My puppy hates walks!

[Chrisant]

Dexter will be 13 weeks old tomorrow and seems to really hate going for walks.

When we get outside  he just sits on the floor, whimpers or tries to pull back to the front door. After  lots of encouragement and goading we will get far enough to turn back and he is off like a rocket and would run all the way home if allowed.

He seems to be more relaxed when in our enclosed garden (I let him run around with his lead attached in here).

Can anyone help? Is this a case of him not liking  being on his lead or is he just a wimp?

[Newcockerparents]

Oh dear. I can't offer any advice as my boy isn't allowed out on walks yet, but, will be interested in the replies from the experts - good luck 

[Archie bean]

My last cocker was exactly like this. I remember being really upset as I thought we would never be able to go for lovely long walks together. Everything I read said "your puppy will be excited to go for walks" so I felt utterly rubbish! Turns out its not that uncommon. You just need to take things slowly and persevere with short walks. I took him out in the car as he seemed to do better when we were not close to home. I also roped my dad in and met him and his dog. With another dog for company mine got more confidence. On our own i took treat and a toy so that i could get his attention and encourage him to follow me. By about 6 months old he was fine. Keep calm and try to be excited when you go for a walk so he sees walks as a good thing. If you get worried or worked up at all he will pick up on it - this was a mistake I made. 

[BeeBoo]

Definitely take a big ol' stinky piece of sossidge or the like out with you...something Pups doesn't get inside the house, and like Archie Bean says a special toy (something noisy, something chasey) and/or a canine companion...or a human to walk in front and encourage Pups to follow. Just persevere with lots of smiley happy faces and big rewards It's a massive world to a little critter!

[Chrisant]

Thanks for the advice! I was beginning to think I'd got a hermit! I will keep persevering and we will get there!

[Helen Smith]

Holly is  great when we are going for a walk but as soon as she thinks we are on our way home she becomes a mini kangaroo

[Redked]

Bonnie was exactly the same only 3 weeks ago and we thought we'd never be able to take her out! We just carried on with small walks, taking the treats, talking to her as she walked (people think I'm mad now on our street) and we also tried to take her to places where she could go off-lead as she was much better. It also helped (if possible) to go in 2's - when there was 2 of us she wasn't as bad - the more the merrier 

Bonnie now gets so excited when the lead comes out and she is still only 15 weeks old so big changes can happen in a really short time. Good luck XX

[MIN]

one of our staffy's, when a pup would walk until we came to a hedge. then would just sit down and refuse to go any futher. used to have to pick her up till we got passed. but she did overcome her fear before she got unliftable 

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

Charlie was EXACTLY the same. It just took LOTS of time...it was about 7 months before we started seeing less problems. Carring a fully grown cocker past a scary jet wash isn't ideal...but we've persevered. Now it's amazing seeing the transformation from scaredy puppy to big brave boy (he's 2 soon). However, even now, if there is something scary he'll run past it, or make a wide berth of it, or if dogs are barking he'll speed past them...but we can deal with that.

Charlie however, still doesn't like going out in the wind and will pull on this walk to get home quicker.

When he was little, he wasn't too good in the dark either (even in the garden) so I used to sit on the back step with him (in October) at night, with him on my knee cuddling him and just talking to him. Just so that he relaxed and realised there was nothing to bad out there.

We also have a very popular dog walking area about 20m from home...he refused to go up there and 99% of the time he'd refuse to go up it...so we just avoided it, and used to walk back down it (which was ok)...however, it's only recently he's actually brave enough to walk up it and even still, it's rather slow.

[JennyBee]

Brodie was like this - and never grew out of it. Aged five she still has problems, although she has been slightly more adventurous lately. I think it is very, very rare for this to continue into adulthood though. Everyone has already given you the advice I would, lots of praise and treats/toys, and walk with another confident dog if you can. Just don't push him, let him take his time and he will improve.

We also have a very popular dog walking area about 20m from home...he refused to go up there and 99% of the time he'd refuse to go up it...so we just avoided it, and used to walk back down it (which was ok)...however, it's only recently he's actually brave enough to walk up it and even still, it's rather slow.

I have the exact same thing here with Brodie - there's a great walk through a woods here, it's where everyone walks their dogs and Brodie hates the place. She did go through a phase a few years back where she would walk there if we went the other way round, but stopped and now totally refuses even to walk down the street leading to it. I didn't see her get a fright or anything, so goodness knows what spooked her. I think it's because so many dogs walk there that she hates it

[dipsydoodlenoodle]

We also have a very popular dog walking area about 20m from home...he refused to go up there and 99% of the time he'd refuse to go up it...so we just avoided it, and used to walk back down it (which was ok)...however, it's only recently he's actually brave enough to walk up it and even still, it's rather slow.

I have the exact same thing here with Brodie - there's a great walk through a woods here, it's where everyone walks their dogs and Brodie hates the place. She did go through a phase a few years back where she would walk there if we went the other way round, but stopped and now totally refuses even to walk down the street leading to it. I didn't see her get a fright or anything, so goodness knows what spooked her. I think it's because so many dogs walk there that she hates it

With ours there are loads of dogs, foxes and trees...I think it's the trees in the wind that scared him. Thankfully he hasn't avoided walking down the street since we live on it! However we used to avoid walking the other way down the street as it used to take about 5 hours...now he'll prance down it like he owns it

[karenl]

I had actually forgotten that my dog Amber (now 3) used to be like your puppy.
Thinking back she used to refuse to go out of the door ! When we did get her out she would just sit on the pavement and refuse to move, she was frightened of just about everything in the street too.
She gradually built up confidence and got out of it , now she is the opposite and cannot wait for her walks and gets soooooo excited !
 

[JennyBee]

We also have a very popular dog walking area about 20m from home...he refused to go up there and 99% of the time he'd refuse to go up it...so we just avoided it, and used to walk back down it (which was ok)...however, it's only recently he's actually brave enough to walk up it and even still, it's rather slow.

I have the exact same thing here with Brodie - there's a great walk through a woods here, it's where everyone walks their dogs and Brodie hates the place. She did go through a phase a few years back where she would walk there if we went the other way round, but stopped and now totally refuses even to walk down the street leading to it. I didn't see her get a fright or anything, so goodness knows what spooked her. I think it's because so many dogs walk there that she hates it

With ours there are loads of dogs, foxes and trees...I think it's the trees in the wind that scared him. Thankfully he hasn't avoided walking down the street since we live on it! However we used to avoid walking the other way down the street as it used to take about 5 hours...now he'll prance down it like he owns it

I didn't think of foxes, I know there are some there so that's a possibility. I can still remember the first time I took her there when she was a pup, it was an instant dislike! It does disappoint me slightly as it was my last cocker's favourite walk and I was expecting Brodie to love it just as much . Maybe one day she'll change her mind and start prancing down the street too

[pam1]

Poppy was just like this, and I used to really worry that we would never be able to go for walks.  She used to run back to the car, or just sit down and not move 
We just took it slowly, and were lucky that our older dog - Ollie- loves his walks so she became more confident, and eventually she came to enjoy
her walks.  She's still a bit of a wuss though 

[MrsOmalley]

Millie was the same when we first started going out.  When we walked round the block she would hang back or sit down and refuse to move on the way out (resulting in me carrying her) and pull like a steam train on the way home!  After a few weeks she decided she liked going out for walks and is fine now.