# Poodle Won't Walk Away, But Will Walk Back



## hollyollyc

Hi guys,

So I have a weird situation. I have tried dry treats, cooked treats, small bites of hamburger even! My dog will not walk away from our apartment building, but will gladly walk towards home if I pick her and take her a couple blocks away. I have tried a couple things. Mainly treats to entice her to walk when we first start our daily routine and just letting her roam and try and get comfortable little by little. Nothing scary has happened before on our walks. When I first got her, she walked perfectly - now she parks her brakes and if anything I have to pick her up, walk a couple blocks so she at least has the opportunity to trot back. 

When it snows outside, I take her to Petsmart and she will walk around very well for about 20 mins. and then randomly park her butt on the floor and refuse to move. Is this just a toy poodle thing? She has a lot of stamina in the house!

The funny thing is my cousins adopted a fat little chiweenie and he also refuses to walk away from their home, but will gladly stroll back home and use the bathroom on the way.

Has anyone ever experienced this issue? If so, how did you break such a habit?


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## patk

sounds iike she gets rewarded for sitting with the best of all rewards - being picked up and carried - and that's what she's expecting.


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## hollyollyc

Hmmm.. but how do I coax her to move instead of parking her brakes? What I have been trying is moving as far away the leash will let me and showing her a treat, but she doesn't budge. When I pick her up and carry her she shakes, but stops shaking when I let her down. Do you think she is afraid of something like the variety of different dog smells on the way?


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## glorybeecosta

My little one walk so far and that is it, and in the summer time due to the sidewalk it is hot on their feet


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## patk

does she shake at any other time that you pick her up? it could just be excitement. does she walk by your side on leash? is there a command you use to get her to do so? i think maybe using that structure might help. you want to teach her that in all kinds of environments, when that leash is on and you use the command, she is to walk by your side. teaching a release word that permits her to sniff, roam, etc., while leashed is the other side of that. 

btw, if your dog does not walk by your side on leash, one way to encourage her to do so is with a long-handled spoon with peanut butter on it. keep it just in front of her nose as you walk so she figures out that a good place to be is right by your side while on leash.

one reason toy dogs are so much harder to train is because they are so small we just "solve" the problem by picking them up. if you know your puppy is going to grow into a 50 pound dog, you have a different attitude toward how important training is. or i would, anyway.


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## hollyollyc

Thanks for your thoughts/advice patk,

She doesn't shake when I pick her up inside or in stores, but she does shake when I pick her up to take her down the stairs (I live on the third floor). I do notice that sometimes she will start shaking. When we walk back she does walk on my right, she is very good at that and I haven't had issues with leash pulling.

I take her out 2 times a day (when it is not negative degree weather), but I don't just pick her up and carry her so she can walk back. I let her roam around for about 10 mins. then I will try to get her to walk, but its frustrating when I want her to get outside walking time and she won't budge. So after about 30 mins. that is when I pick her up and take her so she at least gets some walking out of it. Should I just not walk her and wait for her to go at her own pace? Maybe she will eventually budget? I have tried waiting it out and it results in her jumping at my legs. I generally ignore this behavior. I have tried nudging on the leash.

Maybe it is a fear thing against other doggy smells?

I believe in her, she is a smart dog! She already knows her name, sit, down, sit pretty, up, leave it, and touch.

Also, spoon idea is very clever! Like the horse and the carrot. Hehe.


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## Poodlebeguiled

How old is she? How does she do in the house on a leash or out in the back yard? 

What I would do is shorten up the "walks" so they're not really walks at all but lessons in having fun. She's not having fun and so to push the issue isn't going to make her enjoy a walk any better. I'd start out with no leash at all and go wherever she's confident and comfortable...out in the back yard or in your living room and coax her to come along with you, tossing tiny treats ahead of you just a foot or so as you go along. Make turns and use your goofy, squeaky, playful voice and lots of praise. Stop the game BEFORE she's bored with it, before she's likely to stop playing. Leave her wanting more. 

