Candy - A couple of questions

[theshrew]

Im having a bit of head scratch what to do with Candy. She's only a young puppy and still very much at the learning stage.

Firstly

On walks she wont walk at the side or in front of me ( i no in front is wrong but i no i can correct that as i did with Missy ) She just always wants to walk behind. That doesnt change if we are on our own or if Missy is with us. Its a real pain in the backside to be honest.

I want her to walk at the side of me like Missy does. If i put her at my side and reward her she just goes straingt back behind me. I dont like the idea of keep having to pull her to my side as she's young dont want to damage her legs or anything with her harness. Its not because shes sniffing etc she just wants to walk behind.

Which brings me onto my second question re recall. How the hell can i teach her to come back to me if she wont go away from me. Ive tried more and more on the park last week with a long lead but she just never walks further than a meter or so away from me. I always walk the dogs on my own so i cant have someone hold her while i walk away although i think she would just run to me anyway. Ive tried throwing a ball etc no good so far. Cant think of anything else to do.

Anyone got any ideas please as im all out of them.

[spaniel04]

I think most people would be delighted to have a dog that is not pulling on the lead and not charging off as soon as the lead comes off! 
The lead walking, is it really such a problem that she is not walking right by your side but a little bit behind? Maybe she has learnt that it is a comfortable safe place to walk especially when you take her out together with your other dog, after all only one of them can be right next to your leg. 
As for the recall, is she behaving like a happy active puppy, running around exploring her surroundings when you let her off the lead? Has she got a favourite toy you could use when you are outside to get her to play with and to retrieve?

[theshrew]

Its just a bit of a pain the whole walking thing. I end up looking like a walking starfish with a arm in each direction  Id be happy if she did pull at least then i could see what she was doing.

Ive not let her off the lead yet as ive not got anywhere with a fence around it to go just in case she did run off etc.

Ive been keeping both on the lead as i didnt think it was fair to let Missy off and keep her on. Today at lunch i tried a different tactic. Candy on a long lead Missy was off. She did start to explore more today and chase about after Missy so actually managed to try out a 3 or 4 recalls which she did pretty well for her first try so i have a tiny bit of progress.

Maybe both issues are just down to her being a bit shy + softy ? When i first got her she was very poorly so spent the first week or so with her 24hrs a day which is why i think shes clingy to me. Obv not the best thing to do with a new puppy but its what i had to do at the time ?

[spaniel04]

How old is the pup?

[theshrew]

14 or 15 weeks now i think but shes only been able to go out for about 3 weeks now

[PennyB]

With pups this age they will often stay quite close anyway and as time goes on often move a little further away. I tend to run away from the pups when I 1st let them off then once I have some distance stop and call them or just get them to chase me - I don't always move in same direction or straight line. I also play fetch as well (started in house 1st) as that way they do go away from you.

Stella my current pup was the same at a young age - would walk behind me onlead and wouldn't move an inch from my heels when she was offlead on park (I was falling over she was so close) - now she's 5 months old and she pulls like a train and runs all over the place sometimes with Wilf or sometimes on her own somewhere.

In her case its increasing confidence in her surroundings

[theshrew]

Thanks.

I suppose im just going to have to just see how we go. She does seem to be getting slightly more confident everytime we go out.