Hi,

My otherwise lovely Chow Chow has started disobeying me on his walks recently- when distracted or when he does not want to go in the direction we are heading to he lies down flat on the pavement and refuses to move. He weighs 30kg so it is impossible for me to move him.

Thanks in advance,
Maya

My choices would be Ross McCarthy (London Dog Behaviour Centre) or Steve Mann (Alpha Dog Training School)

Good choices above. Have you tried simply bringing some nice food along with you on walks, and working on a command like 'This way!' or 'Let's go'? Change up the routine a lot of reward for the tiniest inclination to follow. You may not need to have a behaviourist for it

Chirag Patel

Welcome

I can`t help feeling a good training book might suffice.
How about The Culture Clash by Jean Donaldson?

__________________
Pet Portraits and People Portraits!
www.sitandfidgetarts.co.uk

let him go a couple of days without food. When he lies down and refuses to move, wave a piece of lovely, smelly chicken in front of his nose. He'll follow you then. You might also see an attitude change as well

Let him go a couple of days without food? Sorry, but I whole-heartedly disagree with starving a dog to train.

A dog can go a lot longer than a couple of meals and it's only the once. Not forever.

Well, so can we, but I still don't think it's right to do so in aid of training. Principally because it has little to do with training and learning anymore, IMO, and more to do with pushing a dog to a point where they have to make the decision you want. Training should be fun and rewarding, I don't think making a dog exceptionally hungry so much that they have to do something we want is taking care of their welfare and well-being.

Dogs will not "starve" if not fed for a couple of days.

I prefer to use the term "fast" as it is more appropriate and of course fasting can be very therapeutic.

I do not know of any dog that would be "exceptionally hungry" after a couple of days without food and I do not know of any that would actually REFUSE food for that long.

Not ALL training is fun, there are some things that are not "fun" at all but are necessary.

So, training a dog to leap through hoops of burning fire is not necessary and if a dog did not do that freely I would not bother, nobody will die if it does not do it.

Training a dog not to go out of the front door or car before it is safe to do so is potentially life saving, so I do not care if this training is "fun" or not. It is not a request.