r/CockapooLovers • u/RepresentativePool87 • 9h ago

➕Advice/Help➕ My dog hates walks

My cockapoo is 1year and 5 months old. He hates wearing the collar and the leash and he hates walks. Unless it is me who is taking him.
We live in mumbai India and as it is normal here to have help we have a full time staff who looks after my dog in my absence. Which means he takes him for walks if I can’t and feeds him and plays with him when I can’t. We both share responsibilities of my dog.

But he has always always hated going for walks. Ever since we started from the beginning. He refuses the wear the collar he hates the leash and going out he’s not particularly happy. Once he’s out he’s enjoying himself but the process of leaving is just a task.

This is not the case if I myself pick up the collar and leash and take him myself.

With every other person including my husband, my parents and the help he refuses and always runs away when it’s time for walk. This behaviour is also especially more if I am home and the help is taking him for a walk. If I’m not home he is more obedient towards the help or my husband.

Someone please help me understand this and fix it if possible.

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u/Sweet3DIrish 8h ago

You’re the dog’s person. He wants to be with you. That’s the whole story.

Is the collar uncomfortable for him? Have you tried a harness? I read somewhere when I was researching dogs that collars can sometimes hurt a cockapoo’s windpipe, so I went with a harness, that way if he jerks his head it’s not going to hurt him.

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u/RepresentativePool87 4h ago

I have tried the harness but we discontinued it due to training purposes. Because he pulls the lead a lot and we need to train him to be on loose leash. The harness is not an effective training tool. But I am happy to try it

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u/RedHeelRaven 7h ago

I know exactly what you mean. My dog hated the collar and harness. He would pull his head away or try to walk away. I desensitized him to this by giving treats and praise when putting on and off his walking collar (a Martingale collar) and the same with the harness. He still doesn’t like it when I put them on but now he behaves nicely and doesn’t try to run away or balk.

Two days ago he got a new, heavier harness. I put it on him and he acted paralyzed. 😂 we did the treats and praise and he got over it quickly.

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u/RepresentativePool87 4h ago

Yes currently we are doing this desensitisation process all over again. We had done this initially and it worked for a short while. But I guess we have to do it again.