Help with leashes please.

Mya is 5 months old and we got her 5 days ago. She has been doing so great. I'd say she's gotten used to us almost 100%. The only thing that concerns me is that she won't move with the leash on. She usually can drag it on the ground with her without complaining but as soon as I hold the leash to try to get her to come with me... she turns to a statue! I don't drag her because that won't help. I give her lots of praise to encourage her to walk, but nothing. If i'm lucky MAYBE a tiny step. She won't even come to me when I have treats!!! Please a little advice.

I forgot to mention she becomes a little depressing with the leash on to. :-|

Candi is only a pup as well, when we first got her collar and leash, we only put on the collar a couple of times a day so she could get used to it. Once she got used to the collar we tried her out with the leash, we just let her roam about the house and garden with it on, we praised her all the time so she knew it was a good thing. I then practiced walking around the house and garden with her so she could get use to the command heel, at first i would give her a treat so she still knew it was a good thing. Now when we take her out we say walkies to her, she gets so excited when we say it and when her collar and leash goes on. Don't get me wrong she still tries to chew the leash when she isn't walking, llike when she is sitting at the kerb, or waiting on us to get our shoes on. But she walks fine and we even been told by neighbours she is doing really well at walking outside.

Thanks ails. She's fine with the collar and i'm trying to encourage her every minute her leash is on inside and outside but it's not seem to be working. i'll keep trying.

I forgot to say we also made sure she didn't feel as though it was a lesson like as if we were serious with her, we tried to make it as fun as possible when we had the leash on in the house. We still do that when we take her out, it works for us, Hope it works out.

I thought I answered something similar to this but now I can't find it. Ok, so similar to what I said in another post.

First up, it can take several weeks for a dog to feel settled in a new environment, so I wouldn't be trying to do too much with her, other than just letting her start to feel that this is home.

Try this with the walking problem. First up, don't take her outside for the initial session. Just put her leash on, and if necessary let her settle & get comfortable about having it on. If all is well there, then take the leash in one hand, and a really yummy treat in the other hand. Now take just one step forward and hold the treat about a foot from her nose. Once she takes that one step, give her the treat & make a nice fuss over her. If she were a puppy, I'd say take the leash off now & end the sessions there. But as she is an adult, you may be able to successfully repeat the above a couple of times. Don't over do it. End on a high & successfull note. Tomorrow, repeat the exercise, still inside the house, adding more & more steps to the exercise. Always end on a high note. When she is walking around the house happily after you & those treats, that is the time to venture outside and see how you go.

I had a similar problem with an older cavalier I adopted a few years ago. She really did not enjoy going on walks and would even sulk away from the leash!

I haven't read the replies yet, so I'm sure I'm repeating some information, but here is what we did:

We kept her leash on indoors, and had her walk around just dragging it (under supervision, of course!) and played, snuggled and even fed her with the leash on for short periods.

We then took short mini walks aorund the house indoors, with me holding the leash and following her around, egging her to walk by throwing toys or calling her just to keep her moving whichever way she wanted.

I was lucky in that she really liked squeaky toys and so when we moved our lessons outside, I would hold one of her toys and squeak it while praising and calling her to motivate her to move forward. Keep walks very short at first, always positive and fun. Reward with treats and praise, maybe even hide treats in the grass or along the path to have her interested and motivated to explore!

You'll get there, puppies have allot to learn and get used to and experience!

Oh I just noticed Myra is 5 months. I read that as 5 years, hence my earlier comment about being an adult. Anyway, yeah same technique, temp her along with treat or toys like FranklinFreckles suggested. Baby steps!

Something I learned at puppy training is that some dogs aren't really food driven and it can at time be a little more challenging to get them motivated. It seems however that all dogs are motivated by something. Could be a squeek toy, maybe loads of praise. Also, sometimes you need to lateral think about the treats. When I first started taking Beau to obedience he didn't like any of the commercial treats, so I used to cut up chicken-loaf (might be called chicken-roll too). Man it smelled so yummy, I wanted to eat it, and all the puppies at obedience kep running over, trying out their sit techniques in front of me, hoping to get some, much to the disgust of their owners. :badgrin:

Thanks everyone. I'm getting her used to the leash again today. When I put the leash on it takes a minute for her to start getting used to it. She's ok with dragging it around. I'm going to try squeak toys later like you guys said.

What kind of leash do you have? If it's a leather leash and she's small, it might feel really heavy on her and a thin nylon leash might be better for the time being.

For now, I'm using a thin nylon leash.

Like others have said, it just takes time. Every single one of our dogs HATED the leash at first. I do just exactly what Caraline does with treats. Just keep working with her and be patient with her.