Dog Refuses to Walk

You put on your shoes, clip the leash, and your dog lies down in the middle of the street and will not get up. Or he freezes the second the harness appears, or plants himself at the end of the driveway, or turns into dead weight when you point toward home. You have tried stop-and-go, treats, coaxing and waiting, and strangers keep telling you he is just being stubborn. Dog Refuses to Walk is a calm, force-free guide to figuring out why your dog stops and what to do about it. It is about the dog who freezes, sits, lies down or goes limp, which is a different problem from a dog who pulls or lunges, so you will not be sent back through leash-pulling drills or reactivity protocols. Inside, you'll learn: How to tell pain and illness, fear, over-stimulation and plain low motivation apart, and when the vet comes first How to read the small stress signals that show up before the freeze What to do in the moment when your dog lies down in the street, without dragging or pleading How to make the harness and leash predictable, step by step, for a dog who goes limp or hides How to get a puppy or adult dog over the doorstep, out of the yard and back home again How to build walks your dog actually wants to take, with routes, sniffing, pace and rewards Why a dog may walk with one person but not another, and how to fix the handler side of the leash A four-week plan, a setback guide, and a Quick Reference you can keep on your phone Patient, practical and kind to both ends of the leash, this book helps you stop standing on the pavement wondering what you are doing wrong and start moving forward, one comfortable step at a time.

Imad Muratspahic is an independent author of practical how-to guides, technical handbooks, history and fiction. The books aim to be clear, honest and useful from the first page.