Puppies
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leash biting
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leash biting
Hi, I have a 4 month gsd puppy. We currently are keeping a leash on her indoors trying to make her get used to being leashed anytime she is out of her crate. Unfortunately she tangles herself on it, which irritates her making her bite at it. She also seems to like chewing on the leash. When i walk her outside for a bathroom break, if she tangles herself she will spend the next few minutes biting at the leash. When i try to untangle her she gets more irritated and mouths my hand or continues holding onto the leash. I suspect she doesnt like me picking up her leash from the floor any applying tension to get her to follow me as well. What is the remedy to fix her behavior? I’ve grabbed her by the scruff of her neck and firmly said to knock it off. It sometimes works, but i dont want to damage our relationship with these hard corrections. Currently we crate her without a collar, and then attach the leash with martingale collar as a prerequisite to come out of her crate.
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4 Replies
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I kept a leash on my pup inside the home only when I was cooking. I did not want him to sneak out and go poop or pee in another room. Sometimes he would be in a pen (no leash), sometimes on a leash tied to a baluster, but most often on a 15-20 ft leash tied to my waist (looping my belt with a carabiner). We also had him drag a leash in the living room while we were watching TV in the evening as we allowed him to play with us or the other dogs (same reason: poo and pee). This lasted for a week or two, may be three. After that his excursions were not as frequent and I kinds knew when something was up beforehand. Is there a reason for her to be leashed all the time?
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Oh the chewing. I have not figured out how it happens, but for the most part we do not dog-proof things (other than the curtains — they have tassels and fringes and we had one bad incident ($$$ damage) with one of the dogs 3 years ago). Otherwise the pup, overtime, seems to learn what to chew on and what not to chew. he is not allowed on his own in the places in the house where damage cam be more substantial. He still likes shoes and socks, but not as much as before. That is something that I allowed him to chew on and somewhat encouraged. I thought it was preferable to rugs, clothes and couches. And it seems to have worked. He is no longer interested in cables and power cords, so that was a major win. He is starting to lose interest on shoes and socks as well, so we will see. At first we had to hang the leashes up high, out of his reach, but he does not attack those anymore. When we are walking on a pack he does go after the other dogs’s leashes. I think these things tend to wear off, other ppl may disagree, we will see, I suppose. If your pup has a leash hanging off him/her and he/she is not engaged in a walk I think it is quite normal for him/her to play with it. I would not worry about it.
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I am going through the same thing, as soon as the leash goes on my pup starts to bite at it. You should not be afraid to give corrections as long as there is no pain to the dog it wont damage your relationship.
The one thing I would address is the martingale collar when you are not holding the leash, especially if the dog is tangling herself with the leash. Id say the choking pressure is what is aggravating your pup, try using a thick flat collar instead some thing that is more than an inch thick as it will distribute the pressure over a larger area of the pups neck.
Finally I would praise/treat the pup when you release her form being tangled so that she associates you grabbing her collar as a good thing and this should help with the nipping.
I hope that helps and enjoy the pup!
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To fix the leash biting issue Robert usually recommends using two leashes. I’ll add this question to his AMA for today to understand what he means by using two leashes.
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