I have the most gorgeous French Bulldog puppy who is 13 weeks old. In every way he has been brilliant, but we are having NIGHTMARES walking him. The lead and collar problems have been overcome, but when we get to the park and not EVERYONE stops to talk to him he sits on the ground and shrieks ( I mean, shriek - like he is being tortured ) he seems to be distressed, and lunges at the lead terribly. If I wait patiently his whining gets worse and worse, and if we try and move forward he pulls very hard, which I feel cant be good for him. Then, if I want to move forward and he wants to go in the other direction, he sits steadfast and again will howl. It all looks highly amusing as the noises are quite extraordinary, but it is becoming a real problem. He wants to literally stop and say hello to everyone that passes us - joggers, cyclists and more worryingly cars... Off the lead he is fine, but I live near a busy road and I have to be able to walk him in the direction I want to go in!
I tried a harness which was a disaster, and I am in the process of ordering a 'lupi' ( think it is a roger mugford endorsed type thing...) At puppy class he is fine as he is not distracted - he is not bothered about 'old friends :) ' He is not afraid of the lead, or the collar, he is just VERY stubborn. I wonder if anyone has exprerienced similar problems, or has any advice at all - please, I am DESPERATE!!!

Are you sure you aren't walking him to far and that he isn't getting tired and his legs aren't hurting him. I know it sounds a strange question but he is only very young. :-) Keep using the same collar and lead, a lupi or anything else wont necessarily help, may only make things worse.

Have you not had him to training classes they will teach you how to do heelwork and walk him on the lead successfully.

Roni

thanks for all the advice. We have been at puppy classes, and the 'teacher' is coming on monday to go out with me and see how he is. I was thinking that it almost seems like he is a little bit 'overwhelmed' by the whole experience.

Also, I would be interested to know what is the recommended amount of exersise for a puppy his age. He is very young, so he is not getting much, but how much is too little / much. I would really appreciate your thoughts...

Thanks again for the advice.

I have an 11 week old GSD, he does not go out for "walks" as such.

He gets sufficient exercise in the house and garden, mini training sessions, short plays with the other dog and some exposure to other things more or less at a stand still ie standing outside Tescos getting used to people, wheelchairs, walking sticks, shopping trolleys, bags, dogs, children, invalid carriages etc.

i think it is a good idea for ur trainer to accompany u on your walk as it is hard from ur description to understand what is actually happening.
re: walk amounts, the general rule of the thumb for puppies in 5 minutes for every month of age. This is just a guideline rather than a hard and fast rule, but basically means dont overdo it. 

A simple rule of thumb for lead excersise is the 5 minute rule.  five meinutes per motnht of age.  so at the moment this would be a 15 minute walk say twice a day.  At 4 months 20 minutes, five montsh 25 minutes and so on so that by a year he can do an hour.

When my lab was a baby and I took her for tiny little 'walks' in town to get her used to everything, she became tired very, very quickly and would start to cry. The change was obvious - she'd be perky and interested in everybody and everything, and then she'd suddenly go all tired and sit down and start crying. Time to bundle her up in my arms and take her back home - she'd obviously had quite enough for one day! It's so important to get them out and about to get used to stuff, but obviously very important to notice when they're getting tired. However if there is no change in behaviour from perky (in the beginning) to tired and whining (after a bit), then it may be something else. Good idea to get your teacher to come and see what's going on. Don't forget that 13 weeks is still very young. Have you tried getting to a spot where you can sit down on a bench and just let him watch the world go by without having to participate? If he is feeling overwhelmed this may help?

The trainer came with me on the walk and said she was dumbfounded. She had never seen a dog have such dramatics when it didn't get its own way. I suppose she likened it to a child in a sweetshop throwing a tantrum.

Basically, I had to make myself more interesting than everything else and be more positive and forward when he started howling and crying. She did not think it was tiredness due to the fact if we went the way he wanted to go - i.e to every single person we see walk past, he was very happy. She also felt it was also something he would grow out of. At the moment he is probably finding all the new sights and sounds a little bit overwhelming and he wants to check them all out, but rather than pull on the lead he sits down and is extremely vocal about it. I wish I could send a sound file of the noises, he sounds like a strangled cat. Needless to say he is infinitely better this week - thanks again for all the advice and help.