Thursday, July 14, 2011

MY DOG HATES WALKING? HATES HER LEASH?

My Golden Retriever puppy had the same problem (except we couldn't exactly carry her) but now she walks on a leash beautifully. The key is a lot of patience. When you put her on the leash, wait for her to calm down (stop barking, pulling etc.). This may take a few minutes but she will eventually settle down. While you are waiting for her to calm down don't pull against her just firmly hold on to the leash. Once she calms down, take a few steps forward. If she follows you without going back into freakout mode, congratulations you fixed the problem. Most likely she may follow for a bit but then revert back to her old ways. If so just keep repeating the exercise and eventually you should be able to walk her. If none of this works, you can always use food. It is helpful to have someone else help you out with this. After she has calmed down, have a friend hold a treat in front of her nose as you walk forward. Once she has walked a few steps have the friend give her the treat. Repeat the process and increase the number of steps before giving the treat. By doing this, she will associate the walk with something positive. It also gives her something to focus on rather than allowing her to get anxious about walking on the leash. Hope this works for you. Good luck!

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