# Biting the leash



## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Welcome to the forum. Sounds like Ralphie is a pretty normal golden wanting everything to be play, play, play. My Oak is 2 and a half now and still does the same thing with exception that he will "leave it" when asked. I do still let him just carry his end of the leash sometimes since it work like many of the halters to stop pulling. : Many pups will respond to bitter apple that you spray on the leash. Good luck and please check back to tell us what works for you.


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## TheHooch (May 9, 2007)

Welcome to the forum!!!!! I use a really hot sauce on our leash for the only biter we had. He loved the bitter apple too much.


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

Biting and shaking the leash is such a silly golden thing to do, and it's hard to break because it's just so darned much fun!!! Try putting another leash on him and letting him grab one of them....you can still get forward motion that way, accomplish what you need to accomplish and the neighbors won't think you've lost your mind. Alternatively, give the mutt a tennis ball to carry, or something equally attractive, and he'll leave the leash alone...for a while


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## Ardeagold (Feb 26, 2007)

Take something out with you....like a toy, a ball......something like that.

Let him "carry" it. Then after a while, trade it for a treat.

Keep on with the "leave it" command.

I've found this is normal of almost all dogs who use their mouths as their "job". Goldens retrieve birds....in their mouths. Newfs retrieve people from the water....in their mouths. It's genetically imprinted, I think.

You need to start training him to know when it's appropriate to "carry" something, and when it's not.

Do it the same way you trained everything else. Repetition, praise and treats!

(I have an almost-8 month old Newf doing the exact same thing right now. He just started this a couple of days ago)

He will get much better as he matures, but on occassion will still want to play pully with the leash!


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## Molly's Mom (Jan 1, 2007)

A metal leash will solve your problem immediately. They really don't like a mouthful of metal. It worked for my Molly.


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## Ralphies Mom (Jan 12, 2008)

Thanks for all the suggestions and the warm welcomes. I figured this was a normal Golden thing, and I guess Mommy needs to be trained in patience a little more as well.

We bought bitter apple a while back hoping to curb the chewing on the door frames in the kitchen. He seemed to like the taste and it did nothing to discourage the chewing. He eventually outgrew this habit. Little by little he loses interest in the bad habits. But the leash thing seems to be ongoing.

He has been crate trained and unfortunately right now we don't have a fenced in yard for him to run in (we are working on this). I know if he got more outside activity that he would calm down more. We are now trying to integrate him into "family" life by allowing him to be in the living area with everyone else. This has been a stressful endeavor as the majority of the time we are yelling at him to stop chewing the handle on the recliner, leave Mommy's shoes alone, stop trying to climb up into Mommy's lap, leave the wires on Mommy's laptop alone. It is exhausting. He has PLENTY of toys to keep him busy but he would rather play with everything else that he has no business messing with. 

I try to walk him as much as I can during the day. I work full time and have returned to college at the ripe old age of 45, so time is at a premium right now. The other adult in the household has Multiple Sclerosis and is not very steady on her feet. She takes him out when I am not here but I worry constantly that he will pull her over. This is why we initially hired the personal trainer. She was a bit on the expensive side so after our initial six weeks we could not continue.

He is a good boy overall, he is very smart and loving and willing to please, with the exception of the leash thing and his grabbing everything in sight and his jumping up on us. He is my baby and I wouldn't trade him for the world, but I guess I just need to figure out how to turn these bad behaviors around.


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## Angel_Kody (Feb 27, 2007)

Molly's Mom said:


> A metal leash will solve your problem immediately. They really don't like a mouthful of metal. It worked for my Molly.


 
This is what I was going to suggest. Jester used to do this and the trainer suggested a chain leash. It works. When he takes it in his mouth, give a little tug. They don't like the feel of it on their teeth. After a while you should be able to go back to a regular leash.


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## Molly's Mom (Jan 1, 2007)

For Molly, it was a combination of the EZ Walk Harness and the chain leash. That cured her. No more pulling and no more games with the leash. She's back on her regular nylon leash now and she doesn't pull that stuff on me anymore. She will be on the EZ Walk Harness for life.


