My Frenchie hates going on a walk.

ntrinsik · Mar 19, 2015

Either Gaston is the laziest dog ever or he just hates going on a walk. He's just hitting 16 weeks and its a huge chore to get him to walk even two blocks and I'm pulling him half the time. He isn't pulling in the opposite direction either.. he just sits and looks at me.

Any ideas of what I can do? He appears to be highly food motivated.. but I don't want to attach a treat like those carrot on a stick cartoons..

hmy:

He isn't an inactive dog.. he loves running around in the house or with our friends' dogs.

Tgirl · Mar 19, 2015

This seems to be an issue with Frenchies. Stubborn little boogers! Hopefully one of the members who have experienced this will chime in and offer some helpful advice.

Ralphysmom · Mar 19, 2015

I just had this same issue with my 15 week old bully. He would not move at all if the leash was hooked to his collar. So we got a harness and it helps alot. We took him to the beach and dragged him for about 20 minutes (he walked a bit here and there) and he finally got it and walked all on his own the whole way back to the car, no dragging. He understands how it works now but is still a bit stubborn in the beginning of the walk to get going and sometimes still REFUSES unless my husband is walking in front of us ( I am thinking he is the pack leader lol) My bully isn't really food motivated, consistency works with him the best

Good luck!

mmclean · Mar 19, 2015

I don't know that my advice will be extremely helpful. I have the same stalling issue with Radar and he's a heavy, stubborn guy. I started taking him off leash (I live in a gated apartment complex) when there aren't a lot of people or cars around and that bit of "freedom" seemed to help motivate him to move. He happily trots off to do his business and will come when called. I wouldn't do this if Gaston doesn't do well with recall. But it really works for me.

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Cbrugs · Mar 19, 2015

Jax was the same way at that age, I was lucky if we got to the corner. I just kept taking him out and trying and one day he decided he actually wanted to do it and now he loves walks!

Jakeyjake · Mar 19, 2015

He's still pretty young so I would give it time. Lots of encouragement is always good as well as praise when he is walking like a good boy. I would avoid pulling him and maybe try going on a walk with your friend's dogs so they can show him how its done. We had it easy because with Jake he followed my daughter's Am BD and with Stella she followed Jake. They can be quite stubborn and will test your patience at times. Sometimes when I approach Jake with his harness to go for a walk, he runs away! Good luck.

ntrinsik · Mar 19, 2015

We've tried both a harness and collar.. same results. I've only ever pulled him around when he has his harness on, but I will to try refrain from pulling him around going further.

He does MUCH better walking with another dog but the problem is when he's walking by himself. I'll keep trying.

davidh · Mar 19, 2015

Some love to go on walks and some don't, but treats do help, and can make it fun.

PugandTwoFrenchies · May 9, 2015

Our female had the same issue. Could NOT get her to walk on the sidewalk to save our lives. Treats didn't work, walking with the rest of the pack didn't work, etc. She just sat there and refused to move.

What finally got her brain to 'unlock' was to take her (as in I had to DRIVE her) to a grassy park and walk her on the leash there (first). Penelope loves to race around in our back yard, so as soon as I took her, Fergus, and my pug Emma to the park, she was fine. She ran around there on the leash, and then from the park we just kept walking and made it on to the sidewalk all the way back to our house.

Even then, the next day I wasn't sure if she'd go from our house TO the park, but she did! Looking back, the lesson for me was to bring her somewhere that she enjoyed being, put the leash on, and just slowly transition from there. The front of our house was just too scary for her (cars, people, etc), so taking her to a quiet park did the trick.

Hopefully you'll find your 'trick' with Gaston! Good luck!

BBrixton · May 13, 2015

Brody was like this also a few months ago.

what really helped us was asking our friend (who always brings her dog over to play) to go on a walk with us. We clicked in his harness and after a few moments of watching he decided he wanted to follow my friends dog. Every time he would start walking we would give him a treat. A few back and forth walks around the park and Brody got the hang of it and was happy to walk with his other doggy pal.

hannah · Sep 10, 2015

I know this is such an old post but I'm so glad I read this! Feels good to know it's not just my dog. Banksy has to get pulled up the street, but then when we turn around he walks perfectly home.
Something that helped us was we just went camping this past weekend and went for a lot of walks in the woods where Banksy had his harness on but no leash. He did so well and was excited and eager to adventure around in the forest.
Now that we are home I have noticed he enjoys walking more. But yes Frenchies are just stubborn as heck lol:yes:

Canta · Sep 17, 2015

I had a huge problem walking my dog early on. At first I used a Harness and she'd just look at me and lay down and pretend to be dead or paralyzed. It was cute at first and everyone else in the office thought it was adorable, but it became old fast.

So I took her in for private training and was schooled up on a Choke Collar / Pinch Collar and it cleared everything up. After about a month of training and working on a Choke Collar / Pinch Collar she now can walk on anything. Trainer that worked with me said my dog was most likely "confused" on exactly what she was suppose to be doing in a harness and the fact that I'd cave and just pick her up and carry her probably turned her into a pampered princess.

These days I use a collar, but I keep the pinch collar on me at all times. If she starts misbehaving or stops listening I'll just pull it out and show it to her. That's enough usually to get her back in line and paying attention to what we're doing and listening.

PugandTwoFrenchies · Sep 17, 2015

My Penelope is almost 9 months old now and still shakes and runs away when it's time to harness up. I have no idea why. She has a great time once she's out there, so who knows. Her brother is more ok with it (but still sometimes runs away from me when it's time to go), but she still isn't.

Whatever. We just keep going. She enjoys the park once we're there, but it's just getting her there. LOL Silly girl.

mhuinker · Sep 18, 2015

ntrinsik said:
Either Gaston is the laziest dog ever or he just hates going on a walk. He's just hitting 16 weeks and its a huge chore to get him to walk even two blocks and I'm pulling him half the time. He isn't pulling in the opposite direction either.. he just sits and looks at me.

Any ideas of what I can do? He appears to be highly food motivated.. but I don't want to attach a treat like those carrot on a stick cartoons.. hmy:

He isn't an inactive dog.. he loves running around in the house or with our friends' dogs.

Yeah, my Molly girl hates walking too, but Leo LOVES to go for a walk. Go figure, LOL. They are their own unique little creatures with personalities for sure!! It may be he is just young right now and needs to get used to the idea of walking.

Chiana · Sep 23, 2015

Frenchies tent to have a strong mind of their own. If they don't feel like walking or doing something, they just won't do it. As frustrating as it is.

Moses often refuses to go on walks with my mom, he just rolls over and is impossible to move.
Also if he is not allowed to go to his planned walking route, which he seems to have decided when we leave the house, he either stalls or keeps rolling over.
Luckily there are more days when he absolutely loves walks, it's just when he has one of those days...

He is still young and will pick up the drift...maybe

Dougie · Jan 10, 2016

Dougie is 8 months old and just recently started enjoying his walks. He used to run and hide if we said the word "walk" so now we just pick him up and take him to the door to go out for walks. Once outside he used to just sit and not want to go anywhere. Now he wants to stay outside and explore. It does get much easier with time.