Help! Afternoon/Evening Walk Trouble
Hi all! Looking for some help or insight if anyone else is experiencing this. My sweet 3 yr old boy has been so great on leash for the last 4 months (adopted him in March) and down to walk wherever. We do two 45 min walks during the day and one 20 min walk right before bed.
Within the last week or so, he has started to become incredibly stubborn on our afternoon and evening walks to the point where we maybe go out for 15 minutes and he’s planting himself and making it nearly impossible to walk in any one direction, but instead looking back at my apartment building. He’s perfectly fine at the dog park and runs around like a wild dog, but these afternoon and evening walks have been so difficult. I can’t only bring him to dog parks either bc we have to drive to them and it just isn’t an option for every walk.
At first I thought it was maybe the heat & humidity, but even in the last couple days it’s been in the 70s and not too bad (like the sidewalk isn’t too hot). I’ve tried luring him with treats but he’s not interested and he just wants to go back into the apartment. We walk with a leash & collar and I’m thinking maybe I need to get him a harness so if I’m pulling him it’s not from his neck. (He has planted himself in the middle of a crosswalk so obvi I don’t want to pull him but I’d also like to safely cross a street). Sometimes I’ve pulled him to keep going and then he goes on his merry way and we keep the walk going, but often he’s pulling to go back home.
Has anyone experienced this or have any suggestions? Do we just accept shorter walks or cut some altogether or do I need to do something to fix this? TIA!
Picture for pup tax.