Dog randomly stops on walks

[danno2015]

I did a post on here a few weeks ago about switching my dog from balanced training techniques (more on the aversive side I was uncomfortable with) to checking out all the amazing recommendations (e-books, YouTube series, trainers, behavior mod recommendations, etc) that this group helped me SO much with. I also met with a vet right after i posted that, as well & my dog is now on week two of lowest dose of anxiety meds. Anyway, I made the decision of starting our foundation over a bit and rebuilding our fundamentals. Starting with loose leash walking. Before I always had him on a pr0ng and he did “okay”. I still never felt the leash was a loose “j” shape, ever. He just didn’t pull as hard when he had it on. I have transitioned to a martingale or his normal flat collar and I’ve noticed a difference in his walking habits with them. Quite honestly he can do amazing loose leash with it (way better than the pr0ng which is funny to me) and I provide so much praise (and hot dogs lol) so he does great but my issue is now he randomly stops. And I have never had him randomly stop, EVER. And now it is every walk. When he’s uncertain, or sees a dog (his main trigger) afar, he stops. Sits. Doesn’t move. I wonder if he wanted to do this before but the pr0ng prevented it because he was kinda forced to keep going or the pr0ng wouldn’t feel too great I’m sure lol. Anyway, I want to stick with his normal collars but for his safety, I don’t want to be stuck in the middle of the road or let him sit while a trigger comes closer to us and I know it would set him up for failure as he’d probably blow up. I used to do u-turns w/ the pr0ng, but I try doing them now on normal collar and NOPE. He’s like yeah I ain’t going the opposite way lol. I tried luring him with his treats today, squeaked his ball, “let’s go buddy!!” With some fun claps, nothing worked. Eventually, after maybe a few minutes (no pressure applied) he came to me and we went home. Any tips? Or was this all I can do in the moment, just wait it out? Anything I could do better? This was a neighborhood structured walk, solely to rework some loose leash habits. Super short, main goal was quality of the walk versus length.

 

[mykell]

@danno2015 So cool you’re moving away from balanced training when it didn’t work out for you guys. I was in a similar situation with my pup in terms of the freezing when we were making the switch.

What you did by relieving the social pressure is exactly what helped me and my dog. No eye contact, no talking or coaxing, no leash pressure. Just stand and wait. Once he started moving I’d continuously praise and treat. Eventually we moved on to tossing the treat ahead of us so he’d chase it and get it, repeat. He’s much better nowadays but every now and then if he feels leash tension, he’ll dog his feet in and freeze.

For the time being, if you can find low traffic areas without roads he could get stuck in, that’d be a big help. Short outings, emphasis on sniffing and exploring, and an abundance of rewards. Honestly, it might feel excessive with the amount of rewards given out but over time you should need less and less while building longer walking duration. You should also see more voluntary check-ins or engagement.

You got this

 

[danno2015]

@mykell Thank you for this! I’m glad I’m not alone! My first initial conditioned response (due to prior training) if he did this was to begin leash pressure until he gave in or or a light pop w pr0ng, then reward when he gave in. I’m just trying to explore different ways about this than doing that so this is helpful. I think I might’ve been talking too much to him too, maybe next time I’ll just shut up a bit and let him move freely his mindset calms down a bit. I can see the gears moving in his head when he’s planted, he’s definitely like “what the heck is going on, something just made me nervous”. I also want to begin getting him to a state where he can eat the treats on the ground, he’s fine from my hand but I feel a “find it” command could be really helpful on walks that may be a bit more challenging for him.

 

[thudomi1582]

@danno2015 The thing that worked best for me and my dog was training a cue that means “we’re going to change directions right now.” We practice a lot in low-distraction environments with very high-value treats, so when she hears the cue muscle memory takes over and she can disengage from the trigger relatively easily.

 

[danno2015]

@thudomi1582 I can’t believe I never thought to do this. This is a really good idea. I’m gonna try this in the comfort of our backyard for a little and then hopefully it’ll translate outside the home!!

 

[revertion]

@danno2015 This is a small tip, but my dog also likes to randomly stop when he sees his triggers. The only thing I do to get him to turn around that works for me is body blocking. Just directly getting in his line of view and guiding him away with a small push the other direction works pretty well. And then we’re going the other direction I distract him with treats.

 

[danno2015]

@revertion Such a smart idea. I always wait when it’s way too late and if I try to get in front to body block, it’s way too hard bc he’s already soooo over threshold and lunging at the end of the leash. I think when I noticed his ears perk up, then I should hurry and do the body block. Or do I try it before he even becomes alert?

 

[revertion]

@danno2015 I get in between him and the trigger as soon as I notice it. It helps with him thinking I have it under control for him too. Plus I see the other dog and as I walk in front of my boy I get a good firm close grip on the leash. I have my fattie in a harness so I hold him from above and herd him away not giving him any space on the leash until we are safely away. My boy is big so I can’t have any lunging. I’m just very alert and it really helps him. He is very fear reactive but also old and slower.