Please can we ask for some help? Our 7 month old has started taking the lead into his mouth on walks. Once in his mouth he starts shaking the lead, lunging towards us, then jumping up and biting. It’s like he’s having a mad five minutes out of nowhere And it is quite scary. There is no particular triggger. It usually happens at least once per walk. What is the best way to stop him doing this? Obviously we do try to stop him getting the lead into his mouth but he just suddenly turns and before you know it it’s in his mouth and he’s off. The problem is he is quite big now and I must admit I am scared. We need to stop it now but are not sure of the best way. He does it all the time at dog training classes, it is a nightmare as I can’t concentrate on what we are supposed to be doing as our lab is going nuts. The trainer suggested a toy to stop him but all I ended up doing was battling the toy as he wanted to attack me more than he wanted the toy. The trainer managed to calm him with a simple leave and no but that does not work for us. Any advice gratefully received, thank you.
I had a real problem with this, it's what brought me to this forum in fact. When I first got loki aged about 6 months I could barely put a lead on him without being bitten. His previous owners used a chain lead and choke chain but this didn't help. I tried standing on the lead and tethering him to a fence to avoid getting bitten but I think that just wound him up more. In the endw e did a lot of work in the house, rewarding not biting the lead with lots of treats. When I had to put him back on lead when out on walks I'd give him mega treats (cat food, boiled pheasant, or his actual dinner in a Tupperware container) followed by a succession of smaller treats. He pretty much only got to eat withw a lead on. Now when I get the lead out of my pocket he comes running towards it! Lead biting is still the first sign I get when he is getting stressed/frustrated. Car travel and being on lead around other dogs seem to be his main triggers. He's 20 months old now and I haven't seen any of this behaviour for some time. He had a big flip out at a training class about 3 months ago (perfect storm of car travel, other dogs, trying to learn new things but not understanding what he supposed to do) but that appears to have been an isolated incident. It's been a long road and hopefully you'll find something that works for you.
I found this article very helpful: http://www.dogproblemssolved.com/frustration-and-re-directed-aggression/
This is not 'aggression', it is misdirected play coming from over-arousal and perhaps frustration. I am very concerned that you are 'scared' when your dog behaves like this. I would really be questioning your relationship with your dog and thinking that you need some 1-2-1 help from a qualified and force-free behaviourist. You should be able to ask the dog to Sit at any moment - and reinforce, of course, with food. You should then be able to continuously train the dog, using food as a reinforcer, and the dog should not revert to this behaviour if reinforcement is frequent enough and therefore frustration levels are kept low. You may not be reinforcing frequently enough, which is very common in people new to training, and this can be causing frustration on the dog's part. At home, giving the dog a Kong or a chew will almost instantly stop this behaviour. As will having some pieces of kibble in your pocket and starting a mini training session any time it begins.
I know it's not aggression in the true sense of the word and i cant speak for Victoria and her dog, but in my case my dog's behaviour was scary, he often hurt me and I worried a great deal that he could hurt someone else. Obviously, you should be able to ask your dog to sit at any moment and reward with food, but when my dog was in that kind of frenzy nothing would get through to him. I agree not reinforcing frequently enough could be a factor. When he last had one of these episodes it was at a Hoopers class where previously he'd been getting rewards for every hoop and tunnel and I was now trying to reward at the end of the course and combined with all the other stacked up triggers it must have all got too much.
Yes, arousal and frustration are not a good combination. All that emotion has to go somewhere.... Breaking down whatever you are doing into smaller and easier behaviours, is the way to go. One thing I often see is people using food in these situations by putting it on the dog's nose. This gets the dog's attention for a second - and THEN THEY REMOVE THE FOOD!?! WHY? the dog is then incredibly frustrated because they 'lost' the food and the dog stops paying attention the next time food is put on their nose, because they never get it anyway, so why engage with it.... and then you end up with a dog ignoring food and continuing the unwanted behaviour. If all else fails - feed the dog. Throw a handful of treats on the floor and let the dog sniff and find them. Be ready to feed the dog the split second they finish that, click and reinforce momentary eye contact - identify the smallest things the dog is doing, which you like. These dogs are so super-smart and owners are frequently not very good at training (communicating) and it all results in high levels of frustration....
