Taking a puppy out

[HR87]

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I am in desperate need of help and guidance. Our puppy (15 weeks) just had her 2nd Jab and we are trying to take her out on the lead. We literally have to carry her down the road and then walk back to the house. We are doing this everyday but she is still terrified of being on the lead. We have tried on the collar only and on the Harness and she isn't getting better. We have tried taking chicken, sausage and other treats to entice her but she refuses to even sniff them, we've tried doing it only in the garden but nope she hates that too, we have left her in the harness and with the lead on about the house to show her they aren't scary but that isn't working.

My daughter is desperate (as am I) to start taking her on walks and I really want to go to puppy training but if she won't do anything on the lead I don't want to waste money it's so expensive.

HELP

 

[JudyN]

I've just looked back at your previous posts and seen that she's probably had a bad start in life. I suggest for now you take the pressure off her and let her settle for a couple of days to reduce her stress levels.

Do you think it's specifically the lead or harness that bother her, rather than the Big Wide World? Or does she not want to go in the garden at all?

You can get very lightweight nylon leads with no loops (at least I think you can - if not, you could buy a very lightweight lead and cut the loop off), which pups can wear in the house and hardly notice it's there. If she's OK with this, you could simply pick up the end of the lead and gently encourage her to follow you in the house. This might gradually accustom her to wearing a lead, but you need to go at her pace - if you overface her then you'll have to start again, but now with her potentially having a fear of the lightweight lead.

Is she happy to play in the garden if she doesn't have the lead or harness on?

 

[HR87]

I've just looked back at your previous posts and seen that she's probably had a bad start in life. I suggest for now you take the pressure off her and let her settle for a couple of days to reduce her stress levels.

Do you think it's specifically the lead or harness that bother her, rather than the Big Wide World? Or does she not want to go in the garden at all?

You can get very lightweight nylon leads with no loops (at least I think you can - if not, you could buy a very lightweight lead and cut the loop off), which pups can wear in the house and hardly notice it's there. If she's OK with this, you could simply pick up the end of the lead and gently encourage her to follow you in the house. This might gradually accustom her to wearing a lead, but you need to go at her pace - if you overface her then you'll have to start again, but now with her potentially having a fear of the lightweight lead.

Is she happy to play in the garden if she doesn't have the lead or harness on?

Yes she LOVES the garden and we live right on a trainline and she has become very well adjusted to the noise. When we take her out the front she is initially shaky but we never pull. She has been wearing a collar for 2 weeks now and she seems more bothered by having the lead directly attached to her collar so we will stick with the harness for now but she will be growing into a rather big dog! She has come on leaps and bound since we got her, she has learnt to sit and if I call her in from the garden she responds most of the time her biting play is still a bit much but we are seeing improvements, toileting is going to be long but we were hoping when she started walks that would help. She loves playing with a ball in the garden I am going to try and take her to an enclosed community garden with her ball and hopefully try amd play in a new location will help too. I just need to find a puppy school that doesn't clash with all the after school clubs!

 

[JudyN]

That all sounds positive What I would do is keep putting the harness on her without taking her anywhere, and make it an indicator of 'good things' - so put it on (without a lead attached) and give her treats, or play in the garden, and take it off when she comes back in. For going out the front... put the harness on, open the front door, and just sit on the doorstep watching the world go by - don't go anywhere (yet). Give her treats there, and progress to putting them just a foot in front of her so she has to move forward to get them - then she can come back and sit by your side. Progress to the treats being 2 feet away, 3 feet... But only progressing as much as she's happy with. Use your judgement as to whether and when to attach the lead to the harness depending on how she feels about it.

Does that make sense? It's a pain when you're naturally keen to take her out on walks, but going very slowly will actually get you faster results in the long term. For that reason I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to take her new locations or to start puppy school - if you carry/drive her there she may be just as nervous but also feel less in control of the situation.

 

[Mad Murphy]

Id have said the same. We started out by playing ball ( just rolling it gently) in our driveway with Murphy . Then we walked just the length of our hedge. Then to the neighbour who he knew and she had treats ready for him... It made the world less scary and got him used to his harness and a puppy lead so light it was no more than a feather..

Only when he was 100% happy did we try anything else.