Newly adopted 1 1/2 year old newfie boy

[PLSHEFF]

Hi, I am brand new here.  We adopted a 1 1/2 year old male newfie about 2 weeks ago.  We absolutely adore him, but have a few 'issues'...He adores my husband most of all - he follows him everywhere.  BUT, whenever we have put a leash on him and tried to take him for a walk or wherever... he will at some point just decide to lay down, and will NOT get up... not for treats, not for nothin! And this boy is BIG (i suspect he did not get much exercise and is overweight - he lived in a little tiny yard-- unsure if he was allowed in the house, but from his counter surfing, i suspect not).  Soo, what do we DO when he lays down? how do we get him to get UP? sometimes he will lay down for an hour, while we try to coax him to get up!  It happens anytime we take him on a leash... i almost wonder if he has never been leashed?? but i don't know (the family we adopted him from did not speak good English).  I was told he had obedience training as a pup, and I realize it will take some time to get used to us, but he seems very happy here with us from what i can tell.. It is getting very frustrating, and we don't want to not be able to take him anywere!  Help??!

[chaos270]

Welcome to the fun of newfy adolescence.  Luckily Kali's somewhat past that stage.  What worked with Kali was to walk away and ignore her.  Pretend you're doing something fun without him and curiosity  will prevail.  I'm suprised food isn't working. Does he have a favorite toy or react to squeekers because that may help too. Look up the thread on newfy adolescense because I believe there's some good advice there plus some support in the fact you'll realize your not alone.

[Lyn]

We had a similar problem with our Saint Bubba. On walks he's the energizer bunny. But in the house if he's laying down good luck moving him.

Bubba is very treat motivated usually.. but when he got in those moods you couldn't budge him for anything.

So I taught him the "UP" command. I discovered hotdog weiners got him moving. So I held a pieces of it in front of his nose. As he started to get up I added "Up" Good boy Bubba "Up" haha. Now all I have to do is give him the command and he will get up.

Might be worth a try. Or substitute the food for a toy like Chaos mentioned.

[Binky]

We have a similar problem with Binky, our Pyr.  She hates to get up to go out at night and in the morning.  I find that if I stick my feet under her and wiggle my toes while gently lifting up. it usually bothers her into getting on her feet.  If not, I stick my hands under her and kind of poke her(gently).  It sounds kind of mean but it's effective!

[newflvr]

LOL!!  I can't help but laugh because we went through the same thing with our first Newf, Otis. Is there anything that makes you feel more stupid that standing on the sidewalk trying to get that giant, lazy load to move?

 The advice everyone has given is great!  Lots of encouragment, treats, walking away like you were going someplace really, really fun could all work.  You just have to find his motivator.  I think he's just seeing who is the boss...and once he lays down, there is no doubt!  Also, check with your vet.  My guy, Cowboy is exercise intolerant (a whole different issue) and can only go a short distance before he just gets too tired.  He has health issues, though so it's understandable .

[AC]

Angus, who is 17 months old, is not really food motivated (only when he wants to be) and has the habit of going out for his late night potty and then lying down and refusing to move (he really wants to sleep outside). I do the same thing as Binky suggested, put my foot under his side, pull my toes up. After an hour of doing that Angus finally gets up. Just kidding, I only have to do it a couple of times .

[macybean]

Aww. I can't imagine with a Newf! When I first got Sadie, she was almost a year old, and apparently out of shape (or didn't like the spring heat). Anyway, she'd lay down, too, and even at just over 50 pounds at the time, she was hard to move (she's 60 pounds now but looks slimmer than before; she's a muscular little dog). We'd just try to get her excited to get up. The problem was, she'd usually make it through half the walk before deciding to lay down, but once she did, she'd lay down every few minutes after that. It took quite a while to get home some days!

[longshadowfarms]

Why do you think he does this?  Is he too tired?  Is he refusing to do what you ask?  If you think he's too tired, shorten up your walks.  Our Pyr was terribly out of shape when he came.  He was thin though so we weren't battling that as well.  We started with very short walks, a couple hundred feet up the road.  We did that for a week or so, then increased it to maybe 1/4 mi total, then every week or so we'd go a little farther.  Give him time to get in shape and work on reducing his weight at the same time.  Before you know it he'll be raring to go!  Some days now I almost levitate when Carter gets excited about his walk 

If you think he's refusing to do what you ask, you have a battle of wills going on that you need to learn to win.  If the annoying toes under the belly don't work, have one person get in front pulling, another behind to give a push.  Then just physically manhandle him to get his furry butt up off the ground.  After a few determined tries, he'll likely figure out that you mean business and go along easier.  Carter pulled this stunt as well.  If he didn't want to do what I wanted, he'd just lay down.  That's a LOT of dog to try to physically move but with a bit of leverage and careful planning, it can be done.  A pinch collar might help but I find that with just a regular collar, if you can keep them up on their chest and get your leash pulling from under their chin, they usually will get up.  It does take a good effort a few times but the persistence will pay off.  He just needs to learn that you aren't going to let him get away with it and that you will keep annoying him until he does what you want   Not much different than raising kids

[PLSHEFF]

Thanks everyone - I am definitely going to try the "toes under the newf" trick...I don't think he lays down because he is tired... it almost seems like the minute he feels a tug and realizes he is on a leash is when he lays down.  We've been afraid to walk away.. don't know if he'll just leave town!  We have walked short distances away but that doesn't motivate him to get up.  We took him to Petsmart after we first got him... he laid down in the dog food aisle, it took us over an hour to get him up! -- the trainers couldn't get him up... nobody could.  He'd get up for a second, move a foot, and lay back down.  And we tried all different kinds of toys and treats there that didn't work.  So some guys that worked there went and got one of those pallet carts... and we loaded his big butt on there and had to roll him out!