Next session, if you were in your living room before, go out in the yard and do the same thing. You can hide behind a tree or bush and see if she'll come find you. Trot around with her. Run from her but not too far ahead at all or she might lose interest. Lots of praise and tasty treats for her coming along by your side. Do these things 2 or 3 times a day or more for a very short time....maybe 1 or 2 minutes and gradually increase over the next sessions. Remember, stop playing when she's wanting more. So, next time she'll be eager to play the game of following you around along side you.

Next, put on the leash and collar, hold it loosely and do the same thing you did without the leash on. If she's having fun, good. You can progress to another place now. How about driving with her to a place where there are no other distractions such as other dogs, people or anything very noisy. Play your game with the leash on and stop before she is apt to park her rear or refuse to walk. 

Then try it somewhere in your neighborhood but perhaps not close to your house just yet. Gradually add a tad more time onto your little fun walks. Make sure you are having fun. Don't feel like there's some rush to get her walking "correctly" or going someplace specifically with her. Just enjoy your pup and let her guide you as to her pace. As she gets more confident, you can increase the pressure on her a little bit. Remember to reinforce heavily when she is doing what you like. That means, giving her something she LOVES a LOT...tiny tid bits of real meat when she didn't just finish a big meal. Lots of praise or a scratch behind the ears if that's what she loves. If she refuses, you're asking too much too soon. Go back to where she was walking nicely and work within that duration or context a little more and then try adding a little more pressure.


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## fjm

It does sound to me as if she is afraid. It could be almost anything - something she has heard, or smelled, or seen... Perhaps a noisy lorry or a distant barking dog, or just the chaos of outside after the peace of your appartment. I would do as PB suggests, plus playing Pat's game with the peanut butter spoon, and I would also work on making her more confident about going out. Down the stairs, outside, fun game, back in, several times a day. Little by little I would extend the games away from the door. Walks serve a number of purposes - toiletting, exercise, mental stimulation, fun, etc - if your youngster (I think she is now just a year old?) is fearful she won't be getting much fun out of them, so as long as she has a suitable space for toiletting, and enough happy games to keep her brain and body exercised, I wouldn't get too hung up on insisting she goes for walks just at present. 

Is there a good dog class you could take her to, or an agility group? Agility helped Poppy's confidence enormously. Even better would be to find a suitable dog - a calm, confident, well socialised one - to act as a role model on shared walks. Do you have any friends or relations with a suitable canine? Otherwise that's another good reason for joining a class or a club.


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## LEUllman

When we go for a walk from the house, Beau has always dragged behind on the way out, then pulled for home the instant we turn the corner to head back. (He always seems to know which direction is "home.") I figure it's like a horse pulling for the comfort of the barn. If we want a longer walk, we take him somewhere unfamiliar, like a park.


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## patk

LEUllman said:


> When we go for a walk from the house, Beau has always dragged behind on the way out, then pulled for home the instant we turn the corner to head back. (He always seems to know which direction is "home.") I figure it's like a horse pulling for the comfort of the barn. If we want a longer walk, we take him somewhere unfamiliar, like a park.


good point. i had forgotten about the "homebody" personality of some dogs. some dogs just know where they've got it good and see no need to change that.


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## hollyollyc

Thanks for so many ideas and feedback guys! I thought there were no more things to try, but now I feel very hopeful again and I am pretty eager to go home and try some new things out.

Poodlebeguiled, I haven't tried taking toys outside and playing hide and seek so I think this will be my next immediate step. So instead of focusing on walking, more focus on playing which can gradually be done farther and farther away.

fjm, her birthday is coming up and she will be 1 human year soon! Do you happen to know if dogs can shake for attention like how they can develop habits of begging to "manipulate" knowing they can get their way? I know people can get the perception that dogs can do something with a malicious intent, but I heard they aren't really able (not hard facts, so may be just an opinion). She goes to obedience classes currently and I haven't even thought about agility classes. About to look some up in my area, .

