# Westie used to love walks, now won't go very far



## Nimbus (Jul 8, 2011)

Hey guys, new here and I'm a little confused. First of all, I think I had the closest relationship with my dog out of my family members. When he was younger, I would always play with him and take him for long walks. I continued doing so until I left home 2 years ago for University. My parents don't play with him in the same energetic manner and rarely take him for walks because *walking* him consists of slowing meandering around the neighborhood while he smells things. Basically, my parents had the idea of having me train him when I was 10, and that didn't work well, so he's not properly trained. He'll do anything for food though, since my mom ALWAYS gives him parts of her meal and treats just because he looks cute.Anyway, whenever I've been home to visit, which has been like once a month for the past 2 years, I would take my dog out for long walks like usual. Recently, however, he's started acting strangely. I was home last week, for instance, and I yelled out "WALK?!?". He got all excited as per usual and ran towards me, tail wagging... but then we went outside, took a few steps, a truck turned into a nearby back alley, my dog noticed and looked, we took another few steps, but before we could leave my property, he high tailed it to the door and proceeded to pace back and forth along the door until I opened it. When I took the leash off, he ran under the table. I thought maybe he was spooked from the guy in the drive way. So 20 minutes later I take him out again, and same thing, he doesn't want to go anywhere. I ended up getting a phone call and stayed outside for a couple of minutes, all the while my dog was pulling on the leash in the direction of the door/sat down facing the door when he was at max leash length. When I hung up my phone, he dragged me to the house and started pacing the door until I opened it, then he ran under the table. I thought maybe this was a one time occurrence... in fact, 2 days prior to this, we went for a 20 minute walk that was pretty normal. He wanted to go home after we walked past this area with two big dogs, but he still went pretty far. However, after I mentioned this strange behaviour to my mom and dad, they both said that he had been acting sort of strangely lately, not wanting to walk very far. My mom emailed me this morning saying that they got to the stop sign when she took him out for a piss, which is just one house away. My dad also mentioned that he couldn't get him very far lately and he just wanted to go back home. 
Additionally, he no longer goes outside by himself. In the past, we would put him in the backyard for 10-15 minutes so he could do his business. Now, however, he doesn't even set foot near the backdoor unless somebody has already been out there. When anybody is outside, he'll go onto the grass and walk around/lie around/chase people walking down back alley, but once he's alone, he quickly runs to the door and sit down, waiting for somebody to come outside or to let him in. This has become a problem for my parents, since they always need to be outside with him when he poops and they've found this difficult, since it can sometimes take an hour or so...
One other weird thing... well, I was sitting in my basement, both my parents were upstairs and last time I saw my dog, he was sleeping upstairs. All of a sudden, I feel something brush my feet. Lo and behold, my dog is sitting underneath the table I was using looking up at me and pulled back his ears. He's *never* done anything like this. Usually if he comes downstairs he has a ball to play with or sits underneath this couch he likes, he never just sits by me when I'm using the computer...
So, that's the situation... I don't understand this new behavior. My mom suggested that maybe it's because many of the nearby houses now have dogs or have dogs visiting that are mean natured... I guess this could be a reason, but really, there's only another 3 or 4 dogs this summer as compared to other summers. My dad suggested that maybe these dogs were leaving strong territorial messages around, but along his usual walking path, there are no new dogs... so, does anybody have any insights? They would be much appreciated.


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## rottiemum (Apr 12, 2011)

Hello, and welcome 

First of all, how old is the dog? You mention training him when you were 10 and that you've been at university for 2 years...so depending what age you started uni, he's probably 8-10 years old?? 

Have you had the vet check him - it may be something physical. Or if he's getting older it may be something to do with ageing, like getting a bit senile or something. 

It may be something that's happened while he's been out alone that no one knows about? Just guessing now, but hopefully it's nothing that can't be helped.
Good luck, and hopefully someone can give you some better advice.


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## Nimbus (Jul 8, 2011)

Thanks for the reply  

Yeah, he just turned 10 this past June. He went to vet about a month and a half ago for a check up and they said that he was sound.

Senility didn't even cross my mind... I hope it's not that, since there's not much one can really do for that eh?


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## leashedForLife (Nov 1, 2009)

since he's only 10-YO, & is a toy-breed who can conceivably have another 6 to 10 years of life barring illness, 
i would strongly suggest moving him to university with U - the parental-units obviously have zero interest in exercise 
for him or themselves, & he will not live as long as he might if the female parental-unit continues stuffing human-food 
tidbits, high in salt, sugar, fat & simple-carbohydrates, into his ever-eager maw... PLUS not exercising him, which IMO 
vastly exacerbates the overly-indulgent poor diet.

if he cannot be in dorms, take a room in a house, get an apartment/flat, share a house, *find a family who WANTS a dog 
& time-share him*, or some other alternative. He will live longer, U will have his company, & the parental-units can veg 
in front of the telly, or mum can feed yer dad the same tidbits she's been stuffing into the dog - with fewer side-effects, 
or at least *Dad can make an intelligent decision to EAT it - or thank her politely, & refuse it...* which the dog cannot do.


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