# Walking a Stubborn Dog



## ceegee (Mar 26, 2015)

A couple of suggestions. Your dog clearly doesn't enjoy his walks: if he did, he'd be more enthusiastic. Maybe he just finds them boring, though. Try being very upbeat with him - talk to him, vary your pace (jog a bit, change direction, do unexpected things), fill your pockets with high-value treats and dispense them at random to him, stop from time to time and do an upbeat training session (sit, stand, down, spin) and reward him generously. Take a ball or toy, stop to play with him, then let him carry it for a while. In other words, engage with him and be enthusiastic; dogs respond to human moods, so your enthusiasm will be infectious.



The prong collar may well be an issue too, if you're not using it correctly. These collars can be uncomfortable or downright painful if not fitted well or used properly.



Your comment about him lying down in training class when doing turns is actually quite revealing. You may have inadvertently hurt him (e.g. by pulling on some kind of corrective collar) when doing the exercise, and he decided he didn't want to do it any more. Or he may not have understood what you want. Or maybe he felt you didn't reward him enough? It's important to make sure that there's something in it for the dog: food or toy, whatever he responds best to. I take high-value treats to training class: cheese, cooked chicken or other meat, etc. As soon as my dog sees me put the cheese into the training bag, he jumps around in anticipation and can't wait to get out of the door! 



Some dogs are easily "brought down" - their personalities aren't as robust as those of other dogs. My current dog is like that, and I've had to be very careful with his agility training, to make sure he always has fun and doesn't have bad experiences. If your dog has ever had a bad experience on a walk, it may have affected him. If this is the case, you'd need to identify what the problem was, then counter-condition it.



Also, instead of changing collars and harnesses all the time, I suggest you choose one type (the one with which your dog seems most comfortable) and stick with it. Predictability is important for dogs. If you change the device often, your dog may not like it.


Best of luck, I hope you find something that works!


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## lopez242 (Jun 7, 2018)

Thank you. All good points. I will bring a toy tonight and see what happens along with some tasty treats. My last trainer told me not to use treats, but for a year I used treats and chicken. We always find some sticks along the way that he holds for a while, but maybe a toy would work better. During our group sessions, I never used a prong collar. The prong collar is the most recent collar I tried. I will try and switch things up tonight and see what happens. It was just strange after walking him for two months perfect and now he went back to this old habit. Thank you so much for your input.


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## puddles everywhere (May 13, 2016)

Just a thought...
from someone that has never seen you or the dog in action. If the dog has returned to doing a behavior it's usually because you too have returned to doing whatever you used to do.

I had a friend that hired a trainer, she changed the way she walked her dog and all was well... for a while. I watched her slowly return to walking just the way she did in the past. Of course the behavior also returned and she couldn't understand what was wrong with the dog. LOL the dog wasn't the problem. 

We all have our comfort zones, things we do without thinking. Have you ever noticed if you move the trash can that you will return to the previous location. It's human nature, it's what we all do.

Like any relationship, dog or human... if you want different results you must change what you do to get a different response.


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## CedarFurbaby (Jun 6, 2016)

Some really good ideas already suggested. Just wanted to add that my dog doesn’t like his leashed walks as much as his off leash time. He just finds it too restrictive, more vulnerable, and is much more likely to listen to me when he’s off leash. On the leash he will do things like lie down and hold back if he feels like I’m pulling him in a direction he doesn’t want to go. 

I’ve just learnt to mix it up, off leash and on leash, lots of treats for listening to me, sometimes giving him what he wants and other times just going the way I want to go.


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