Hi Everyone,

My EBT is just over 14 weeks old, and doesnt want to walk at the moment! He will walk for a few steps and then stops and refuses to move! If i kneel down he soon comes running to me, but I feel bad cause i dont think hes getting the proper excercise he needs! Can anyone tell me why he is doing this and how can i overcome this problem??

When he walks he trots along nicely, not pulling or anything. Just wish he could do this more often!!:rolleyes:

Any help would greatly be received!

To be honest at 14 weeks he doesn't need to go out for exercise just socialisation.

A rough guide for formal exercise needs for puppies is five minutes per month of life.  This means your pup only needs a 15 minute walk, so just enough to see the world.

This doesn't mean taking him out only for 15 minutes, just 15 minutes actually expecting him to walk.

the rest of the time you should be giving him a chance to see and observe the world and hopefully meet lost of people and the odd friendly dog.

When we got our last dog as a pup he hated going out for a walk - I think it was so many new things to see and do, like people, cars, noise, rain etc that seemed to scare him.    We carried on with little walks up and down the street going a little further each time, with perhaps drives out to different places and people and things to see until one day he decided walking was the BEST thing in the world and suddenly developed lots of confidence about it all.  Can't remember what age this was tho, but don't think it took long.

Totally with Brainless on this one ;)  Young pups are easily overwhelmed and worried by the great outdoors - it's unfamiliar territory after all.

They don't need exercise as they get plenty of that just playing at home and in the garden - they really just need to be out and about for help in gaining confidence and becoming accustomed to previously unknown sights, sounds and smells.

Don't force him to go for walks - if he'll walk for a few minutes that's great - simply pick him up and go stand or sit somewhere that he can be used to different ages, shapes, abilities and sizes of people, traffic, waste bins, lamp posts, buggies, wheelchairs, shopping trolleys, etc etc and of course see other dogs and - providing you know or have checked that they're safe with him - have a little play around with them.

HTH, regards Teri :)