New Dog Owner—Ideas

I’m a first time dog owner at 66-years old. I have a 15-lb maybe poodle mix who is about 14-months old. I’ve had him for 6-months now.

I live on a short, crappy street. I do live about 4-minutes away from a really nice park with walking trails (not dog park and all dogs need to be leashed). So we go there for about 45-60 minutes at least 5 days a week. I also have a fenced in yard where we play and he does business.

All our walks are really sniff walks. I let him lead the way. Of course we say hello to other dogs, people, etc. and I’m really lucky he is non-reactive. Sometimes he does try to keep up pace with a jogger but I’m old with bad knees and hips so that isn’t happening. But overall, he is a really good dog.

HOWEVER, there are days where I feel like I’m forcing him to go. I say time for park/walk and he plays dead weight so I have to carry him to the car. One day he started trembling in the car really bad so we just walked my short crappy street instead.

What I don’t understand is why isn’t he excited to go? He loves it when we get there. I know he has an issue with car rides but it’s literally 4-minutes. And he doesn’t cry or seem nervous but it did take a few months to get him used to short rides. I can’t go more than 15-minutes or he gets sick and starts fidgeting.

So what am I doing wrong? Is it bad that there are days where I’m forcing him to go? Why isn’t he excited?