He was rescued by an odd sort of rescue more like a dog collector when we got him he had been there 2 weeks and had been kept in a shed ! Someone walked him each morning down the road and back into the shed.
I think he thought he was as we went for walks he wasn't coming home with us, that a shed was waiting for him somewhere.
Rescue dogs in my experience rarely know exactly what happened to dogs prior to handing them over to us. It's not their fault but in some cases the history can be found if you are willing to put in time and tramp the streets to find out where the dogs really came from.
Interestingly when we returned to the area we got him from a few years later on a holiday we had leave the area in just a few hours he was panic stricken, we always wondered what our dogs memories are like, well his was sadly very good and he remembered Birmingham for 8 years,
He was scared of trees BTW right up until his death we couldn't go into woods or stand near a tree.
You're right, unfortunately she was picked up as a stray and so we literally know nothing about her. The previous owners on her microchip didn't update her details either.
We are slowly beginning to find out what she dislikes and like yours, she's also afraid of wooded areas and refuse to go anywhere where its dark.
Unfortunately I can't just pick up Georgie as she weighs a ton! So she still dictates where we go and for how long!
Glad its not just my dog then!
Although it went well this morning, I donned my trackie bottoms and we actually went for a jog which she was happy to do, so I think she likes it when we mix it up a little.
No they still get tired from lugging around their heavy body's on their dinky legs, much like DDB's in that sense:D
Sometimes she wont even do her business before she wants back home.
So if she does I keep on trying to she does go.
Call me soft, but if the dog has an aversion to a park, I'd just walk her elsewhere. Other dogs will have marked there, and she might smell them, and feel a bit fearful. She might see something in the park which is unfamiliar to her and which unnerves her. Something innocuous like a binbag flapping around in a breeze can appear very scary to a dog which hasn't encountered that before. Always encourage, coax, be patient and praise obedience generously.
That said, I wouldn't pander to her desire to go out in the car. Just do your best to verbally encourage her to walk past the car - bright encouraging voice and lavish praise for obedience. Try luring her with a treat. If she still refuses to walk, then just quietly take her back in and go for a wee walk on your own, then quietly return and get on with your own agenda. I did that a couple of times to a stubborn wee Westie I'm looking after at the moment as he didn't want to leave my partner behind, and it totally eradicated the problem. More recently, I walked him to the local pet shop and bought him treats while there: it all helps to give him a jaunty spring in his step as he anticipates the destination, instead of trailing around aimlessly sniffing every blade of grass for an eternity.
Never allow a new rescue dog off a lead until you've had it for months, observed its behaviour in all circumstances, and trained it to come to you when called.
Do you / your partner live together in the same home as the dog? Anyone else live there? This sounds like a classic pack-leader situation, where the dog perceives itself as leader through signals that it picks up from you / your partner.
Think along these lines.... you leave the house with the dog but leave your partner behind. The dog thinks, "what's she doing, where is my other human?! I'm not leaving my human (pack member) to fend for itself! But when you both go, the dog is happy that s/he can take care of you all and so is happy.
If this reflects your scenario, please do read-up on some pack leadership (psychology) methods. Once your dog has been relieved of it's leadership duties, you should be fine and you will have a far more relaxed dog.
You could do worse than get hold of a copy of Jan Fennell's "The Dog Listener". (Plenty on Ebay for < £5).
"If the dog sees us as somehow subordinate or incapable of making decisions for the group then there is no doubt that we are at fault somewhere. We are sending out the wrong signals in our every day relationship with our dog.
To convince your dog that you can be trusted with all decisions that may affect its safety or survival; you must demonstrate competence in all these areas: Food, Perceived Danger, Status and The Hunt."
Very interesting. Yes we both live together with just the dog (no kids) and I can see this may be the case. For example when I take her out into the garden she races out barking as a warning to make sure the area is safe I guess.
I will have to read up on your suggestion, even though I had thought I had already set the pack status she seems to try and dominate my OH still. I keep trying to tell my OH to be more firm with her but I feel she thinks he's too weak/soft.
Thank you for your advice.
She doesn't seem scared, not with other dogs or humans, it seems more like stubborness rather and I have tried all methods of coaxing her along.
One thing that I have noticed in the last 2 days is that she likes a good run. The rescue centre has never let her off the lead (because they worried she would bolt off) and so I'm guessing she gets walked but hasn't been given the chance to run often.
So the last few days I have been jogging with her in the mornings and she seems to enjoy that, its killing me however!!!!
Don't worry I have all the patience in the world for her and will still continue to try my best with her.
That sounds marvellous! She'll get used to going out and leaving one of you in the house over time. Some breeds can be very stubborn and you just need to find ways of giving them incentives to reach a good end result so you are not cowing them into submission or refusing to allow them to be themselves. I hate those people who yank their dogs by their necks around on walks. That is no way to treat any living thing, and it's no way to train a dog. Our wee charge is so sweet and well-behaved, but true to his breed he can be very stubborn! The first time I took him for a walk, he took an hour to trail around the block, insisting on sniffing every blade of grass and gate-post for minutes at a time, then refused point-blank to walk further.. It drove everyone bonkers with boredom. He was very unfit and had never been off-lead. Now he loves to romp in local parkland, run around off-lead with his little ball, roll around in the grass and is generally enjoying increasing vigor in his old-age. He's still the same stubborn little fella he always was, and we love him for it, but he's found a better and more enjoyable way to enjoy his walk times.
I looked after my sister's bulldog Henry for a weekend once, and me and my ex took him out for a long walk thinking he'd love it. But he soon started lagging behind like he was knackered and we cut it short. I thought all dogs love walks, but apparently bulldogs don't!