# Help! Adolescent puppy throwing FITS when on walks...



## pennyandrusty (Apr 25, 2010)

I have the same problem with Sophie. She does this with my husband when it's time to leave the park. She will bite the leash, pull and jump on him. She will also do this in the beginning of the walk too. She doesn't do this when she's on the gentle harness, though we would like to walk her without it eventually.


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## Finn's Fan (Dec 22, 2007)

Couple of suggestions: 1) go further on your walk and change up where you stop to turn around and go home. Don't keep the same route. 2) Carry treats and put him through his paces periodically on your walks. Reward with treats. Make him stop and sit. Have him "down" randomly in the middle of a walk. Turn abruptly and stop suddenly, having him sit. Reward each behavior. Make your walks mentally challenging as well as physically tiring.
Basically, outsmart the teenager


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## 58loosy (Apr 18, 2010)

How old is Otis? Lucy is 11 mos. seems like she started that behavior around 7 mos. she would jump up and grab leash and my hands they would get in the way. Never had her plop on the ground. Your suppose to stand tall and don't pay attention to him, which is hard to do, Lucy finally would get distracted and start walking. I always feel she gets bored after awhile, the past week she hasn't done it, hopefully it has ended plus if it is a more interesting place to walk she didn't either out of the neighborhood was aways good.


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

You have a bratty teenager! It is likely that he is now feeling better after the lyme treatment and he is trying to get his ya yas out. Two things can help. The first is to get him into a training class. I am sure he is very well behaved in normal situations, but a training class will help him learn to behave is very distracting situations.

The other suggestion is to get him more exercise. An adolescent Golden needs a couple hours of hard exercise a day. Try to find a dog park or find him a dog friend who has similar energy to play with for a couple of hours. Work on training every day and train new tricks or behaviors constantly. Mental exercise is very tiring for a pup. A 1/2 hour private obedience lesson for Selli is as tiring as a 1 & 1/2 hour run. Do them both and you will get a happy, well behaved pup.


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## GoldenJona (Apr 3, 2010)

Selli-Belle said:


> You have a bratty teenager! It is likely that he is now feeling better after the lyme treatment and he is trying to get his ya yas out. Two things can help. The first is to get him into a training class. I am sure he is very well behaved in normal situations, but a training class will help him learn to behave is very distracting situations.
> 
> The other suggestion is to get him more exercise. An adolescent Golden needs a couple hours of hard exercise a day. Try to find a dog park or find him a dog friend who has similar energy to play with for a couple of hours. Work on training every day and train new tricks or behaviors constantly. Mental exercise is very tiring for a pup. A 1/2 hour private obedience lesson for Selli is as tiring as a 1 & 1/2 hour run. Do them both and you will get a happy, well behaved pup.


 
I dont have this issue yet, puppy is only 11.5 weeks but I'm sure I will come across the same situation. When you guys say 30 mins of training doe that mean you feed him a treat for those 30 mins that you teach him commands (that would be a lot of treats)? Because I dont know if I would be able to hold his attention for 30 mins if I didnt treat him every time. Maybe it's because he's young so his attention span is low but I'm imagining a teenager can be worse than a puppy at times?


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## blivi (May 5, 2010)

Thanks for the advice, folks. We'll see what we can accomplish! I think part of it may be because he had hip dysplasia surgery in February (and again in March and then Lyme disease in April--poor guy!), so he was too constrained (and then exhausted when we were ramping up his exercise/therapy). Maybe he's just now hitting his bratty teenager stage when Lucy hit it sooner? Hmm.

I'll try to make his vigorous exercise more consistent (typically he gets 3 days a week or so of either dog park or swim sessions at the lake in addition to his 3 walks and ball-playing). I'm going to try to make the walks more varied so he doesn't pick up any more bad habits...I don't think it helps that every house on the block has dogs and he knows it...so even when they're not around, he'll post up in front of our neighbors house and watch the door, just in case his buddy the goldendoodle comes out to play! If I try to encourage him by running away from him, throwing toys, giving him commands--sometimes he looks at me like I have three heads. haha!

I've taken to putting a harness on him because it's easier to "encourage" him to stand up when he gets his stubborn streak.

Thanks for all the advice, guys. Seriously.


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## GoldenSail (Dec 30, 2008)

What are you usually walking him on? A harness?

Doesn't sound to me like he is necessarily needs more exercise. Sounds more like he enjoys his walks and will put the brakes on and try anything and everything to prolong the walk. 

Ok, I had a mentor teach me his technique known as leash guiding. Essentially, you teach the dog that wherever the leash goes, he goes. I would use a martingale style collar. Put him on your left side and imagine your hand holding the leash is a crayon. Walk forward and start to guide him by drawing the top part of an '8'. When you reach the crest, you will start walking backwards (but stay on this invisible straight line) and tighten/pull slightly on the lead and encourage him to speed up and switch directions. When he does, praise (use food too, if you want) and release tension. Then you will reach the bottom of the 8 (you are still walking backward) you will again put tension on the leash and arc him back up so that he is going the opposite direction and you are again walking forward. Praise, release when he speeds up around the corner and switches when you put pressure on the leash. Practice practice.

Then, once he understands that he needs to follow the leash pressure, you can implement it when you get back from your walks. When he sits down, tell him 'let's go' and keep walking--encouraging him to follow the leash like he has been taught but not bribing. I hope this helps.


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## blivi (May 5, 2010)

GoldenSail:

Thank you for the advice! I'll check out those collars tomorrow. 

