# 7 month Goldie pup refuses to walk unless we follow his route



## therealVVN (Dec 16, 2020)

Fellow members,
I have 7 month old goldie pup named Iro. Off late he has started becoming a rebellious dog, part & parcel of him reaching adolescence I believe. He has had his basic obedience training done and responds positively to Sit, Stay & Come with slightly less success for 'Down' and 'Off'.
Up until last week, walks with him were fairly easy. We'd walk in the evening for 1.5 - 2 hours post which he would come back home and snore away to glory. However, he has started behaving erratically on walks now. He will walk to a point without any fuss but will stop at a designated spot and will not budge until we go in the direction he wants to. This has become an issue because I don't want to be seen pulling a dog but at the same time, I don't want him to believe that he is walking me. I did resort to slightly pulling him with the harness, he'd then walk fuss free and then again stop at that designated spot. I tried following him to where he wanted to go but he just runs to the public garden and starts eating plants. I suspect he can smell a bitch on heat (related to Point 2 below).
Couple of points that may or may not be related to this behaviour:

He is currently intact and I don't intend to get him neutered before 1-1.5 years of age
There is a female dog who is probably on heat who keeps coming inside the gated community and presenting herself to my pup. I allowed them to play for a bit but pulled it apart as soon as I felt that there'd be humping involved.
He has just tested negative for Distemper after 2 months. He was diagnosed with the condition, although we detected it quite early and stopped it from spreading.
He has become a very picky eater, same time as his picky walking behaviour. He will only eat certain types of food and ignore the rest. He went 1 full day without eating 2 days ago after which I budged and gave him something different.
Is this normal behaviour or should I pay some more attention to this and identify the root cause? I read that the walking behaviour might be because he is scared of something or is feeling unsafe in that environment but I don't think that's the issue since I have tried to observe his body language - tails between legs, whining, sniffing and looking around and he exhibits none of this.


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## Ontariodogsitter (Feb 23, 2020)

You may not want to hear this, but it's time for another level of training, re -afirm the basics and then continue on with "heal" and on leash walking training.
There are always going to be distractions, either delicious plants or other dogs, he just needs a reminder that what YOU say goes !!!!


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## Sweet Girl (Jun 10, 2010)

I have to say I agree with Ontariodogsitter. You're the human, you're in charge. A little tug to get him moving where you want to go is not a bad thing. bring treats and encourage him to walk nicely at heel with you. When your dog is older and rules and routines are well established, you can do walks where he gets to decide the route - I do this with Shala when I have nowhere to be and no time limits. I like seeing where she chooses to turn and how it's not always the route towards the park that she picks. I let her dawdle and sniff everything. But 90% of the time, she's not in charge of the walk. She does need to walk where I decide where we are going. She might protest and stop and try to get me to go to the further-away park, but she doesn't win. And so she just carries on happily with me.


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## therealVVN (Dec 16, 2020)

Ontariodogsitter said:


> You may not want to hear this, but it's time for another level of training, re -afirm the basics and then continue on with "heal" and on leash walking training.
> There are always going to be distractions, either delicious plants or other dogs, he just needs a reminder that what YOU say goes !!!!





Sweet Girl said:


> I have to say I agree with Ontariodogsitter. You're the human, you're in charge. A little tug to get him moving where you want to go is not a bad thing. bring treats and encourage him to walk nicely at heel with you. When your dog is older and rules and routines are well established, you can do walks where he gets to decide the route - I do this with Shala when I have nowhere to be and no time limits. I like seeing where she chooses to turn and how it's not always the route towards the park that she picks. I let her dawdle and sniff everything. But 90% of the time, she's not in charge of the walk. She does need to walk where I decide where we are going. She might protest and stop and try to get me to go to the further-away park, but she doesn't win. And so she just carries on happily with me.


Thank you for the prompt response. I am planning to enrol him into a refresher course next week. Let's see how it goes


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## gdgli (Aug 24, 2011)

Needs training. Start with "let's go" followed by a treat as you walk in the direction you want.


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## Ontariodogsitter (Feb 23, 2020)

Thank you for the prompt response. I am planning to enrol him into a refresher course next week. Let's see how it goes 

Good for you, mostly people ask for advice and then are a bit upset when they don't get an answer you wanted to hear


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## Aidan0311 (Jun 12, 2019)

Aidan will walk our route but he LOVES putting the leash in his mouth when he walks and will sometimes attempt to walk us. He’s 1.9 yr old now and has done this since he was a puppy. It’s not bothersome because he walks fine except he has to have the leash in his mouth. I will say though if he gets spooked he turns the other way and pulls. I was walking him around a lake and discovered he was scared of a nearby sail boat. He wouldn’t budge and wanted to go the opposite direction. Like sweet girl said, I also will let him choose the route on occasion if I have the time. other posters have good advice about a bit more training. Iro’s going to get bigger...more muscular and it’s good to do it ASAP before he’s stronger.


