Why does she do this and how to stop it?

[LadyTangerine]

We have a nearly 2yr old labrador. She gets plenty of exercise, 2hrs on a morning and an hour later on. She is healthy, no signs of injury.

She has always been strong on the lead, we use a harness front fastening which has helped, her pulling has reduced massively.

However, frequently when walking on the lead she stops and starts randomly jumping about pulling frantically in all directions. It's hard to control her, she dashes behind my back and yanks so hard. Obviously I've thought it is when she wants to be off lead but that isn't always practical. She gets plenty of off lead runs.

I don't know how to manage it. Currently I stand still keep the lead short and just wait it out but it is hard and actually quite upsetting as she seems so crazed and out of control. I worry if she pulled free she would bolt. She then abruptly stops (but after a good few minutes it isn't a brief thing) and walks on as if she is a completely different dog. While it's happening she has a wild eyed look, bit like zoomies when they're inside.

Is this just excess energy? Anyone experienced similar please advise!

Sounds like she's scared of something. Try to take note of what's going on when it happens. Could be a backfiring car or a rattling lorry maybe?

It doesn't seem to be noise related, nothing that I've noticed anyway. It can happen when walking on the pavement or in isolated areas. She must get spooked by something it's just hard to then settle her. She can growl too but doesn't seem like aggression more like the noise they make when playing 'pull' with a toy.
It's horrible though! I sometimes think she'll dislocate my shoulder or pull me over she seems in such a frenzy.

Sounds like zoomies, do you take treats on your walk at all? Sometimes with mine getting him to sit etc for a treat snaps him out of it. Mine only does it when he's had a decent quite relaxing walk with no reactivity and we see it as he's enjoying his walk, although it is tricky to manage. We try to keep the lead short when he starts and sometimes use the treats (mine is 7 so hasn't grown up, yet 🙄)
(don't let my ddogs age worry you that yours won't grow out of it, mine is a rescue and we feel he may never be a calm dog) <edited to add this

Mine makes growly excitable noises too, but he's definitely enjoying it. Mine is reactive so acts differently when scared by a bang etc, pulls and tries to bolt one direction, ears back, tail down, clearly scared, totally different.

I do take treats but was cautious about trying it as everytime we've used treats before it then seemed to encourage behaviour rather than stop it. For example when tiny she was scared to walk so we had to tempt her with treats but it went on for ages, she'd sit refusing to budge until she got a treat. Even now at 2 she occasionally sits down in the most inconvenient places and needs coaxing 🙈.

I'll give it a try though, as you say just to snap her out of it. I tried kneeling down and stroking to calm but that did not work (and was also a bit awkward as she pulled and dragged me about ).

My DH allows it (hes' stronger) so I've pretty much given up trying to stop it, and just keep the lead short when dog starts. I think its not so much the treat but engaging the brain to sit etc for the treat that helps.

Has she smelled something? My dog does this and inevitably I spot a squirrel or a rabbit a few seconds later.

Yes you're maybe right, she is good at sitting usually so I'll give that go. Funny isn't it how they do these random things, meanwhile everyone else's dogs seem to be walking along lovely without having these occasional manic episodes..

Mine sounds crazed like a feral beast when he starts, he's a big softy

She smells everything at 50 paces lol. Nose always to the ground hoovering up anything I don't get to first. I think she just gets overwhelmed, sights and sounds whatever excite her possibly. It's how to manage it, whether a firm hand and march on brusquely or a wait and soothing hand best to stop it. I'll try a sit and stay see if that snaps her out of it.

Sniffing is great for her to do.

If she has a crazy moment I would scatter treats on the floor for her to sniff out. Cue go sniff so reward for her sniffing not being crazy.

Head below heart to sniff will lower her blood pressure, heart rate and her breathing rate, release of dopamine = calmer dog

I would want to look into it more thought why she does this.

Is it at the beginning of the walk
at end of walk
certain times of days
is the lead too tight or harness uncomfortable etc

I interrupt my dog at regular intervals with treats, sit. etc to get him focused on me. It reduces the loopy moments but he's also prone to overexcitement. I just assume that they'll grow out of it.

It just seems random time wise, sometimes she doesn't do it but at the moment it is more frequent I'm even thinking is it just weather related and she doesn't like the wind and the cold.

I'll persevere with my stopping and will get her to sit for treats to distract. Hopefully she'll just grow out of it.

Sounds like displacement energy to me. You know, when they have some kind of extra energy or stress and are looking for relief? Some dogs start chasing their tails or they start chewing excessively etc. Maybe the jumping soothed her once in a stressful situation and its become a habit?

Have you mentioned this to the vet? Try and take a note of when this is happening (morning or evening? When it's busy out or quiet? On the pavement or when walking on a field? After off lead time or before?) and take it all to the vet. Also video it so they can see exactly what's happening. I'd just want to rule out there's nothing medical underlying first as it sounds really unusual.

Or, she could simply be smelling a cat or something equally exciting and getting herself too overwhelmed and giddy about it! Occasionally our dog will suddenly start pulling on lead and getting super excited. We'll be baffled until we spot a cat that he can obviously smell but usually can't see

Yes it does seem like over excitement or pent up energy but it is strange as she gets so much exercise. We've had labs before and they've never done this whilst on a walk but then she always has been easily spooked,so say in the house she'll jump occasionally with minor noises but as said earlier this doesn't seem to be noise related, it is just random.

No I haven't mentioned to a vet, just discussed with experienced dog owners and I was canvassing here to see if anyone else had anything to suggest.

It can happen anytime morning or evening, when in a busy area or an isolated path. When she was a puppy she used to incessantly rag her lead when walking which wore off after a few months this is almost similar without the lead biting and grabbing, just yank yank yank in all directions then stops and walks on!

I'll do a strict sit and stay next time see if she snaps out of it.

Interesting! If she has any check ups at the vet anytime soon I'd mention it just so they can have a feel over of her. Strangely my first thought was cramp or any pains that might cause a reaction. I've seen some unusual reactions to pain from dogs before so it wouldn't surprise me. Most likely over excitement but keep an eye on it. I'd ensure she's on a well fitting harness too just to prevent any damage to her neck when she does it

Yes of course i should get her checked it just seemed a behavioural issue rather than physical but then better to be on the safe side.

It likely is behavioural but always worth ruling out as pain/discomfort can show up in weird ways. Definitely take a video of her doing it to show them. Vets are generally always good at signposting you to good (properly qualified) trainers in the area if they think a bit of input might be helpful so hopefully the appointment won't feel wasted if they decide all is fine!

Yes definitely I'll film next time. It'll be a multi tasking challenge, not easy in minus temps whilst slippy under foot 😬.

Maybe it helps if you work on her impulse control in general. I would do lots of exercises in that direction. So instead of fighting the symptom, you eliminate the problem at the root.

I don't know how to work on her impulse control, I'll google and see what exercises I can find. We've had dogs before but walking them has never been the carry on we have with this one. I wonder if changing to a neck lead rather than hatness might help, as then the more she yanks the worse it will be for her but that seems a bit unpleasant.

My arm and shoulder can't take it! Although she didn't do it today so that's good.

You will find lots of exercises for impulse control. Just always make her wait for stuff when its hard for her. It wont be a quick fix though and might not fully work on its own. I would definitely also try and distract/interrupt her when she does it, the longer she does this successfully, the harder it is to break the habit.