We've actually tried a lot of collars--a "normal" one, a harness, a gentle leader. Maybe this will help. I'm gonna try a lot of different things with hopes that something will stick...a lot of encouragement, praise and treats. And a lot of finger crossing that he grows out of his teenage years! ;-)


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## Rhapsody in Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

The best harness I have worked with is the EasyWalk.

I may have missed this, but how long are your walks with him? 

I would not allow him to take the leash and pull on it. You have to be his leader and it may seem cute and innocent now, but it shows a lack of respect. He has to learn to look to you. You're going to have to work a little harder on that one. Watch him. Does he lean into you? Push others out of the way to be the center of your attention? Take other dog's toys? You may not notice it right away, but I would pay attention and be a stronger leader. Otherwise, he'll take over where you are lacking. 

He needs at least an hour outdoors - not just for exercise, but smelling and taking everything else in. I would try to engage him more. Call his name as you are walking and get him to look up at you. Give him a good ear rub if he sits before a cross walk. Pay close attention to him.

Since you mention he had surgery, I would check to see what his limitations are at this point, if any. If you can, I would suggest playing with him before you leave for the walk to work off some of the energy - bring him down a bit. I will do this with my three pups for 20 minutes. Just let them rough-house in the yard and I throw a ball. Then we put the leashes on and off we go for a full hour.

I hope this helps.


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## Sophie_Mom (Jan 21, 2009)

Sophie does the biting/grabbing/jumping at the leash at the beginning of our walks every single time, and again at the very end of the walk, coming up our driveway. She gets SO excited! At the beginning, she'll then take her leash in her mouth and "walk herself" to the end of our property line and then she'd done. Maybe we are encouraging "bad" behavior, but we think it's adorable and it's one of our routines. We really think it's just her way of showing her excitement for her walk! At the end, she grabs it as we approach our driveway, jumps around a bit, and the instant we get to the door, she stops. I'd hate for her to stop! (but she doesn't cause any "problems" on her walks otherwise!)


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## firedancer722 (Apr 12, 2010)

Charlie does this periodically at the end of a walk... I think he's just trying to play and/or deter us from going inside; however, I do think it is his way of dominating, and I don't want to encourage it. The trainer I was taking him to a couple of months ago said that when he does it, he wants me to tug back and 'fight' with him, so the best way to get him to stop is to make it not fun anymore. She recommended I take the leash and step on it with my foot (hold it down really well) and turn my back to Charlie and not say a word. It works like a charm everytime! He might try pulling and biting for 5 more seconds but then the leash goes slack and I'll peek over my shoulder and he's just standing there without the leash in his mouth. Then, I turn around, give the SIT / STAY command, pick up the leash and praise for his CURRENT good behavior. It really has decreased how much he does this. Good luck!


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## Bender (Dec 30, 2008)

Try changing the route of the walk every time. Also, go down the block away from the house for a few houses, then turn around and go past your house and continue on. Midway through the walk, go past the house again. That way he won't associate going towards the house with the walk being over.

You can also get a reward, something like a special treat, or toy for when you get home. Teach him to find it by gradually hiding it in the house in harder spots, and when you get near the house you can start reminding him about that game in the house that's ideally just as fun as going for a walk. If you have someone to help, take him outside on leash while they hide it and then right back in again too. Or, simply let him see where you hide it (pick 5-6 spots and rotate), so you put his leash on, take the treat/toy and put it in a spot (like on a kitchen chair) and take him outside, ask him where his treat/toy is and get excited about him finding it and then bring him in and take his leash off so he can find it.

For the fits, if he keeps throwing them..... if there's a fence or something you can hook his leash to, then when he does it just tie him there, go to the house and sit there with a sandwich or something you'd share with him (if you're against people food, get some dog treats and pretend to muck around with them instead). Pretend to ignore him wherever he's leashed up for a few minutes, then go see if he's ready to come in and get a treat. He'll soon figure out that throwing a fit means he's missing out on a treat and NOT getting his own way, and is in fact quite boring to you.

Lana


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## sdain31y (Jul 5, 2010)

Jazz tries to grab the leash too, but as a few people have said the trainer said it shouldn't be encouraged. I tell her to drop it and usually she does. But she is a retriever and she is happiest with something in her mouth, so if we are just out for a stroll I give her a stick, water bottle, etc to carry and she's happy. She the belle of our local PetsMart when she prances out carrying her own shopping bag!

She used to do her version of a fit when we wanted her to come into the house and she wanted to stay in the yard. She'd stand and look at us and when you started to get close to her, she literally drop over on her side and roll over. It was probably not the best reaction but it was so cute to see her fall over and then roll over that all I could do is laugh at her. I'd walk up to her and rub her tummy, let her sniff the treat and turn around and head in telling her to go in the house. I didn't even look back, but it only took a second until I'd hear her scramble up and usually go racing around the yard and beat me to the door tail a wagging, big doggy grin on her face. Guess since she didn't get what she wanted, it wasn't worth doing but it was hilarious to see.


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## 58loosy (Apr 18, 2010)

I tried everything she has just about stopped it, and when she does grab I drop the leash, she just stands there, I pick up the leash and continue with our walk, it is taking away her excitement, I just wish I had thought of doing this a few mo. ago when she was doing it alot. Lucy is 11mos. thankfully growing up, lol.


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## Boston (Nov 22, 2009)

*Walk Fits*

My Zoe does the same thing
I am not a fan of having my 88 Pound dog laying in the middle of the road 
I also hate when she does the jumping thing during walks (switching up the routes on delays it)

I started carrying a small water gun, and quick spray to face quickly puts an end to a jumping fit


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