Hello All,

I am new here and SO glad I found this forum! I just brought my new German Shepherd puppy home and I must say that Ed's "Your Puppy" DVD has been a tremendous help thus far.

Wolfgang, who is 10 weeks, was flown in on Saturday and has been settling in well with my family thus far. He scored very high on his PAWS working dog test and I am hopeful he will become a good working dog. I am consistently crate training him at night and anytime I cannot have eyes on him, rewarding and praising commands with bits of meat roll, taking outside every 2-4 hours, and using a 20 foot cotton lead at all times when he is inside the house and outside. He listens well, picks up commands quickly, and is somewhat submissive.

When I take Wolfgang out for a walk (only very short distances to start with near home) he begins to bark excitedly (very high pitched) run under and between my legs at first from behind, then resorts to pawing at my backside as if to say, "let's turn around and go home already!". As soon as I turn back around toward home, he is immediately high tailed and in better spirits. On one of our walks I kept walking him regardless of his protests and we made it to the large grassy area down one block and had a great time relaxing under a shady tree, but yesterday he seemed so unsettled and nervous that I cut the walk short. We are still learning to communicate with one another and this was my way of showing him I was listening but I am now concerned that by turning around I was either yielding to him when I shouldn't have or perhaps inadvertently encouraging this undesirable behavior in the future. Am I expecting too much of him too soon? How might I best encourage him to walk short distances without scaring him? It has, after all, only been five days since he arrived, but I feel it is important that he be gradually exposed to new places and surfaces and be exercised some. I would sincerely appreciate any advice that more experienced handlers have on this.

What are your walks like?

Are you just walking and letting him do his own thing?

If so, this can cause a "disconnect" between you and your dog. He may feel alone and unsafe because he has not learned yet that you are his leader and you will protect him.

So, start your walk with a hungry puppy. Grab toys and food and play while you walk. If you are more interesting than the rest of the neighborhood (and of course, if he is hungry) then he will be able to ignore some of the distractions and learn to block them out.

Start close to your home moving a little further each day until he learns to ignore as much as possible.

Where did you get him?
Kennel?
What lines is he out of?

Can you rule out your behavior causing this? For example, you identified this little problem and now every time you go out for a walk you are slightly nervous about how your little puppy will act. That will flow down to the puppy.

If you’re a little nervous about something, he will think there is something to be nervous about.

Believe me this is easier said than done, I am going through it right now with a different problem. People are telling me I am causing the issues I am having by my behavior. It is 100% true, but really hard to get over. For me anyways. The fact is I need to relax

I think your confidence in what you are doing will help you through this.

OR if not…

It also helps to have a pocket full of really good treats or favorite toy to play with a certain “milestones” in your short walks. Just start out with very short, VERY upbeat, VERY rewardful (probably not a word). Like walk down the street every 10-15 steps have a little party, maybe, at first, the walk is only 10-15 steps. He will soon learn that going “new” places is the best thing in the world. A lot of people on here do this for engagement purposes. Like me, I go to, for example, Home Depot parking lot, let puppy out, have her follow me around giving lots of good treats for paying attention to me, these sessions are only about 30 seconds – 3 minutes depending on the dog. This way they learn, new place = a really good time and build engagement, which is what you want.

Welcome by the way!! Have fun with your pup!!

Hi Scott,

Thank you for the warm welcome and for your thoughts. I had not even considered my *own* behavior and am having a "duh" moment right now! Now that I think about it, I am a little nervous, especially after reading how critical it is that Wolfgang be protected from other dogs. We have many different dogs in our neighborhood (and I am a mere 5'1!) but so far all have been fenced or on leash and none have been near us. I just need to have a plan ready in case other dogs do approach. I appreciate the insight and will make a point to check my own attitude before we head out and see if that makes a difference.

Best Regards,
Melanie

Hello Niomi,

It is great to e-meet you and thank you. Our walks (well, what few walks we have had thus far) have been very brief and for lack of a better word, "chill." Wolfgang walks right next to me but he falls back almost right away. Starting him out hungry is a great idea. I know he is still a little stressed and still misses his mom (who apparently is also missing him right now) so I think this may be an issue of timing but only time will tell with that. Wolfgang's sire has several "VA" and "V" rated showline with Schutzhund titles on both sides of his pedigree and his dam has several American and Canadian champions with many "Rom" titles. He has a very high prey drive but I have not yet played with him much as I have been trying to establish pack structure with him.

Best,
Melanie

Hi Melanie,

I would definitely start playing with your puppy. Pack structure can be estabilished with routeen, crate training and setting boundaries for your pups behavior.

Puppies bond with their people through play and training. Even with a pup this young marker training can be started. I usually start with the fun stuff like, weave (through my legs), spins, sits, downs, in (informal come command), stationary heel, through my legs, touch...well you get the point.

Congrats on the new pup!

Melanie,
Directly to your guestion about the walks behavior.
I would probably just stop when he started getting antsy. Not turn around to go home, but just stop. Let him settle down with whatever it is that is bothering him.
After he settles, reward with toy play or treats. I wouldn't try to calm him, just stand quietly.
No rewards (pats, play, treats, or going home) till he's quiet and calm.

As he gets older, I'd introduce him to any and every thing I could think of, air ports, bus stations, shopping malls, high school ball games, bowling alleys, firing ranges or walking down town with the traffic and hub bub, whatever.

The key is not rewarding for being nervy.

Hi Randy,

"Nervy" is the perfect word for Wolfgang's behavior and I appreciate your advice. The day I did make it farther with him was the day I insisted we keep walking. Maybe once he learns that walks can be fun, he will be more inclined to enjoy them.

Best,
Melanie

He'll learn, given he chance. Ergo the reward when he settles. However I don't think I'd flood him with a 'forced' march.
When he starts getting uneasy just stop, let him face his (unwarranted) fears, let him calm down on his own terms.
Then it's;
Yeah yeah, good boy, let's go!

Small baby steps....very age appropriate.

Randy,

It worked! Thank you so much! I walked Wolfgang this morning, froze *every* time he started pawing at me or trying to hide under me or barking excitedly and rewarded him with treats only as he settled down and looked at me. We walked down the block to a large open grassy area, played some, worked on eye contact training and all the way home. He sat right by my side as the kids ran off to play at the park. VERY proud of my boy today (though I am acting aloof with him...not the easiest to do!)

Melanie