So, my puppy (now 13 weeks old) is generally pretty good and doesn't pull on short (15min) neighborhood walks EXCEPT for when we're going home. And then she will pull like a sled dog until we reach the front yard. I do walk her on a harness, so shes not hurting herself.
I'm in the process of teaching her heeling in low distraction environments, but want to get her out in the meantime to help with socialization (shes fine with cars and other dogs when shes in the car but has some fear issues with them on the ground) and energy levels. I have been okay with the 6ft leash being tight until I have a long line, but the pulling is an entirely different level and I'm trying to get in front of it.
I've tried:
"stop when she pulls and don't move forward" but after 2-3 rounds of "hit end of line, sit/look back, go again, pull and hit end of line" she starts frustration screaming like I'm beating her. I have many retired/WFH neighbors so it's maybe not ideal that she does that. Once we get to a certain point on our way back home, she does not respond to even high value treats, she genuinely just wants to go home.
"Turn around entirely when she pulls and walk the other way" but she will literally entirely stop and fight me. It doesnt matter what treats I offer her, how long I stand there. She will lean against the leash for as long as i stand there. And if I do this too many times, she starts screaming in the same way. Once we get to a certain point on our way back home, she does not respond to even high value treats, she genuinely just wants to go home.
"Walk in a circle away from where shes trying to go" the same thing happens as the first two tactics. She will not follow in the opposite direction and will in fact start to scream if I do it too much. Once we get to a certain point on our way back home, she does not respond to even high value treats, she genuinely just wants to go home.
"Take her somewhere else to walk" I did try that, we walked in an empty parking lot where she did okay (did some sniffing) but rather than pull to the house she pulled with the same fervor to every car in a 10ft radius until I eventually picked her up and carried her to our car 12ft away.
So I'm a little at a loss for fixes. I suppose I could carry her the last block back home, but she is getting heavy fast and I'm not sure thats a solution. I'm not even sure the training would necessarily work because she becomes so irrational after a certain point.
Is this something that will improve as she matures? It's not like she hates her walks; I got up late today and she was borderline upset she almost missed it.
submitted by /u/largedragonwithcats
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