Dog sits down on walks when we don't go "his" way. Is now sitting down in the house as well e.g going outside to pee (holding bladder)

[sheamusofcountycork]

My dog is a 3 1/2 year old Labradoodle. We adopted him off a friend who could no longer have him. He's gentle, listens to sits/stay, doesn't bother my cat at all and IMO a really good lad.

We took him on his first walk (local park, no one there 5pm>) and he went fine! The next day we took him he started to sit down instantly if we didn't go his way on the walk and when we turned around to go home. He would sit down and dig his heels in. Doing light tugs on his leash does nothing, he doesn't fall for lures either. We sat down for 20min + ignoring him and he still didn't give up. Thankfully he now trusts me to pick him up (he would go to bite on the first few times) and I can carry him when we get stuck in the middle of the damn road.

This all started at the park and now he is doing it at home. He was quick to toilet train and hasn't done a mess inside yet. However, now when we take him (even in the morning after 6-8 hours) he just sits right at the door and won't follow any further to the backyard. When we do get him into the backyard he will sit just before the grass starts and then pull the opposite way (go inside). He even does it with the stairs to go to my room, he will sit down at the bottom and look out the front (as in, TAKE ME TO THE PARK) and then lay down and sulk (I just go upstairs and ignore him and 5min later he runs upstairs and lays down).

Tldr: Dog will sit down if we don't go his own way.

What do we do? It's getting worse and worse as the days go on and his protests are going to cause him to get a UTI.

 

[eknd]

@sheamusofcountycork In my opinion, you need to communicate to your dog that there isn't a negotiation when you're walking on leash - the expectation is that he follows you. Implementing either a slip-lead or a prong collar could be helpful. This video by Tyler Muto features a dog that does some fairly similar behaviours to what you're describing (laying down and refusing to follow Tyler's lead):

and shows how to gently but firmly teach the dog the rules of leash walking.

 

[sheamusofcountycork]

@eknd Oh my. Just watched it and that’s exactly him.

I couldn’t find any good videos about this or examples that matched my case. Thank you so much. Will be trying to every day and session hes on the leash. Thank you.

 

[eknd]

@sheamusofcountycork Glad I could help! There are a bunch of other videos on Tyler's channel about the process of introducing a training collar - I'd recommend you spend some time clicking around and getting a sense for the process. As with any training tool, the equipment doesn't teach the dog anything - it's up to how you use it to communicate with your dog.

 

[sheamusofcountycork]

@eknd Thank you x

 

[imagebeastmarkbeast]

@sheamusofcountycork Literally you just keep walking. Look where you want to go, keep your hands locked on your body so you aren't pulling with your arm, and walk. Make sure you can him in gear he can't slip out of, ie a slip lead, martingale collar, or well fitted flat collar depending on his structure. When he takes one single step forward, mark that, release all tension on the leash, and reward. Repeat as needed.

 

[mooncat13]

@sheamusofcountycork Because this came on so quickly, I imagine that a medical condition should be ruled out. Have worked with a few dogs that had this issue that seemed behavioral (like they didn’t want to leave the park, came to a fork and plopped when the people didn’t go their way) and turned out to have a medical condition. One had bone cancer that was confirmed on death, was in pain causing the inner conflict the owners were seeing. Another turned out to be extremely sensitive to heat and what looked like a refusal to keep walking and was having heat-related problems even when the temperature didn’t feel hot to their humans. Could also be pain from arthritis or worse, definitely worth a check with your vet to let them know you’re looking for pain indicators that could explain what you’re seeing.

I’m especially suspicious of a medical cause because your dog will not go potty. Be aware that some dogs have insane bladder control, my current malamute MIGHT pee three times a day, most days she will only pee twice even when given plenty of opportunity to go. Have thought numerous times that she’s had a UTI but she has been to the vet for urine samples a handful of times and she’s never had a UTI.

Another potential option is that your pup is still settling in and is anxious so they stop moving. If this is the case they should get better SO LONG AS you are patient with them, don’t make a big deal and break the trust they’ve built up with you so far. When we first adopted our malamute she would only pee once a day on very special things like a dead bird or kelp on the beach. I brought kelp back from the beach to our place and she didn’t give it a second thought, wasn’t the same off of the beach. We legit celebrated the first day that she peed on a walk that wasn’t at the beach.

