Can anyone give me some advice on how to handle this. Zeus is now 6 and half months and a great dog but last couple of weeks walking off lead has been a nightmare. He starts off ok and then he will suddenly starting jumping and biting and has ripped 2 of my coats now. No instruction seems to stop him so I just put him on the lead and walk home. Is there a better way to handle this? Is this part of adolescence? Please help, I have always enjoyed walking him but this is starting to make me not enjoy it
Hi there, you are not alone. We've had a lot of posts on this problem recently so I've put up an FAQ on it. Here's the link. I hope you find it helpful. I'm sure others that have experienced your pain will be along shortly to help too. I'll link to some of the other threads in it too.
Thank you. I will have a read of what you have linked. Feels like 1 step forward and 2 back at the min
Definitely not alone! If you can put a lead on your dog and walk home then that seems like a good tactic. The lead was my dog's biggest trigger, he'd start by biting the lead then my hands and arms. Off-lead he was usually fine and if I could see a crazy moment coming I found asking him to do something else ( find a stick or treats scattered in long grass) worked to calm him down.
I could have written this too, Luna is six months and for the past 2/3 weeks she has been doing this on and off lead, I dread taking her out on lead. This morning I took her to the beach where we can walk along a coastal path near countryside. The minute I let her off lead she started jumping up and biting my sleeves. I distracted her by throwing treats a distance away (wasn’t sure about it as don’t want to reward her behaviour?). She was fine until we came near the end of our walk and started again. She’s great at releasing a toy when we play tug, loves to retrieve a ball and gets lots of mental stimulation learning games. I’ve recently increased the free runs hoping it will help. Thanks for the games Pippa, I haven’t tried these.
