Dog afraid of walks and runs home

[IVAN JANEA]

My 4 month old pitbull is extremely afraid of walking, at first when we adopted him he was fine aside from him not being leash trained, he was not afraid to go for a walk. Now he won't go for walks out of fear. He either sits down with his tail tucked between his legs, or lies down or pulls on the leash, even going as far as to jumping to not go for a walk. I'm not sure what's the main cause of this, but I've tried taking different paths, and treats. He is also teething right now if that might correlate, it is also not too hot or cold when I take him for walks, about 17-20 degrees celsius with a cool breeze

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi there, welcome to forums!

In this case, it would be insightful trying to carefully evaluate what may be his potential triggers. If he was fine before, what could have caused him to develop now fear? You mentioned him not being leash trained, and in many cases that can absolutely be a trigger. I will be listing some of the most common triggers I have seen in pups this age and yes, issues with walking gear is often one of the most common.

1. A Reaction to Leash Pressure

If your puppy hasn't been given enough time to adjust to wearing a collar and leash, his balking and stopping may be a reaction to wearing such unfamiliar gear and its associated sensations. The unfamiliar pressure exerted by collar and leash around their neck may cause pups to resist or try to pull away. Soon, puppies start associating these unpleasant sensations with the walk, and next the fear generalizes to the entire walk.

Puppies need some time adjusting to wearing new accessories and learning how they should respond to them. Ideally, breeders should work on teaching pups to walk on a leash early, but many don't, leaving pups fearful and confused and new pup owners are left with all the homework. 

2. Feeling Overwhelmed by the Outside World

In some cases, the pup may be perfectly fine with wearing the collar and leash, but they are simply overwhelmed by all sights, sounds and smells of the world around them. This can happen in particular with pups who haven't been socialized much or pups who were raised in a farm or suburban area and are now being walked in the city or in a totally different environment. 

If you watch these pups carefully, you'll notice them walking tentatively and engaging in excessive scanning behavior, looking in all directions. They may walk in a zig-zag pattern and may be easily get startled by unfamiliar sounds. Scary sights and sounds may evoke a puppy's flight or freeze response, causing him to stall or try to escape. 

3. The Onset of a Fear Period 

Fear periods are phases of the puppy's life when they undergo a peak time of sensitivity to fear. The first fear period takes place between the pup's 8 and 10 weeks of age, at a time they especially sensitive to the effects of fearful stimulation (Fox, 1966). A second fear period takes place between the age of 8 and 14 months, although this period may vary from dog to dog, lasting a few days or weeks or even the entire timeframe.

 

Since your  pup is 4 months old, I suspect his fearful behavior may be correlated to the leash pressure or something that may have scared him outdoors, but it could possibly also be a mix of the two. In these cases, you may need to take a multi-pronged approach or try se. Following are several tips.  

-Try to Pinpoint the Problem

Think back to when your puppy has stalled, sitting down or lying down in the past. Have you noticed any particular pattern? Does it happen when he's lagging a bit behind and the leash puts pressure on the collar? If so, suspect this is to be a walking gear issue and a matter of getting him more used to it. Was there a bike passing by? A loud sound?

Calculate that dogs react almost immediately to things that frighten them, so every time your pup stalls evaluate what has happened 1-2 seconds just prior. Of course, we may not always be able to pinpoint the trigger, and sometimes things are complicated as the trigger may even be internal (think a sharp pain). 

Paying extra attention to what is going on can help pinpoint the problem and know what needs worked on the most. 

-Walk Him in His "Elements"

If your puppy has been raised on a farm and is overwhelmed by certain sights and sounds, it may be worth trying whether he may benefit from walks in quiet areas such as quiet parks and woods and other places away from the city/towns. If he does well in these areas, this may provide you with a little hint as to whether the leash was the problem or the environment. 

*If your pup hasn't finished yet his vaccinations, please check with your vet for safer places to walk your puppy so as to avoid infectious diseases such as parvo and distemper. 

