# Puppy sits or lays down and refuses to walk



## law0792 (Jul 24, 2013)

I have a 15 week old Chihuahua/Terrier mix puppy. She keeps having issues when I walk her. She usually does great on walks but recently, she has not done so great. I have a harness for her. She will walk a ways, then just sit down or lay down. Sometimes she is looking at something (in which case I let her look for a minute or so, then move onward). Other times, she is scared of something. Still other times, it seems to be for no reason at all. When she does this, she just refuses to move and will either slowly walk which requires me to about pull her along. Other times she refuses to move altogether and it's like dragging her while she refuses to move her legs. I have heard from some that this could be due to hot paws, but the trail is grass and white gravel. She has been on this same trail for 20+ times. Some days are better than others. This last time, she heard a dog barking from a distance and refused to move. Finally, she started running to the car, pulling me along. Advice??

Btw, she does this for fairly long distances.


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

Have you tried using treats to lure her? At least, at her size, if she really refuses to walk, you can pick her up! 

Another thought, 15 weeks is often a fearful period for larger dogs, I wonder if a dog this small might be going through something similar? If that's the case, with larger dogs you often have to be patient with them and try to make experiences positive. I would not drag her, but would try to lure her with either a treat or a toy she loves.


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## law0792 (Jul 24, 2013)

I have not tried to lure her with treats. She was scared of larger dogs at first, but she seems to do well with them now. I took her down to a friend's house and had her around some big German Short-haired hunting dogs. She does well with bigger dogs, as long as they don't bark.


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

Has she been to puppy obedience classes? They can be a great way to socialize some dogs as well as bond with your puppy. You do want to keep bringing the puppy out to new places and new experiences, but with young puppies, it's really important to keep those experiences positive. This way, they learn that new things are fun and exciting, not something to be anxious about.


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## law0792 (Jul 24, 2013)

No, I don't currently have the funds to do that. She normally does extremely well with large dogs. She is usually the one that approaches them and wants to play. She has only barked 3 times in the month that I've had her. She is scared when other dogs bark though. It traumatized her at the vet a month ago, but I've been trying to take her to the park and socialize her with other dogs especially because my roommate's German Shepherd will be arriving in a few months.


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## Lupen (Jun 17, 2013)

I had the same issue with my pup, but at around sixteen weeks he just started naturally walking on lead. It helped taking him out in public, but carrying him. It got him excited to go places, and more confident as well. I think that's what helped most. So when I'd put him down while on leash, he wasn't frightened and actually enjoyed walking.

You can also try leaving the leash on while she plays, to get her used to it. Only when supervised of course. Luring might work too, but it never helped much with Koda.


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## packetsmom (Mar 21, 2013)

law0792 said:


> No, I don't currently have the funds to do that. She normally does extremely well with large dogs. She is usually the one that approaches them and wants to play. She has only barked 3 times in the month that I've had her. She is scared when other dogs bark though. It traumatized her at the vet a month ago, but I've been trying to take her to the park and socialize her with other dogs especially because my roommate's German Shepherd will be arriving in a few months.


The key is really finding dogs that will give her positive experiences with other dogs. It can be really easy to make a dog that is nervous with other dogs even worse by running into aggressive dogs or dogs that play too rough. The problem with dog parks is that there is little to no supervision and just anyone can show up, even people whose dogs really shouldn't be there. Do you have any pet stores in your area that might hold puppy play groups? Another idea is dog meetup groups. Ideally, you'd like to be able to control what dogs your puppy interacts with so that you only have her interacting with dogs that are well-socialized and patient with puppies and small dogs.


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## Hambonez (Mar 17, 2012)

That sounds familiar. Once my dog had all his vaccines as a pup and we could go for walks, he LOVED it, for about two weeks. Then he refused to walk in our neighborhood again for about a year. He just wouldn't walk, he wouldn't be lured by treats or attention. If there were two people he would sometimes walk short distances. He would walk at the park. We talked to his trainer, she had no idea what he was doing, other than he just did not want to walk. Now when we walk, he needs maybe 15 minutes to meander and smell and mark things, then he'll walk. He'll also walk around the neighborhood with me alone, which is awesome because while I'm just about always up for a walk, I'm not always up for driving to the park! Just keep trying and make it positive, and hopefully the pup will come around.


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