Dog walking

[KAZUMIMURAKAMI]

Hello, I am Kazumi, I am sending this from Japan.

I have a rescue dog now. He is about 8 years old. He is sheltie and 38 kg!

He doesn’t like to walk. Now I have kept him for 2 weeks. He is friendly but he hate walking.

He can walk but refuse to walk and prefer staying home. How can I make him love to walk?

I appreciate your advice.

Best regards,

Kazumi

[Adrienne]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forums!

Did you happen to take him to see the vet and discussed this reluctance to walk with the vet? 

I ask because at 8 years old, your dog is considered a senior and a reluctance to walk can be due to a variety of health problems. 

Does he show any fearful behavior at home or when outside?

At 38 kg, a reluctance to walk may also be simply due to being overweight. Is he a purebred sheltie or can he be mixed with another breed? Does he look overweight? 

These additional details would be very helpful.

Thanks!

Adrienne

[KAZUMIMURAKAMI]

Hi, thank you for reply.

Yes, I took him to the vet and did medical check.

He is very fat but he didn’t have any specific problem.

He doesn’t show any fearful behavior at home and  outside.

Yes, he looks extremely overweight.

He is a rescue dog so I am not sure his breed but his looking is so much like sheltie.

His height is about 48 cm so the vet said he was not a rough collie.

I give him low calorie food but I think he needs some walk to lose his weight.

How can I make him to walk with pleasure?

I appreciate your kind reply.

Best Regards,

Kazumi Murakami 
 

 

[Adrienne]

Thank you for the details, they are very helpful! Glad to hear that he has a clean bill of health. The fact he doesn't show fearful behavior at home and outside are a big plus because it means less work on changing the emotions. I suspect that his reluctance to walk may stem from the fact that he is overweight. Carrying around those extra pounds can feel like a burden more than a pleasure, so we need to get a bit creative here to convince him that moving is reinforcing. 

Starting now, I would stop feeding from a food bowl and find ways to getting him to move around using his lower calorie food. Here are some ideas:

Scatter his food around the home so that he must go on a treasure hunt game:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/elementary/the-treasure-hunt/

Try to engage him in a game of hide-n-seek: (if he doesn't know how to sit/stay have a helper hold him while you go hide)

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/university/hide-and-seek/

The bottle game may have him moving around quite a bit too:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/

-Another fun game is the 'toss the kibble" game.

In this game,  you  ask your dog to sit (if he knows it, otherwise skip this) and then toss a kibble across the room and let your dog go catch it. Praise him when he gets the kibble. Rinse and repeat several times. 

-Make moving a rewarding experience. Put your dog in a sit stay, walk several steps away and then enthusiastically call your dog and reward him with a toy or his kibble. Make a big deal of it!

Make sure to praise him when he moves around. Many dogs love the attention!

For the walks, here are some tips:

-Start little. Let him initially just step outside the door. Praise him and reward him with his kibble. Then start getting out a little more, praise and reward with kibble. Keep the first walks short, sweet and fun. This will leave him with a pleasant memory, and day after day, he may be more and more eager to accompany you on your daily rewarding strolls.

-Make sure his reluctance to go on walks isn't due to him not being used to wearing a collar and leash. If that's the case, teach him to "give into" leash pressure. In other words, sit on the couch,  put a little pressure into the leash and then toss a kibble for him so he can learn that moving in the direction of the pressure releases that pressure and he also gets rewarding for that by reaching for the kibble. Do this several times until he learns to give into leash pressure rather than resisting it. 

-If your dog is a social butterfly, he'll likely feel more motivated to move around if he sees another dog moving around. See if having another person walk another dog motivates him to join in the walks. 

-If your dog is a bit reluctant to leave the house, you can take him on a car ride, park close to home and then walk both home together. If your dog is anxious/eager to go back home, he will likely speed up his pace to get home fast. Each day, increase distance but also make it a habit of feeding your dog a portion of his daily kibble allowance during these walks (or praise him/play with him), so your dog gets to learn to enjoy these walks too.

