Pup jumping up at lead and biting it - caught my leg tonight

[polkadotpjs]

He's great at home, mostly great on walks but at the end of a walk or if he's maybe tired , he jumps up like mad biting his lead. I've tried distracting with treat which works a bit but more often than not he's back up jumping until we are on the home straight and he'll usually trot back home ok. Could it be the walk route? He hates buses and we do see one some walks as we go via a main road. He's also started to sit down if he sees other dogs and won't move, yet when they get to us he'll go have a sniff and say hello? He's not for moving until they go past though. It's odd and recent behaviour. He's 6 months now.

I should say I think he caught my leg whilst jumping up and snapping at the lead - he's not bad for biting these days - just gets mouthy when excited - I know I need to do some more training there.

Our puppy did this, and, we live on a main road so also lots of traffic. My husband got fed up so used to stop walking when she started biting the lead and said "no". When she stopped biting, he carried on walking. It was a bit tedious stopping and starting but she soon realised that her walk would be interrupted if she jumped at and bit the lead.

I was told at puppy class that the trouble with treats sometimes is puppies can't tell the difference between a distraction and a reward so pups might make the connection between misbehaviour and a treat. They said to just use one word command, a firm no and reward with "good" in a lighter tone when she gets something right.

I can't remember the last time she jumped and bit the lead so might be worth a try, it worked for pup.

I hope this helps.

end of a walk or if he's maybe tired this is key.

I would shorten the walk and see if the behaviour stops. It probably will.

The stopping still to look at other dogs is common behaviour. Your dog is checking out the situation. Let your dog watch and move on when happy. This will become less of an issue as they become more confident. Let the meet and greet be 3 secs and then move on.

I'll try making them shorter and the stop start thing too. Thanks all for not making me feel like a loser! I appreciate it a lot

A metal lead could also work temporarily - nowhere near as enjoyable to chew as a fabric one!

Ours did this a lot and like you say I think it’s mainly due to tiredness. We also wondered whether it was the excitement of realising he was nearly home.

We used to stand still until he stopped but we also found that giving him a ball or tug toy towards the end of the walk would work - he just wanted to bite/carry something. The only issue with a ball is that if he drops it, it rolls onto the road. We found a tug toy better.

Oh that's a great idea to take a toy. It can add to my coat which is huge with stuffed pockets and make it yet bigger . Noticed this morning I had my fur lined boots on which he used to try and attack as a tiny pup so could be that too !

One of my huskies use to chew on lead playing on way home. I stopped it by spraying it with bitter bite.