# Help! Dog refuses to walk on a leash.



## mikequirk1 (Jul 18, 2012)

I recently adopted a one year old female Australian Shepherd. She is, in nearly every respect, the perfect dog. My wife and I looked at many different breeds before adopting, and decided that an Aussie was a good dog for us due to their intelligence, temperament and size. We were aware of the amount of exercise Aussies require and thought it wouldn't be a problem because I already take a three or four mile walk everyday. I was really looking forward to having some company on my trek. Not so. Whenever it's time to go for a walk, I put on her leash and she sits down, resisting and pulling, sometimes even just lying down on ground. Then, if I remove the leash, she gets up and starts following me down the street. Unfortunately, we live in a busy neighborhood, so just walking her without a leash isn't an option. I've tried coaxing her with treats, being playful and getting her excited, nothing works. As soon as I put the leash on her, she stops dead and resists. We are about to try a choke chain. I should add that before we got her, she lived with a guy who never took her for walks. He had a large, fenced-in backyard and would just let her run around out there. I'm out of ideas. Can anyone help me? We are afraid she's not getting the exercise she needs. Thanks in advance for your time.


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## EdDTS (May 30, 2012)

I would stay away from the choke chain for a little while longer, the choker is to show the dog how to walk next to you without pulling. What your dog is doing isn't pulling, it's like shutting down.
I would try a high quality treat like meat, or ham, it's gotta be reaaal stinky. Put the leash on. Once she's on the leash and trying to shut down, put that real stinky treat in front of her nose. Dog's are all nose, eyes, ears and no dog can resist something so stinky in front of their face. If she gets up, give her a smalll bite of the treat, if she takes a step give her another bite. Now start leading her outside with the treat in her face, she'll begin thinking if she takes steps she'll get another bite of the treat.
Once she's actually out the door, give her more of the treat. Keep walking a bit around and give her the treat a little less often, so she gets more excited for the treat. Come back inside, repeat it all over again, she should get over her fears of walking on the leash this way.
Slowly start giving her less bites of the treat, but if she gets a little nervous again, put it back in front of her nose, and once she takes a step with you give her a bite, and that should get her to keep going.


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## Raiz3l (Nov 5, 2011)

It was the same with my puppy. My puppy was afraid to go outside the house and as soon as i attached a leash on her she became a dead weight, but as soon as i take it off and walk around she would follow me. So I attached the leash on her and let her walk around the house, sometimes using treats as lures to get her to walk with the leash on. Then as she got more comfortable with walking around the house with the leash attached, I started to hold onto the leash and continue to use treats to lure her around. 
I gradually stopped using the treats and one day I decided to try to take her out for a walk. To my surprise she did pretty good. We did stop a couple of times but it was progress and now she loves going out for walks.


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## bgmacaw (May 5, 2012)

I'd guess that before you adopted her she was abused to some degree with a leash and this is causing her to shutdown in this situation. Using a choke chain or other similar rough, punishment based, tactics will only make this situation worse. It's possible that it's just stubbornness, but it sounds like you've already taken steps that would deal with this with most dogs. 

I agree with what the others said, use high value treats and practice inside and in your backyard. You've probably got to undo a lot of negative training.


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## meagan9293 (Jul 19, 2012)

i had this problem with my dog for the longest time.. then one day i put a leash on him and he just layed down wouldnt move or anything.. i kept constant pressure on the leash like i was pulling him but not enough to actually pull him or choke him just enough to let him know hey dog you gotta get up it took a few minutes before he actually got up but he did then he would sit back down or resist again and i just kept doing it.. every time he would take a step or 2 i would praise him.. it took about 20-30 minutes but it worked great for me! now he goes on my walks with me everywhere!


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