# Walking the Puppy - jumping & biting



## awesomesauce (Nov 15, 2010)

Wrigley used to do this when I'd walk anywhere. We got him to stop by giving him a stern "No" every time he would jump and bite. He still jumps on us to greet us but he doesn't bite anymore. The problem before was he seemed to think anytime anyone moved they were a play toy. If the stern "No" isn't working for you and your dog likes water in the spray bottle, a trainer I talked to recommended mixing in some distilled vinegar into the water. A 50/50 solution. We recently tried this with Wrigley and he really loves the vinegar water, so hopefully your puppy won't be the same in that respect. Apparently most puppies hate the smell. Don't spray your puppy in the face directly, just a mist in the air directed toward them should be enough.

The next thing we're thinking about trying for the cat chasing issue we're having now is a remote operated citronella collar. Hopefully he won't like that smell.


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## Max's Momma (May 2, 2011)

I read on one post that saying "sit" and getting your puppy to sit will help with a lot of struggling situations. 
I would be putting my sneakers on to walk Max and he'd be biting at them. "No" and "sit" help him to stop the biting. The person in that thread said if he's sitting, he can't be jumping up and biting.
Try it. Good luck.


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## nosmoht (Jul 16, 2011)

Dakota (my puppy) does sit and when she starts biting I do tell her to sit and she does this but the second we start walking she starts jumping and biting. It is hard to get her to have any exercise when she won't walk and sits all the time. She has a ton of energy and she needs to walk or something to get some of it out or she doesn't sleep at night.

I have tried the vinegar in a spray bottle as well and she doesn't seem to mind it at all.


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## awesomesauce (Nov 15, 2010)

I just bought a 100 foot nylon line at the hardware store. Wrigley still can't be trusted outside off leash. This weekend I'm going to buy a basketball and throw it around outside and let him fetch that in the grass. He will probably really enjoy that and getting the ball back to me will take a lot of effort on his part. We'll see if it ends up being a good idea or not...


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## Bentley's Mom (May 19, 2011)

Are you using a collar or a harness? We had this problem with Bentley when he was on a collar. Once we switched him to the harness it helped. The other thing our trainer told us was use a 6 ft. leash. Once you have the leash hold your arm down to your side and grab the leash at that point. What's left is all the room they get to move. So on a 6 ft. leash Bentley basically got less than 2 ft. to mess with. We started walking and once I could feel an attempt to jump or bite coming we would quickly turn the other direction. It forced him to focus on what I was doing and he didn't have time to bite or jump. Once he got the idea we were actually going for a walk and behaved on the leash I would stop have him sit and give him a treat. He couldn't smell bits of milk bones as much as some of the other treats he has so he didn't really get distracted by them. I started the process in the back yard with no distraction and then we moved to the front yard and so on. He does pretty well for 4 months old. We still have a long way to go but it does get better. Hang in there and I hope this makes sense and helps


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## lyssa (Mar 1, 2011)

Ok, I think you should change the way you react to her biting. Both inside the house, yard and on your walks. Biting is not acceptable and at the level she sounds like she is getting to, should not be 'ignored' - it could escalate. If you are playing with her, and she bites you, whether it was on purpose in play, or by accident, let out a huge yelp (or OUCCCHH!!! or something), and completely stop playing with her. Turn your back, be silent, just refuse to play further. She is trying to control, you from what it sounds like, trying to turn you into her toy. Was she taken early from her litter by chance?

It should be the same on a walk too, if she is biting you or jumping up and hurting you, yell OUCH!, stop stock still looking the other way with your arms folded, and then go home. That's it, fun over. You are not her plaything to chew on, she needs to learn the massive distinction between human flesh and a chew toy.

By the way, folding your arms is a good technique.... dogs find flailing hands pretty irresistible, as soon as you fold your arms you become a lot more boring. Couple that with staring into the sky and being completely still, and generally a dog will settle down. It's often called 'being like a tree' or something of the sort. If you want to give your dog a two or three strike rule on a walk you can do a couple of trees in reaction to her biting/jumping before just taking her home. For that reason don't ever go far when training her through this stage, just walk back and forth. She needs to get the message that using her mouth is absolutely not acceptable.


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## nosmoht (Jul 16, 2011)

No she wasn't taken early from her litter at all. She also wasn't the last to leave, she was taken middle of the group.

I try to stand still and not give her the attention when she bites me but it is hard when she has those little teeth that hurt. 

I do have her on a 6 foot leash but I will try the tactic of holding it down to my side as well to see if that works.


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## lyssa (Mar 1, 2011)

The important part is to yell/yelp/squeal etc when it hurts, and only then ignore her. The idea is she will be so shocked by the noise she will break off doing it, and then when you turn away from her she will see it as a clear reproach. Turning away or just not giving attention by itself isn't a clear signal as it isn't coupled with the short sharp sound when the tooth hits. After a dog does something you don't like, you have two seconds in which to train it not to do that thing, for best results. So get inside that two second window, preferably even *as* you feel those puppy needle teeth. Make teeth zero tolerance. I feel teeth, we stop play, we go home from walk, etc. She should get it fast, just pick sharp short sound to mean "I felt tooth and it hurt!!" and stick with it.


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## BriGuy (Aug 31, 2010)

Please take a look at this article:

Teaching Bite Inhibition | Dog Star Daily

His method is to reduce the force of bites before working on eliminating them. Your dog will use her mouth from time to time, and you want her to understand that hard bites are a no-no.

I also had a leash jumper (this seems to be a very common thing for goldens!), and I worked on some relaxation techniques. For example, I would play tug with Cookie to get her very excited, then turn my back on her. When she released the tug toy and sat, I would click and give her a treat. I wanted to show her that seeing my back meant to stop playing.

Good luck!

Brian and Cookie


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## BajaOklahoma (Sep 27, 2009)

What worked for Banker when he was that age (he is 9 months old now and just got his CGC), was to run for a bit at the beginning of the walk. It got rid of some of the extra energy and decreased the biting. 
When he bit, I would scream, say No! in a deep voice, and stop interacting with him. This has to be a consistant response for it to work.
I also started clicker training early on. The first couple of days is priming - when you click the clicker, the dog gets a treat. There is no purpose other than getting the dog to understand that click means treat. 

Our leash work is with a 6 ft leash. The first goal was not pulling, so he had full range of the leash - but the moment he pulled on the leash, I became a statue until he came back so the leash was loose again. Then I clicked and he got a treat. The next step for us was working on "Watch me." When I said it, the goal was to look/glanace at my face and then click/reward. Why is this important? He was so focused on getting the reward, no biting.
I use dry kitten food, one tiny piece at a time. It's high in protein and fat, but so small that the calorie count isn't an issue. And he got such a small amount that pancreatitis wasn't an issue.


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## rachelh2000 (Aug 23, 2010)

I am also frustrated with my pup who just turned 1 today. While we are on walks, she, for some reason, lunges and bites at her leash when we are strolling outside. It gets to the point where she doesn't let go until I do and I have to grab a strap of her harness. She stops biting the leash when I do this but she escalates to the point where me sternly saying NO does nothing. The only way to stop her from biting the leash is to let go of it. If I ignore her or make like a tree, she simply continues. I'm going to try the technique of instantly walking the other direction once I feel an episode coming on..


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