Our previous dog was a Husky, huge and willing to just go and go and go. We now have Goliath, a 12 week old Chi puppy, and we are working on leash training and walking. He's terrified of the outdoors, hates the leash, and won't wear any clothing, but we're forging on so that he can be with us on all our adventures too.

My question is - how far can he walk? We're not walking far now, far less than a km, but he's becoming increasing better at not trying to bolt right back to the house. But before I push the distance too much, I'm wondering where I should set my expectations for such a young puppy and for a chi.

Any ideas?

A Chihuahua is a dog as much as a Husky, and every dog benefits from exercise.
He will walk as much as you want. But you have to build his endurance, little by
little. Chanel is now 7 months and can spend all day walking & running, she gets
about 4-5 hours per day of on leash walking, this is divided between 4 daily walks.
She loves hiking and running, even the winter snow and slush doesn't slow her down.
So imo if your dog is healthy, and has no issues, he will be a great adventure partner.
After all our dogs are a reflection of us, if you are active and you dedicate your
time to his needs and slowly work up his endurance, he will be active as well. With
patience and positive reinforcement he will learn to accept the leash and even a
sweater or jacket if you wish.

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Forgot to say, WELCOME to the forum!

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Start slowly. Let him tell you if he's had enough and don't overdo it at first. He's still a baby. I wouldn't push it really hard until his bones and joints have matured more. You don't want him to hurt himself.

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Thank you Jan for the wonderful siggy!

I agree with everyone - build up to longer distances. You will be learning to notice his signals during this time too. It sounds like you are taking the time he needs to develop.

As far as the terrified part - are you learning what he does like and trying to incorporate that into the walking adventures? For example: Barney loves being hand-fed a kibble, so I carry a change purse with kibbles and offer them a few times a day when I'm training. Sometimes I'll just call him to come into a different room and reward with the kibble. On walks, I'll do this as well and it seems to make him happy and comfortable to see that our routines continue no matter where we are.

Welcome to the forums !

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Here are pictures of Barney: Flickr: Crochet Bouquet's Photostream

Good to hear - it was my intent just to go a bit further a little at a time, and to keep working on the other things. Of course, the broken toe I got yesterday won't help matters <grin>

As far as what he likes, once he gets outside, nothing else matters. No treats, no praise, nothing. He turns his nose to the house and tries to bolt back and refuses to acknowledge anything more. We do the same with the treats and calling him, but when we're outside, he won't even look at a treat LOL!

He is taking more interest in the scenery though, so that is helping. The balance I need is taking him far enough but not too far so that I have to carry him back because I misjudged, so I'm probably more than conservative at the moment.

Both of mine will happily walk for 1-1.5 hours straight. They always like to nap right after, but it is no problem for them. We started out on short walks and worked up to the longer ones.

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Thanks LS!

I once read that when they're pups, it's 5 minutes per month old they are.

3 months = 15 minutes

I don't know if this is correct or not, but apparently it's reccomended.

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