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## fostermom (Sep 6, 2007)

Ralphies Mom said:


> Thanks for all the suggestions and the warm welcomes. I figured this was a normal Golden thing, and I guess Mommy needs to be trained in patience a little more as well.
> 
> We bought bitter apple a while back hoping to curb the chewing on the door frames in the kitchen. He seemed to like the taste and it did nothing to discourage the chewing. He eventually outgrew this habit. Little by little he loses interest in the bad habits. But the leash thing seems to be ongoing.
> 
> ...


It sounds to me like you have a high energy boy who needs to burn some of it off. Can you hire a local teen to walk him a couple of miles every day? A backpack weighed down with some rice will help him burn even more energy. Or try a doggie day care a few days a week so he can get some heavy duty play time.

I totally understand what it is like to have a high energy dog who is destructive if he doesn't get his exercise. My Danny is definately that type of dog!


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## missmarstar (Jul 22, 2007)

Molly's Mom said:


> For Molly, it was a combination of the EZ Walk Harness and the chain leash. That cured her. No more pulling and no more games with the leash. She's back on her regular nylon leash now and she doesn't pull that stuff on me anymore. She will be on the EZ Walk Harness for life.


the easy walk harness saved me too... i will never go back lol

ok for the OP, i dunno if this is the "correct" way to go about training a dog not to bite the leash, but this is what i did for Sam and it worked. everytime he would bite the leash i would say drop it and (since he was leashed and couldnt run lol) i would grab hold of his muzzle and hold his mouth closed.. he did NOT like that.. he would even make a wimper noise some of the times. i had to do this maybe 3 times. he has never bitten the leash since... he has *started* to... when i see him even THINKING about putting the leash in his mouth, i say "uh uh... drop it" and he does.


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## Ralphies Mom (Jan 12, 2008)

I'm going to look into both the Ez leash and the metal leash and see if either helps. I did find tonight that if I have him take a toy out with him, it curtails the playing with the leash and the jumping up on me. Instead he throws the toy around and runs back and forth with it. The only problem is he will not go potty. So I have to take the toy away from him in order for him to do his business so we don't have to stand outside all night and freeze. The minute I take his toy he is back to jumping on me and grabbing the leash.

I get upset with myself because I get impatient with him and yell, which does nothing but get me stressed. He totally ignores me and keeps right on doing his thing. I think I need to go back to having the clicker with me all the time. For some reason when I have that in my hand he obeys all commands. When I don't, its a free-for-all. I need to rethink his training. Can anyone recommend any good training books?


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## Ash (Sep 11, 2007)

I actually encourage leash biting on my show dogs. I know crazy hey. To curb this I usually teach the command "out". If your dog is biting you leash I take them by the muzzle, and press the upper lip against the canine tooth and say out very firmly. Believe me they learn fast. Or you can try the hot sauce but I would be one to hold the leash, get it on my hands and wipe my eye LMAO.


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## dogwalker81 (Jan 16, 2008)

Hello - I just adopted a nine month old Golden from a shelter about 2 1/2 weeks ago. She is pretty good inside, but outside on the leash goes crazy similar to what you are saying. She jumps, growls, bites the leash and nips at me. I have tried being firm, saying no, giving a leash correction and even pinning her down on the ground (thinking this is what the Mother dog would do), but she doesn't stop. We get back inside and she looks at me like, what did I do? I am also going crazy and not sure if this is aggressive behaviour. How can we get our dogs exercise if we can't even walk them???? So you are not alone and I appreciate any advice as well.


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## Goldendogx2 (Sep 2, 2007)

One of my dogs carries his leash when he's excited to go outside. Once we get headed in a sure direction he stops. He also grabs the leash when he thinks he's had enough training (I often work on heeling in the middle of our walks in a cul-de-sac). Again, once we've started back on our walk he let's go. 

While sometimes this can be irritating. You can learn to use it to your advantage. For example: When we're training and I take the leash off and then we're done. I'll tell him "go pick up your leash." He will and run to the house to go in. I don't have to bend over . 

I also used this internal motivation to teach my other dog to fetch my walking shoes. He knew how to fetch a dumbbell and was always "talking" to me when I wasn't getting dressed fast enough for him after work, that I told him, "well then, you fetch my shoes." He did. He can even pick out the right shoes in a pile. I figured, if he's in such a hurry to go on the walk, he can help move the process along. Now he knows it's his "job" to get the shoes and he does it with joy.


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