# How to encourage walking



## idiotjc (Apr 26, 2011)

Hi there,

I'm new to the forum and wasn't sure if this thread should go here or in the 'What did you DO??' section. Please move it if I'm in the wrong place!

We have a seven year old ex-breeding dog that we only got from a breeder 6 weeks ago. She has begun sitting down randomly when on walks and refusing to budge.

I have searched through the forum a wee bit and read about common reasons, but the weird thing is that she is fine when I take her to my office and walk her around the parks there, it is only when we are at home that she (occasionally) refuses to walk any further, so I believe it is not a medical thing.

My question is what is the best method to encourage her not to lie down, and to carry on with her walk?

She is a very happy dog normally, loves playing in the garden and everything. We even used to run with her through the park that she has now taken to stopping in. The other place she stops, we can sometimes walk around perfectly happy, but the next time she'll just refuse.

Our suspicions are that since the we took her on a walk the other week when we were caught out by thunderstorms AND fireworks that she has spooked and associates the park and down the road with the scary noises, and only sometimes feels brave enough to tackle them! Any other theories?

So far we have just been pulling on her collar, and she does get up and walk a bit further (tail wagging) before she sits again. Today we tried picking her up, moving her further along and putting her down again (effectively 'rebooting' her) which works for a while also. I want to be sure that I'm not encouraging bad behaviour? (she hates being picked up though) If she is scared of something, are we right to pull her through it? Is there anything else we can do to get her over her fear?

I realise this is a long post, apologies! If you need background info, I'd be more than happy to supply, I just didn't want these to seem like any more of an essay!

Many thanks all!


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## Braccarius (Sep 8, 2008)

I think it is very much a medical thing. That is a telltale sign of hip displaysia... randomnly sitting during walks.


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## Summer's Mom (Oct 20, 2010)

1) Have you tried using treats to lure her along? Get some yummy stuff (boiled chicken breast is good, or other meat. Some dogs really love dog treats too) and make a small trail in front of her to get her going.. Once she's walking, feed her from your hand every few steps and slowly fade out the food. Repeat if she gets stuck again.

If she won't follow food, she might be hurting or just TOO scared.

2) Is there a pattern to this randomness? Each time it happens, can you look around, try to pick up everything in the environment.. Maybe keep a log for a week.

3) Try avoiding places where she has frozen up before for a week. See if she gets stuck and stops walking in new areas too? If not at all, we can try to figure out what was freaking her out..

4) Definitely get her in to a vet for a once over check up as soon as you can. It's important to rule out physical problems so you know if you need to work on something else..

Good luck! Look forward to hearing how it goes.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

Did she show signs of fear when there were the thunderstorms and fireworks?


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

First.... have her checked out for any health problems. When a dog has something bothering them, the first clue they give the owner is reluctance to exercise. I'll never forget the time we were upset about our first golden planting his butt halfway around our daily walk and refusing to budge another step forward. Somebody who lived along the route saw him and came out and told us to have him checked at the vet. She was extremely concerned having just gone through something similar with her dog. 

When your dog is out and about elsewhere, adrenaline from excitement tends to take over and get them through any discomforts they might feel. <- At least that is my best guess since our two old men would not go for walks around our neighborhood during their senior years when they had aches and pains, but they thrived on going for car rides and adventures with us. 

That said, I definitely do think it could be a thunder related phobia since I went through that last summer with my little nerd. We had a lot of storms that summer and then when it wasn't storming then there were gunshots from the local gun clubs during the day from dawn to dusk and then fireworks at night. 

Knowing he wasn't having a health problem, I pushed him through it and at least so far this summer, he has been an eager walking partner, despite the guns going off or the storms we've had between walks.


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## idiotjc (Apr 26, 2011)

WOW! Thank you everyone for such speedy and informative replies! I'll try and answer best I can:

Treats - she is not really a huge fan of treats if she is scared (she used to be terrified of getting in/out of the car, and no treats, even smelly cheese or bits of beef were enticing enough for her to come out - even if she got in the car she still wouldn't take them). She will take them if she is happy, and I have successfully taught her to sit and lie down whilst in the house, in the garden and in the park. However, I take your point, perhaps giving her treats every so often when she is walking well will encourage her not to stop ever?

Patterns - my girlfriend and I keep laughing at how we are becoming self-taught doggy psychologists! "perhaps it's the weather" "it's slightly darker than usual" "it's supposed to rain tomorrow" "she only pee'd once this morning" "that last car was blue" haha. Seriously though, it only started after the fireworks/thunder, and the places she stops were where we were when we heard the fireworks/thunder (it was a terrible weekend for her!). Generally, she's great in the mornings after being stupidly excited to see us, I imagine her adrenaline pushes her through, and she's great when my girlfriend gets back from work, but the bad times are when it's later in the evening (say 8pm+) and we take her out for one last walk. Before this time she normally dozes in her bed, maybe she's sleepy?