-Teach your pup to give in to "leash pressure"

If you suspect he's reacting to the leash exerting pressure, you'll need to work on teaching him how to release that pressure. Start at home in a quiet living room. Have your puppy on leash and keep it loose. When the puppy is at a distance, kneel down, exert very, very gentle pressure on the leash and encourage your pup to reach you.

You can show the treats for the first couple of reps if needed to encourage your pup to reach you. Once your puppy moves your way, praise and feed him a tasty treat. Rinse and repeat, but at some point, stop showing the treat. Keep it in your closed fist or pocket. Once you puppy starts moving in your direction, praise and once he reaches you, feed him a tasty treat. 

Bringing The Exercise Outdoors

Once your puppy get the idea of the game, start doing this outdoors, nearby your home. Reach the end of the leash, kneel down and encourage your pup to reach you. You may need to use higher-value treats for this since outdoors there are more distractions. 

After several successful reps, rather then kneeling, stay in a slightly crouched position and repeat the same exercise, only that now, you can walk a few steps backwards as your puppy approaches you, and feed treats as he's walking. 

Next, rather than being in a crouched position stand normally and repeat the same exercise praising and rewarding your puppy for moving towards you. Then gradually start turning your body more and more sideways so that you are no longer walking backwards. If at any time your pup goes back to stalling/sitting/lying down, start kneeling down again and gradually progress to standing up.

More about how to get pups used to wearing walking gear can be found here under the heading "Habituating Puppies to Training Tools":https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-teach-puppies-to-tolerate-touch/

-Reward Walking

It's very important to present the food only when your puppy is actively walking so as to reinforce that. If you present the food when he's actively stalling, the food risks gaining some negative connotations, and your puppy may even refuse to eat when in presence of intense or scary distractions. There are also risks that you may inadvertently reinforce stalling behaviors as the puppy may learn that "every time I stall, I get attention and treats. "

Tip: to help you effectively reward your puppy while walking use soft and small bite-size treats. 

-Swap to a Longer Leash/Long Line 

Some pups may do better wearing a longer leash or even a long line so that they are less likely to feel repeatedly pressure on their collars as seen when using short leashes. Of course, use a long leash or long line only when safe to do so (no traffic, nothing harmful on the ground your pup may accidentally ingest, no other dogs around). 

-Walk With a Confident Pup

Sometimes, interactions with a more confident pup is all that's needed. Find a play mate your puppy adores (that is also vaccinated) and then try taking them on walks together. You puppy may "feed off' the other pup's confidence and may learn that the outside world isn't really a scary places as previously thought.  Let your pup watch the other pup have a blast walking and getting treats and toys on the walk. 

-Take a Break

If walks are too scary for your pup and they cause more stress than anything, it may be a good idea to skip them for a bit and find other ways to socialize your puppy and help raise his confidence levels.  In the meanwhile, positive associations can be formed with scary stimuli by watching them from a window or hearing scary noises played at a low volume using a CD and feeding treats. 

If your pup reacts fearful to certain sights (like people on bikes) the  "Look at that" exercises done from a behind a window can be a good starting place: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/look-at-that/

For fear of noises, you can ty the "hear that" method, outlined in this guide:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/fear-noises/

Make sure your pup is always under threshold: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/

-Use Calming Aids 

Some puppies may need a little "extra help." This can include calming aids such as an Adaptil collar and over the counter calming supplements such as Alpha-casozepine (Zylkene). This latter may take 1-2 days to kick in. Check with your vet first before trying any supplements. 

Work with a Professional

Some challenging cases benefit from some professional in-person help. A board-certified veterinary behaviorist (DACVB) in particular can help with cases of deep anxiety, often getting them started with some RX meds to lower their anxiety at a level that it's easier for them to cope with and learn. 

I hope this helps! If you find a potential trigger that is in his environment, feel free to post your findings here and we can do some further troubleshooting. 

Happy training!

Best,

Adrienne