My 10 month old male sits down and won't walk any further!

Hey corgi people :-)

I would really like some help on how to handle my otherwise sweet little teenage corgi.

When we go for walks, he is very eager to get going and he loves to get out. But sometimes, apparently at random places, he just sits down and won't walk any more. It can be before we are even out the driveway, when we are halfway or on the way home. There doesn't seem to be a clear pattern.

We have tried to be stubborn and turn our backs at him and just wait for him to come up to us, but that rarely helps and, if so, it can take up to 10 min before he comes. We have also tried to use very exciting voices saying "come on boy, come [name]" etc. and we have tried with delicious treats. We have also tried to pick him up and walk a bit away (because sometimes it seems that he enjoys sitting there looking at traffic, ducks or whatever there is), but he continues to sit down anyways (on the next walk) and now he has started to "bite" (not hard, more like a warning) after us if we try to pick him up.
So, it seems to us that nothing really helps.

We really don't want to use our "come here"-command, even though it probably would work (due to the fact that we save the most delicious treats for that), because we don't want to learn him that sitting down and being stubborn pays off.

So, do you have some advice for us? How do we deal with this in the best way? :-)

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Permalink Reply by Lindsay Graves on August 1, 2014 at 9:04pm

My Annie did this until she was about 6 months old... I just used to bring treats with me, praise her when she was being cooperative and eventually she learned to love walks. They're just stubborn little dogs. :)

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Permalink Reply by Gitte Rasmussen on August 3, 2014 at 10:30am

They definetly are ;-) And we know that, but a little advise on how to handle it the best can be nice now and then!
It is good to hear that there is hope ;-) haha

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Permalink Reply by Ivy on August 1, 2014 at 10:34pm

Try skipping away - ein was stubborn like that but something about a skip, she can't resist running after me!

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Permalink Reply by Gitte Rasmussen on August 3, 2014 at 10:33am

Hehe it worked when he was smaller but now it isn't fun enough for him anymore. It was so nice and easy when it worked though ;-) Thanks for the reply anyways!

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Permalink Reply by Priss, Charlie & Kaylee (PK) on August 3, 2014 at 1:13pm

We call it the "passive-aggressive flop". Kaylee still does it at 2.5 yrs old unfortunately. ::sigh:: Here are a few things that helped us:

1) A martingale collar, so that when she flops she couldn't slip out really helps and prevents me from needed to even try to pick her up. I think being picked up makes them really uncomfortable. She can slip out of both her harness and flat collar. So, I use the martingale for her walks. 2) Initially we needed to walk with another person who can run in front of her, so she will chase them, and make walking more of a game. 3) We use lower value treats and praise when she does a really good walk even for a few seconds and increase the length of walking by your side necessary to get a treat as training progresses. I wouldn't reward getting up from a flop though. 4) Walking in cooler weather (less than 65F) also helps. Anything hotter and our pup runs to the shade and refuses to move. At this time of year, we generally limit walks to the mornings with short play sessions later in the day. Remain conscious of the heat and whether he seems over-heated.