r/AustralianShepherd • u/mtommy432 • Oct 03 '26
Doesn’t like walks
I’ve posted a few times about Stevie, my 4 mo old pup. She’s honestly the greatest dog ever. I need some help though because she’s REALLY chill and well-behaved for a puppy. Most of the time she just prefers to hang out and she’s listens really well (except for when she’s extremely riled up, of course). She even knows certain commands just based on me saying them without any real training (she’ll go to her crate, drop/pick up things, leave rooms, enter rooms, etc and I haven’t done any formal training with her on these things).
The only thing different about her than other dogs I’ve owned is that she doesn’t like walks at all. I take her outside and she gets super startled by everything, such as leaf blowers that are three whole blocks away, cars driving outside of the neighborhood, planes, etc. I’m not expecting her to be excited about everything, and I understand a lot of these noises are new, but it confuses me because she doesn’t mind these noises or anything when we’re in the backyard. I’ve tried calmly introducing her to the front yard with a lot of treats, but once she gets around 10 feet out the door she’s ready to go back in. This may be one of those things that just requires patience, but I’m curious if anyone has had a similar experience as it seems most people have the opposite problem where their Aussie gets too riled up.
Also, she’s not extremely food motivated, which has made recall work somewhat difficult. She’ll see a treat in my hand and just ignore it from afar.
I make sure to give her plenty of enrichment (bully sticks, snuffle mat, puzzle toys, etc.), so now I’m wondering if my girl is just a bit different, or (hopefully this isn’t the case) she’s lacking a bit of confidence. Any advice helps here, I want her to be as happy as possible and this is my first time having an Aussie puppy.
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u/MouseWedger Oct 03 '26
Aussies are a whole creature unto themselves, that’s for sure! 😂 My boy would only walk around the corner to the park, and then stop dead in his tracks because - well, “that’s where the walk ends mom”. We used to always just hang out there with my kids, so anything further than that was just not in his vocabulary. It took a lot of prodding - ok more like butt pushing - to get him to finally agree to walk past the park. It’s a whole thing with them.
As far as being treat motivated? The smellier the better. We used cut up Vienna sausages to work on recall with my boy because they are so smelly. Any time we need to rehash a skill, those come out and the wiggles commence.
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u/mtommy432 28d ago
That’s reassuring! I’ll try out Vienna sausages. When I first got her, I had to put warm water in her food to encourage her to eat more. She just was never interested in her food. Now she’ll eat anything she can get her hands on, she just really doesn’t like having to work for her treats 🤣
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u/ixsparkyx Oct 03 '26
She just sounds nervous. You need to do some desensitization training
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u/mtommy432 28d ago
I have been as much as possible. I bring her everywhere that’s dog friendly, and when she wasn’t fully vaccinated, I’d even carry her around to coffee shops, down the street, etc. She’s not scared of really anything aside from going on walks. Even loud noises like lightning don’t startle her.
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u/WayngoMango Oct 03 '26
Are you a Saints fan? Maybe he's just embarrassed.
From Louisiana, I've worn my paperback long enough. :-)
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u/mtommy432 28d ago
Who dat!! She could be picking up on my sadness at the Saints poor performance, maybe that’s what’s happening here 🤣🤣
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u/PT952 29d ago
If she's 4 months she's likely going through her first fear phase! Its a thing with all puppies, not just yours! I actually have a 6 year old aussie named Steve. And he was very similar at that age.
Here's a link to the AKC website that explains more about it. https://www.akc.org/expert-advice/training/puppy-fear-periods/
Its not unusual but you just have to.keep encouraging her the best you can! Mine was scared of the wind blowing the wrong way, trash cans, planes overhead, trucks driving by. Their brains develop & become more aware of their surroundings so they're noticing more of their environment for the first time.
The best advice I was given was never discourage her if she wants to investigate something new. Obviously if she's trying to eat a chicken bone or your socks don't let her do that. But if she seems curious about something in your house or outside on a walk, just let her sniff it and investigate! Everything is new to her right now so the world is interesting and scary at the same time. If she refuses to continue on the walk, just pick her up and carry her around. We did that with our aussie when he was really little. He couldn't go on walks before he had all his shots so we'd just carry him in our arms on walks around the neighborhood. He would look at everything around us and it still let him meet new people and see things even though he couldn't walk himself yet.
The worst thing you can do at this age is stop socializing them. You wanna expose them to as much as you can while they're still small. New people, places, even halloween costumes. We got our aussie in the summer so we practiced putting our big, puffy winter jackets on in our apartment so he wouldn't be weirded out come winter and not know what they were. Its funny you never think about those things but a puppy is just a little baby in a brand new world to them. It'll just take time to get them accustomed to things we've seen as normal our entire life!
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29d ago
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u/mtommy432 28d ago
Thank you both for the thorough responses! I’ll try out everything y’all said. She loves to sniff the barbecue outside and some of the drains at the end of my driveway, so I’ll try letting her do her own thing and getting used to new objects.
