Puppy Won't Walk in the Morning

[katie.hilen]

Hello! We have an 11 week old Bernedoodle that will only go on walks if our sons are with us. If we're all together, he'll happily walk on leash to the park. When I try to take him first thing in the morning by myself, he plants himself once we're a block away and stares back at the house. He won't budge even when offered treats. As soon as I relent and head back towards home, he is as happy as can be.

 

He seems to be experiencing some sort of fear (being away from the kids, the dark, first thing in the morning?) and I don't want to make it worse. But I was hoping for an early morning jogging buddy (eventually when he is big enough). Any thoughts on how to help encourage him to join me in the AM?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hello and welcome to the forums,

Puppies go through a fear period between the ages of 8 to 10 weeks old, so this may be something at play if this is a recent behavior and you are still dealing with it. These fear periods coincide with, when in nature, puppies are getting out of the den and starting to explore the world around them. In the wild, this would be the time when puppies and their litter mates would learn under the guidance of their mom which stimuli are threatening and non-threatening for the purpose of survival. At this stage, once they are fully mobile and outdoors, a lack of caution in the wild may cause them to get killed easily. Although dogs are domesticated nowadays, they still retain some instincts and developmental milestones that are reminiscent of the past.

 

It could very likely be this is a fear period that your puppy is struggling to overcome. Most likely your puppy feels more confident being outside with the entire family than alone. There are of course many other dynamics that may be at play (perhaps there are more noises in the morning with people getting ready to go to work? if it is dark, perhaps your pup feels more intimidated? Worth of trying is trying to walk the pup with you alone later during the day, to exclude this latter possibility.

 

One thing perhaps worthy of trying is to take the pup on a very short car ride (if your pup likes car rides) and then parking at a distance and practicing walking home. First very short walks, (like just the end of the sidewalk) lots of praise during the walk (tell your puppy how proud you are of him, "look at you! great job!), and then gradually increase the distance. This should teach your puppy that nothing scary happens during walks and they can actually be quite fun. Of course though lots of caution is needed; if something scary happens during the walk, then all the hard work can be easily undone and one can easily go back to square one.

 

Another approach may be taking baby steps. For example on weekend morning when your sons are home, you can try walking your pup with both sons, and then having one of your sons lag a bit behind for some parts of the walk, and then the next day, perhaps increase criteria by having just one son come for the walk, and then the next day, having that son lagging a bit etc. until your pup has the confidence to walk just with you. Care is needed to do this gradually and work at the pup's pace. If your pup seems stressed at any time, it's likely because he wasn't ready for the next step and needs to take some steps back.

 

Another idea that comes to mind is to have your sons at opposite sides of the side walk (one at the begging and one at the end) and practicing walking your puppy from one son to the other and then increasing the gap between them so that your puppy has more and more alone time walking with you. Always praise and make a big deal of these brief alone times with you and and if possible give some treats if he takes them (but not treats once reaching your sons). Make sure to use some super valuable treats.

 

Of course, all this training is pretty much useless if your dog has a fear of something else not related to your sons. It could be that your puppy is scared of the outdoors (cars, bikes, etc) and that your sons' presence sort of buffer those visuals by blocking your puppy's view of them if they are walking on the side where these stimuli are present. So it would be extra helpful identifying what is really triggering this fear so to know exactly what to work on.

 

One thing to point out is to be careful with your pup walking him to parks or places where there are other puppies/dogs at least until your puppy has finished his vaccinations. Ask your vet for when it is safe for him to be in certain places. Also, puppies should not be jogged, especially on hard surfaces until their growth plates have closed (which is another thing to ask your vet about as this varies greatly with breed/size).

 

Make sure you do brain games with your puppy and that you start some basic training (sit/ down) so to help instill more confidence in your puppy. Encourage him in the yard to walk over different surfaces (like tarp, a piece of wood etc) and always praise when he takes initiative in exploring new things like an upside down chair or opened umbrella placed on the floor. Clicker training works great to help instill confidence too (see the guide on it in this course) and if the click is too much for him, you can make a noise with your mouth or keep the clicker in your pocket or use a retractable ball point pen to substitute the clicking sound.

 

Let us know how things work out for you. Your pup may needed smaller sub-steps if he is still struggling. Also, keep us posted if you are able to identify the exact source of the fear so suggestions custom-tailored to your situation can be provided.

 

Hope this helps!

Best wishes,

Adrienne

Edited August 22, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[katie.hilen]

You are too good! Thank you for these tips and the general reminders about puppy safety.

 

What a difference a week can make. This morning my little buddy trotted along happily through the neighborhood for our morning walk. I think developmental fear had a lot to do with it.

 

He's sitting and lying down like a pro and we are excited to keep working through your brain games. Thanks for all you do!

 

Katie

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Glad to hear your puppy is doing better on walks. Keep up the good work on raising his confidence levels! All puppies need to feel safe when they are out and about, so make sure to praise and reward for confident behaviors and keep on creating positive associations. Training and brain games are also a great way to help boost a pup's confidence. Kudos to you for helping your pup out, happy training!