Hi again, all! Cassie is my 8 month old puppy-turned-devil golden lab! We've had all sorts of ups and downs, and just when things get better, they seem to get worse too! We have had a couple reoccuring issues I don't know how to deal with. The first is jumping up for her leash and playing tug with her leash on her walks! I've tried to narrow it down and it seems to happen primarily at the beginning of a walk or at the end of a walk, but honestly it happens in the middle of them too! It goes on for maybe...1-2 minutes, then she starts walking normally again. It doesn't seem to be associated with any particular experience or fear, maybe more out of frustration or excitement? She has always seemed to get frustrated easily when her leash touches her legs or gets tangled and she goes crazy, biting and rolling around with it until we get her untangled, but she's not tangled when she starts to jump at it. It seems like she sees it out of the corner of her eye and goes for it. She wears a flat collar sometimes and a front clip harness most recently and does it with both kinds. We have tried asking her to leave it (and treating when she does) but she usually goes right back to it. We have tried ignoring, and that works sometimes, but can take a long time or seems like she does it until she gets bored then starts walking. The second issue is jumping up at our hands to snatch toys or treats from our hands! It happened again today, my dad was walking with her toy in his hand and she got so excited and jumped up at his hand and caught his hand, not the toy and drew blood. My dad got very, very upset and started carrying on about how we are not going to have a dog that bites and attacks like that, she's going to hurt someone etc, etc. That was incredibly hurtful because I have worked so hard with her to make her a people friendly dog, and have actually tried multiple times to practice calmness with a toy. I truly don't think it's an aggressive thing, as she really only does it when we first get outside to play or when we have a toy or treat in our hand and she gets very excited and just wants to play! That being said, I know it's an issue and it's not okay to let her snatch toys out of our hands because she does often times miss the toy and get our hands in her frenzied excitement. I have tried making her sit before she gets to play fetch which works after she drops it, but didn't help prevent this excitement. When we play tug, she has a cue ("get it") and doesn't snatch it until I say that because we practice impulse control and she does a really good job, but she just gets so excited initially. Help!! It really upset me when my dad got so upset, I felt like I've just failed as a dog mom, despite my multiple training sessions and working on these issues. My dad is very old school and always making snarky comments about how I can't "treat" her out of "biting someone" (which I don't think was what she was doing) and that sometimes you just need to be "rougher" and push them or hit them. Thankfully, I'm the one around her and training her, and I refuse. Cassie is absolutely so, so smart and I know she can learn the positive enforcement way, I just need some guidance on getting there!
No, you’re right, Cassie wasn’t ‘biting someone’ intentionally, she was getting over-excited and grabbing her toy but unfortunately grabbed your father’s hand as well. It’s not a good experience! I still have the toy-grabbing problem with Tuppence, despite trying to work on it. She doesn’t snatch treats, but is very toy obsessed and will rush to the toy box (on top of Wispa’s crate, so Tuppence can’t chew the contents!) whenever any of my family visit. Once she has her toys (usually two or three at once) she is then reluctant to drop any, preferring to trot round holding them and making a half-hearted attempt to follow Wispa, who is busy playing fetch. I can’t suggest any more than you’ve tried already, as I haven’t solved the problem yet either, so I’m hoping others can!
No you haven’t failed and it is always upsetting when someone gets hurt. It sounds like mega excitement. I think your dad has to change his mind set (probably won’t be easy). Cassie is a puppy and learning, so training positively as you are doing is spot on. I think we automatically changed what we did along with our puppy’s development last year e.g. no holding toys at a height she could jump and grab. So indeed of thinking it’s the puppy’s fault - instead ‘what was I doing to cause that and how can I avoid it in future?’ My DH was quite ‘old school’ and last year I had a lot to do to change his mind set. I just kept doing what I was doing and he saw how effective it was and gradually he came on board. Occasionally his old ways look like they are resurfacing but he has changed such a lot it’s no longer an issue. I can’t help with the jumping up and grabbing her lead but hopefully someone else will.
Yup, simple over-arousal combined with a bad aim! I would work on "no mugging" so she gets reinforced for not taking things from your hands until they're offered, and continuing with your impulse control - great job with that! Can you wriggle the toy and make it really exciting and her not grab it? If not, that's something to work towards. On top of that, I'd train a good target for the toy so she knows how to bite it the right way and save your hands. You can work on this with a toy that has a distinct "bite" area, something like this: https://tug-e-nuff.co.uk/collections/tug-toys/products/sheepskin-chaser-tug?variant=35339015047 All the time Cassie is biting the fluffy part, the game continues, but as soon as she bites the cord, the game ends. Then you can work on how she grabs the toy. Hold each end of the fluffy part (or whatever is appropriate for your toy) and, holding it horizontally, cue her "get it!". When she grabs it in the middle, start the game. Then, gradually, change the angle so she learns she has to turn her head to grab it. Again, each time she's successful, she gets a good game. If she gets your hand by mistake, no game. Then you can introduce movement, so she has to walk/run and grab at the same time (make it horizontal again to start off with, and run backwards as you cue "get it!", then gradually change the angle). Games like this will get her working on her accuracy so she gets a good bite on the toy, not the hand, and that results in a brilliant game. One more thought: working on arousal up/arousal down games would be useful. So things like the whipit, where you can ask for a sit before she gets released and working towards getting a sit (or whatever other behaviour you like) mid-game. This will help her manage her own arousal levels and continue your work on impulse control
Lots of good advice given above but perhaps I can add something about the lead grabbing as my pup (now 9 months) often grabs her lead too. I tried standing still until she released it so that she was then rewarded by continuing the walk but it just seemed to raise her frustration levels and she was really chomping on the lead so I changed tactics. Now I simply say come on or this way or something else cheery and we walk on briskly. She might carry the lead in her mouth for a few steps but doesn't chew it if we're walking on, and we're both happier with that. Probably looks like she's taking me for the walk though!
What length is your lead? I only ask as our puppy used to have a lead that was 130cm long. This was fine when she was 8 weeks old , but at 6 months (when she was a lot higher) it was too long and she often got muddled in it, and she also chewed it (as if it were a game). Eventually she destroyed the lead. I replaced it with a 100 cm lead , and the problem was solved.
