[Tsirah]

Hi all!

I have a bit of a problem.

For about a week now my dog has stopped obeying when I walk her and has started running away. I take her out and as soon as I unleash her (when we get at the park) she runs back towards where we came from to go home. She even crossed the street! And it's not a specific park, it's anywhere we go.
She never used to do that and I'm a bit lost. I've stopped unleashing her now and started "retraining" her on leash as I'll be walking her but she knows the commands and just won't obey.

A bit of context here: I have a small Yorkshire Terrier, she'll be four next week but I've only had her since August as I adopted her after my uncle died. I'm new to dog owning so I don't have any experience whatsoever.
When I first had her she was completely untrained for walks (my uncle was disabled and couldn't walk her so she only used to go to the garden) so I took her out on a leash and slowly started unleashing her. It was fine up until now.
(also my uncle never socialised her with other dogs so she's terrified of dogs although I've started getting her used to them slowly)

Please help! Any idea as to why she'd stop obeying and run away? How can I "fix" it?

 

[annageckos]

Not all terriers are reliable off lead. They have a mind of their own. Part of it could be that and part could be that she is really just starting the settle in. It's common for dogs to take many months to fully settle into a new home. I would keep her leashed or in a fenced in area. If she is running across the street she could be hit by a car or cause an accident. Start at square one with training, pretend she knows nothing. She may never be reliable off lead though. Is she running home? If so she could be scared and maybe work at building her confidants up.

 

[Tsirah]

Thanks!

She was fine off her leash up until this week, that's why I don't understand it!

I'm almost certain she's running home because she knows all the places we go to as we regularly go there and she just goes back towards the house. But because she's now done it a few times at different places I don't understand what she is scared of. I do think she is scared as she'll run with her tail between her legs.

And tonight when she crossed that street I got really scared, there were no cars, it's a quiet neighbourhood but it scared me as I realised she'd do this during the day too. I won't be letting her off her leash for a while, I'd be too scared she'd get hurt!

I guess I'll have to start at square one again like you said!

 

[annageckos]

Tail between the legs means she is afraid. If she has spent most her life inside anything and everything could be scaring her. Even an adjusted dog can be spooked by the strangest things. Today I had the dogs out in the woods and Freyja saw a white cup laying on the ground, it spooked her and she oofed and ran away, then slowly approached it. After that she was fine, she has seen cups before. But for whatever reason this one spooked her. For your girl it could just be too much, over stimulated. Is she afraid for the whole walk? Or is it when you get a certain point or distance away from home?

 

[Tsirah]

I don't think it has anything to do with distance as some parks I walk to with her are further away from home than others. I think it might be the fear of encountering dogs as I always unleashed her at the entrance of the park before and she used to be just fine and always keep a short distance with me and now it's as soon as I unleash her she'll run away, scared.

As I said previously I won't be letting her free for a while and go back to square one it's just a shame. And it's confusing as I've had her for 9 months now and she was fine.
I'm lucky enough I get to take her to work with me and I often work outside and she always behaves wonderfully but I'm almost never in an environment with dogs, only people, which she adores. I guess I'll have to be patient, work with her and let time tell!

 

[travelingswift]

I would walk her on a longer line (like 5 m) so that you can prevent her from running away while slowly building up her confidence on these walks. It does sound like she's a bit overwhelmed. Maybe stay away from dog parks for a while and not push the dog-socialization stuff yet, just get her confident out walking around.