LEUllman, when the weather warms up just a bit more I think I will take her hiking at a local park. She hasn't hiked before, but I think I'll be able to see if she actively walks in an unfamiliar place. It could be that she is too close to home and has the mentality of "oh, well I can just stay in close distance of my comfort zone."

I'll make sure to update on progress.


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## Poodlebeguiled

> Do you happen to know if dogs can shake for attention like how they can develop habits of begging to "manipulate" knowing they can get their way? I know people can get the perception that dogs can do something with a malicious intent,


I think that they can shake for attention but for a slew of other reasons too. As far as for manipulation, I don't think they're thinking it all out logically, as in a cognitive way, weighing and measuring their options all out...but that they can learn to do these things if they're reinforced for it just as they can with other learned behaviors. 

There could also be an evolutionary component to it. It was advantageous to survival from an evolutionary standpoint to "manipulate" humans for hand-outs. 

Some other causes could be nervousness, fear, pain, being chilled or some illness that causes tremors or shaking. So, it's hard to say...

So yeah...have fun with her. Show her that you're just the best, most fun thing ever to hang out with, to follow along with. She'll get onto it. Games of tug are also good for confidence building, as are new obedience skills and tricks. Just learning, having fun and growing, less stress about walks per say etc... should help her get past this stage.


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## chrishenn

Spencer's behaviour is very similar to what you are describing.
He never gets excited to go for a walk, and as soon as our house starts to get out of sight he constantly looks back, puts on his brakes, his tail goes down and generally looks scared to walk any further. However as soon as he knows we are heading back home it is as if he can't get home quick enough! I find it REALLY frustrating personally but i realise that it is a confidence issue that he has and i am being persistent to work through it with him.

One thing that i find Spencer responds really good to is hand gestures. When he puts on his brakes and turns to look back at the house i raise my arm and point in the direction we are meant to be walking (so the opposite direction to home) and then he starts to walk again. 

It is a really SLOW process but i am sure that one day he will overcome whatever fear he has.


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## peccan

It just might be a better deal to stay inside for her, even with treats.

All her food, water, toys, people, attention, fun and games, comfy spots, sense of safety... Compared to waking outside in the cold/heat, with the noises and sights and no games.

Sulo has always been happy to go where I'm going unless he's afraid and I'm not too far, but during a particularly cold week he made it very clear he was not going outside voluntarily!

Since the issue is new it might be she's just a bit lazy and has found out that in a sitting contest, she will win.


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## lepetitoeuf

This thread has given me a bit of inspiration, because our near 13 week old Bernard has just decided, after 5 days of walking beautifully, that he doesn't want to get out of sight of our property any more :lol:.

I've just come back from a 25 minute battle of wills in which we got no further than 50m from the house. It's the third one in a row, although he's happy to come back here.

I think the problem is a road at the end of ours which has lots of noisy buses and cars, but he had walked along it semi-happily for a few days. He now gets a few metres from the house then sits and doesn't want to budge. I won't pull him, but I'll admit I have carried him a couple of times, however reading this thread means I'll stop that pronto. Encouragement, treats and toys mean nothing to him when he's like this, he won't budge. If I wait long enough, he sometimes starts to move, but won't go more than a couple of metres before stopping again.

Just to make sure I'm not going mad, I've walked him around the house and he walks beautifully next to me. He was also very happy walking on the heath yesterday, where it's nice and quiet.

He might just be tired, he had a hectic weekend with lots of visits and time outside, or perhaps the clever little thing is simply telling me that the main road is far too uncouth for him and that he'd prefer to go back to the green and muddy hills of yesterday :lol:


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## hollyollyc

lepetitoeuf said:


