I have a cocker spaniel he is a lovely dog but gets over excited when I let him out of the car and barks and jumps up and occasionally nips me. I have tried putting him on the lead but that doesn't work! What can I do?
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Too much barking at start of walk
- Thread starter Mowoody
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Hi Mowoody, and welcome to DogForum 
My advice would be- pull up at the place for your walk and get out of the car.
Stand by the side of your car by the door where your dog is, and wait. When he's calm (the first time this may take anything up to half an hour, if your dog is really stubborn) open the door and put him on the lead, then let him out of the car.
Stand still with your arms out of his way, just holding the lead and not making eye contact with him, and wait. When he's calm (again, this may involve a long wait the first time you do it) tell him he's a good boy and start your walk. If your arms are nowhere near where he can nip and he still manages to nip your legs he goes silently straight back into the car and you go home.
At present he knows that he can hassle you and get all over the top and he'll get lots of attention and still get his walk. He's trained you to accept this behaviour, including nipping and the onus is on you to show him that this is really not acceptable.
You don't mention his age, which is very relevant here. Young dogs still have yet to learn patience and to accept delayed gratification and there are things you can do to help him learn these things and you can work on them at home, with teaching 'leave' and 'wait' commands, which are useful in all sorts of ways. A dog that learns that 10 seconds of waiting will get him the treat is easier to teach that he needs to suppress his excitement for 10 minutes in order to get the lovely walk.
Good luck with this
My advice would be- pull up at the place for your walk and get out of the car.
Stand by the side of your car by the door where your dog is, and wait. When he's calm (the first time this may take anything up to half an hour, if your dog is really stubborn) open the door and put him on the lead, then let him out of the car.
Stand still with your arms out of his way, just holding the lead and not making eye contact with him, and wait. When he's calm (again, this may involve a long wait the first time you do it) tell him he's a good boy and start your walk. If your arms are nowhere near where he can nip and he still manages to nip your legs he goes silently straight back into the car and you go home.
At present he knows that he can hassle you and get all over the top and he'll get lots of attention and still get his walk. He's trained you to accept this behaviour, including nipping and the onus is on you to show him that this is really not acceptable.
You don't mention his age, which is very relevant here. Young dogs still have yet to learn patience and to accept delayed gratification and there are things you can do to help him learn these things and you can work on them at home, with teaching 'leave' and 'wait' commands, which are useful in all sorts of ways. A dog that learns that 10 seconds of waiting will get him the treat is easier to teach that he needs to suppress his excitement for 10 minutes in order to get the lovely walk.
Good luck with this
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