Difficult Walks

[Laura and Angus]

This is part vent part plea for suggestions. Walks have become a real difficulty with Angus...he is now 6 months and has started to test us at every turn. Last night he kept repeatedly jumping into our bed and he never gets to sleep in our bed! It finally took my boyfriend putting his shirt (the one he was wearing!) into Angus' bed before he stayed in his own bed. So this is about his behavior on walks...every time we take him for a long walk, he has 2-3 "freak-outs" as we call them. He starts grabbing the leash, jumping on us, and biting my gloves or clothes. Sometimes it works to just keep walking and ignore it, but sometimes I've had to stop and hold him against me saying "settle" and wait until he calms. I've actually had to put him down on the ground on his side before, saying "no bite" and "settle" because he is so out of his mind/out of control. We've also used treats to get him to sit and heel - he acts like a perfect angel for the treats and then he's right back to having his "fit." He is now 45lbs and throwing his weight around makes it pretty tough. *Sigh* Feeling so tired and frustrated right now. Angus is currently in the kitchen for a calm-down period....which is for both of us.  

We will be starting with training in two weeks since he gets neutered Thursday, but I'm wondering if anyone has encountered this behavior...any recommendations?  Should we just stop and wait it out or keep walking? What works for you all with difficult behaviors on walks? 

Thanks in advance for your thoughts! 

[Lucy & AnnaBelle's Mom]

do you have stairs in your home?  If so, toss a toy up them and let him run up and fetch.  This can wear them out in bad weather.

[Laura and Angus]

This is a great idea that we will likely try out...we do play "hide 'n' seek" in our house up and down the stairs some times, as well!

[Pat, Mary & Cooper]

Cooper was doing the same thing around that age and one thing that helped us as well as the good tips already given by others is before going on a walk we have him run around in the yard,we play ball etc..to get out the excess energy ,do a few routine training and then we go on our walk. We also used clicker training during the walks.
Good luck!

[Laura and Angus]

Ahh yes...sometimes I've taken him to the tennis courts by our house to let him run around and play fetch....he still has some "freak out" sessions, but I've definitely seen improvements on his behaviors. I think I'm going to try this more often, when possible. Thank you!

[Jessica, Loki and Moose]

Hi! Loki went through the same exact thing and unfortunately it has taken a few months to sort out but the best things that worked were jalapeños- I would buy fresh ones from the store and cut one in half and barley run it over the leash and he bit it once and never again- bitter apple spray has done nothing with him but anything that the jalapeño touchs Loki never messes with it. For walks Loki is 75lbs and there is ice everywhere so that's a recipe for disaster so I got him the Gentle Leader head collar- literally stopped everything at once, they come with a DVD and I can not stress how important that DVD is if you've never used one before but Loki hated it at first but once he figured out that the only way he went on a walk was with thAt he stopped trying to paw it off and now walks are amazing! I only wish it hadn't taken me months to figure this out- hopefully some of this works for you!

[Laura and Angus]

Oh man, I hear you! It's nice to know we're not alone with this struggle. We had several collar suggestions - gentle leader, star training collar, and the harness that clips on their chest. We haven't gotten a new collar yet since we just started training classes and the trainer recommended that whenever he starts biting the leash or "freaking out" to stop, step on the leash giving him about 6 in to the group, adn waiting until he lays down and calms down. This has really worked well! It certainly helps to control him (at his size that's hard for me)...although our walks move really slowly now haha. I really appreciate everyone's suggestions! We will see how this goes for now and may switch to a new collar eventually. Thanks again!