My dog refuses to walk.. help!

killyourtv_

Hi guys,
I have a female border collie called Holly, she is 1yr + 9months old. She refuses to go on walks lately. I have a harness for her because she tends to get too excited on walks and runs off, and now the opposite has started to happen.

The first incident was a couple of weeks ago, 15minutes into a half hour walk, she would stop dead on the pavement. After a while, I would be able to coax her out of it with praise. Now its been happening more often and in less distance. For example, I am just back from a walk with her and we got 4 houses down the road and she stopped dead and refused to go anywhere, i stood there for 10minutes trying to get her to move with treats, praise and playing. She digs her nails into the ground when i try to drag her so that method doesnt work.

I try to walk her everyday but lately, she doesnt seem to want to go out at all! Any help or suggestions will be much appreciated, thanks alot

piperh

Is she showing any signs of lameness? could there be a medical reason? Did something spook her or someting different suddenly appear on the normal route? If i was you i would try and rule out medical reasons first and then see if going a different route makes a difference, (if you haven't already tried this).

killyourtv_

piperh wrote: »

Is she showing any signs of lameness? could there be a medical reason? Did something spook her or someting different suddenly appear on the normal route? If i was you i would try and rule out medical reasons first and then see if going a different route makes a difference, (if you haven't already tried this).

I live at the end of a cul-de-sac so theres only one way for me to go and its kind of difficult to try a new route when i cant get her down the road, you know?

there's nothing wrong with her at all, she's still running around the house and being her usual self with no known complications! it's so frustrating because she's such an active dog and i hate seeing her cooped up in the house all day so trying to bring her out is a struggle when all she wants to do is go back home.

kylith

Victoria Stillwell recommends sitting down with your back to the dog for as long as it takes for the dog to get bored doing nothing and decide that it does want to go for a walk after all.

I've never had that problem with my dogs, but I wish you luck.

mikemac

Did she get in a fight?
Is there a local dog who savaged her?

mymo

Do you have a car?
If so put her in it and bring her to another area to walk, if she is fine in the new area, then its probably something environmental. One incidence can create a problem, it could be a noise(we can't hear as dogs do) or something spooked her, any number of things. You could go a shorter and shorter distance from home until you can walk home in a few minutes. This may help, she will be going home to where she feels safe.
If driving her somewhere to walk doesn't work, I'd look into other reasons, pain as said above could be one, from injury or illness.
Has she had a bad experience walking? Something that could be quite small, could have a big effect.

Try putting the lead on going to the garden or upstairs, walk her around the house and give her the odd treat when she follows where you lead, don't pull.
then try going to the gate, then build it up to the end of the road, keep using treats and praise, and build it up gradually.

Remember 10 3 mins successful walks is much better than one failed walk a day.

killyourtv_

Thanks for all your help guys! To mikemac, there hasnt been any incidents on walks or in the local area. I will definitely try Victoria Stillwell's tip, put this on her forums and no-one answered *Sigh*

Im starting to think it's probably because our other dog is usually left at home when i bring her on walks as i find it difficult to bring the two dogs on walks by myself and theres no-one there to help me!

Will try mymo's technique tomorrow for sure

mymo

killyourtv_ wrote: »

Thanks for all your help guys! To mikemac, there hasnt been any incidents on walks or in the local area. I will definitely try Victoria Stillwell's tip, put this on her forums and no-one answered *Sigh*

Im starting to think it's probably because our other dog is usually left at home when i bring her on walks as i find it difficult to bring the two dogs on walks by myself and theres no-one there to help me!

Will try mymo's technique tomorrow for sure

Ah I see the problem, if I bring my dogs for their run and my daughter comes to go swimming in the river, my boy will not walk, AT ALL. He'll lay down and squirm and try to get back to her. its murder in the summer, if he see's kids swimming at all he wants to go check if she's there:rolleyes:, had to change routes more than once.

Just to experiment try the two dogs and see what happens, you only need go up the road a bit.

killyourtv_

mymo wrote: »

Ah I see the problem, if I bring my dogs for their run and my daughter comes to go swimming in the river, my boy will not walk, AT ALL. He'll lay down and squirm and try to get back to her. its murder in the summer, if he see's kids swimming at all he wants to go check if she's there:rolleyes:, had to change routes more than once.

Just to experiment try the two dogs and see what happens, you only need go up the road a bit.

Will try bringing both of them out.. but im wondering how do I eventually get her to walk without the other dog?

blaaah

You could try something simple and jog with her from your back garden right out onto your road and onward to wherever you like to walk with her. Sometimes dog's get stuck in motions like this so try running through it at a nice brisk pace. Your own feelings towards what she does can be the key to also bringing her out of it, clear your head and think of something else when jogging/walking with her. If you make it a big thing she will continue to see it that way. I would try nice quick jog tho for sure. Best of luck:)

Moman

I have a female border collie (roughly same age) they are incredibly smart and also incredibly stubborn when they want to be ... she probably thinks she is training you

Is there anywhere you can bring her safely for a run? they are so active a breed they need it, i found it much easier to train her after a good run, after she gets rid of most of her energy, she'll be a lot more responsive to you

Also be careful with the timing of the praise and the treats, dont coax her to do stuff with them , give them to her after she does what you want
Hope this helps

Whispered

blaaah wrote: »

You could try something simple and jog with her from your back garden right out onto your road and onward to wherever you like to walk with her. Sometimes dog's get stuck in motions like this so try running through it at a nice brisk pace. Your own feelings towards what she does can be the key to also bringing her out of it, clear your head and think of something else when jogging/walking with her. If you make it a big thing she will continue to see it that way. I would try nice quick jog tho for sure. Best of luck:)

+1 to this, when we were having walking trouble I'd get the dog all excited, running around the house, around the back garden, down the hall, out the front door and before he knew it he was halfway through the estate. :rolleyes: Little brat. But it did work for us.

planetX

I'm having this problem with my pup, and we get further if another person comes along. I think the conversation relaxes him - you could try chatting to yourself like a crazy person:D