Stubborn Walkin' Blues

[Toddworth & Allison]

Hello everyone! Bartleby the Goldendoodle is three months old, and my wife Allison and I have had him for three weeks now. He's been a gem of a pup and from what I read in the other posts on this forum, seems to be doing about what his same-age peers are doing. He sleeps often (and through the night...though it took a few days), loves to play with other dogs, loves to scarf down his food, and has been as good as can be expected with nipping and whatnot.

My biggest training issue at the moment, however, is this: Bartleby only seems to want to go for walks on the leash when both my wife and I take him out together. One of us will hold the leash and the other will walk ahead slightly to keep the pup motivated to move forward. He often stops to investigate, of course, but will actually keep moving when prompted. Good walk.

When I take him by myself, he'll plop his arse in the grass immediately and won't budge. My options at that point are to: a) let go of the leash and keep walking without him--he'll start running up from behind shortly after I've walked away if there are no distractions; or b) to pick him up and carry him to a new spot, where he'll be inclined to move for a few more feet before plopping down again. I probably shouldn't tug on the harness when he does this but sometimes do, which either gets him moving again or makes him pull back and further entrench himself. I've tried to coax him forward with treats, which he might eat and then sit down again; or I'll lure him up with treats and withhold them until he's trotting, to which he'll give me a 'come on, dude,' look, and then stop again.

How can I get Bartleby to go on walks when it's just the two of us, or when it's just my wife and him? We'd like to get him used to taking 2-3 walks a day by the time we go back to school in about five weeks (we're both teachers; more on that later.) Oh, and obedience school starts next week for him! Any advice or anecdotes would be appreciated. Thanks!

 

Edit: I'm bumping this thread because Bartleby is going on four months now, and is still a total drag to take on a walk. If anything he's gotten worse. Walks five feet and then sits down. The dog needs exercise and once the school year begins (we're weeks away) Allison and I will not be able to walk him together, especially not in the early morning. So please keep those suggestions coming, I'm willing to try 'em.

Part of me feels like the heat is a factor, since it's been muggy more or less every day since we got him in mid-June. The only time I can get him to trot along is when we're on the street facing our house, and I say, 'ok, let's go HOME,' and he'll sprint home, practically dragging me.

[John and Finn]

Finn did this also.  He eventually grew out of it.  I just kept trying alone (without my son walking ahead) several times a day and eventually he snapped out of it.  He would relapse sometimes right in the middle of a walk and decide to not move.  I would pick him up move him a couple feet and kind of toss him foward to get him started again. 

It doesn't take long for him to realize that there are good things along the way and then your struggle will be trying to hold him back.

[Vanessa & Evie]

Evie did the exact same thing at that age, my solution was adding a six meter training leading to her normal lead. I walked her normally with the main lead then when she stopped I would just grab the end of the 6 m post and say ' ok fine see ya later', and keep walking. She would always follow me. She grew out of it fast this way.
This way I did n't have to worry if she took off after any distractions.

Funny enough but now at over 6 months I have just realized I can get her stop what she is doing and follow me with this command when she is in our backyard and she doesn't want to come inside with come etc.
I guess to her it is like ' oh no they don't care about me and they are leaving me, I better follow' lol

[Bonnie and Kona]

very cute story!

[Diane, Hurley and Sidney]

Sorry but I had to chuckle at your description of Bartleby's behavior.  When Hurley bulked at only going for a walk with one of us we were surprised but didn't let him get away with it.  We use a pronged collar so when he would put on the breaks we would tell him to 'come' plus 3 short tugs on the leash and we start walking, pulling him a little if need be.  He would give in and start walking with either DH or myself.  

When we give him something outside his dog food it doesn't evolve around good behavior or as a bribe.   The treats are pieces of apple, broccoli, cantaloupe, avocado, etc.   He doesn't like tomatoes or lettuce.  Try fruits and vegetables and you might be surprised at what Bartleby may have a taste for. We were sure surprised. 

[Bob Johnston]

Baby carrots are the best cold crunchy and a nice size. it would be interesting to try the carrot on a stick thing for a puppy if nothing else for an aweome pictures and a laugh.

