Has anyone got any advice on getting a new puppy to walk on leash.  I have a 13week old shih tzu who refuses to walk on his lead. We have tried buying a haltie that goes aroung his body, as well as coller and leash. Treats such as chicken, rattling keys behind him, crunching a paper bag behind him , the children walking on ahead, but nope nothing. He just sits, and sits, then lays down and won't budge!! We tried to go and post a letter in the next road and was gone ages!! We have grass verges along our road but hes not interested in anything other than watching cars bikes and people ( who are usually laughing at my bright red face!!) go by. We are starting puppy training 11th July, he also will not wee or the "other " any where else other than our garden in his area. As we head home he runs to our drive and know exactly where to go out to the garden and wee!!!!! Hmmm!

he also will not wee or the "other " any where else other than our garden in his area.
LOL. Maybe he has stage fright. :-D

Shall I send Oscar round to encourage him, actually that makes sense (not Oscar obviously) but have you a friend with a dog that maybe Taffie will follow. You could always strap him to a roller skate :D

Might be a good idea, I sometimes I think I have a puppet not a puppy!! Was going out for a walk with a friend last night with her dog before dark but the heavens opened, it poured thunder and lightening, Taffie was petrified so didn't want to go out at alll. We are hopefully meeting with his two older brothers at the coast tomo. May be they could show him the ropes!!!

It helps if you have a wee stooge dog like others have said to aid walking, as regards to not peeing or the other :D :D :D My bitch never has and she's going on for 3yrs always waits till she gets home.

You just don't get the same comfort as when you use your own toilet at home. ;-)

Good point oliversmum!! So I wont' worry about the wee factor at the moment, just the puppet thing!!!

Well I thought I'd let you all know, WE HAVE CRACKED IT!!. With the very good help of Taffie two older brothers we managed to get him not only walking on leash but running, eating and playing!! We just had our first proper walk  and it was WONDERFUL!!! He only resisted once plopped himself on the floor so i ignored him, pulled him flat bellied as instructed he soon got uncomfortable and got up walking. Both his brothers had the same problem at the same age, subborn little sods!! xxx Kind regards Tam & Taffie xxxxx

<pulled him flat bellied as instructed he soon got uncomfortable and got up walking. >

I personally would never pull a puppy like this as you can do quite a lot of damage to them as well as not really teaching them anything

Can I ask you do you do any training at home ? This is where I start all my puppies training off lead as soon as they come home so that when they are ready to go out they already have the idea of walking along with me

Moonmaiden-it was only a very gentle pull, not a drag along the ground. I would never ever do that. it was cetainly not on the path or concrete but on the grass verge. Yes we have started training at home and he walked perfectly well indoors and in the garden, just outside WAS A PROBLEM. May be I should have made myself clearer!!! Please don't think I am tolerant of people mistreating puppies most definately the opposite but I appreciate your concern as I am sure by your post you are the same.

Thank you for making it clearer, but I personally would still not do it even gently esecially with a smallish puppy of a breed that can be very stubborn

I had a friend with a similar problem in fact her dog wouldn't walk at all outside on a lead(he is a lhasa)so I suggested that she did thing in reverse ie carried the puppy a short distance away from her house & walked towards it with the front door open He soon got the idea & walked towards home, eventually when she managed to get 20 metres away from home she started walking him away from home & he has never looked back since

Right ok we're back to square one! I officially have a puppet not a puppy. we now manage the end of the drive and no more!!! A spread eagled puupy is really hard to convince that walking is what he is supposed to do and it's fun!! Hmmm! any ideas??? We have progressed with a harness, no change. We took him to the park tonight and for the first time he got scared of another dog barking in the distance and ran awayfrom us. He is usually a good walker off leash only in the park and stays by my side. I was really panicked  his tail went down as did his ears and he was off. Some one in the park metioned this is normal for his age something to do with fight or flight defences kicking in. Is this true?

Hi Tams,

Your puppy is very young at the moment and is just 'taking in' life. Just concentrate at letting him see and experience the sights and sounds of life in his own time sitting or lying down. This is how puppies cope with new environments that they are not too sure about.