Medical - given the above I think there's too many coincidences with the thunder/fireworks, and she has had 2 vet checkups in the last month (we didn't like the first vet) that didn't detect any signs of hip problems, or any other problems actually.

She is a very timid dog, she lived a recluse life out in the country for seven years, and now I think it's a big change to come to the city. She was scared of car noises, planes, people raking leaves, sliding doors, but has overcome those, albeit she is still very sheepish when she wants to be! And is still shy meeting new people.

As background, she used to hate getting in and out of the car, or go up and down stairs (she pulled the same lying down trick) but now she is fantastic at both and not remotely reluctant. So I hope that this lying down on walks is just a phobia that she'll get over like the car/stairs. In those instances I picked her up to move her up/down stairs or in/out of car, that's why I picked her up on her walk when she refuses now. I wondered is this a bad strategy?

The more I type this out, the more I feel like this is something that time will solve, however if it continues for too long it probably is worth going to the vet specifically for. Right now I just think it's in her head more than anything, so like Megora said, I would like to find the nicest way to push her through it.

Again, thank you all SO much for your input, this is amazing to see!

EDIT: Sorry I forgot to answer a question: Yes when she heard the thunder/fireworks she froze, but didn't spook and run off, but pulled to get home. Once in her bed she is quiet and doesn't move, but she shakes like a leaf!


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

I'm sorry about the thunder/fireworks - our dog was also scared by them but seems to gradually be doing better. I am dreading July 4th though, since our neighbors seem to like to set off fireworks on a regular basis and the holiday is likely to really be noisy. 

One thing you might try to distract her is work on training in those places that are scary to her. Bring your best treats and practice obedience or tricks or whatever will engage her mind as well as her body. After a while she may no longer associate those places with the loud noises, but instead with doing work with you.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> One thing you might try to distract her is work on training in those places that are scary to her. Bring your best treats and practice obedience or tricks or whatever will engage her mind as well as her body. After a while she may no longer associate those places with the loud noises, but instead with doing work with you.


I hate to say this, but this doesn't work with dogs who have phobias. They won't eat or play if they are afraid. The only high value thing for them is getting somewhere safe to hide. 

The best way to fix a problem seems to be to do what you can as far as timing to make sure your dog has positive experiences that she can handle each and every time. 

So like Jacks - when he was at his worst, I focused on pushing him hard enough to get him to go out in our front yard. He was so phobic that he would not leave the shadow of the house. I had to put a good collar on him and get him out into the front yard whether he liked it or not. And then when he was out there I would tell him what a ninny he was for not wanting to go out there in the first place. We would linger for 10-20 minutes and I would party with him and walk him back to the house.

We did this part of the way up the street and back. And so forth.

Lemme just say - that was the worst summer we ever went through with any dog. It was a lot of backbreaking work getting him over his fears, and knowing that the slightest mistake could send him back to where we started.


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## idiotjc (Apr 26, 2011)

Yup it's pretty tiring. More just bewildering, because she's so great every other time. I think we'll continue what we're doing then and just keep giving her exposure to outside, even if it means dragging/carrying her for wee whileys.

Just come back from a walk and she did great all the way through the area she didn't like yesterday, so we'll take the highs with the lows!

Thanks for your tips!


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## mudEpawz (Jan 20, 2011)

I have a one year old golden who loves to stop and lay down on our walks. She has always been like that ever since I got her at eight weeks old. In the winter she loves to roll in the snow and make doggy snow angels. : In the spring/summer, I think she lays in the grass because shes hot. Its always been that way for her. I think it has to do with her personality. She is such a laid back, happy go lucky dog. She is just content being outside. However, if I take her to the park and let her off lead she will run and play for days. 

I'm sure you shouldn't rule out medical reasons, but maybe its just the way she is. 

ps i am all for the bribary - especially during the morning walks when we are on a time limit.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

Ya know, I don't think I would do the flooding thing with this girl, she sounds so fearful and does she really have to take this walk? I realize you don't want to have a dog whose life is limited by her fears but again does she really have to take THIS walk? 

My Dexy had a fear of fireworks caused by my exposing him to a fireworks display when he was two years old. Luckily he was a confident dog and the fear did not transfer to the location where we were since walked in that park daily, but when he heard fireworks on a walk, we would just go home.

While flooding will work with humans, remember humans do have the freedom to choose to do the flooding or not. It CAN work with dogs, but is it the BEST way of doing it considering the fact that the dog has no choice in the situation. If it is really important to you to get her over this specific fear, I would work with a behaviorist and probably a veterinary behaviorist who could prescribe some medication to help her relax as you work through these fears!


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

> While flooding will work with humans, remember humans do have the freedom to choose to do the flooding or not. It CAN work with dogs, but is it the BEST way of doing it considering the fact that the dog has no choice in the situation.


