Hi, I am looking for advice. my boyfriend bought a puppy a few months ago. the puppy is 7months old. when sam(the dog) is out for a walk with me when he sees other people, dogs, people on their road bikes he gets really hyper and then he will jump up on me and bite me. I do ignore him when he jumps and bites and if he cant get my attention he will move on to my trainers and undo my laces and pulls the lip bit. I do bruise very easily. my arms are in a mess at the moment. I know he isn't meaning to hurt me. sam is a mixed breed between lab, collie, husky and sharp pi. Also I have never had a dog in my life only cats. if he sees a stick or gets distracted then he is fine. I am just wondering how to stop it? should I take him to puppy training classes. sam is also getting neutered at the end of may. will that also help him calm down? Thank you
Hello, very normal behaviour for 7 months. Yes definitely take him to classes. Training around distractions is the only way I got my pup to get through this tough stage. Sadly neutering won’t help unless the the behaviour is sexually related. Classes will be the best way forward
Your puppy is doing this because they are frustrated - they can't reach the thing they want to be able to reach and they are frustrated by that, and are redirecting that frustration onto your arm/the leash/whatever they are biting. They need training to be able to learn to contain their frustration around the things they want to get to. 7 months is quite old to be starting puppy classes and best results are usually seen if you start at a very young age, teaching them how to manage frustration. So - you might find things are difficult in a group class and may need some 1-2-1 sessions first, before then joining a group class once you have skills in place. Take care only to work with a reward based and force-free trainer and walk away from anyone advocating the use of aversives as this will only make the behaviour worse in the long-run. And no, neutering will not help because this behaviour is not sexual.
You need to distract from the behaviour with another behaviour like teaching touch, sit ect Willow used to leap at people and dogs now I tell her leave and give a big treat. Sometimes Willow does not listen when I call her as she is sniffing something interesting but I shout "Touch" she comes bounding over as she always gets a nice treat when she touches my hand with her nose.