If this is behavioral, look up pressure release videos and get a slip lead. Learn to use it and get the timing right on applying pressure and releasing pressure. Use a tone of voice that is firm, use the same word to ask for the dog to move, be consistent.

We have been on a journey with this malamute for refusing to walk, our girl has her own medical causes for plopping and behavioral. It has been a learning curve for us and it has meant that we need to be prepared to get stuck. One especially bad day with my girl we went to a big wildlife area for sunrise landscape photography. Two hours after the sun got up I was heading us back to the car. Once she saw the car she plopped. I was there for two and a half hours waiting for her to get up, we were there for six hours in total before I could get her to move. Another time we went on what should’ve been a 3.5-4 hour hike that turned into a 8 hour ordeal in total from lots of plops. Now that I can recognize when she’s in pain or uncomfortable causing her to plop from the behavioral temper tantrums we are in a much better place. It will take work on your part, may be worth doing activities that will help you build a trusting relationship quickly, like dog sports. You’ll learn their communication methods and they’ll learn to trust you. Good luck and have patience! Getting frustrated and mad will only make your dog more anxious and less likely to move.

 

[nonebutall]

@sheamusofcountycork I'd work on walking skills inside, rewarding liberally as he steps beside you to teach him that walking with you is fun/safe/rewarding regardless of what your destination is.

 

[naturex]

@nonebutall I’d lean towards this as well. Giving the dog “no choice” like other comments suggest is lazy “training”. Also not to mention that choice/agency is an important part of having a well rounded dog. Dogs make all sorts of compromises to live with us already. Motivate the dog and make it fun. Walks are supposed to be fun and they’re literally for the dog. Also since this is a very new behaviour, Op should go to the vet and have him examined. He could be in pain and not wanting to walk for a good reason. Dogs don’t do things for no reason, even if you can’t figure it out or don’t think it’s a “good” reason, there always is one.

 

[naturex]

@sheamusofcountycork He sounds like he’s experiencing pain. Have you been to the vet to address possible health concerns that could be causing this?

 

[sheamusofcountycork]

@naturex Planning to soon. However I believe that other users response about him being a rescue and just getting used to trusting us sounds more plausible. Whenever he did the sitting thing he would do it just before the grass then look into the distance of the backyard where we have a more open backyard (more bushy and full of snakes around this time of year in aus). We don’t want him up there and he’s tried to get up there twice (we have two tiers of bricks to jump up there). So it looked to me as if he just wanted to go up there again instead of the areas that he’s been used to.

What other indicators would reflect that’s hes in pain?

Edit: my partner is home tonight and he’s been 90% following her without a hassle to the loo 2 pees today now.

 

[naturex]

@sheamusofcountycork Hmmm if your partner isn’t having any trouble then it could definitely be a trust thing with you. How long have you had the dog for? If that’s the case then imo forcing the dog to go with you really won’t help your case in building trust. If the dog already has distrust and a negative connotation to being out with you then just dragging them along behind you doesn’t help change their emotions towards the walk to positive ones. I can’t imagine what dog wouldn’t find that punishing, and punishing is not what you want to do when trying to build a relationship. Food is a powerful relationship builder, try playing some pattern games that can eventually transfer to being played while on a leash walk (like “1-2-3 treat!”). It sounds to me like he won’t “fall for a lure” because he’s over his stress threshold regarding the situation (also you should never lure fear or trick a dog, that’s an automatic trust breaker, only reward the bravery of a good choice). If you play a fun pattern game outside of the situation that causes him stress, then when you introduce it slowly to the situation that does cause him stress then it gives him something familiar to do instead of think about why he is stressed. This gives way for him to be able to make more positive associations about being out with you. Use higher value treats as well, something truly irresistible like cheese, boiled chicken or deli meat. Relationship building is paramount with any new dog, especially a rehomed adult. Consider the methods you try carefully, if they involve any level of force, coercion, intimidation, etc. then they are not going to build the confidence and trust the dog has in you. A good relationship built on trust and allowing your dog to make some choices is a huge contributor having a mentally-well dog.

 

[tru_telr]

@sheamusofcountycork I really don't think this is about pain. I think it's a respect thing (or lack thereof). My neighbor's labradoodle did the exact same thing. He was running the show. I'd stick with the advice that FightClubReferee gave you.