Lays down and refuses to walk

[Roxy'sMom]

Roxy not good with me 1-on-1 when I try to walk her. This is really the only thing we are having trouble with so far. What she does is she loves to go outside, but she really just wants to go potty, then she will romp around a bit. She REFUSES to walk forward, away from the house, despite attempts to walk her multiple times a day, since the day we got her. She lays down and looks up at me with this expression that says 'no way, I just want to lay here'.

After asking our puppy trainer about this, the recommendation was to "walk faster each time Roxy tries to lay down or stop -- just walk even faster to prevent her from laying down", and of course coax her forward with treats.

Honestly, I've tried these tactics repeatedly (every day) for about 2 straight months and nothing is working.

The only time she's good on a walk is if there are 2 of us (2 people) or if another dog is walking with us. Otherwise, 1-on-1, you will see me on the side of the road, trying to coax her forward and getting about 50 yards in an hour.

Thanks for any advice on this.

[VTbxrFan]

My dog is rather skittish and will often refuse to walk a certain direction if he's scared of something. He can be very stubborn about this, and walking faster will not prevent him from plopping his butt on the ground when we doesn't want to go. My solution is to walk another direction for a few steps and then circle around to get him headed back in the original direction. Usually this distraction will work enough to get him going again. Now someone out there will probably say that I'm giving in my initially changing directions to appease him instead of making him follow me no matter what, but I refuse to drag my dog by his collar, and that's what it comes to when he's really scared of something...so to me, this method works most of the time. I did run into a situation trying to cross a street when he suddenly stopped and plopped his butt in the middle of the street and wouldn't budge any direction, so I picked him up and carried him across. (He's backed out of a collar, and even a body harness, when he's really scared - he becomes houdini, so picking him up seemed better than risking him backing out of his collar and running off in traffic).

[basak]

How old is your baby?

Krose was scared of going up the stairs! He eventually got out of his fear of stairs but I never forced him.
Try going different directions. Or is this only when you're just outside your house. What if you ride in the car and go to a park and start walking there? Is she still doing the same thing?

[Roxy'sMom]

Hi again,
FYI, Roxy turned 4 months on June 2.

I don't think she's scared of anything outside. We go out in the yard many times a day and she loves it. She's not prone to skittish-ness and has never shied away from anything or other dogs.

From her other attributes, I'd assume Roxy would be very excited to go for a walk. She's otherwise very normal in boxer terms. Curious. Very playful. Loves to fetch. But she just doesn't want (or like) to walk -- which is CRAZY!

Coaxing her forward with a treat works for only 3 steps. Then she lays down again. Repeat. Lay down. Repeat. You see...I can't do it. That's too irritating. And at this point, she is controlling ME, not the other way around.

Short of dragging her forward, I don't know what to do. Our trainer is worthless (with our walking issue). The walking advice hasn't worked at all.

I'm just tired and feel like I must have done something wrong (?). I hope not 'cuz she's so special and otherwise, really is a GREAT puppy.

Thanks.

[douma]

Originally Posted by Roxy'sMom

Coaxing her forward with a treat works for only 3 steps. Then she lays down again. Repeat. Lay down. Repeat. You see...I can't do it. That's too irritating. And at this point, she is controlling ME, not the other way around.

..

Sorry if i misjudged here,but maybe you rewarded the "lay down"and not the steps
I would tell you to use the clicker,it works great...just a thought
Good luck
Sophia and Avra