> This thread has given me a bit of inspiration, because our near 13 week old Bernard has just decided, after 5 days of walking beautifully, that he doesn't want to get out of sight of our property any more :lol:.
> 
> I've just come back from a 25 minute battle of wills in which we got no further than 50m from the house. It's the third one in a row, although he's happy to come back here.
> 
> I think the problem is a road at the end of ours which has lots of noisy buses and cars, but he had walked along it semi-happily for a few days. He now gets a few metres from the house then sits and doesn't want to budge. I won't pull him, but I'll admit I have carried him a couple of times, however reading this thread means I'll stop that pronto. Encouragement, treats and toys mean nothing to him when he's like this, he won't budge. If I wait long enough, he sometimes starts to move, but won't go more than a couple of metres before stopping again.
> 
> Just to make sure I'm not going mad, I've walked him around the house and he walks beautifully next to me. He was also very happy walking on the heath yesterday, where it's nice and quiet.
> 
> He might just be tired, he had a hectic weekend with lots of visits and time outside, or perhaps the clever little thing is simply telling me that the main road is far too uncouth for him and that he'd prefer to go back to the green and muddy hills of yesterday :lol:


Hey lepetitoeuf, I am happy to hear that these responses have helped because they sure have helped me out a lot.  When I still had Jelena, the suggestions that were given to me 100% worked. Instead of focusing on walking, it was more playing. Treats weren't encouraging her to walk further so I just put her on leash and played where she felt comfortable. Eventually I would throw the ball/frisbee and she would chase after it. (Going farther as she chased, still on leash of course.) Not only that, but I took her to areas far away from home and I think this got her to get use to walking in unfamiliar places. We went hiking at a local park and I took her to my mom's to walk around her neighborhood vs. mine. It was kind of pretty fippin' amazing how fast her attitude changed with these suggestions. Like you, I have a street that is a main road with a lot of cars and noises. Worst part is that it is adjacent to the whole sidewalk path. I think this is what spooked Jelena initially. I have high hopes that little Bernard will also be able to change his attitude towards walks.


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## lepetitoeuf

Ahh, that's sad, I didn't realise Jelena had gone , what happened?

As for Bernard, after a few more walks he is trying. Very, very trying :lol:.

Seriously, he's just not up for it and I think it's the main road noise. Treats rarely help, toys also. They might help for about 1 metre, then he stops and plonks his bum down, anchored to the spot. I sat next to him throwing his favourite tennis ball against the wall for about a minute and I might as well have been invisible. Occasionally, someone will stop, say hi and pet him, and when this happens, he forgets everything and will walk for a few metres straight after. But you can almost see the anxiety set back in as he slows, then stops.

If I turn to come home, he's literally straining at the lead to get back. Then looks slightly upset when he realises we're actually going back into the house. Maybe I should be taking him to other, quiet places more often, so he does a bit more 'happy' walking and starts to associate walking with fun, and just once every other day do the local, noisy stretch.

It's his obedience class tomorrow night, so at least I'll have a chance to run it past the organiser and get her thoughts as well.


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## Tiny Poodles

I have the opposite problem - Timi is so excited to get to the dog park that she try's to pull all the way there,on the way home she walks right next to me on a loose lead like a show dog.
Anyhow, it seems like the missing piece here is that she does not have anywhere that she wants to go when she is leaving the house, but going home is a motivator. So your job is to figure out what, other than home would be rewarding for her to get to.
When I first started leash training Timi and she wouldn't budge, I had her daddy walk ahead of her and she wanted to follow him and began moving right away. Does that spark any ideas?


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## Tiny Poodles

But, I might add be really comfortable to not push her past her comfort zone - the shaking says to me that she is a fearful dog, and if you push with a dog like that, the fear only gets worse.


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## hollyollyc

lepetitoeuf said:


> Ahh, that's sad, I didn't realise Jelena had gone , what happened?
> 
> As for Bernard, after a few more walks he is trying. Very, very trying :lol:.
> 
> Seriously, he's just not up for it and I think it's the main road noise. Treats rarely help, toys also. They might help for about 1 metre, then he stops and plonks his bum down, anchored to the spot. I sat next to him throwing his favourite tennis ball against the wall for about a minute and I might as well have been invisible. Occasionally, someone will stop, say hi and pet him, and when this happens, he forgets everything and will walk for a few metres straight after. But you can almost see the anxiety set back in as he slows, then stops.
> 
> If I turn to come home, he's literally straining at the lead to get back. Then looks slightly upset when he realises we're actually going back into the house. Maybe I should be taking him to other, quiet places more often, so he does a bit more 'happy' walking and starts to associate walking with fun, and just once every other day do the local, noisy stretch.
> 
> It's his obedience class tomorrow night, so at least I'll have a chance to run it past the organiser and get her thoughts as well.


