# Dog stops walking



## SpudNZasha (Apr 25, 2008)

We've had Zasha, our Siberian Husky, for 2 months and have walked her several times a day. She LOVES to go on walks, and is eager every time. 

In the last week, though, she has picked random moments on our walk to stop and stand or stop and sit, and will not budge for several minutes.

It doesn't seem to be when she's tired or thirsty - it can be a couple minutes into the walk or 40 minutes. She doesn't appear to be in pain, and will go on a few minutes later to walk and run quite gleefully. It's not in the same place but is often in transition places - going on or off grass or sidewalk, or crossing the road. She is not interested in anything - she is not trying to smell - her head is up. It's not when we're pulling on her collar (until she stops) and the collar does not appear to bother her at all.

I've seen dogs have petit mal seizures and just stop what they are doing, but it doesn't look like that. She seems quite aware of her surroundings and aware of us, and will actively fight moving. 

This morning she stopped in the middle of the intersection and had to eventually be carried to the other side. (Very scary.) Later she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, sat down, and wouldn't move for 5 minutes. 

We switched to a harness yesterday, fitted by the pet store, but it hasn't helped. 

This is becoming dangerous. We can't find the source. What can we do?


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## jesirose (Mar 27, 2008)

She's testing you, and you're giving in


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## Chupa Cabras (Aug 31, 2007)

I suggest that when the dog stops, turn in a circle to make him stand up. Once she's forced into a standing move forward quickly before she can sit down again.

I use this method on horses, and it works very well. Force them to turn so they have no choice but to take a step or two, and once they are in motion continue the circle and go right into walking mode again. And walk back the way you came, turn and continue the walk. You might find she has a reason to stop in certain locations.

Good luck!


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## TooneyDogs (Aug 6, 2007)

Good observations and good analysis. There are many possibilities and the #1 concern is always some kind of discomfort...muscle soreness, torn pad, etc.
After eliminating that (and assuming this is not a really young puppy), my bet is that she saw something (you eliminated smelling something).
Dogs see movement 10x faster than we do and the number #1 fear for all animals is something overhead. If they're off leash, they'll duck for cover...on leash, the only option available is to freeze.
Your best approach would be to go back the way you came, away from whatever it was. The 2nd part of this and very important is her trust and confidence in you enough to follow your lead...even in the face of distractions.


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## winniec777 (Apr 20, 2008)

Our dog did that, too. For one of two reasons, we think: 1) something spooked her. Could be a smell, a sight of something, a sound. In any case she froze and didn't want to budge until whatever (!) it was went away. 2) She thought we were stopping whatever she was enjoying, e.g. if we tried to leave the beach and she wanted to stay. In both instances, staying in charge was the way to go. The tip about circling around is a good one that worked with our dog, as did carrying her favorite treat to get her moving again with a "heel." Also, starting to run and saying an excited "let's go!" helped in situations where danger was imminent (e.g. middle of a road). Because we didn't always know why she was doing it (fear vs. stubbornness) we liked having multiple ways of getting her moving--if one didn't work, we could calmly try another. Nothing worse than trying one thing and panicking when it doesn't work!

All of this was a phase she went through. After she learned that there was nothing to be afraid of with us around and/or that we were moving on whether she liked it or not, she mostly stopped this behavior. Took a few months, though. The harness will help. You need to be firm but avoid any yanking. Sometimes we would have to zig and zag to get where we wanted to go vs. moving in a straight line if she was really resisting. Eventually she trusted and respected us enough to go where we lead her.


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