[Ben H]

Our dogs are now just over 6 months old. We only take them short walks as advised by the breeder and they absolutely love going out.

What they dont like is coming back home. As soon as they see the house they stop and it takes an age to get them to the front door. They even sit down on the drive which is probably hilarious for the neighbours to watch, but quite frustrating for us!

any ideas?

cheers

Ben

 

[MollyMcFrecklesMom]

It's funny you ask that question, Ben. I have the same issue...it happened this afternoon after our daily walk. It's worse when we go to Petsmart. Molly gets a ton of attention from the employees (she's been going there since she was about 9 weeks old) and she won't budge to go out the door. Once she sat in the middle of the lot and I couldn't get her to budge.

I don't have an answer for you and am anxious to hear suggestions. You aren't alone with this problem

 

[Annie714]

Ha! Annie used to just lay down when we started heading home from the park. She did this all the way until she turned one year and then the switch flipped I guess and she realized that she will eventually get to go back to the park. One thing that helped was that after park time was meal time. So she knew that going home had a happy reward.

 

[jaleely]

yup you have to bribe them *lol* just feed them a meal right after walking and they get in the house, or tell them they get a treat and give them one.
"cookie" is a very persuasive word in our home...and they are always glad to get home, because usually it's not too far from meal time!

 

[CatherineM]

Bribery is about the only thing that works when they are in sit down mode. They can get heavier than a dump truck when they want to.

 

[roscolaylamommy]

We have a similar problem when trying to get the dogs to come in after being out in the back yard. For a while the promise of a treat seemed to work (and sometimes still does). Now we've had to resort to telling them fibs, such as "Daddy's home" (but that's recently lost it's charm) and the current trick is saying "Hi Joey" (this is the neighborhood cat that they're VERY interested in). Layla is my worst offender. Tonight, she made me walk all the walk across the yard and "escort" her back to the house. Good luck!

 

[LY909]

I have the opposite problem. Porter is super lazy and he enjoys staying at home. I can't get him to enjoy the park next door, he'll just sit on the sidewalk. But if I say 'lets go home!', he couldn't run fast enough. Hahaha Guess my Porter is much lazier than all your dogs.

 

[Tuesday]

Maybe they will enjoy sniffing around in the yard for a little before they go inside.

 

[Herzo]

How old is Porter.I have had 4 Bassets and not one of them has been this way.Although they tend to get more this way when they get older.It's not that they don't want to go though, it's where we go.If it's the same old place it's BORING!Does any one have this problem.Every one of mine have been this way.Maybe Porter needs a friend.A more exiting place to go.

 

[Tuesday]

Is it true that male bassets are known to be less active than females? Just wondering

 

[Ben H]

Its nice to know our dogs arent the only ones then! I think the issue is, is that there are two of them and they egg each other on - very intelligent animals. They did the same again today, sat outside opposite the house. Unfortunately to get to the back garden you have to go through the house so I cant let them run in the yard.

 

[LY909]

Hi Herzo, Porter just turned 4 yrs old in Jan. I adopted him last summer so I am really not sure of his background. He is friendly with people and other dogs so I don't think he is afraid of going outside. I have a local dog friendly park across the street from my apartment and there are dogs in the park often. He have played with the dogs there before and they are friendly. But Porter just doesn't like being outside, he enjoys staying at home. It is very strange. People always assumed he is old but he isn't.

 

[Herzo]

I guess that's where the couch potato came from.Does he want to go with you when you leave the house?

 

[LY909]

He would only go outside for about 15 mins, and then he'll want to go home. I think he is just a lazy dog since there is nothing physically wrong with him.

 

[Wworm]

Ben, same issue here with Worm, who is just a tad older, almost 8 months now...

While carrying around treats to try to work on "Drop" command to get him to stop eating sticks, we inadvertently solved this issue of not wanting to go home... now we just dangle the treat and he comes in with us (gets up from lying down and runs in, actually). turns out he's a lot more mobile than he looks!

 

[Kirska]

Anabelle is the laziest dog I've ever known but I see this problem with her too. We don't cross the street so that she doesn't get comfortable going in the street; we just go up our block and turn around. Whenever it comes time to turn back around and go home she starts to pull backwards.