Yes, very, very sad. Jelena had GME that caused a lot of irreversible havoc. Fortunately, and so very grateful, I had this community who gave me so much support during that time.

Also, I agree with Tiny Poodles. I think I have such an easy time walking Jasmin because the first 2 days she ever was leash walked, she eagerly followed Jelena's lead. When Jelena would stop, she would stop, it was so fun and cute to watch. Maybe Bernard's encouragement would be another calm dog walking or.. maybe have someone else walk her while you lead in front? 

PS - I think it will be great to see what your organizer suggests.


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## lepetitoeuf

I like the idea of taking another dog for walks with him (don't telly my girlfriend though, she already suggested that we should have had two from the breeder :lol. Unfortunately there's no-one that's easy to link up with to do that.

The obedience coach, (who lives around the corner, so walks the same roads that I do) said she sees this quite often with puppies around here and it's just a phase they go through when all the cars and buses are a bit too big and scary and lots of people are rushing over to pet them. She suggested driving him to the park and places he enjoys to build confidence and not to push things here, so if we get to the end of the road and he won't go further, then just turn around and come home. Also, she thought it was OK to carry him to a 'safe' quiet road. She was confident it's just a phase that will pass as his confidence grows.


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## Tiny Poodles

lepetitoeuf said:


> I like the idea of taking another dog for walks with him (don't telly my girlfriend though, she already suggested that we should have had two from the breeder :lol. Unfortunately there's no-one that's easy to link up with to do that.
> 
> The obedience coach, (who lives around the corner, so walks the same roads that I do) said she sees this quite often with puppies around here and it's just a phase they go through when all the cars and buses are a bit too big and scary and lots of people are rushing over to pet them. She suggested driving him to the park and places he enjoys to build confidence and not to push things here, so if we get to the end of the road and he won't go further, then just turn around and come home. Also, she thought it was OK to carry him to a 'safe' quiet road. She was confident it's just a phase that will pass as his confidence grows.



It is true, although Timi has always been a super confident dog, I did the leash training in the park because I did not want to risk her getting walked into with all of the stops and starts and walking in the wrong direction.


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## lepetitoeuf

Well, this is still going on with no progress in 10 days, if anything, it's getting worse. To recap, the first four days after he was allowed out at 12 weeks were glorious; a fearless, fun, bounding puppy who only went to the loo on a walk or in the garden. Then from 12.5 weeks to now (nearly 14 weeks) has been the same story, refuses to go further than the end of the road and regularly eliminates indoors again.

Whilst wracking my brain for ideas, I remember he got scared on an early walk by a shopkeeper at the end of our road rolling down their metal shutters. I remember him going crazy on one of the early 'good' walks when that happened, and that would tie in with when he started to resist walking.

So now he's scared of going to the end of the road and will not walk there. Sometimes I carry him around the corner, but even when we get there he's often pretty nervous and will sit, planted to the spot if there's any noisy moving traffic.

He LOVES the parks though. He refused to *leave* one the other day, we were 5 metres from the park gate on the way out and he stopped and sat on the grass, refusing to move. Eventually he came, when he realised I wasn't turning around. On a separate pavement walk, I tried to walk past a park entrance and he stopped and sat facing the park, like a protest. He refused to shift.

I've tried treats, games, enthusiasm, calling, toys, walking in circles, waiting and NONE of them do a thing.

It's as if he's easily scared by vehicles and other noises, so the moment he's aware of them he becomes a statue and that's the end of the story. If I'm really lucky, after a few minutes of waiting, he might walk 2 metres, then he'll stop again. Unless there's a park nearby, he'll head straight for it.

