Hired for dog walking but dog won't go?

I had a dog like that. He was awful. It was so bad it bordered on comical.

He would let me leash him if I gave him a treat. But, if he managed to get the treat from me before I put his leash on, he would gobble it up and return to his bed. Then, he would do this low growl. (He mouthed my hand once when I tried to put his leash on without showing the treat. A clear threat).

If I did manage to get him outside, he would bolt off the porch, lift his leg to pee at the bottom and then dash back in. Literally less than 20 feet. That was his walk. And, he was huge! I couldn't force him.

It's awful that yours won't even take a treat...

Take the suggestions of walking him with the owner, if that's a possibility and just be consistent. You can't make him walk.

I still charged the full 30 minutes because I did my part. It was not my fault that the dog refused to move. The owner swore that he loved 2 hour walks but I didn't buy it. The substitute sitter had the same issue. Some dogs are just difficult.

You need to make the dog more comfortable and accepting of you. Can I recommend you go to the owners home when they are home several times to see if the dog acts differently with the owner around. If the dog is confident with the owner this may ease any tension between you and the dog. See if you can walk the dog with the owner by your side. And then alone. And have tons of treats in your pockets, Best of luck, winning a hesitant dog over can take time.

Yes! I am having this problem right now with two of my clients.

With both of the dog families the aggressive scared one is the toy breeds in my scenario.

One of them is terrified of the bigger dog in the family. I tried isolating them and was able to get her to the porch when the bigger dog blocked her from the potty area and then she never came out again!

The other dog family felt comfortable with the other dogs but only got half way down the staircase before retreating to the bathroom again after I didn’t give her the treat. 🤷🏻‍♀️

I agree that it takes a relationship and time to win over these dogs but I’m not sure if my owners are willing or able to co-walk.

So my plan is to keep going over and trying, giving a treat if she makes it half way again and then a treat after 3/4 of the way next time, etc. Hopefully it works!

I had this experience recently. During the meet & greet, I walked with the owner to see how she interacted with the dog. She told me that the dog doesn't like to walk or sometimes won't even leave the crate at all because he doesn't want to move. He seemed fine with her, so I asked to hold the leash as the owner walked with us. Still walked fine. Then I asked to walk around the block with him away from her to see how he would react. He seemed fine, though he did keep looking back at her. Overall the meet & greet was good.

On the day of the booking, the dog would not move at all. He was aggressive without her. He bit me when I tried to coax him out of his crate and then bit the leash and wouldn't let it go. He also bit me when I tried to pet him even with treats and toys. He is a Great Dane and I'm not sure if bigger dogs are more prone to this behavior, but I've never had a problem with smaller dogs in regards to this before. I talked to the owner who blamed me, even though she knew her dog's tendency to act like this, and left me a horrible review. If she was nice about it, I could have given him more time to get comfortable by booking more walks, but that takes a lot of patience.

So basically: (1) try holding a treat in front of them to see if they will follow it, and feed it to them once they are where you would like them to go, (2) try making a treat "trail" leading outside, (3) observe during meet & greet to see owner's strategies, (4) ask owner for strategies in getting dog to move and hope she is helpful, (5) if none of the above works, don't re-book, or at least don't do it for free.

Best of luck xx