FinkleyAlex
Well-Known Member
Hi everyone,
I'm the owner of a lovely 3 yr old Alaskan Malamute who has recently started having a few issues. She absolutely lives and breathes for her 'walkies' and is taken out twice a day for a decent 30-40 min walk. However, a few days before bonfire night some people started setting fireworks off early, even during daylight and she began to get spooked and would sit down refusing to budge and then try to spin around and run for home. Feeling sorry for her I usually took a short cut home so she could be inside before more bangs started. Anyway since that day we took her for one long walk in the morning as we couldn't predict when they'd start doing the fireworks again (and she was very scared of them) but once the firework period was over, my dad and I reverted to our twice a day walks.
She now seems to have a phobia of leaving the house, in some sense. Whilst I was at uni, dad was in charge of walking her and he could only get her down to the end of the road and she would sit down and refuse to budge. He tried bribing her with treats, trying to drag her a little (though pulling a fully grown malamute is not easy and doesn't seem to be the answer) but eventually ended up giving up and taking her home. She will also refuse to move if a car door slams, if someone spooks her, if someone comes up from behind her etc. but is much worse in the dark. However if his car door is open she will happily jump in and he will take her to a park where she goes back to herself (whether light or dark) and will walk for hours.
I came back from uni a few weeks ago and tried to take her myself to see if she was any different. She did exactly the same thing to me, I don't think she is taking the P or anything as she genuinely lived for her walks (would go beserk once she saw her harness & lead) so it wouldn't make sense for her to not want to walk. I persisted a bit and sort of gently persuaded her down two roads (with a little pulling) and she began to walk nicely next to me. I've now got to the stage where she will walk out with my in daylight with no probs, but in the evening she gets stubborn and tries to sit down, with the icy conditions we've had it's not safe for me to try and tempt her to walk the way I want her to so I have to take her home.
She goes to training every saturday (by car) and is fine there. The trainer has been somewhat unhelpful and says to keep persisting ie. pull her a little untill she walks.
We are slowly losing our marbles at trying to find out what it is she doesn't like, as somedays cars and motorbikes bother her but other days she is fine. It's quite upsetting as she loved walking and it's no good for her to be stuck inside so we need to get her over it, does anyone have any tips?
I'm the owner of a lovely 3 yr old Alaskan Malamute who has recently started having a few issues. She absolutely lives and breathes for her 'walkies' and is taken out twice a day for a decent 30-40 min walk. However, a few days before bonfire night some people started setting fireworks off early, even during daylight and she began to get spooked and would sit down refusing to budge and then try to spin around and run for home. Feeling sorry for her I usually took a short cut home so she could be inside before more bangs started. Anyway since that day we took her for one long walk in the morning as we couldn't predict when they'd start doing the fireworks again (and she was very scared of them) but once the firework period was over, my dad and I reverted to our twice a day walks.
She now seems to have a phobia of leaving the house, in some sense. Whilst I was at uni, dad was in charge of walking her and he could only get her down to the end of the road and she would sit down and refuse to budge. He tried bribing her with treats, trying to drag her a little (though pulling a fully grown malamute is not easy and doesn't seem to be the answer) but eventually ended up giving up and taking her home. She will also refuse to move if a car door slams, if someone spooks her, if someone comes up from behind her etc. but is much worse in the dark. However if his car door is open she will happily jump in and he will take her to a park where she goes back to herself (whether light or dark) and will walk for hours.
I came back from uni a few weeks ago and tried to take her myself to see if she was any different. She did exactly the same thing to me, I don't think she is taking the P or anything as she genuinely lived for her walks (would go beserk once she saw her harness & lead) so it wouldn't make sense for her to not want to walk. I persisted a bit and sort of gently persuaded her down two roads (with a little pulling) and she began to walk nicely next to me. I've now got to the stage where she will walk out with my in daylight with no probs, but in the evening she gets stubborn and tries to sit down, with the icy conditions we've had it's not safe for me to try and tempt her to walk the way I want her to so I have to take her home.
She goes to training every saturday (by car) and is fine there. The trainer has been somewhat unhelpful and says to keep persisting ie. pull her a little untill she walks.
We are slowly losing our marbles at trying to find out what it is she doesn't like, as somedays cars and motorbikes bother her but other days she is fine. It's quite upsetting as she loved walking and it's no good for her to be stuck inside so we need to get her over it, does anyone have any tips?
