We have a 4 and a half month old westie. He is a great dog---housetraining was a breeze, he knows all the basic commands (sit, stay, lie down, etc...) he knows what is appropriate to chew, he is happy, healthy and generally a great pet, both in the house and out of it. However, we are having 2 small problems with him.
1. The end of our walks. We take him for two long walks a day (45 min to an hour, about 3 miles, but different routes) and two shorter walks (15-20 minutes) and once he gets walking (sometimes, he needs to sniff everything in sight for five minutes, then he is ready to walk), he walks right by our feet and rarely pulls or stops. HOWEVER, at the end of our walk (say the last 5-10 minutes, when he knows we are on our way back), he sometimes becomes uncontrollable; chasing our feet, tugging on our legs, running around us on his leash---I knwo it can't be because it was too short a walk, because he does it even when we are finishing a long walk---and as I mentioned, he is a 4 and a half month old dog who ways 10 lbs. He is always pretty tired and sleeps for 20-30 minutes after these walks. But what can we do? Standing still does nothing---as soon as we start walking again, he is up to his old tricks...any advice on this would be great.
2. He still has a tendency to run to strangers and dogs and jump on them---not aggressively, but excitedly, like he will find a new friend. For now, its fine because he is adorable to all, doesn't bite or nip, he just wants attention. However, I don't want this to be a lifelong struggle, nor do I want him to jump in the face of the wrong dog. We live in a very dog friendly area and see at least 5 dogs on every walk, and most of them are not on a leash. Any advice?
1. The end of our walks. We take him for two long walks a day (45 min to an hour, about 3 miles, but different routes) and two shorter walks (15-20 minutes) and once he gets walking (sometimes, he needs to sniff everything in sight for five minutes, then he is ready to walk), he walks right by our feet and rarely pulls or stops. HOWEVER, at the end of our walk (say the last 5-10 minutes, when he knows we are on our way back), he sometimes becomes uncontrollable; chasing our feet, tugging on our legs, running around us on his leash---I knwo it can't be because it was too short a walk, because he does it even when we are finishing a long walk---and as I mentioned, he is a 4 and a half month old dog who ways 10 lbs. He is always pretty tired and sleeps for 20-30 minutes after these walks. But what can we do? Standing still does nothing---as soon as we start walking again, he is up to his old tricks...any advice on this would be great.
2. He still has a tendency to run to strangers and dogs and jump on them---not aggressively, but excitedly, like he will find a new friend. For now, its fine because he is adorable to all, doesn't bite or nip, he just wants attention. However, I don't want this to be a lifelong struggle, nor do I want him to jump in the face of the wrong dog. We live in a very dog friendly area and see at least 5 dogs on every walk, and most of them are not on a leash. Any advice?
