Walking Freyja is so hard

[HeaveToo]

Many of you may have read my intro in the General Mastiff forum. A quick review of my dog:
Freyja is a 4 month old Maso Mastiff. She is 80% English Mastiff and 20% Cane Corso Mastiff. We have had her about 5 weeks.

She is very anxious about everything and is extremely fearful. My wife and I have been working with her on this a lot and we hired a trainer to work with all of us. Problem was on the first visit Freyja didn't even want to get out of the crate for a long time (spent 45 minutes in the crate). I had to get her out of the crate and it took her forever to even approach the trainer.

I have been walking Freyja a lot lately. She is slowly improving but it has been a lot of work. The problem is that areas where she has been several times are the only place she will really walk. She has one area on a hill near my house where she is a different dog and she walks really confident. She is finally starting to cross the parking lot near my house but she follows behind me until we get close and she gets out ahead quickly.
She has learned sit, down, and touch (3 commands).

When we go to new areas she is hyper attentive to everything except me. In the last week I have finally been able to get calm enough at new places to take treats. I have started getting her into new places and just sitting there for a while. When she calms down I give her treats and work through the commands we have taught her.
Once Freyja is a little calmer I attempt to walk her. She follows behind me and frequently stops and wants to sniff around. She will not keep her attention on me for any period of time though I encourage her to do so.
At this point I am a little frustrated because I would like to walk her more. We are building up her familiar area around my house but this is an incredibly slow thing and it tries ones patience a lot. I am being careful to ignore bad behavior and reward good behavior.

I don't want to start dragging her either. I want her to walk and go along with me. I haven't worked as much on leash stuff as I have been working on commands and her anxiety the most

We haven't even broached this topic with the trainer because we have been focusing on her getting out of the crate. Then again, that was only the first visit from the trainer.

One other thing is that Freyja has a stubborn streak. It is hard to get her to do anything when she sets her mind to not doing it. When she gets into "I'm not doing that" mode then it is a challenge. She does this once in a while, even in the house. An example would be when she is sleeping downstairs and it is time to go upstairs and she doesn't want to get out of her bed. We can call and try to get her to move and she just looks at us. If time doesn't permit I will go and pick her up and move her half way. This is okay now but when she is full grown this will not be fun!

Am I doing the right thing with her as far as leash training? Anyone have any suggestions on how to get her to focus on me?

 

[Jakesmum]

There is lots of great advice on this forum about training your dog to walk on a leash. From my own experience, it was a lot of hard work and patience to be able to even walk around the block when Jake was a pup. He was never on a leash or even had a collar on at the breeder. Different noises would spook him, any type of strange obstacle would spook him, even walking past a motorcycle for the first time was difficult. Even now at 3 there are times that he encounters a new obstacle and he will be wary around it (he nearly ran me into the street once over grass clippings on the sidewalk, I made him walk back and forth over it praising him the whole time so he knew it wasn't going to hurt him). From the sounds of what you are doing with her, lots of positive reinforcement, exposing her to new scenarios and hiring a trainer you are headed in the right direction. Just be calm and have patience the rest will come.

 

[marti1357]

I think you are doing the right things. However, as others said, its a slow process and you are probably frustrated by not seeing immediate results.
She sounds skittish and may be going through a fear period. On the other hand, stubbornness is often present in all Mastiff breeds. It comes with the territory.
I would also give her breeder a call and ask for advice - they should know their dogs.

 

[marti1357]

Yet another one:
Hi .. I have a 4 month old Giant Maso Mastiff. He is absolutely

 

[Mag-Pie]

I think you are doing the right things. However, as others said, its a slow process and you are probably frustrated by not seeing immediate results.
She sounds skittish and may be going through a fear period. On the other hand, stubbornness is often present in all Mastiff breeds. It comes with the territory.

x2 ^^^ I agree.

Keep working with her, and she will improve. She's still very young. Stay calm, patient, and confident. Learn her body language, and don't allow her to become reactive, always monitor proximity between her and everything. AND keep her focused and paying attention to you by redirecting her back to you. As soon as you see her becoming stressed, or about to react, take her out of the situation, and try again at a later time. She needs to learn to trust you, and know that you will take care of her. I would do more structured walks on a shorter lead, and not allow her to sniff around, until I allowed her. Practice just sitting and watching normal life go on from a distance; when walking, turn around and change direction as soon as she starts becoming reactive. Also practice being non-reactive yourself, don't tense up or get frustrated. It will take time, consistency, repetitions, etc., it's definitely not an over night thing. Best wishes!

 

[Hector]

Look up attention games on youtube by kikopup. Also, look up recall games and loose leash walking exercises. All these should help her increase her focus and attention. Start inside and work your way outdoors. First work on duration and then distance and distractions.

She's young and pups are going to be pups. With dogs that are nervous and fearful, they work best with direction and guidance with lots of motivation to build them up.

 

[DennasMom]

She's still a BABY. Keep doing what you're doing. Sounds like you're making progress - even if it is slow, any progress is GOOD progress!

I agree with Hector on recommending youtubes by Kikopup. I like her stuff, too.

Just keep up bonding exercises - "work" on training in small bursts, keep it fun - and relaxing (don't add to her anxiety by wanting too much too soon). Reward all curiosity, confident behaviors and anytime she even looks at you - just a "good girl" or saying "Freyja" in a happy voice is often enough of a reward for the 'look'... just let her know you like what she's doing, and she will want to do it again.

You don't want to be over-exercising on long walks at this age anyway... that will come in a few more months (like 4-10 more) when bones and joints are a bit more ready to take the long walks on hard surfaces.

 

[HeaveToo]

I thought that I should update this some.

So we have discovered our main enemy. Freyja is fearful of large objects like trashcans, mailboxes, etc etc etc. We have a behaviorist now working with us and a lot of progress has been made. There is still a long way to go but she is taking good walks and she is getting better as we go along.

You guys hit the nail in the head with the patience comment. Freyja is extremely perceptive and she can tell if we are frustrated or anxious as well. We have to remain extremely composed and confident to project this to her.

We will continue our training and work. It is hard to keep the behavior stuff fun as she is a bit scared of these things and exposing her to things is not fun for her. We always end on a positive note and I like to break away at the end for a little play.

 

[musicdeb]

Good to hear that she's progressing.