When he is comfortable and has gained a bit of confidence he will start to walk, in which case you can really praise him for it and encourage him towards you by making yourself sound very exciting and not making him move more than 4-5 feet. What you musn't do is to force him or startle him with sounds behind him as this will just frighten him and you will be making the problem much worse.

If your puppy is not ready to face life on his own on the floor. Then spend more time socialising him by carrying him and then putting him on the floor for 5-10 minutes so that he can take things in in his own time and learn that this is part of normal life.

Be careful not to put him in a situation where he will have a very bad experience and become phobic (e.g. too many dogs approaching him, an aggressive adult dog, too many people coming up to pet him, anything at all where he looks frightened or unhappy by it). Puppies are very vulnerable and impressionable at this age and a bad experience can cause long term problems. In these cases you role is to protect your puppy and take him away from the situation and gradually expose him to it, so that he is able to cope.

So, to summarise, tke him out with you 2-3 times a day to different places and just let him stand/sit and look for 5-15 minutes, encourage him to walk IF he is up to it and then go home for him to 'sleep' on it.

You will have a lifetime with your dog for him to learn to walk on a lead, take things slowly with your puppy.

All the best,
Patty

Thanks Patty for the advise. I will try it out. It was suggested that I carry him to the top of the road and walk back, this works really well. So much conflicting advise is given either way he ewas not bothered at all by noises behind him like keys etc but it may have had an adverse effect. I  will just try and go at his pace for now. My vet said not to pick him up and carry him as he will expect this to happen every time??!! I'll let Taffie be the judge of when he's ready to go, could be a while. Off to see his brothers again today!!!

Hi Tams,

I agreee, carrying little dogs all the time even when they are grown ups can cause problems. You see many small dog owners immediately pick their dogs up whenever a dog approaches. This does not allow the dog to display all the necessary subtle doggie language that dogs do when they meet to say 'Who are you?' 'Let's smell you and see what you are' 'let's play' 'I'm nothing to worry about', etc, etc

Yes, it is important to have the dog on the floor when meeting other dogs, BUT (a big but) you must be very, very careful the sort of dogs that he meets. Puppies are very impressionable at this age and all new experiences (including meeting other dogs) must be positive for the dog, so that he can create positive associations with them in future and not become a scardy dog.

When he matures both physicaly and mentally and has learnt plenty of doggie language and is better able to stick up for himself, then you can let him cope with difficult situations like meeting other strange, large dogs (not dangerous or grumpy dogs ofcourse) without picking him up and being overprotective. Ideally, you want your dog to be on the floor and have a gap between your legs so that he can take refuge there. You may also want to crouch down so that your puppy can go between the legs IF he feels the need to. As a last resort, you may need to pick him up and growl and say not very nice things to the aggressive dog that wants to have your pup for lunch.

Our role as guardians is to make sure our puppies are kept safe and sometimes this may mean picking them up if necessary to take them away or make them more comfortable in a situation. Your puppy is not being stubborn or 'spoiled', he is just trying to cope in his own way to our mad human life that we put them through. Putting too many stressful variables into the situation makes them less able to cope. So you just need to take some of those variables away until he is comfortable in that environment and then push him a little further, for example by getting him to walk on his own on this place that he has visited and 'hung around' for the last 2 days. Puppies will naturally want to investigate, sniff and get moving, so don't worry it will come when he is ready.

All the best,
Patty

Very sensible, Patty! It's vital to remember that a 12-week Irish Wolfhound puppy has as much right to play as a 12-week Yorkshire Terrrier puppy ...

Absolutely! completely agree with you Jeangenie.

It is also important for all dogs to learn to change their play tactics depending on whom they are playing with. In fact, in my puppy classes, many of the sensitive breeds are the large breeds and the little ones are the feisty ones. Often, it is the big breed that needs protecting from the little dog! :-)

Mind, what is amazing to see is how by week 4 all the puppies have worked out how to play with different puppies depending on how that puppy wants to play and how sensitive it is. You will often see two ruffians have a real rough and tumble between themselves and those same dogs completely slow down their play and be a lot gentler to the sensitive pups. I just love puppy play!

