Hi I have a problem with my 14 month old grabbing the leash and tugging on it when she is excited. Happens mostly when we start a walk and when she sees a dog coming towards us and she wants to play, she grabs the lead and starts wragging it in her mouth. I've tried a chain lead, instead of grabbing the chain she tries to jump up to grab the leather part which I am holding. I have tried to grab the lead back and getting her to sit but it can be a struggle most times, also tried ignoring her behaviour, she stops after about 5 mins but I feel that she is getting her own way because I'm letting her do it. Anyone else had this problem and have a solution?
Re: Biting the leash Lead grabbing was a common behaviour with the dogs I worked with in the kennels, they used to do it out of frustration. We had a couple of methods for dealing with it, but they both require perseverance to get results. 1. Use a chain lead, as you have been doing. Wear long sleeves and hide the handle attachment in the sleeve - the theory is that they think it's your hand so won't jump up and grab. 2. Use a chain lead. Whenever she goes to grab the lead simply slide a hand down the lead towards her mouth. The theory for this one is they don't want to bite your hand so will come off the lead - this works best if you've ingrained in your pup strict anti-biting training. 3. Take a large raggy toy with you on walks and teach her to bite on this instead of the lead. I've just had another thought - you could possible try clicker training - something like click and treat for good behaviour whilst walking eg walking calmly by your side and not grabbing the lead. I suspect she is doing this through pure excitement than anything else so the key thing is to remain calm and not react to the behaviour as anything that will get her more amped up will only exacerbate it.
Re: Biting the leash THank you I will stick with the chain lead and try to hide the handle as described I have her on an extendable lead at the park so that she can have a good run (her recall is not very good!) - is it possible to get a chain section to fit on the end of this lead also? I reel her in when a dog approaches but then she grabs the fabric part and leash line of this one when excited. I think I need to be trained not Lolly
Re: Biting the leash [quote author=choclolly link=topic=6334.msg83615#msg83615 date=1401484728] I think I need to be trained not Lolly [/quote] You aren't alone Choclolly,I think that most days ;D
Re: Biting the leash We did once improvise soemthing like that... We attached an extendable lead to a short chain lead but it was a total faff and didn't really work very well at all. You might have better luck using a long line rather than an extendable. She possible needs to run around more and labs just can't get that sort of exercise on a flexi lead. The long line I have is about 20feet long. You can leave it on the dog to just trail around so they can be totally off lead but you have a really easy way of catching them, or you can hold on to the end but they still have much more freedom than a regular extendable lead. It's good for practicing recall too as the dog has the impression that it's totally off lead but you still have the security of something to hold on to. Also with the long line just dragging on the floor she might be less inclined to bite it as she's not trying to get free. Obviously you can use one for general walking, that's where the chain lead would come in, but I can't imagine she would want to try and chew the long line - she probably won't even notice she's got it on.
Re: Biting the leash I might just try the long line option - sounds good for training thank you everyone
Re: Biting the leash Hattie used to bite the lead and I used the sliding my hand down the lead to her mouth method, I perservered and she stopped really quickly. I agree with Lauren about using a long training line to practise your general recall and from dogs, people etc. Good luck
Re: Biting the leash HI SLiding the hand down the lead seems to be working well, simple and effective! THank you ;D
