9 month old bulldog wont walk with husband

Question
Hi there.
We have a 9 month old pedigreed English Bulldog bitch. She is a fantastic dog, she is housebroken and has absolutely no aggression issues - however there are a few training issues that I hope you may be able to help with. We walk her once a day and usually her walks are in forest trails off the lead, however the problem lies with walking her along the streets on a lead and more specifically with my husband. I dont seem to have these issues with her. Up until recently she walked fine with my husband but recently she has just been lying down refusing to walk.... however I have discovered (much to my annoyance) that when this started my husband foolishly started pulling (dragging) her along which I think may have reinforced the refusal to walk even more! I have had grown up with English bullies and know they can be stubborn at the best of times but I cant seem to understand why this behavior is just with my husband.
The next issue that we have is upon completeion of a walk in the woods, she will run away from either of us trying to put a lead back on her... my husband said that he did run after onec to catch her so Im wondering if this has now turned out to be a game to her. We have recently bought a dog whistle in the hope that this might deter this behavior. Any help / advise / suggestions for these 2 issues would be very much appreciated.
Thanks
Avril, Scotland, UK

Answer
Hi, Avril,

As far as how she behaves with your husband, I think I would start with some preliminary training inside the home, letting her learn that your husband is someone to be obeyed and respected as well as you.  Have your husband be the one to feed her, play with her, all the things you normally do for her, so she starts to bond more with him.

Then begin teaching her how to walk with him; have him take some tasty treats to "lure" her along a few steps, then reward, lure a few more steps, reward, and keep stretching out the number of steps she goes.  I would suggest doing this first inside, maybe down the hallway, or in the basement if you have one, or if nothing else, in the front/back yard.

As far as her running off to avoid the lead, I would practice this again inside the home, then in the back/front yard.  I personally would not let my own dog off lead if it didn't reliably return to me.
Practice inside, calling her to you with a treat.  Before you release hold of the treat, take her collar.  Once you have her collar, give her the treat.  Both of you should practice this; maybe make a game of it, calling her back and forth between you.  The idea is to teach her that she must let you take her collar before she gets the treat.  The reason for practicing everything inside first is because there are less distractions inside the home, and she has less chance to ignore your commands.  If she will not come at all to you inside the home, start working first with her on leash and gently pull her toward you as you call "come."  Then take her collar and release treat.