Problem walking my puppy and barking

[chien]

Hello,

Hope someone can help us here as we have problem with our cocker spaniel pup, she's now coming up to 5 months old.

The play biting has eased off but she still throws the odd crazy moment where she will growl and bite us...especially our feet

We have one slight problem that's very frustrating. When one of us takes her for a walk alone she will lay down and not budge for the first 30 minutes. It's very hard to get her to budge , if we try dragging her she will drag her paws so i dont like doing that. She will walk if there is something of interest, if she sees people walking or another dog but once they pass she will lay down again. The thing is once we get past this refusal to walk she will then walk happily for an hour or longer but i tend to cut off at an hour because she's young. She never does this laying down and refusing to walk once she's got into the walk. She also never does it when we both take her out. She tends to want to keep up with the one not walking her so i think it's the reason she doesn't do it with both of us around as one walks ahead to encourage her to continue on. Any tips? All i've seen online is that it's because the dog is tired or injured or sick, definitely not the reason!


The last thing , how do i stop her barking? She will bark as soon as i leave her alone in the room alone or if she is outside and the backdoor closes over...

[PollySpaull]

Hello,

Not a huge amount to add but an hour really is a very long time to be walking such a young pup!
The general rule is really 5 minutes for every month of age, so at 5 months the walk should be around 25 minutes. An hour walk plus playing and running around at home is a huge amount of exercise for the little one to be doing.
I'm sure someone will be along to offer more advice!

[bizzylizzy]

I agree, that was my first thought, 20-25 minutes would be enough, (especially if / when the summer arrives and its warm 😉 ).
It sounds as if both the barking and problem with the walking are signs that her confidence needs building up, which at her age us really quite normal. The main thing is to stay calm and be patient, you could pat your leg and put a jolly voice on to encourage her to walk with you and then praise and reward when she does - even if you only get her to go a few yards, the important thing is, she learns to do it of her own free will so that she gains self confidence.
Practice leaving her by shutting the door for a few moments and then praising and rewarding when she's quiet.
Any sort of training, games etc where she's praised for good behaviour will help her to learn what's expected of her and will boost her confidence (sorry if I keep repeating the same word, but I can't think if another way if putting it!). She's still a baby and some dogs just need a bit more encouragement  to stand on their own four paws, try not to get anxious though as she'll pick up on that too. Good Luck!! 

[Briggo09]

Would agree with the walk being to long. Would definately stick to the 'rules' as stated by others to protect the joints and bones. I've never had a problem like stated as my boy has always had a pulling problem (much like myself)    . Something I do to make him walk beside me could well work to get your pup to walk with you- get some nice tasty treats and walk with it beside the leg you wish your pup to walk beside, treating her at intervals. This should soon get her interested and walking. As for the barking- you need to try and work out why it is she is barking, is she barking to get you back in the room? If so do not go to her until she has had a prolonged period of quiet. Should soon work out that barking doesn't get her what she wants. Good luck.

[chien]

Thanks for all the advice. I thought an hour was OK considering most of it involved trying to get her to walk or waiting while she sniffed around her lol

I will ensure she doesn't spend too long walking as I want to keep her and the poor joints as healthy as possible. Thanks again for the tips though , i worked out that it was more to do with the street (possibly because it's a slight hill) She walks fine on the other route i take her! Smart puppy!

[sodpot2000]

I think you are going to have a dog with its own mind where walks are concerned. Certainly Buster is quite prepared to go on strike if the walk isn't the one he had planned or if you try to turn back too soon. Take it as a compliment to you having raised a thinking pup with all the lights on upstairs!