Help! My Puppy is Training Me to Carry Her!

[Carol Vernon]

Hello.  My 3-month old mini Aussiedoodle pup, Dash, is training me to carry her!  When she doesn't want to go out for a potty break, she just sits or lies down and refuses to move.  OK, she only weighs 13 lbs however she is getting heavier by the day!  Here's the usual scenario.  I attach her leash to her harness and coax her to move towards me.  I pat my leg, I crouch down, I tug her leash gently and I use a happy voice tone. She refuses to move.  I lure her with a treat to her nose.  She might take a step or two but that's it.  I would have to use 50 power treats to get her from her ex pen to the potty yard.  So I just carry her when she refuses to move.  I know this is not good!  

When Dash does not want to move to go outside for a potty trip, I've tried to wait and try again in five or ten minutes but she will either refuse again or she'll just go on the rug or on the paper in her ex pen. When that happens, we don't scold her; we just pick her up and whisk her outside.  She is mostly potty trained & we want to keep moving in the right direction.  When she goes in the potty area, we praise her and reinforce her with treats and/or a play session in the play yard or a short walk.  I suppose I could drag her by her harness but I refuse to do that. My intuition is that she does not want to go outside on a leash.  If we take her out without a leash, she runs all around the garage and/or the fenced potty yard, wanting us to chase her (which we don't do) and trying to eat stuff in the garage.  

As some background, her training is going very well.  She sits very reliably and she is about 80% reliable with touch, down, come, and let's go (move with me).  (She doesn't respond to "come" or "let's go" when I've attached her leash for a potty trip.)  Dash is making good progress with leave it, bring, drop and loose leash walking. She is less bitey with us and she is jumping much less. Her temperament is wonderful: she is not fearful, shy, reactive or aggressive.  She is very friendly with everyone. I don't know what I've done to make her hate going outside on a leash!  So I'm stuck.  I got nuthin'!  Do you have any suggestions?   Thank you.   

 

[Laura and Angus]

Hooray! Keep with it! Pups can continue to test the limits in the house while they're still learning, so be prepared for that just in case. Sometimes puppies will have a small setback in training, which is totally normal - if that happens just remember to take a step back in training (whatever that means in that situation). Keep at it, though! Sounds like you're doing great!