[longshadowfarms]

I don't think he lays down because he is tired... it almost seems like the minute he feels a tug and realizes he is on a leash is when he lays down. ...
We took him to Petsmart after we first got him... he laid down in the dog food aisle, it took us over an hour to get him up! -- the trainers couldn't get him up... nobody could.  He'd get up for a second, move a foot, and lay back down.  And we tried all different kinds of toys and treats there that didn't work.  So some guys that worked there went and got one of those pallet carts... and we loaded his big butt on there and had to roll him out!

The pallet picture is pretty funny, but it almost sounds like perhaps there is a fear element to it??  That's pretty wild!  If it is due to fear of some sort, he'll probably work out of it as he becomes more secure with you.  Perhaps keep working on leash around the house where there's no major problem if he does drop and stop  LOL!  I know we used tuna fish as a motivator with our second Pyr when he'd get into situations where we needed to swap for something he shouldn't have and there was danger of losing body parts   

[jabear]

I don't think he lays down because he is tired... it almost seems like the minute he feels a tug and realizes he is on a leash is when he lays down.  We've been afraid to walk away.. don't know if he'll just leave town!

First of all....hahahah ahahahahahah! That is so funny. It reminds me of the Newf on the Dog Whisperer epsiode who refused to walk or eat. I agree with all the other advice but mabe you should try not feeding him. Not for a long time but for a bit. Eventually he'll get hungry and then you can feed him and do the positive reward system. And who knows, if you can get him outside for a small walk he might just love it so much that he can't stop. 

I'm Jaime by the way and have a 4 year old Newf named Bear. Sometimes when he refuses to move I just tell him that I'm leaving and will "see ya later". He usually gets sad and runs after me. Another trick I use to get his big booty to move is to ask him if he wants to race. I know, sounds dumb right? I swear though, the minute I say it he looks at me and we run and run. Sadly, I always lose. 

[wiss329]

Funny story. 

The stopping repeatedly in the middle of a walk happened to us when we adopted our Max at about five months too.  We didn't know when, where, how often, and for how long it would happen.  Luckily at that age, we could still pick him up and carry him short distances.  However, it's not fun trying to coax a dog up (sometimes unsuccessfully) who has planted themselves in the middle of a parking lot. 

I think for Max the laying down was a combination of a battle of wills and fear.  Maybe the same for you?

Best thing for us was a pinch collar and training.

[PLSHEFF]

So I tried the 'toes under the newf" when he was in the house today, and he got right up... we'll have to try it out on a walk tomorrow and see if it works there.  I thought I'd get him a harness too, in case it has something to do with the tugging on the neck>..?  What do you think?  Today he got a bag of bread off the counter... and when i grabbed it to take it away from him, he decided it was play time - so i had one end of the bag, he had the other, and he started shaking it... yup, bread all over.  Also thinking we need one of those bar height tables.. since he can just set his head right on the table when we are eating, and drools all over it.  YUM.  oh, and what about water bowls??  Do ALL newfiew have to dump over every bowl of water they see?  What do y'all use for water bowls?  He dumps ANY bowl of water over, and then lays in the puddle he makes!!   The only other REAL problem we have is that when Rocky goes up to our lil dogs, and barks at them -- he wags his tail and wants to play - but they are still pretty intimidated by him and try to bite him, which gets him even more excited... and one of the lil dogs is a rescued chihuahua who was abused, and she just cannot handle it.  What is the best thing to do when he does this??
AND Thanks all for the help - really glad i found this place! 

[horsepoor21]

Your pooch sounds like a real character ! LOL About the water bowl , I have completely given up trying to keep one in the house , it never stayed full for longer than 10 seconds , Allie just puts them big ole paws in there and dumps it all over the floor , so I just keep a bucket full outside and the dogs drink when they go out ( I'm a stay at home mom so they are able to go out often) . But now that it's starting to get so cold here and their bucket's starting to freeze I *guess* I'll have to let them have on inside again .... ugh , time to play slip and slide acrossed the kitchen floor again ! LOL 

[jabear]

oh, and what about water bowls??  Do ALL newfiew have to dump over every bowl of water they see?  What do y'all use for water bowls?  He dumps ANY bowl of water over, and then lays in the puddle he makes!!  

Hahahahah! Yes, yes, yes...you do own a Newfie. Kitchen lakes & wet doggies come with the territory.  We have huge bowls for water in the kitchen and when we had an outside faucet he'd drink from there.