With sensible portions of low-calorie food and moving more, your dog should start shedding some pounds.  I hope this helps motivate him to move around more. 

Let me know how things go or if you have other questions, 

Best,

Adrienne

-

 

[KAZUMIMURAKAMI]

Thank you very much!

I will try to stimulate his curiosity and motivation.

Best regards,

Kazumi

[Adrienne]

Sounds like a plan, keep us posted!

Best,

Adrienne

[KAZUMIMURAKAMI]

Hi, I took my dog for a ride in my car and started walking with him to my house.

He is stubborn and goes where he wants to go.

When I pull the leash, he just sit and didn’t move.

So it took so long time to get my house and we were so tired.

How can I make him follow my way?

I appreciate your advice.

Best regards,

Kazumi 

[Adrienne]

There may be be a chance that he wasn't used to being on leash and when he feels pressure from the leash on the collar, he instinctively opposes to it (opposition reflex). These dogs benefit from learning to "give in" to leash pressure. You can try this exercise:

Sit on the couch while he is wearing his collar and leash. Gently tug a bit on the leash and at the same time show him a kibble from your hand. The moment he gives in to the leash pressure moving in direction of the kibble, praise and give him the kibble. Rinse and repeat several times, until he gives signs of knowing that he should give in to the pressure rather than oppose to it. 

Then, try this same exercise standing up. Walk a bit  away from him and gently tug a bit on the leash and show him the kibble from your hand. The moment he gives in to the leash pressure moving in direction of the kibble, praise and give him the kibble. 

Next raise criteria, and start showing the kibble in heel position next to your knee. Follow the instructions in this guide: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

On walks, if kibble doesn't help to get him walking because hes too distracted, you may need to use some low calorie treats (there are several on the market or ask your vet). 

Let me know how it goes! You may need to use baby steps to teach him that it's rewarding to give in to leash pressure and walk. 

[KAZUMIMURAKAMI]

Thank you very much!

[KAZUMIMURAKAMI]

Hi, my dog is barking, when I eat.

Whenever he barks, I put him in cage?

Is this OK?

Do you have any tips for this problem?

Best regards,

Kazumi

[Adrienne]

There may be chances that with a previous owner or caretaker, this dog may have been fed good stuff at the table when he barked. Maybe this is how he turned out being nice and plump!

There are three methods you can use to tackle this problem.

1) If you can tolerate the barking for some time, try to totally ignore him. Be very, very careful that neither you or some other family members accidentally drop anything from the table (this includes crumbs). Now, expect some extinctions bursts before the barking decreases (behavior getting stronger before extinguishing) along the way. The barking may get louder and your dog may try something new to get your attention such as pawing at you, but if you resist through all this, you should notice day after day, a decrease in the barking eventually leading to its extinction. He may still try some time, but if you are strong, this behavior will subside. 

2) You can train your dog to lie on a mat during mealtime (or other designated area) and provide him with something tasty to eat (stuffed Kong filled with his kibble and maybe frozen with some low sodium meat-based broth with no garlic or onion in the ingredients) or fill up a Kong Wobbler with his kibble so he can work on these while you enjoy your own meals. Here is how to train a dog to lie down on a mat: 

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-dog-go-to-mat/

3) You can simply close him in the cage/crate or in another safe room while you eat. Give him some chew toy or a Kong to keep occupied and to keep positive associations with being closed in the crate. 

I personally prefer option 1 because it's nice to have a dog who can stay in the same room, be part of the family, and behave. I recently boarded and trained a dog who pawed, barked and didn't leave you a moment alone when eating at the table (kids were feeding the dog/dropping food all the time) and after sticking to the no-attention rule this dog gave up barking/pawing etc and learned to patiently lie down under the table during meals which was nice!

[KAZUMIMURAKAMI]

I really appreciate your kind support!

Thank you very much!

[Adrienne]

You are very welcome!

Keep me posted on how things go.

Happy training!

Adrienne