Phobia of Walking/Harness?

Hello everyone

My 6 month old pup has been taken for walks for about 2 months now (I had to wait a few weeks when I had her as she hadnt had her injections). Anyway she has always been a reluctant walker, its difficult to get her out of the house, and for the start of the walk keeps sitting down or sniffing, anything to not have to walk. When we get a decent distance away from home shes ok and loves to see people and other dogs. I even take her to a big field with toys and she shows little interest. When off lead on the field she stays very close to me as if she is insecure.

I started with very short walks, and do between 20 and 30 mins in the morning and 10 mins at night, bearing in mind most of the walking time is her actually refusing to move.

This last week she has been worse, shaking and cowering as soon as I put harness on. So havent taken her for a walk since Friday (its wednesday now) - and without walks she has been a lot calmer? Not biting as much? Very loving.

The harness is a sign she might either be going for a walk or I am putting her in the car.

She doesnt like going in the car - I have to lift her to put her in and she does show signs of stress in the car but not sick or anything and have kept it to short journeys where there is a reward at the end - i.e. going to visit people, dog training with her puppy friends (which she loves) and play dates with other dogs. So shouldnt be a huge negative reaction to the car.

I was thinking perhaps the harness is uncomfortable, I have 3 so tried them all on. Two of them make her shake and cower, the other one she seems bit happier with and actually fell asleep in in yesterday. So gently trying to get her used to that one and also tried the lead attached to it yesterday and she had a play.

So thinking now to keep attaching the lead without walking and plenty of treats and cuddles to try and make it positive again. Then move onto trying a walk.

Am I going in the right direction?

I would say so yes, trying to get her used to the harness and lead around the house and garden sounds like a good idea. I haven't had a pup personally but I;m sure other will have experienced similar and have some tips  

Agreed it sounds like you are on the right track Lots of treats when the harness is out and on her and get her doing lots of positive things while she is in it!
It took a while for Bane to understand that going out of the house was a good thing and now loves walks, but runs away from us when we get his harness out so we are too treating him when we put it on etc

Sounds like the right course of action to me. Suki was terrified of trains and cars when we got her. She would wear a collar but would always try to bite the harness.