I am currently trying to train and being trained by my 6 month old almost 7 Havanese dog. He’s a very confident boy but recently been whining at a few things when we’re working on “walk with me” (walking beside me, eyes focused on me).
We first started walk with me when he was 4-5 months inside the house. He does great. About a month ago I moved it to the driveway. He still keeps his eyes on me with little distraction. When he wants to watch something I let him, give him a treat and say good boy and we “keep up” (keep walking).
Recently we’ve been trying to move past the driveway but we’re getting some frustration.
He’s whining at a few things:
1) whining/full barking on driveway at people and dogs walking by. I think he gets a burst of excitement from wanting to say hi but doesn’t know what to do so he barks pretty loudly and gets to the point of not taking treats. Takes him a couple minutes to come down after that.
2) whining when trying to transition from driveway to sidewalk. I believe because he gets into the mode of wanting to sniff and explore and then gets frustrated that I’m asking so much from him.
He gets super distracted by grass, so I’m trying to work on “walk with me” on the road, beside the grass and then once he gives me eye contact I let him “go sniff” as a reward. The season doesn’t help cause there’s lots of leaves rolling around the road that he wants to be a puppy and chase. I sometimes let him chase it and other times ask more of him to have some self control but maybe he’s too young for me to ask that?
Any advice appreciated, thanks so much. Also, is this normal for a 6 month old? Or should I be taking this more seriously to prevent reactivity?
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