If, however, we are out and turn back towards home, he strains at the lead like a mad dog trying to get home and gets very agitated until we are safely back to our road.

Sometimes I drive him to the park and we have to walk along a road from where I park my car around the corner. He's OK there, even though the road is similar to the one here.

Ultimately, I really don't know what to do and am worried this is going to persist unless I can make some kind of break. I don't know any other dog owners locally who have dogs we could walk him with, so that idea is tricky. 

I'm wondering a few things, seeing as the current set up of 1 park walk and 1 or 2 street walks is not achieving anything.

Firstly, is taking him to the park a good thing or not? He loves it there, so I always take him once a day, but I feel the more I take him to the park, the more difficult he becomes leaving home.

One idea I had was to forget the park and only walk him from the front door. If he refuses to walk, try and encourage him, but just come back if he's stubborn and doesn't walk. No park, no car rides and no carrying. Then, if he does make a little bit of progress, reward and treat (although, when he walks he's not fussed about treats then either :lol.

Alternatively, I could drive him, not to the park, but to different areas that he doesn't know with varying levels of traffic. Again, if he refuses to budge then just come home.

Lastly, I could take a step back to before he was vaccinated and carry him for an entire walk again, in case that helps him see it as safe. He's bound to get frustrated not being on the floor.

It's tiring, I've probably tried walking him out in the street about 15+ times with more or less the same problem and I'm just not getting anywhere.

So any ideas are going to be really, really well received!


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## fjm

I think it may be time to read up on desensitising and counter conditioning, and perhaps find a qualified behaviourist to help you. Pups do go through phases when they are more fearful of the world - rather as babies become clingy just as they learn to move independently. In the meantime I would drive him to the park for exercise, encourage him to toilet in the garden, and certainly not force him to "face his fears" by making him walk down scary streets. The aim is to teach him that big noisy fast moving stuff is harmless - a chair on the pavement outside your property and a book or newspaper for you, a comfortable mat and a really good chicken filled Kong for Bernard might be a good start. Carrying him to visit the various shops, having primed the shopkeepers with really good treats might help, although you may then find it hard to get him past the greengrocer until he has had his chicken! The principle is to desensitise through lots of practice at a level that does not trigger a reaction, and to counter condition by pairing the scary thing with something he loves. If he is too stressed to want to eat or play with a wonderful new toy, you are too close and need to back off a bit more. 

Poppy went through enough fear periods for a whole litter of pups - I kept telling myself that with patience and perseverance she would be fine by the time she was two - and one day I realised that she had just passed her second birthday, and had been fine for months!


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## lepetitoeuf

Thanks for the reply and the perspective on how to look at it, it's sometimes hard to step back and look at things differently when you're caught up in it. I might carry him around a few times again as well. Also, I hadn't considered it, but perhaps I might try and find a local behaviourist.

Last night and this morning, he walked down the front path and then wouldn't even step onto the pavement, it's so frustrating! I'll definitely keep taking him to the park, if only for my sanity, as a puppy that doesn't have a proper walk is a bit, err, hyper-nippy!


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## fjm

I would just forget about walking down the street at the moment - but make the front garden, no matter how small, a place where very nice things happen for a week or two. Then let the good stuff spill onto the pavement outside ... But don't try to rush it, or force him - every time he repeats being afraid it digs that response and behaviour pattern a bit deeper into his mind, and makes it that bit harder to overcome. I tend to think of it as making deposits into a confidence bank - 10 happy experiences balance 1 mildly scary one, 100 balance a pretty major scare, but once you are overdrawn you need to put a lot back in if you don't want to end up deep in behavioural debt!


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## lepetitoeuf

FJM, I really owe you for all the support you've given me over the last few weeks!

