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Walking Problems

ballaa03

New member
I currently have 17 week puppy (Arthur) and we are having problems taking him for a walk. One minute he is wining/barking and trying to jump up at me and then the next time he is running off. I have tried to do the same walk but it doesn't seem to make a difference. I have tried both on street walking (where he tries to chase the cars) and around a park but keep on getting the same problems.

When he tries to jump up at me I don't give in by picking him up and try to ignore him. I have tried to take one of his toys out but he ignores it. He loves people and other dogs.



Anyone give me any advise?
 
That's pretty normal! He is still just a baby -- compare to going for a walk with a 4-5 year old child and they'd be doing the same. It takes time and positive fun training to get a pup to be calm and easygoing on the lead. :)

I assume you have him safely on a lead for all walks, ideally with a secure harness so his neck isn't being pulled. :) Cavaliers can never be let off the lead anywhere close to traffic. Also Extensa leads are quite dangerous as they easily can release or pop out of a hand.

There are lots of links contained in a post I have pinned at the top of the training forum, to all sorts of trainer sites that give great advice/downloadable handouts on training a little puppy to walk. (y)

But first I would highly recommend downloading both the free books -- Before You Get Your Puppy and After You Get Your Puppy, from internationally known trainer and puppy expert Dr Ian Dunbar, here:

www.dogstardaily.com/free-downloads

He gives excellent guidance and fun training advice for every aspect of living with your new puppy including lots on having a successful walk! :D
 
Our little guy is the same age and we are getting him used to going for walks too. We started off by walking around our property.
We started just before he was 12 weeks, and at first he would refuse to let me put the lead on, once we overcame that, then he
would go bananas when he realised he was wearing it. The he didn't like feeling restrained and would dive into a few impressive barrel rolls.

Once he began to start walking on the lead around the back garden without too much drama, we extended it to walking him out in our front
garden. That moved into walks around our Court. He still pulls on his lead, as he's excited to explore the big wide world, but we've
taken it slowly over a 5 week period. I'm one of those that are over cautious, I read that Cavaliers have no road sense, and we wanted both
he and us to be confident before we started going for actual walkies.

Good luck :)
 
Great advice already. I did what JessieandMe did, started really slow, first it was the kitchen around and around. Once we mastered that, garden, then front yard, then one block, then two. Etc. It is a tough time, I remember!

What also helped to was to do "loose leash walking" type training, google it and you will find info. Basically I carried roasted chicken in my left hand (she walks on my left) and every time we take a step or two and the lead is loose, she gets some. Then a few more steps and gets some. Then is was a case of just having it in my hand while we walked so she stayed next to my leg (ish) and every so often she got some. But is was HARD! Hang in there!! I think for the first 6-8 months, walking was so hard. And public places, forget it! ha. Just now at a year, she is pretty good in public crowded places. So, it takes a while. Part of it is just their reaction to this whole new world, that will just naturally settle down in a few months time, but you have to bare with that part for a while.

I also go a front clip harness for Brooklyn to help us train on the pulling and pulling to people/dogs. It worked wonders (in combination with training loose leash walking). There are many, but here are a few, they really help:
http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751027
http://www.softouchconcepts.com/

Also, when they pull, turn and walk the other way, don;t let them pull forward (yes you might get dizzy, ha).

And good for you, ignoring and not picking him up is the exact right thing to do! Keep that up, it will kick in I promise....but it does take a while!
 
We had this EXACT same problem when we first started going for walks. What ended up working for us was starting slowly like others have mentioned. We made sure to have treats with us, so when he would be walking with a loose lead we would treat him. Also whenever he started to jump we would just stop walking and wait until he stopped jumping and then we would start walking again. This ended up working really well for us and he hasn't jumped up on a walk for a long time. cl*p
 
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