The term "flooding" makes me think you mean taking the dog out on a stormy day to get him used to thunder. I would never advise that. 

What I said was gradually - over days or weeks or even months - work your dog out further and further. Keep it positive and make sure she's successfully handling a little bit of what you want her to do before you go a step further. 

It's training. 

If I never exposed my guy to something he's afraid of and worked him through it, he would be living in a closet with a blanket over his head. Or completely drugged out.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

Megora said:


> The best way to fix a problem seems to be to do what you can as far as timing to make sure your dog has positive experiences that she can handle each and every time.
> 
> So like Jacks - when he was at his worst, I focused on pushing him hard enough to get him to go out in our front yard. He was so phobic that he would not leave the shadow of the house. I had to put a good collar on him and get him out into the front yard whether he liked it or not. And then when he was out there I would tell him what a ninny he was for not wanting to go out there in the first place. We would linger for 10-20 minutes and I would party with him and walk him back to the house.


The two paragraphs seem to disagree with each other, that is why I thought you were using "flooding," please let me know if I misunderstood.



> If I never exposed my guy to something he's afraid of and worked him through it, he would be living in a closet with a blanket over his head. Or completely drugged out.


Properly used, psychiatric medicines can be a short term tool to allow the dog to conquer their fears. In a lot of ways they are more effective in animals since they do not understand they are using them so they can not become a crutch for the dog. Furthermore I do believe in finding the kindest way to accomplish a task, and that can include medication.

I am all about working a dog through their fears, I spent a month when Selli was young working her through her teeter issues and now she loves the teeter when at her worst she would not put one foot on it. But in working her through her fear, it was always voluntary on her part. I also was training a lab in agility who developed a fear of contacts. I worked long and hard with her and she did not get over it. I decided she really did not need to do contacts since they weren't fun for her and that was the whole point of agility.

My work is all about making dogs do things they generally don't want to do.  Sometimes we have to use brute muscle when it is something that needs to be done, but we strive to find a way to causes the least amount of stress to the dog and get it done asap. Some dogs have to come in sedated and some dogs we say "nope, this is too much for your dog" and send them to a vet.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Selli-Belle said:


> The two paragraphs seem to disagree with each other, that is why I thought you were using "flooding," please let me know if I misunderstood.


Carolyn, there is a huge deal of a difference between taking a phobic dog out into the scary front yard vs going directly into the even scarier street. 

One is working a dog through fears with little and easier to deal with baby steps. Training your dog. 

The other is what I understand to be flooding.


> Sometimes we have to use brute muscle when it is something that needs to be done, but we strive to find a way to causes the least amount of stress to the dog and get it done asap.


But there are certain cases where getting something done ASAP or whatnot isn't the best thing for a dog. Which is why I said you may need to take months or even a year+ to work a dog through an issue that he has. I would not just quit trying to take my dog for walks because he's a nut. Because avoiding a situation with a dog simply reinforces their fears over time. And meanwhile, you have an overweight dog who has to be drugged up in order to get through his day. 

I'd rather work with that dog to teach him to ignore things that bother him. A good example would be walking Jacks while the gun clubs were active this past week. I encouraged him to focus on me or hunt for rabbits - and it helped him. <- Last summer this wasn't even possible. It took us many months to get to the point we are at right now. A few of those months were me sitting in the front yard with him listening to those guns popping away. >.<


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## idiotjc (Apr 26, 2011)

Hi guys,

Just wished to report back that only a week or so after my original post, but Swyper is now fine walking around the areas she used to avoid. 

Our successful technique (in case anyone searches through this thread) was to just pull her along a wee bit, and then stop pulling, so she realised that she simply had no choice and that we were in charge, but if she just walked instead of resisting then she wouldn't get dragged. Sometimes we would pick her up and carry her a wee bit (she hates being picked up) to trully hammer home the point that she had no choice. We only walked her, as someone above mentioned, when there was no risk of thunder or fireworks, so she learnt nothing bad was going to happen.

Yesterday we left her alone in the house with our jack russell terrier while we went out for dinner, and since we came back only an hour or so later, she has been terrified in the house, tried to escape from her collar when we walked her, and in the back yard has been hiding under a bush all day. When we brought her in she shook like a leaf, and had to be carried up to her crate. She is much more relaxed in there now and the shaking has stopped. She hasn't eaten all day now either. 

Any new advice for this new behaviour? haha. Or should I start a new thread? I did search for some advice, but because she's older the threads didn't seem completely relevant. maybe they are? 

Our philosophy just now is to not push her into doing anything, just to be patient, still give her attention, and hope she gets over what scared her, although we have no idea what could have spooked her! She's been left alone before and never reacted like this before! I'm wondering if a doorbell/phone ringing spooked her perhaps. The jack russell goes CRAZY when the doorbell rings, and maybe that freaked her out.

Again, no idea what she's doing! The adventure of homing an older dog continues!! Haha


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