Biting at leash

[Judith and Griffin]

Me again :-)

Griff is 10 months and has a new habit of biting at his leash near our hands as if to play tug of war while we're waking him.  Once he gets started it is *impossible* to get him calmed down. It is maddening!  My kids don't like walking him anymore for fear he'll do it.  It doesn't happen all the time but when it does we can literally get stuck 2 blocks from  home and it will take forever to get back.  
Tips?

[Tammy and Violet]

what kind of collar do you use ?

[Judith and Griffin]

We use a "Walk your dog with love" front attached harness.  He's never minded it.

[Tammy and Violet]

you could try a prong collar for correction .. I had used that as well as a gentle leader and easy walk harness ...I have tried them all with Violet... do oyu keep treats in your pocket  too ?

 

[Vivian & Mojo]

Mojo would bit the leash and want to play tug with it. I tried putting bitter apple on it and it did deter him...for about 10 minutes than he dove back in and continued biting. A friend suggested I buy a chain leash so I did and it work for a few weeks than he started jumping up trying to get the non chain handle. After repeating the bitter apple and chain leash I brought some high value treats and got him in training mode. The leash biting stopped and after a while I no longer needed the treats. He is 21 months old and I must walk him with a premier gentle leader or he pulls.

[Robin & Josie]

My trainer's pat answer is always, "go back to attention training" whenever they revert back to a bad behavior. I have also had trouble with Josie (8 months) who was walking pretty well with me. All of a sudden she's become a wild woman - pulling - up on two legs - running across my path. Ugh. I'm sure it has something to do with the dreaded adolescent thing (I've been through this with two humans females already).

Anyway, I guess I need to start taking treats on our walks again and keep calling her name and treating her. Over and over again until she gets over this hump.

I guess you could try the same...

[Helga, Nimbus, Sierra, Clooney]

I was also going to suggest filling your pocket with treats and tell him to "leave it". Treat if he does. I think they're kind of like teenagers. Some of the good habits have to be relearned. :-)

[Rosemary (Ro) and Enzo]

Enzo will do this occasionally.  "leave it" command always works for her.  And yes, forth coming with the treats!  ;)

[Kris and Sawyer]

You can also try stepping on the leash close to the collar to force them in a down-stay and wait til he knows you're in charge! I'm also a huge believer in the prong collar. Sawyer tried this one time with me, even ripped my sweater. I switched to the prong and it never happened again. Good luck!

[Sue Foster]

Many years ago I had this problem with our dog. I bought a chain link leash and he didn't like to bite it. It worked for us. Good luck!

[Kelly & Zoe]

My dog (6.5 months) does this too, toward the end of the walk.  We are also using an easy trainer with a front lead. I know it sounds sort of strange, but we bring a water bottle on our walks, and when this behavior starts, we give her some water.  More often than not, she's very thirsty and will drink quite a bit, then continue walking without biting.  I think when this happens she's either tired or thirsty.  Another trick I've found that works is, while I'm walking, if i see a stick (something she can easily carry in her mouth), I pick it up and stash it - when this behavior starts, I give her the stick -it's like she has a task to complete and that usually gets me a block or so.  If you don't want to pickup random sticks, if Griff has some chew toy, bring it (but don't let him see you have it) and bring it out during these desperate times :-)

I don't really understand this behavior, but those couple of things have worked for me  -

Good luck!!!

[Judy Gordon]

I didn't know this was such a common concern. Is it a Doodle trait? Miah is a year and 4 months old, and only started jumping and biting at her leash about two months ago. It started when we picked her up from day camp. She growls and shakes the leash like she wants to kill it. Sometimes it's amusing but I know it's not a good habit to encourage. Now she does it at the end of our walk starting a block or so from home. It seems like a game to her and to stop it we just stand still and ignore her until she calms down. Sometimes it works. We have a gentle leader that works well too, but I'm such a softy that I only use it when we take her around people. She loses her mind trying to play with anyone in sight and it's the only way to get her attention. Such a silly girl! The trainer tells us to be consistent and use the gentle leader. It works.

[Judith and Griffin]

Thank you all for your ideas!!  Yes, I'd let the walking training go for a while (hangs head) and that's probably part of the problem. I'll work my way through all of your suggestions and see how far we need to go before we're all better.  He doesn't do it on every walk - just occasionally but then it is miserable.