Sitting During A Walk

[Persian Spitz]

My boy and I were walking one afternoon, as we always do, not far about 1km or so, but in this one instance he just stopped and sat down. I gave a slight tug on the lead and called his name but he just sat there. I thought that was a bit strange because he hasn't stopped during walks before. I thought that he hurt one of his hind legs so I went to take a look but when I touched his back side he tried to bite me. An admittedly half hearted attempt at a bite anyway. We stood there for a bit. Then I carried him for about five metres then set him down, and we were on our merry way again.

Is this normal behaviour or is he trying to communicate something?

[poodlefan]

How old is your dog and how far had he walked?

If he's a pup, I'd be looking at it as an indication that he was tired.

[pesh]

Off to the vets for a check up..........best to be safe than sorry.

[persephone]

Very tire and/or sore , would be my guess. A check by vet or canine chiro may be an idea

[oakway]

All of the above it was my dog.

[Persian Spitz]

He's about 18 months old. Our normal route takes us about 2km but on that particular day we went for a shorter 1km walk and about 3/4 of the way, he sat down.

When we got home, I played with him for a while to see if he displayed any other unusual behaviour – ran around the backyard and such, he seemed okay.

[W Sibs]

Definitely a vet check.

I would say that he is tire/sore too.

[~Anne~]

My Boofy does this on every walk and always has. We have never quite worked out why. One minute he is trotting along and then he stops dead suddenly and will not move. He's not sniffing or wanting to toilet, he doesn't sit, he just stops dead and looks at you. You usually have to give a bit of a hard tug and he'll start walking again... sometimes I think he is a little autistic.

Edited October 20, 2010 by ~Anne~

[mita]

My tibetan spaniels have always done this. Dogs can't get rid of the heat generated from exercise by perspiring, as we can. They can only do it by panting. Which is slower.

So they can need some 'breaks' during a long walk, to let the body heat drop a bit. And they may 'sit' to take a break, off their own bat. Even 1 klm counts as a longish distance, for a smaller dog. I actually give my small dogs a break now & again on a longish walk.

Shows up in an even more marked way with the shorter muzzled dogs, because their respiratory systems are that bit more inefficient again, in getting rid of body heat generated from exercise.

Apart from that, I have no idea if your dog has an injury or sore spot.

Edited October 20, 2010 by mita

[~Anne~]

Boofy doesn't do it because of over heating though Mita. He does it even in the dead of Winter and he won't even be panting. He's just a little weird... but we love him anyway.

Edited October 20, 2010 by ~Anne~

[Souff]

I think some of us forget how small dogs legs are in comparison to our own.

Souff

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

One of my dogs has stopped when his knees are sore, I've had another with cruciate ligament issues - best to get a vet to check.

[skip]

Hard to say as I don't know your dog as you do.

When you say that you have gone a different way - does that mean you don't normally go lots of different places? I only ask as my dogs only sit for 2 reasons and it is not heat or tired.

Sometimes they simply want to scratch their bum in public so people think I don't worm them! ( They are thou! )

And the little girl is not confident in newer areas. She can spot a dog she doesn't like (and that is nearly all dogs ) a mile away and stop. Or she just doesn't like this park or that street. She doesn't sit thou - just stops and usually waves the front paw in the air.

So if it happens again I would consider the vet to check joints etc. But I would decide if it is just not a young dog being unwilling as he feels mentally tired. If you change direction when he stops does he then move faster ie: to get back home?

Hope it turns out to be nothing physical.