I took your advice to have a little play on the small path/frontage between our building and the pavement. It's just big enough to do a bit of fetch and he had a sniff around. Importantly, you can also hear the road from there, and he did stop momentarily when some noisy vehicles and a siren went past, but he carried on playing after they passed, which was good to see. I left the front door open the whole time, so he could go inside whenever he wanted.

So thanks again, I'll regularly do some play out there each day and see how that goes. Interestingly, he didn't even try to go near or out the front gate, but if he starts being interested in the gate and beyond, I might let the play spill out onto the pavement momentarily. Luckily, our side road is very quiet for London, so if I keep him on a long line I've got no worries.

Thanks again!


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## lepetitoeuf

I had a mini-breakthrough yesterday 

I already knew that toys and food seem like an inconvenience to him when he's out of the house, so they've never been a help with rewarding him in this situation. But I found one thing that drives him *crazy*, if I give him a little back rub and praise when he's actually walking, he goes mental, in a good way!

So I've upped my praise enthusiasm when he does walk, and include little back rubs, which seems to spur him on no end. I'm still not tackling the main road, but am playing out front and on the pavement outside (he walked out there of his own accord yesterday!).

We'll get there slowly, I think with a bit more play outside, increased reward enthusiasm and these little back rubs when we do walk anywhere, I've finally found something that make him really happy, which hopefully will build his confidence.


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## fjm

Excellent! We all want things to be better immediately, but sometimes slowly, slowly is the best way. Finding the thing that he really loves makes things much easier (I am lucky - both of mine adore chicken), and I don't think pups can hear too much praise when they are being good!

When Sophy was a tiny pup she was terrified of the car - she was very travel sick coming home from the breeder, and that set up a combination of fear and physical sickness that made the car a misery for her. Where we live it is impossible to go anywhere without using the car... I spent hours each day, at first just sitting in the car with her, then running the engine, then moving a few yards. It took several weeks, but eventually she could manage short journeys without vomitting, and in time came to accept the car as necessary to do all the fun stuff she loves. Don't rush Bernard and I am sure you will be walking the local streets together by Autumn!


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## lepetitoeuf

Quick update in case it's useful should anyone else finds this thread.

I have been playing with B outside the house twice a day and he had become noticeably happier being there over the last week or so, yesterday morning his demeanour outside was the same as indoors. Then one of the obedience class coaches come over with her big, calm and well trained 14 year old labrador girl.

She tethered Bernard to the lab with a lead, so they had space to move seperately, but the lab was effectively walking B (plus I had a lead on him as well). We then walked out with the dogs between us, and he just came along! He put up a tiny resistance at 'the point' where he would always stop, but the lab just plodded on and so did Bernard. From that point on he didn't resist or protest at any point and we had a good walk, plus some lead training in the park and the dogs had a play together afterwards.

It seems part of the problem (as I'm sure is often the case) is that the owner, me, has catered to his every whim when out walking. So when going out for a walk, I would stop as soon as he put up any resistance and he realised that through that, he could control what we were doing, hence the protests random places or when walking past the park gates. I think the lab (plus 2 people) really helped give him the moral support he needed to not be scared.

The lab is going to come back a few more times over the next week or two just to make sure he's really happy, and I'm going to get a bit more lead training to make sure I'm doing everything I can.


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## fjm

Nothing like another dog for proving there is nothing to worry about!


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## hollyollyc

fjm said:


> Nothing like another dog for proving there is nothing to worry about!


Couldn't agree more! Congrats lepetitoeuf, your little Bernard is growing up to be a fine gentlemen.


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## irax

I have similar problems with my 3 month spoo. She will sit, and if I try to force the issue, she will hug my legs and try to nip at me. If I pick her up, she will calm down. 

It happened once when we were crossing a yard with a barky dog in it. Then when we get to a loud intersection, and then on a path in a forest preserve. 

So I guess when she stops and wants to head back, she is scared of something. Me being the dumb human, dont catch on quick as to what she is hearing / smelling. 

What I found was that if I got her over the hump, she would be happy again. And seems like overcoming the same obstacle repeatedly helps build her confidence.


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