Walking

Whenever I walk Mia we have to stop literally every 5 steps for her to sniff the ground or anything else that takes her fancy I pretty much spend the whole walk coaxing her along and telling her to "leave it" should I be doing more to stop this or just let her sniff? Most people moan that their dogs pull them along non stop but it's the other way around with her I just want her to walk normally really!!

She's still very young & everything's interesting!

I used to just give a little tug every time mine stop & give the trigger word (heel, close, here, whatever you're going to use). Then I'd walk smartly on, talking to them all the time. Once at the park, though, I let them sniff as much as they want.

You could also use streats or a squeeky toy to get her attention when she stops.

Thanks very much i'll persevere with a little tug and lots of praise when she is just trotting along nicely!!

Agree with Caryll a small tug with a corrective command. If you use treats, which we do, hold it in your fist and have her follow you for a bit before giving it to her.

Yes I think they just have to sniff everything in the park, Rocky does this too.

Saxon does that when we walk in the woods. I'm sure there are just a lot of exciting things to sniff!

You'll be alright if you follow the advice given. I'd strongly encourage the treats. I used to be a praise only person but finally saw the light and it is so much easier and less stressful to reward desired behavior than to just try to coax and praise. Sometimes a little treat is all it takes, but like jstaff says, make them follow for a little sniffing at the treat before you let them have it. When I really need an enticing treat I use baked beef heart. Mine goes crazy for it (it actually does smell good).

Ahhh takes me back to the polar winter we had last year when Max was a teeny pup just starting out ... he would stop every other few steps for a supposed sniff ... and it got to the point when we sometimes didnt even bother looking at him, we'd just stop for a couple seconds, then a light tug on the lead and we were off again ... but he went through a fase of havin a sniff, and when we did look down he was stood lookin at us as if to say "well ... tug the lead then" .... little sod!!

Andy wrote: and when we did look down he was stood lookin at us as if to say "well ... tug the lead then" .... little sod!!