Normal Behavior? (Scared to Walk and Obessive Barking)

[You]

Our dog is about 19 weeks old and she has a few issues that I wanted to run by everyone to see if they are 'normal'.

1) When I try to take her for a walk out of the yard, either into the woods or on our road (very little traffic) she will grab the leash and try and pull me back home. I started trying to increase our distance from home but eventually she hits a point and is done. We've been to bike paths, cities, etc. where she didn't have any problems, it just seems to be around our home that she gets scared. Can this be considered normal for her age?

2) When she was younger I started pushing a broom around at work and she would chase it, now when I pull out tools like shovels, snow brushes, etc. she just constantly barks at them to the point I have to put them away. Is this normal playing or some type of dog OCD that needs to be worked on?

Thanks in advance!

[Castlemaid]

Normal, and normal.

She will get more confident about walking away from home as she gets older. Try making the walks really fun for her. Bring treats, toys, and stop and play along the way.

Nice working prey drive there, congrats about the barking, LOL! That is behaviour that people looking for a dog with working potential would really appreciate, as annoying as it is.

At this stage, if you can't sweep, shovel, brush, without her interfering, put her in her crate while you do your chores - when she gets older, give her her own broom and shovel, and get her to help you.

When even older (around 9 - 10 months?), she should have enough obedience training and self-control to cut it out when you tell her to.

[doggiedad]

1>> try short walks. drive somewhere and walk and
play in a new area.

2>> maybe she wants to play with the shovel and snow brush.
don't use the shovel or snow brush around her. her reaction
could change age and will change with training.

[Jo Ellen]

What's with the broom LOL Spirit is 9 months and I still can't just sweep ... it sweep and tug, sweep and tug I probably should teach him to leave me alone, but we just play. I think he'll eventually outgrow it, and then I can resume sweeping uninterrupted. Probably won't be anywhere near as much fun

[Lazawal09]

Not much of a deal, 19 weeks!!! just a little girl....still discovering the world inquisitive and frightened of new things specially which move. My boy almost an year old..yesterday started barking at Kerosene Oil Heater...a new thing for him as winters have set in..so just normal
You should make her accustomed to Broom Shovel etc, leave it at her side for some time after moving it aroumnd her... she will bark, come closer, sniff at it and after some time will just leave it...repeat daily and in few days she will get used to it...about walking, no big idea about it...Remember she is just a little girl for now.

[Linda1270]

I have to crate Tess (18 week old GSD) every time I vacuum or wash the floor and now that we've been having snow storms, she drives my husband crazy when he tries to shovel, barking and trying to bite the shovel. Oh this is very normal for puppies. I use to have a chocolate Lab that barked and got so excited every time I mopped the floor that his crate would literally dance across the kitchen floor.

As far as was walking your pup goes, this is so very normal, I went through pretty much the same thing every time I tried to walk Tess.....she loved being in her comfort zone (our yard) and I would just about have to drag her to get her as far as the corner of my street and she would turn around and drag me all the way back to the yard. This went on for weeks with my treating her every few steps to get her to walk farther and farther. She would also stop and turn around every few steps to see if anyone was following us and forget about someone jogging or walking by us, she would stand there and watch this person until they were totally out of site! Now, after having her in training and working on walking her, she is doing so much better and it's so much more pleasurable to have her walk along beside me without stopping constantly.

Hang in there, work with her and it will get better. This is all normal behavior.

[You]

This is all good news, thanks for the fast replies everyone!