How to train a 5 month old puppy to go on long walks, without stopping or being stubborn?

The best advice i can give you is to keep doing what you are doing. Taking half hour walks three times a day sounds great if its working for you and your pup. It's very possible, as she is young, that she doesnt have enough stamina to do larger walks/runs yet.

If I have misread your question and she is refusing to do these walks and used to in the past, I would still stay to stick with it. Don't pull on her collar at all - dont scare her into walking. Walking needs to be something she associated with good things. Treats are a good idea, but make sure you give her them sparingly and accordingly. She will pick it up eventually and be a great companion for your walks and runs. For now, take it slow but keep consistency.

If you think she was abused then tugging her collar will only reinforce her mistrust for humans and the leash may intimidate her. I would let her alone for awhile until she starts trusting you & the wife. Fighting each other is probably making the dog even more skittish. Let the dog play outside with leash on. Maybe play fetch or start training her with basic commands such as come. Reward her with treats when she responds with the correct action. Slowly walk her around the house or yard and walk about 10-15 paces, stop and praise her then give her a treat. Continue walking another 10-15 paces and do this same thing again. Increase the walk over time and then take her for a walk in the front of your home. Eventually, she will want to walk with you all the time. I would also suggest that a harness (instead of a collar) be used. Collars tend to easily slip off or, if too tightly on, can rupture her vocal cords and larynx. Patience is the key to training any dog with praise and treats as her reward. Good luck & God bless you for adopting a pit. They are wonderful dogs!

My puppy does the same time sometime. However, its not becuase hes scared to walk, its becuase hed rather go home and just play or sleep. At first, I would tug and tug him, but all he would do is sit down and cry, or hed turn his back towards me and stare or try to pull me. I felt bad becuase his little neck is so small and I don''t want to hurt him. Then I tried treats. This worked a little, becuase it woudl get him to walk towards me, but then he'd stop a few steps later and i would have to keep repeating the treat trick. It was getting rediculous though becuase even if I walked a few feet without him stopping, he seemed to rememebr the way home and justkept tugging to go home. One day when I got so frustrated with him, I picked him up and just stared walking. By doing this, he couldnt rememerb the scents of where we walked, and when i finally put him down, he didn't knwo which way was home, so he had no choice but to follow me. After that, we walked for a straight 30 minutes. Ive been doing this a lot, becuase once the dog realizes he is too far from home, he may as well walk. Also try to get him really excited the second you bring him outside. Pretend liek yore running and try to get him to chase you a little and once he starts, keep going and keep feeding him energy! hell soon realize that walking isnt so bad. One more thing, when I first got my puppy he was also very scared of things. How long have you had your guy for? Mine likes to stand and stare at everythign that was around him/went by. He als sniffed everything possible. The one thing that scared him to death was cars, and for a while I could not walk him on the street b/c he would freak out every time. I did a little each day, desensitizing the dog a little each time and sometimes carried him on the street and soon he learned that the cars were not coming after him and there was nothign to be scared off. He has quickly gotten over that. Hope any of this helps and good luck!

As much as you want her to be up to speed with you, remember, she is a puppy. 30 minute walks 3x a day is a lot for her right now and jogging isn't probably a good idea just yet.

I had the same problem with my 6 month old pup that I just brought home. However, I overwhelmed her and took her for a couple long walks and on the 3 or 4th try, she really freaked out and wouldn't walk at all. So I started over with her and started with treats. I got her to walk out to the street very willingly. When she started to balk, I would go home and quit. A few hours later, I got her to walk out the driveway and 2 doors down... etc. So over a period of days I expanded our walk and now we can go a block and she walks willingly although a still a little nervous. As we repeat the walk on the same path over days, she is becoming more confident. And additionally, she is building her trust in me and starting to just follow because I am the leader.

This process only took a couple of weeks so it is a matter of patience and experience for the dog. Practice walking in the house, in the yard etc. Every time the dog stays by your side or looks up at you while on a lead, heap on the praise. Get him happy to be on a lead by your side and soon it won't matter where you want to walk.

don't wait. 4 month old puppies can learn a lot. Start with sit. Use a treat in front of her nose, and lift it up and she'll automatically sit. Do this several times a day at random intervals. Don't try to train her for more than a couple minutes at a time. Once she learns sit, teach her "come" and "down", and then you've got some basic training down. The most important thing is to not get discouraged or frustrated. Good luck!

Sounds like she could have had a traumatic past but as it is unknown, you will have to take your time with her. If she walks one step I would reward her with praise. A high pitched good girl will make her feel good, she will like the sound of it and know she is doing good. On a stronger note, is she responding to your commands of sit, stay?

Always remember to hold your posture when giving commands, straight up, never slouched over as that sends mixed messages. Slouching over or bending is a sign of submission and tells the dog that what they are doing is okay so always remember to hold your position. Play follow the leader in the house. when she follows, high pitched good girl words are great to keep doing. If she passes you, say woooooo, really loud, immediately turn around and go to the other direction and get her to follow you again. Once she has mastered follow the leader, she will more than likely do better walking outside and you can take it from there. Hope this helps. Log on to www.whiskerwall.com and let me know how it is going. Happy Tails, KerryK.

Be patient with her. If she was abused or mishandled, it's no wonder she doesn't want to go for long walks. Go for short walks and praise her the whole time. And of course, take her favorite treats with her. Build up to the longer walks, but don't expect a marathon runner out of a pup with an abusive background.

I think you have to establish if your dog is actually afraid of something, or she just doesn't want to go on a walk. Dogs live in the moment, so something that happened on a walk to her prior to living with you guys shouldn't effect her at all.

Is she really acting scared (tail between legs, crying, cowering, etc.) or is she just pulling to go home? If she's just pulling to go home and not really having a nervous breakdown, then I would go with the "alpha dog" technique. You are the pack leader and you tell her when it's time to go for a walk and she must follow you.

If you really think she's having a nervous breakdown - you might find it useful to go to a trainer with behavioural issue training and have them coach you, your wife and the dog how to get through it.

I would say your dog is still a puppy at 5 months and I would go along with the 5 minutes per month rules

At 5 months she is still growing and too much exercise can damage their joints.

http://kb.rspca.org.au/?View=entry&EntryID=300

She is also not being stubborn she just needs a rest, take your time and build up very slowly so as not to damage her joints and eventually make it too painful for her to walk at all.

She is certainly nowhere near going jogging yet.

Just enjoy her for what she is at the moment a puppy who needs to grow and be trained and as a jogging partner later when she's ready.

my puppy does the same thing just goes as close to the floor as possible but i either have treats and bribe him abit i usually only have to do this once and he walks happily then just behind me, sometimes when we just get out he does it again and when he knows that he must walk with me i just shorten his lead and ignore him whilst walking, i do feel slightly evil at times but after a short distance he really enjoys his walks. I would just persevere and choose one method and stick with it if you keep changing your mind she will never know how to please you