10mnth Staffy hates walks! Help!

[Amariel]

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We've just got ourselves a gorgeously sweet Staffy who is wonderful in every way apart from the fact she freezes while on walks. She either lays on her back, lays down completely or just refuses to move. And she bolts for the door as soon as she sees it. We dont have a garden so she needs to go outside, but we dont want to stress her out so much that she doesn't want to go out.

We're her third home in her life, not much in known about the first owners but the one's before us only had her 2 weeks (dislike of cats caused them to rehome her) and I think she believes that we're going to rehome her again which is why she is so scared.

Need some advice on how to tackle this problem. We've tried encouraging her with treats, but she isn't interested once she freezes up. We've tried to just sit quietly when she is getting stressed, just to try and calm her down. We get the leash loose, she sits nicely then any chance she gets, she tries to run.

She doesn't have a problem with the leash at all, will walk out of the door nicely, just doesn't want to leave the block that we're in. She was very nervous the first few times of taking her out which was a struggle to get her out of the door as she would hide in her bed.

Any tips/tricks/guidance would be much appreciated!

Thanks.

Ama

 

[banana]

Hello Ama - welcome to Dog Forum, I am Anna

I think I would actually get someone to come to your house and help you train her, it sounds like shes had a really hard time of it and needs to gain her trust in you..

Poor girl - you are so kind for taking her on and wanting to sort her out... Can we see a pic?

 

[eingana]

Can I suggest that you get someone to help you in terms of getting her away from the house?

If she is being held by someone else (not a family member) and you walk away then call to her surely she will choose to go with you rather than be left? I know it's playing to her fears, but there are limits to how much you can do until she will go out to the loo without being too stressed by it.

 

[Amariel]

Heya all!

thanks for the tips. With a LOT of patience, we are finally getting her out of the door without stressing her too much - and today, for the first time, she walked to my mothers (about 10min walk) without sitting/laying down once!

Unfortunately most of her play-date walk with a Pug Puppy was spent with her stopping and rolling over, refusing to move. But we are slowly making progress. Gonna take a lot of time I think Poor little thing. Both myself and my partner have owned many dogs, most of mine were rescue animals so I usually know how to deal with difficult cases, but with this one, I was a little lost. Never had a dog that DIDNT want to walk!

Apart from the fact my parents dog has "little dog syndrome" (its a Jack Russell) and keeps growling and nipping at her - which is confusing the life outta her as all she wants to do is play, and this walking thing, she is a brilliant dog. Doesn't cry when we leave her alone, doesn't chew, is super smart (learnt "paw" and "Lay down" within a day) and so affectionate - just need to get her over this hurdle.

Banana - have attached a pic to this post - i think!

 

[Jasp]

Sounds like the little sweetie has had a tough time of it and has had some bad experiences, maybe she was taken out at some point and abandoned. It looks like you are making progress though so keep it up, he most important thing you can do is continue to build up her trust in you.

What is she like when you get back to the house? Is she happy? Relieved? Do the symptoms of stress disappear? If so then you can use that, take her out for very short walks and then back home, literally just for a minute at first and then straight home. Same again a little later after she has settled for a while. So for example, if a 10 minute walk shuts her down, try 10 x 1 minute walks instead. You can then build up to longer walks very, very slowly, the object of the exercise is to teach her that you will always take her home again. If you reach a point where she stresses again then you have gone too fast but don't worry, just cut the duration down and start to build it back again. The important thing is to work at it at her pace.

 

[Amariel]

Thanks Jasp, will give that a go. She is happy as soon as she is in the block. As soon as she goes to the toilet, she makes a bolt for the door and nothing will get her to relax. We're showing her that different routes are ok. We dont walk her for long.... 5-10mins at the moment.

 

[banana]

Ahhhh she is lovely - I have added the pic as your avatar!

 

[Amariel]

lol thanks Banana!

 

[meddling]

Oh bless her heart, goodness knows what she may have been through...time patience and loads of TLC will get her right....you sound the sort not to give up on her like everyone else has, I'm sure she will reward you 100 fold

Good Luck

 

[Amariel]

We've just discovered she is a hyper little lunatic first thing in the morning! So pointless trying to get her to focus on anything when she is like that!

I just wish we were told in advance - we probably would have still taken her but at least we would have been prepared!

 

[banana]

Is she a lunatic because she is so pleased to see you?

 

[Amariel]

its kinda "oh yays, you're awake, now play!" which at 7am is NOT a good time to play - both my partner and I are in need of coffee first! lol

 

[banana]

haha - i think thats pretty much all dogs! :lol:

I expect also, she is so happy to have a family that love her and arent going to get rid of her.....

We feed ours in the morning, they are a nightmare until we've done that for them... :lol:

 

[Amariel]

She barely eats Another worry but I think until she settles she'll play up - she's probably seeing if we'll give her our food if she doesn't eat hers (cheeky mare that she is)