I adopted Wolfgang (1 1/2 years old, female, spayed, presumably boxer+jrt mix) from a local shelter back in February after fostering her for a month. From day 1 of fostering her she was always excited to go for walks, wherever they may be- near our house, further away, new route, familiar routes. We'd walk 2 miles in the morning and 2 miles in the evening (she injured her leg in April, so we cut down to one mile and half to two mile walk daily to let her heal, and never got back to two walks a day, but nothing changed then about her desire to go for walks).
So six months of mostly consistent daily walks and then I took her with me out of state to visit my dad for two weeks. She had some trouble adjusting (long car ride, new place, all new people and smells except for me and the stuff I brought, had to be crated for a while bc she was barking+lunging at my 4 y/o brother nonstop and I couldn't tell if she would bite him) but was eager to explore my dad's yard, and we took some walks to learn the neighborhood for a few days, alone in the morning but 2 or 3 times with my dad or stepmother+4 y/o brother.
My dad and I walked her the fourth or fifth night to a neighborhood further away than I had been taking her alone. The next night, I took her to the same place by myself, and found that she wouldn't go down one of the side streets we'd previously gone down. I couldn't 'trick' her into it by taking her to two other entrances to that street, and iirc she didn't want to go down a new street, either- she just wanted to go home. If I tried to get her to walk further she dug her heels in and just stared at me, and would only start moving again if I headed back home.
The day after that, I tried taking her for a walk, and she wouldn't leave the driveway- dug her heels in, stared at me. I let her be and tried again the next day. Same thing. Still wouldn't leave the driveway a third day, and I decided not to bother trying for the rest of our stay at my dad's, as she seemed just fine without the walks (normally, she gets pretty crazy without at least one daily walk).
So we came back home a week and a half ago, and she won't walk unless my mom or brother walk with us. I bring our 12-year-old terrier with us normally, but that's not enough to get Wolfgang to walk. I can take her as far as the bottom of our hill (about .02 miles) and then she'll dig her heels in and won't go any further- unless my mom or brother are with us, and even then sometimes they have to start walking away (further into our route) before she'll move. She doesn't lower her tail or anything, doesn't seem afraid at all to me- she just won't go.
98% of the walks she has taken since I adopted her were just with me, or with me and our terrier. Since her leg healed, she's had no problems, will run around like a crazy dog if I (and now our necessary partner) take her to a nearby baseball field to run around.
She has some fear of strangers (most of the time will only bark if people are doing strange things as we walk by, or if someone pays attention to her; she has snapped at a few people who reached down and tried to pet her suddenly), and I suppose some fear of certain dogs (at first she always seemed eager to meet new dogs, but as time has gone on, she seems to have developed fear for 1. more than one tiny dog barking at her, 2. dogs bigger than her at a distance, and 3. several dogs bigger than her approaching), but in the course of our walks at my dad's house, we didn't meet a single person, and the only dog Wolfgang met was a tiny pup who came to the middle of the road to say hi. I can't think of anything that would have scared her then, and I don't understand why she won't walk with just me now that we're back in familiar territory.
One difference between my dad's and where I am now is that my dad had a fenced-in yard that I could let her run around. My yard is not fenced in, so I can't let her out without putting her on a tie-out cable, which she never runs with. She still needs to get some kind of exercise, and taking her down to the local baseball field lets her run, but my brother doesn't like walking with us and no one else really can at the times we can walk safely in this heat.
I don't understand what is going on
So six months of mostly consistent daily walks and then I took her with me out of state to visit my dad for two weeks. She had some trouble adjusting (long car ride, new place, all new people and smells except for me and the stuff I brought, had to be crated for a while bc she was barking+lunging at my 4 y/o brother nonstop and I couldn't tell if she would bite him) but was eager to explore my dad's yard, and we took some walks to learn the neighborhood for a few days, alone in the morning but 2 or 3 times with my dad or stepmother+4 y/o brother.
My dad and I walked her the fourth or fifth night to a neighborhood further away than I had been taking her alone. The next night, I took her to the same place by myself, and found that she wouldn't go down one of the side streets we'd previously gone down. I couldn't 'trick' her into it by taking her to two other entrances to that street, and iirc she didn't want to go down a new street, either- she just wanted to go home. If I tried to get her to walk further she dug her heels in and just stared at me, and would only start moving again if I headed back home.
The day after that, I tried taking her for a walk, and she wouldn't leave the driveway- dug her heels in, stared at me. I let her be and tried again the next day. Same thing. Still wouldn't leave the driveway a third day, and I decided not to bother trying for the rest of our stay at my dad's, as she seemed just fine without the walks (normally, she gets pretty crazy without at least one daily walk).
So we came back home a week and a half ago, and she won't walk unless my mom or brother walk with us. I bring our 12-year-old terrier with us normally, but that's not enough to get Wolfgang to walk. I can take her as far as the bottom of our hill (about .02 miles) and then she'll dig her heels in and won't go any further- unless my mom or brother are with us, and even then sometimes they have to start walking away (further into our route) before she'll move. She doesn't lower her tail or anything, doesn't seem afraid at all to me- she just won't go.
98% of the walks she has taken since I adopted her were just with me, or with me and our terrier. Since her leg healed, she's had no problems, will run around like a crazy dog if I (and now our necessary partner) take her to a nearby baseball field to run around.
She has some fear of strangers (most of the time will only bark if people are doing strange things as we walk by, or if someone pays attention to her; she has snapped at a few people who reached down and tried to pet her suddenly), and I suppose some fear of certain dogs (at first she always seemed eager to meet new dogs, but as time has gone on, she seems to have developed fear for 1. more than one tiny dog barking at her, 2. dogs bigger than her at a distance, and 3. several dogs bigger than her approaching), but in the course of our walks at my dad's house, we didn't meet a single person, and the only dog Wolfgang met was a tiny pup who came to the middle of the road to say hi. I can't think of anything that would have scared her then, and I don't understand why she won't walk with just me now that we're back in familiar territory.
One difference between my dad's and where I am now is that my dad had a fenced-in yard that I could let her run around. My yard is not fenced in, so I can't let her out without putting her on a tie-out cable, which she never runs with. She still needs to get some kind of exercise, and taking her down to the local baseball field lets her run, but my brother doesn't like walking with us and no one else really can at the times we can walk safely in this heat.
I don't understand what is going on