[Pat and Traveler]

I really sympathize with this!  Traveler was my first dog (puppy) and I just assumed puppies trot along with you when you go for a walk.  Not!  He would sit down, lie down, just stand and refuse to go anywhere.  I could get him to come along by holding a treat down by my leg, but had to watch out for those little teeth, as he hadn't yet learned to not include fingers with the treat.  I started dropping the treat on the sidewalk rather than risk my fingers, then we'd be walking along okay for a few feet and he'd come to a dead stop and just stare at me.  Well, I finally figured out that I'd trained him to stop and wait for me to drop a treat!  It seemed like a long haul, but a few feet at a time we got the walk extended until eventually he'd walk anywhere, anytime.  So my advice is persistence.  Every little step forward is a sucess until that magical day when you start having other problems with your walks, such as lying down when another dog is approaching, or maybe lunging at passersby.  LOL   

[Helen & Kirby]

Hi

As long as Bartleby is stopping and sitting, start adding the command Stop!   and sit.   That's how I trained Kirby the Stop! command which comes in really useful. You can even get him started  on the Stay command as long as that's what he is doing already.  (Never teach a command they can't be successful at)   Then you can say walk or heel to get going again.  You might try using  a squeak toy to get him to follow you.  Like someone else said using a long leash, and just keep walking works too (most of the time)

Actually, enjoy this time, Soon he'll be running and tugging on the leash!!

[Toddworth & Allison]

Wow- thanks to everyone for the helpful responses. We'll definitely try the dual-lead approach, and also last night sort of by accident brought a squeaky ball along on our walk and it got his attention when distracted. I'll keep everyone posted regarding his (hopefully) progress.

[Emily & Wispa]

I don't know if this is helpful, but I did read that harnesses are horrible for teaching puppies to walk well and at heel.  The chest is their strongest bit, but if you use a collar that's high up on the neck you'd get better control with only a minor tug!

Wispa did this a bit the first few times we took her out.  I actually went out and got a retractable lead and would just walk ahead of her and she would think I was walking away and then run to catch up.  She now walks by my side with little pulling in either direction, unless she sees something she really wants - like small children and dogs :)

[Toddworth & Allison]

bump

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

By now I'm assuming that the obedience classes have begun?  Did the trainer not have any suggestions for you one the walking?  How does he do in class?  The only other thing that I can think of other than those suggestions you have already gotten is the heat!  It has been an incredibly hot summer.  Is there any pattern to when you are both walking him together (like maybe later in the day when it is cooler).  I know that the majority of the summer here in Ohio it has been too hot to take the girls for any walks because the streets are black top and it would burn their feet.  A puppies feet are even more tender and would not tolerate the heated surfaces.  A good rule of thumb is that if you can't walk barefooted, then the puppy can't either.  Another thing I just thought about is always end the walk on a positive note.  In other words make sure it stops with a nice portion where he is walking with you and then give lots and lots of praise and good walk, good puppy stuff.

[Toddworth & Allison]

Sorry for the delay in updating this, Lucy & Sophie's Mom--

I'm happy to report some progress on the solo leash walking front. During our fourth puppy kindergarten class, leash walking was addressed in more detail. A friend had earlier said to take him walking prior to meals and to use pieces of kibble from that meal as treats to goad him through each walk... few problems with this: 1) the rough texture of the kibble prompted him to stop walking to chew 2) as we all know, rabbit poop tastes much better than kibble, so when he found 'distractions' around the neighborhood, the kibble didn't exctly lure him away 3) I think Bartleby was confused by delaying his breakfast--'why are you withholding on me, poppa?'

We now use very small pieces of chicken breast, which we boil and shred and keep in a ziploc or a pocket-sized tupperware ramekin, praising him and rewarding him on a regular basis throughout the walk. And we feed him a bit less during mealtime to compensate for these treats. Our trainer also suggested, but we have yet to check out, a sort of licking-treat that extends like deodorant, so we can keep it out instead of reaching in pocket all the time. Anyone use this? And for the past two days I took him disc golfing with me, where he sat down while I teed off. It went well, and furthered his idea of me as his master in that we only started trotting along after the frisbees when I told him it was time to do so. Good times.

Oh, and the heat is a huge factor. His successful walks happen early in the morning and around dusk; the rest of the time he doesn't want to go outside. I can't blame him--it's been a hot, sticky summer since we got him.