nippy on walks

[wagthedog]

Hello all - I have been lurking far too long and am vowing to contribute more regularly (AND get my photo up!)

In the meantime I would really appreciate some advice. I have a client with an Australian Shep/Border Collie cross (almost one year old). The family has three kids ages 11, 13 and 16 who often walk the dog. The problem is, the dog will nip/bite/chew on the kid's footwear and on the leash - one of the kids boots were pretty much destroyed! I have some ideas for addressing this (working on heel plus treating for example). Here's the kicker though - this mainly occurs on the way home (little adolescent tantrum perhaps, at not wanting his walk to end?)

Would really appreciate some additional ideas from those with experience with the breeds!

 

[Sekah]

I would work on creating a calming cue, and then try to lower the dog's arousal preemtively when these behaviours are due to start. Then I would also do as it sounds like you plan to, and offer a high rate of reinforcement for proper walking behaviour. My dog would bite at the leash when frustrated, but by being sweet as pie about it and making walking beside me more rewarding than acting out I've managed to get rid of the tantrums. Again, it sounds like you're planning this already, approach it from extremely R+ methods.

I might also increase the amount of exercise the dog is getting to burn some of that frustration off.

 

[Maxy24]

Tucker would do this when he didn't want to come in from outside (always). He'd actually leap up and grab your arms or hands (and he'd hang on sometimes too), frequently ripping open our skin. Luckily this sounds less dangerous at the moment. I would have the kid immediately freeze when the dog started nipping. Freeze and give him very little leash so he can't continue walking. While this could potentially backfire (since he is nipping because he doesn't want the walk to end), I think the complete lack of movement the dog gets when you freeze would be aversive (boring, frustrating) enough to stop the dog from nipping. If you combine this with rewarding the dog for proper walking chances are he'll catch on quickly.

Stopping leash pulling may be harder since I know, for Tucker anyways, pulling the leash is fun in itself as it's a game of tug. With some dogs that pull the leash simply walking towards the dog as he pulls stops the tugging because they never actually get to pull (I did this with a dog at the shelter, worked great), you keep the leash slack by moving towards them. Tucker however would leap up and grab the leash 3 inches from your hand so he was hanging and you couldn't make any slack. You could always try bitter apple or something on the leash too.