My 8-month female has been progressing quite well. We give her plenty of exercise and training. Lately she has become difficult on walks. She does a great heel and I can walk her with a loose leash. However, mid-way she is freaking out and jumping and biting at me and the leash. It is very aggressive. She bites and pulls at me in what I hope is play. I don’t engage and try to get her in a fast walk or ask for a sit or paw and reward. Today it was so strong she pulled the leash out of my hand. I walked calmly away and she followed. Eventually I took the leash and we walked calmly after a couple minor outbursts. Am I handling this right? Is it part of adolescence and will go away quickly? It has happened after she got tired and stopped on a walk, when I turned around to go home, and just randomly on a walk or when I sped up to cross an intersection. We’ve worked hard on limiting jumping and she has been quite good. I’m really struggling to deal with this. She was recently spayed. Does this factor into things? Will her behaviour get worse if we don’t nip this?
Hi Kampson, It's not unusual for some areas of training to go to pot during adolescence [looks meaningfully at my own dog], but you can stop bad habits becoming a fixture by taking your leash training back to basics, and reinforcing good behavior patiently and consistently. This article on our main site might have some new ideas to incorporate into your walks. Then have faith in the training and hang in there until it passes! Good luck!
