Help Needed! Time for a walk >>> time for Lola to hide!

[LolasPuppet]

I started going on walks with her around 2-3 weeks ago, but for the last few days she's starting to get really stubborn about it. First she tries to hide when she notices that I'm starting to put clothes and/or shoes on, but even outside, she's now stopping every few steps so I need to really pull her to get her going (pulling shouldn't be good for the long-term, it's probably making it worse). (oh and I use a harness, if anyone is wondering)

The funny thing is that when we go back, she obviously walks happily, without any problems whatsoever, because she knows she's going home. Same if we go somewhere new, because her not being comfortable yet probably messes up her stubborn brain, but I ran out of new roads/paths nearby.

How should I proceed?

I thought about going somewhere where it's really fun, but all the fun playgrounds are at least half a mile away (that involves quite a bit of pulling her to get there, or carrying her).
I'm going to try bringing some friends, maybe even someone with a dog, so it's even more enjoyable to her (but that's going to be hard to do since we mostly go on our walks around 6AM when it's not too hot - I can only get drunk friends at that time, haha).
Treats don't seem to help. As for toys: she loves playing football (the one where you actually use you FEET to touch/kick the ball, as the name FOOTball says, not hands ) with all kinds of balls, but the nearest flat terrain is half a mile away. Elsewhere the ball might roll all the way down to the city.

Any other ideas?

 

[Alice Kable]

A friend with another dog should motivate her to want to walk, or bringing a child along should help! Good luck, those walks are important!

 

[LiLlilly]

e-collar!!



Just playin' with ya...but it probably would work awesome lol

Seriously though if you could get another dog to walk with if possible, I think that's an awesome idea.

 

[LolasPuppet]

:D

Yeah I'm also sure that it would work best with another dog, as I already wrote, but I'm not sure how available that option is right now. Currently I'm located in a small village under the Alps, with the city (and friends with dogs) being around 15 mins away (15 mins via car, obv.). Hard to ask them to come here at such early hours as 6AM or so (during the day the heat becomes a problem - wrong time of the year) and WITH A DOG.

I can drive to them, but that's not going to do much good right now, she's just going to get used that it's easier to be stubborn and get a car drive to parks with lots of fun beings everywhere you look.

 

[LaurenA]

One thing that works for us when Rook is having a stubborn day, is to carry a stick with us. He is so interested to see what I'm doing with the stick that he eagerly follows. I'll give it to him when we're halfway through our walk and on our way home. Then he happily trots home with it.
Maybe you could try this with her football... Carry it with you to a park or playground where she can have some playtime. Maybe it will motivate her if she knows there is a high value reward that is worth it to her.

 

[LolasPuppet]

That's a great idea! Am going to try this this morning. First let her play with the ball at home, for just a few seconds, then off we go with the ball in my hand.

 

[Texkota]

e-collar!!



Just playin' with ya...but it probably would work awesome lol

Seriously though if you could get another dog to walk with if possible, I think that's an awesome idea.

Bah!!!!!

 

[LiLlilly]

Bah!!!!!

You missed the joke...Lola and I were talking about e-collar's earlier in a thread of mine...relax

 

[Texkota]

You missed the joke...Lola and I were talking about e-collar's earlier in a thread of mine...relax

I know,I was trying to play along.

 

[LiLlilly]

I know,I was trying to play along.

whoops!
I was like...Not, again.

I think I just got my guard up from the debate lol

 

[Vince00]

Kain was bad for putting on the breaks and wanting to stop also, looking back for home, dropping his head and pouting when I grab the leash lol. We stayed consistent and I have a not in the leash where if my hand pulls to it he's too slow or too fast, both get a quick snap correction. I refused to stop when he wanted and tugged him through it to the point sometime he pooped on the run when I didn't realize it lol.

He is ALOT better know its just the initial leaving the yard when he knows it's not a car ride! Lazy bugger.

 

[SunDog]

Ahhhh, well...here was me and Lupe when I started at about 5 months:Me: ok, let's go.
Lupe: sure Mom! Ok!
Trot trot trot....stop.
Me: ok, let's go.
Lupe: oh! Right!
Trot trot trot....stop.


We called it her "tree pose" wherein her legs just grew into the cement. Not. Moving.


Like everyone says, other dogs help and kids. Can you find a child to scoot ahead? Lupe always perked up around pedestrians. Only thing that matters is you are on the walk, yay! These days walking with my dog anywhere is my favorite thing. Right in sync.

 

[LolasPuppet]

OK, we just got home from the walk. So, I used the ball. At home she was all happy when she saw the ball, then we went out with me showing her the ball all the time and surprisingly she started walking just fine. I think to myself: GREAT, the ball is working. We walk for a while, I'm happy that it's working, then she takes a huge dump, after which she walks for just a bit and STOPS. I try everything to make her move, nothing. I roll the ball down the road, NOTHING, she doesn't want to move! I drag her, she doesn't even move her legs, so she just slides a bit ... I try everything for 15 minutes, nothing, but the moment I turn in home direction, she starts happily walking like nothing happened!

It turns out that even though she loves the ball, the only reason she went on the walk is because she had to take a huge dump. After that was done, the only way she wanted to walk was home. Atm I really AM the puppet and she the mistress! Haha.

Now I need to prepare a different strategy for tomorrow, or later today if it's not too warm outside. I could probably use the neighbors kid, but again the same problem - the worst time of the year because of the heat. She already overheated a week ago, don't want to risk it again, learned my lesson.

 

[LaurenA]

Lol, oh Lola! And here I was all proud of myself for helping.

 

[LolasPuppet]

Your advice could come in handy in the future!

OK, so we just had another try with our "walk". It was funny how hard she tried not to walk. Quite frustrating.

Look at how she tried using the maximum amount of force! I guess she's a physics wiz!

P.s.: But I at least tried making some light out of it, so you can check Lola's views about our walk on her Twitter account: http://twitter.com/EuroBully