By the way Tams, have you gotten yourself booked on a good puppy class? See www.apdt.co.uk for your nearest trainer. It is important that your puppy learns how to play and good doggie manners with 'controlled' puppy play to ensure he and others are not overwhelmed.

Patty (who has a laaarge great dane and knows how hard a time some large breeds can get for just being large)

Isn't it funny how at the two ends of the size scale we have the same worries!!!! Have ordered the perfect puppy, should be arrriving any day. Taffie is a real gentle dog when  it comes to play he loves big dogs the soppier the better!!! We are in puppy training classes, started last week , next class tonight. Will ask the trainer to observe Taffie . Last week we walked to heel, weaving in ands out of the others owners and dogs. He done really well. Then all the puppies were let off the lead, and had to return to owners on command. This was the bit I was dreading!!! He just sat and watched all the others charging around, was taken out flat by a cocker and went back on recall to every owner calling their dogs!!! sat in front of them wagging his tail as if to say "YOu called -I'm here give me a cuddle!!!" He also plonked himself at the trainers feet to say "hello!" Then went off to play with the other dogs. The other puppies do seem to constantly pin him to the floor though , his only line of defense it to nip their faces. This only happens if the other puppy gets too much for him. Manners during play is what I am striving to acheive.We will see how it goes tonight. Nice to know things improve after 4 weeks training. Thanks for the advise.

Well training classes went disatasterously down hill.  Taffie wanted to get out as soon as he got there. This week he did not want to play with any of the other puppies when let off the lead. He just headed for the door. i think he knew what was coming, and wasn't wrong. Four pups pinned him to the floor in over zelous play, albiet in play mode. First a boxer pup, then a staffie, gsd, and the cocker. They approached Taffie as he headed for the door. no amount of recall was going to convince him to stay. As the classes are at the stables there is a stable gate and a sand floor. He tried his best to dig under the gate to get away. The trainer said she would keep an eye on all the dogs, but to be honest, there is about ten in the class if not more. There was a little staffie who was really rough by biting and attempting to shake Taffie so i intervened and removed him from the situation. This happened in seconds, he was really shocked. trainer said he will learn to stand his ground but I don't want him to become aggresive with other dogs. his temperment is really good at the moment and I don't want to change him. I vented my frustration at the trainer who said Tafffie will not be let off the lead next week because of the situation he was in during class. Also the little staffie would be on leash as she seems to have a bit of an aggression problem . It's so frustrating for me as to what to do for the best.

Tams, as to what to do for the best, you need a trainer you can trust.

A bad puppy class is actually WORSE than none at all.

Try www.puppyschool.co.uk or else www.apdt.co.uk  Puppyschool especially should be very good because the tutors have been trained up by Gwen Bailey, who wrote The Perfect Puppy! They are the one's I'd choose if i have another pup :)

Lindsay
x

Poor Taffie, I so wish we lived near each other then Oscar and Taffie could play together.

Thanks caz. i think that too!!! I have rung the puppy traing school local to us ans there's a class about 10 mins drive from us. Have left a message for her to contact me but no reply as yet. Any one ever got a refund from puppy training classes. These have cost £65.00 !! Only done 2!!! Last class before summer break tomorrow, maybe I'll skip it!!!

I feel sorry for little Taffie! The trainer at your class should perhaps take into account the pups characters and only allow 3 off lead at a time, and team the pups up according to their temperaments. I'll have this in mind too when i take my pup to classes. I have been reccomended my pup class by many people as it's very well run. Good luck with finding a new class. I'm sure you should get some kind of refund by the way, if not the whole amount.

We got in contact with Claire at puppyschool explained exactly what has happened previously. she was really concerned. Gave some good advice and we are off to view classes tomorrow. Claire also has trained hearing dogs for the deaf to which we, due to my parents being deaf, had some very very common ground.  We also has a hearing dog for the deaf!! Coincidence or what ?  Thanks to you all for your support and advice, feeling much better and much much more positive about choosing the right trainer for Taffie. So back to the topic of asking for a refund diplomaticcaly from the existing school!!!