Dog walking problem

kylie123

Hope someone can help. I have a little puppy - 4 months old. He is a border collie, very active, very friendly and needs to be walked everyday. However,
he growls & barks at people that approach him. He wont walk alongside me, he pulls ahead or sits down where I have to pull him along. How can I get this pup to walk along with me so as I'm not hurting him by pulling him and he's not pulling out of me and getting him to stop barking at people that may approach us. Any help would be great.

DBB

Hi Kylie123,
This is a problem that needs to be addressed asap, as it will get worse and you could end up with a big, serious problem on your hands. Is the pup a little wary of visitors to the house too?
Are you in a position to get a qualified behaviourist out to help you? This sort of problem tends to benefit hugely from professional intervention as early as possible.
If you can't, then you need to get working really, really hard on the pup's obedience around the house. Get a very reliable Sit established, using food lures, in the house first, then as he improves, increasing the level of distraction by going out to the garden, and then out into the big bad world. If you used fairly neutral treats around the house, start to use really valuable food treats outside to hold the pup's attention: chicken, baked liver, sausage, ham etc (small, pea-sized bits).
Now, it would really help if you could go to an open space, and bring some "stooge" people with you, who can pretend to be normal pedestrians! Make sure they stay a good distance away from you at first. As they walk past, say 50m or more away, get pup to sit, using that delicious food lure. Do this again and again and again, holding his attention onto you with the food. The foundation work you have already done at home is critical for success here: don;t try to short-cut the early work!
As long as pup is remaining focusse don you when the "stooge" people are walking past at 50+m, they can now start to come a little closer. If pup starts to react to them, you've tried too much too soon, so get the stooge person to back off a bit.
Eventually, build him towards the point where the "stooge" people can approach fairly close, AND throw a piece of nyummy food towards the pup. Get them to vary their clothing, the way they walk etc, and eventually graduate pup onto genuine strangers. Then move onto moving to footpaths, and do exactly the same exercise: ask for a sit, keep pup focussed on you, and popp the treat into his mouth as they pass.
Don't rush to get to this stage though: your pup will tell you you're going too fast because he'll start reacting to the passers by again.
Re pulling on the lead: try a front-attachment harness (Halti Harness; Easy-Walk Harness; Sensible Harness). THese are nice, gentle bits of gear that give you more control immediately, and allow you to then start working on loose-lead walking.
All of the above can be difficult to do in reality of you haven't done it before, which is why if you can get a good behaviourist in, it'll make it alot easier to be shown what needs to happen.
Good luck!

kylie123

Thanks so much DBB - I'll certainly try what you've suggested.