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Hi everyone,
We have a seven month old lurcher puppy who is absolutely great. However, we are experiencing a major problem with his behaviour whenever he is outside (walk, garden, or going to the toilet). It has been happening for about 3 months now and we do have a trainer but we aren't seeing much improvement. Mostly, the behaviour occurs when we are at the end of the walk, he isn't able to say hello to a dog, or he isn't able to go and eat something off the ground. Most of the time it is clearly frustration at not being able to get what he wants but it is becoming increasingly hard to predict and can happen at very random moments. He will jump up at us, nip our arms or legs, chew his lead etc. and it is so difficult for us to manage. We have tried everything we can think of. Taking him for shorter walks, avoiding areas that may trigger him, working on his manners around other dogs, providing him with sticks, scattering treats, trying to redirect his behaviour, the lot, but nothing seems to be working. Our trainer also showed us how to hold his collar to prevent him jumping and wait for him to calm down but he then just bites our wrists and goes straight back to the behaviour when we let go. While we completely understand that he is only 7 months and most certainly going through his teenage rebellion phase, we are getting to the point that he is hurting us and its impacting our relationship with him (love him to pieces but not when he's going for my arm). We need him to know that putting his mouth on someone is unnaceptable and cannot happen but he really doesn't seem to understand. It feels like he doesn't care when we ignore him. As I mentioned, we do have a trainer who we have booked more sessions with but we aren't able to get a session until July so would really appreciate any help from anyone. We are completely against negative reinforcement and only ever use positive reinforcement. He is a big dog and has big teeth so even if it is just play bites, they can do damage. Our arms are covered in bruises and yesterday he broke the skin on my finger. I also want to stress that I don't believe he is doing it as a form of aggression. It is clear that his brain just scrambles and he's unable to regulate his emotions or make decisions. But in some ways this makes it more difficult because we know when he is in that state, he can't learn that there are other more rewarding behaviours that can be done instead of jumping and biting. A muzzle is something we would hate to use on him but obviously the safety of ourselves, others around us, and our puppy is paramount. We are really hoping that we can sort this behaviour before it comes to that though. Thank you all so much for any advice
We have a seven month old lurcher puppy who is absolutely great. However, we are experiencing a major problem with his behaviour whenever he is outside (walk, garden, or going to the toilet). It has been happening for about 3 months now and we do have a trainer but we aren't seeing much improvement. Mostly, the behaviour occurs when we are at the end of the walk, he isn't able to say hello to a dog, or he isn't able to go and eat something off the ground. Most of the time it is clearly frustration at not being able to get what he wants but it is becoming increasingly hard to predict and can happen at very random moments. He will jump up at us, nip our arms or legs, chew his lead etc. and it is so difficult for us to manage. We have tried everything we can think of. Taking him for shorter walks, avoiding areas that may trigger him, working on his manners around other dogs, providing him with sticks, scattering treats, trying to redirect his behaviour, the lot, but nothing seems to be working. Our trainer also showed us how to hold his collar to prevent him jumping and wait for him to calm down but he then just bites our wrists and goes straight back to the behaviour when we let go. While we completely understand that he is only 7 months and most certainly going through his teenage rebellion phase, we are getting to the point that he is hurting us and its impacting our relationship with him (love him to pieces but not when he's going for my arm). We need him to know that putting his mouth on someone is unnaceptable and cannot happen but he really doesn't seem to understand. It feels like he doesn't care when we ignore him. As I mentioned, we do have a trainer who we have booked more sessions with but we aren't able to get a session until July so would really appreciate any help from anyone. We are completely against negative reinforcement and only ever use positive reinforcement. He is a big dog and has big teeth so even if it is just play bites, they can do damage. Our arms are covered in bruises and yesterday he broke the skin on my finger. I also want to stress that I don't believe he is doing it as a form of aggression. It is clear that his brain just scrambles and he's unable to regulate his emotions or make decisions. But in some ways this makes it more difficult because we know when he is in that state, he can't learn that there are other more rewarding behaviours that can be done instead of jumping and biting. A muzzle is something we would hate to use on him but obviously the safety of ourselves, others around us, and our puppy is paramount. We are really hoping that we can sort this behaviour before it comes to that though. Thank you all so much for any advice