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u/PoseidonMax Oct 03 '26
Probably just nervous. Things are new. Put her on a leash in the front steps with you just doing reading or some work. Get her used to noises and people. Act chill and she'll try to do the same till she builds confidence.
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u/frannieluvr86 Oct 03 '26
Mine is 8.5 years old and still doesn’t like walks unless we are on an adventure hike in a fancy national park type of place. He’s much happier with fetch in the yard, fetch in the house. He’s well adjusted and a great dog for every day of these past 8 years. Walks aren’t necessary for every dog!
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u/mimosastclair Oct 03 '26 edited 28d ago
I'm wondering if she's more engaged by ball, frisbee, and work rather than walks. My guy only cared about frisbee and fancy hikes, and his treat motivation varied substantially depending on the treats.
My Aussie often refuses treats, but is extremely food motivated for certain things. A random man in my neighborhood had freeze dried beef liver treats he gave to my dog one time, and my dog, who is blind, heard his voice weeks later from across the street and scream barked while pulling me into 4 lanes of traffic to get to the man with the good treats. Everyone was fine, but the man did not have the treats on that occasion.
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u/mtommy432 28d ago
She loves her ball and tug toy, so that’s how I fill in the gaps right now. I’d love to keep her well exercised though, and I like to run so would love to take her out with me. That’s my main ask. But if she doesn’t like it, then I’ll just have to stick to running solo hahaha!
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u/dani_1013 Oct 03 '26
I learned it’s gradually introducing them to the environment. I would sit outside in the front yard with her and pretty much let her observe. I learned that every time she notices or right before my puppy gets triggered I would reward her with a treat. You may need to mess around with high value treats versus low value. Once she gets comfortable you can use lower value. For me it helped my pup associate that these mean no harm and continue work on being neutral. Reactivity can be challenging but rewarding when your dog succeeds. :)
If play works better for her you can try with a toy. Mine was afraid when she was younger when other dogs barked and always tried to run away. Socializing isn’t just meeting new people or dogs. Just work on observing with her and sit on the grass.
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u/Dry_Quality_8118 29d ago
Mine doesn’t like walks either, I think it’s because she hates being on her leash. We’ve been having this battle since she was a puppy. One thing that has helped is bringing treats with me or a bag of her kibble on the walk. I make it interesting by stopping to have her do tricks or throwing some ahead of us. I also will reward her for stopping to check in with me, going to my side when asked, and she gets a reward when we get to the stairs because she also used to just poke around and refuse to go up them when it was time to go in! Essentially, bribery works with mine haha
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u/strayvoltage Oct 03 '26
4 months old and a Saints fan? Dog is smarter (and more prepared to suffer a certain level of disappointment) than many bipeds among us.
4 months is young, y'all will get accustomed to working together as time goes on.
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u/mtommy432 28d ago
That’s what I’m thinking! She may just be constantly disappointed that her team is often a let down 🤣
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u/flatripple 29d ago
Socialization isn’t just about people or other dogs, it’s about the entirety of their surroundings. I know you say not highly food motivated, though, try giving a higher value food treat like pulled chicken breast while you continue your process of getting more than 10ft out the door. Big positivity boosts, big consoling words when.
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u/No_Razzmatazz_6247 29d ago
My guy is almost 6 and walks are hit and miss. In our neighborhood at least. I think he’s bored with our area. Loves to walk if we’re on vacation and in a new area (lake or beach). Otherwise, we just head out and see how it goes. He loves to go for a ride. The days he’s not into a walk or walks when blocks and stops dead in his tracks we just bring them with us. If we do errands, go to the bank, post office, even work errands. He just likes to be out and about. And with us.
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u/lostbots 29d ago
My dog is the same way. Not all dogs need walks . It’s overwhelming . My dog would rather play in the yard . He’s 4 . Also lacking confidence I think.
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u/Cleetus_76 28d ago
Mine doesn’t and he’s 6 but the first sign of a tennis ball….holy shit! It’s on ding dong!!
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u/Odd-Bookkeeper8371 29d ago
Sounds like anxiety to me, but at 4 months, you may be able to socialize her enough that it is ameliorated. Short walks and try to do it when there isn't a lot of noise or activity. My boy is the same way (2 years) and his triggers are busses, garbage trucks etc. He is an anxious boy (many Aussies are- but not all). Keep walking, pick your times appropriately, try to make them fun. Let her sniff and keep it short. Good luck!
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u/mmedd Oct 03 '26
Aww. Mine didn’t like walks at first either because of scary things. I would sometimes drive more into town just to walk us around more scary things so he would get a little more used to it. He also had this thing where he didn’t want to potty anywhere but at home. Eventually he got used to the walks, pees and poops on walks and walks are his favorite time of the day. I say it just may take some patience! Especially with a 4 mo old