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## FTGoldens (Dec 20, 2012)

"Heel!"
Remember, it's a command, not a request.


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## SRW (Dec 21, 2018)

therealVVN said:


> He will walk to a point without any fuss but will stop at a designated spot and will not budge until we go in the direction he wants to.


Sounds like he has learned that you will give in, smart pup. Now teach him that you will not.



therealVVN said:


> He is currently intact and I don't intend to get him neutered before 1-1.5 years of age


Lopping of his boys is not a shortcut for training.



therealVVN said:


> There is a female dog who is probably on heat who keeps coming inside the gated community and presenting herself to my pup. I allowed them to play for a bit but pulled it apart as soon as I felt that there'd be humping involved.


There would most defiantly be humping involved. Playing with other dogs, especially bitches in heat, is the last thing a pup needs when learning obedience.



therealVVN said:


> He has become a very picky eater, same time as his picky walking behaviour. He will only eat certain types of food and ignore the rest. He went 1 full day without eating 2 days ago after which I budged and gave him something different.


I would wager that you are overfeeding. He will not starve to death holding out for his favorite flavor.



therealVVN said:


> Is this normal behaviour or should I pay some more attention to this and identify the root cause?


Yes, he is testing you and he is winning. Time to step up and take charge. You can do it and he will love you for it.


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## therealVVN (Dec 16, 2020)

Thank you for you responses. This was really helpful. An update - I have started with not moving till he agrees to go in the direction I want and it has worked 2 of the 8 times we have tried. Getting there. Slowly but surely  

Here's a parting shot of the dude in question 😛


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## doglady39 (Feb 11, 2016)

therealVVN said:


> Fellow members,
> I have 7 month old goldie pup named Iro. Off late he has started becoming a rebellious dog, part & parcel of him reaching adolescence I believe. He has had his basic obedience training done and responds positively to Sit, Stay & Come with slightly less success for 'Down' and 'Off'.
> Up until last week, walks with him were fairly easy. We'd walk in the evening for 1.5 - 2 hours post which he would come back home and snore away to glory. However, he has started behaving erratically on walks now. He will walk to a point without any fuss but will stop at a designated spot and will not budge until we go in the direction he wants to. This has become an issue because I don't want to be seen pulling a dog but at the same time, I don't want him to believe that he is walking me. I did resort to slightly pulling him with the harness, he'd then walk fuss free and then again stop at that designated spot. I tried following him to where he wanted to go but he just runs to the public garden and starts eating plants. I suspect he can smell a bitch on heat (related to Point 2 below).
> Couple of points that may or may not be related to this behaviour:
> ...





therealVVN said:


> Thank you for you responses. This was really helpful. An update - I have started with not moving till he agrees to go in the direction I want and it has worked 2 of the 8 times we have tried. Getting there. Slowly but surely
> 
> Here's a parting shot of the dude in question 😛
> 
> View attachment 879113





therealVVN said:


> Thank you for you responses. This was really helpful. An update - I have started with not moving till he agrees to go in the direction I want and it has worked 2 of the 8 times we have tried. Getting there. Slowly but surely
> 
> Here's a parting shot of the dude in question 😛
> 
> View attachment 879113


Look at that beautiful boy! I don’t want to sound over reactive or neurotic but my last Golden at age 7 one day just sat down and didn’t want to continue our walk. She didn’t pull she just refused to continue our walk. This went on for several weeks until I took her to our vet,this behavior was so out of character. The vet did a full blood panel, expecting to find normal blood values.Sadly her blood work indicated she had cancer and was probably stopping and refusing to continue our walks was due to fatigue. Please don’t misunderstand me not all behavior changes are indicative of illness it just so happened it was for us. I’m usually cautious when there is a sudden change in behavior and will cover all the bases including possible allergies,developmental growth changes or illness. Again, I don’t want to sound like an alarmist I just thought my experience could help someone else. 


therealVVN said:


> Thank you for you responses. This was really helpful. An update - I have started with not moving till he agrees to go in the direction I want and it has worked 2 of the 8 times we have tried. Getting there. Slowly but surely
> 
> Here's a parting shot of the dude in question 😛
> 
> View attachment 879113


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