Hello,
I'm posting a question with regards to a friend's dog. The dog is a very friendly lab mix, approx 2yrs old. He was adopted from a shelter. Don't have any info on his background. I met him last evening. He is very friendly, mellow, submissive type personality. He does balk on the leash when he is walked in his neighborhood. However, when my friend takes him to parks, he loves to walk....
I put him on his leash last night, she lives in the Philadelphia. He walked about one block, then just stopped, and eventually just sat down and refused to walk. I talked in an encouraging voice and tugged a bit on his leash, he responded and started to trot ahead of me...so we just sort of jogged down the street. He seemed happy not frightened. He did this several times.
It reminded me of a horse who is "barn sour" they just want to get back to their barn.

Any thoughts?? I told her about this site and some of the training videos that have helped me.

I suggested she start establishing structure, and marker training??

Any ideas, anyone??

Thanks,

Linda

I'll throw in my 2 cents opinion...

What you did was right. He complied. Have the owner do that too. Doesn't really matter why he balks, but if he is consistantly shown that the plan is to continue walking, he sounds eager to keep doing so, which is a good thing.

Hi Linda!
Thought I'd mention this:
Our other dog is a labrador and he barks alot on the lead,I think labs are generally noicy,well our one is anyway..Also our mix breed (rest in peace)would often suddenly sit down while on a walk and I had alot of trouble getting him moving again..Unfortunately in his case he was ill..he had internal problems and also knees that dislocated,so I guess this was the reason for him suddenly stopping on a walk..

I too would plan a checkup with a dog who is not really balking at the walk but who sits down partway.

My granddog did this a few years ago and it turned out that the road salt was abrading his pads. I had a dog do this and just look at me, and a month later I had to put her down when we found a very aggressive cancer (not visible 3 months prior during a physical with x-rays, but then filling the abdominal cavity 3 months later).*

Not saying that this would be likely, but with an otherwise happy-to-walk dog, I'd consider health issues.

* My heart ached when I found out that what looked like "I won't go" was really "I want to, but I just can't do it anymore."

 Quote: Connie Sutherland

I too would plan a checkup with a dog who is not really balking at the walk but who sits down partway...

...Not saying that this would be likely, but with an otherwise happy-to-walk dog, I'd consider health issues.

This is the same way we found out about our dal's CHF. She didn't look tired, but really just looked like she was being stubborn.

A check-up won't hurt.:smile:

Have your friend take a really long look at the dog's feet and nails.

If the dog likes to walk in the park, but not on the sidewalk, it may be that his feet are a bit tender, and he the concrete is uncomfortable to walk on.