Help please

[Yveren1]

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Hi everyone hope you are well. I am having major problems with Kenza when I take her off lead on open grass she was start to go for me ( my arms and ankles). I cannot calm her or grab hold of her. Her behaviour from when she was a small puppy has resumed. I stopped this before by following the advice given on this forum. I cannot understand if as it only happens when she gets overexcited. The rest of the time she is the perfect companion. I feel so stupid when my own dog is attaching me. I wonder if I should get a muzzle or should avoid taking her to open areas again? Any advice would be appreciated.

 

[JoanneF]

Remind us please, how old is she? And exactly what happens - you take her to an open space, and does she immediately turn and bite? Do you take toys? What happens if you keep her on lead in the open space then let her off after a few minutes?

 

[Yveren1]

Hi she is 20 months old now. After a period of walking and sniffing around she will then go for my ankles and arms until I can get her back on the lead. Any toys or treats I have just seem to hype her up even more when we are out so I stopped these when she was quite young when we were out. I normally have her on the lead and then let her off to have a run about but it has ended badly for the last week or so.

 

[JoanneF]

Does she do this at home or only on walks? Is there anything about the walk itself or could it be any walk where she goes off lead?

Have you tried any training with her on walks (simple things like sit, down, paw) to focus her?

How is her impulse control over other things?

Really sorry for all the questions but in order to try and find a solution to a problem, it's important to try to understand the cause.

 

[JudyN]

This does sound like what Jasper used to do, and it can be a blimmin' nightmare. In addition to Joanne's questions, does she ever do this when she is on lead? Are you able to say approximately how long she can be off lead for before she does this? And is she at all food motivated on walks?

 

[Yveren1]

Hi she only does this on walks after about 5 minutes off lead when she gets herself excited. It sounds like a good idea to get her doing some training when we are out. I was doing a lot of impulse control I thought I was doing enough as she was doing so well. She has done it twice on lead which worries me. I wish I could understand the behaviour.

 

[JoanneF]

It's quite a tough one because if it was happening indoors, you could just walk out of the room to teach that teeth on skin equals end of fun, but that's not going to work outdoors. And while a muzzle might help, it won't actually resolve the problem (if you do decide to do this, please condition her properly to the muzzle - it takes time, and loads of squeezy cheese). I would say to keep working on impulse control, especially outdoors. And can you recognise when it is about to happen? If so can you pop her on lead just before it starts? Or maybe try a long line, which you can use to let her have her run but might be easier to gather up than taking off and putting on a normal lead. Please note a long line should only ever be attached to a harness, never a collar, as a running dog can get stopped with a jerk when they reach the end, and that can cause damage to the neck and trachea.

 

[JudyN]

Having looked back through previous posts, I would go back to doing what you did before - avoidance, ignoring the 'bad', avoiding open areas, and so on. Make sure you reward the slightest sign that she thought of having a moment and then changed her mind - reward her as much for 'not being bad' as 'being good'. And keep up the impulse control work.

A muzzle might be worth a try if you're getting fed up of being hurt - it might help you be calmer. On the other hand, it could frustrate her more and make her more likely to boil over.

As for why she's started doing this again - it could be age/hormones, or there might be some slight stressor. Has the warm weather affected how/when she is walked?

As it can be hard to get control of her when she does this, I'd do a couple of things - (1) practise recall, making sure that you get hold of her/put her lead on before treating her, then let her go back off lead. Do this regularly on a walk. Then, when you need to get her on lead, she won't throw a wobbly because she knows the fun is over. If she typically does this after 5 mins, aim to get her back on lead after 3-4 mins, then let her off again (unless you think she's getting towards tipping point); (2) Make her easier to grab. This could be by her wearing a harness, or a very short 'lead' - Jasper has a cut-down lead about 6" long attached to his collar when he's off lead and (as he's collar shy) it's really useful for getting hold of him quickly, walking past dogs I think he might react to, and so on.

This will pass... The more consistent and the calmer you can be, the sooner you'll get there.

 

[Yveren1]

Thank you all I will work on all of your points and hopefully we will get back in track. I won’t opt for the muzzle just yet. Thank you again I feel much better with your reassurance.