How best to deal with crazy during walks

1632 Views 8 Replies 6 Participants Last post by Savvvylu, Feb 6, 2016

JoliBear

Discussion Starter · Feb 2, 2016

I try to take make dog on a couple 15-20 minute walks a day. Every so often she gets crazy when we walk up our drive on the way back. She'll start trying to play with me, but since I don't have any toys she jumps on me and bites at my coat and boot laces and legs, or the leash. I don't know how to discourage this behavior, and I also don't know how I should react to it in the moment. I get really overwhelmed and can't get away from her since we're outside, and it become difficult just to walk because she's biting my boots. I've tried just standing still, but she's going to rip my coat and boots and I can't afford to replace them
Any ideas?

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nick benger

· #2 · Feb 3, 2016

First be sure she's not goofing around because there is something in that area that scares her. Sometimes dogs will act up as a way of dealing with the presence of something scary.

If she's just goofing around because she's playful then do a quick youtube search you will find a ton of videos teaching you how to teach your dog to make eye contact. Begin to teach her that. Then when you get to the area she normally gets excitable, ask her for eye contact when she does it pull out a tug and play tug for a few steps (keep a tug toy in your pocket). Make this the routine when you get to that spot and eventually she'll start pre-empting it and making eye contact with you when you get there.. you can eventually just give her a food reward once she gets the hang of it.

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seashoreduck

· #3 · Feb 3, 2016 (Edited)

For my dog who'd been a shelter dog from 6mo-2yrs, I would practice walking her in/to the area that she got excited about. For her it was mostly greeting people properly, walking to the mailbox (about 1/5 mile) and exiting the house.

We would walk
She would start to goof/pull/jump
Me-sit
she would then comply with some coaching. I would wait until she was calm then begin waling. She'd misbehave again. Rinse, repeat. I spent one Saturday doing this. It took us 3 hours to walk the 1/5 mile to and from the mailbox, but after that she knew I meant business. Now, she wasn't a young puppy and biting wasn't one of her vices...but it worked well for us.

I chose this training because she's not food or toy motivated. She is very much (even at 10) attention motivated. When it comes to food she'd rather scavenge when my back is turned or graze at will than take a tasty treat from my hand.

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JoliBear

Discussion Starter · #4 · Feb 3, 2016

Thanks. I don't think there's a particular spot that sets her off, but maybe when she knows the walk is ending? I'm not sure how to guess where she figures that out. It has happened in random spots too. It's definitely not fear based but excitement.
I can definitely try to preempt it but what should I do we do once it starts?

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nick benger

· #5 · Feb 4, 2016

JoliBear said:
Thanks. I don't think there's a particular spot that sets her off, but maybe when she knows the walk is ending? I'm not sure how to guess where she figures that out. It has happened in random spots too. It's definitely not fear based but excitement.
I can definitely try to preempt it but what should I do we do once it starts?

It depends on the dog. I would go with one of two options.
1) channel it into training, stop and do some tricks or run through her training routine if she's calm enough to do so.
2) Start rewarding the behaviours you like (all feet on the floor, sitting, looking at you). If she learns this is the best way of getting your attention and good things she's not going to bother with the old tactic of jumping up.

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seashoreduck

· #6 · Feb 4, 2016

nick benger said:
It depends on the dog. I would go with one of two options.
1) channel it into training, stop and do some tricks or run through her training routine if she's calm enough to do so.
2) Start rewarding the behaviours you like (all feet on the floor, sitting, looking at you). If she learns this is the best way of getting your attention and good things she's not going to bother with the old tactic of jumping up.

I almost forgot about this. My dog dosn't get pet or attention EVER if she dosn't have "paws down" I worked with her to reward her for this command. We mostly used it because she loves people and people seem to love to have a 45lbs dog jump in their arms :eyeroll:. Ok, ok, so telling her "paws down" is more of a way to teach my friends.

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agility collie mom

· #7 · Feb 4, 2016

Sounds like the zoomies to me. High value treats to regain focus. I agree with stopping and asking for sit or down occasionally. Your dog is young and it is difficult for them sometimes to contain their excitement for the structure of walking quietly on a leash. Do you have a fenced in yard? With all of my dogs when they were young I would "turn them out"in the yard after a walk essentially their break out time. Eventually as your pup mature she will be able to focus for longer periods. Time and patience will get you there. Just look for the signs of the zoomies and try to treat before it escalates.

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Astroquack

· #8 · Feb 5, 2016

^Yep agreed. My dog used to get the zoomies on walks too and turned everything into a game. Whenever he went a bit nuts, I got his attention with a treat and made him sit/stay in one spot until he had calmed down. He soon got the message that if he was going to misbehave, we weren't going or moving anywhere.

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Savvvylu

· #9 · Feb 6, 2016

JoliBear said:
I try to take make dog on a couple 15-20 minute walks a day. Every so often she gets crazy when we walk up our drive on the way back. She'll start trying to play with me, but since I don't have any toys she jumps on me and bites at my coat and boot laces and legs, or the leash. I don't know how to discourage this behavior, and I also don't know how I should react to it in the moment. I get really overwhelmed and can't get away from her since we're outside, and it become difficult just to walk because she's biting my boots. I've tried just standing still, but she's going to rip my coat and boots and I can't afford to replace them
Any ideas?

I 100% feel your frustration! It's the zoomies for sure, they are so overexcited that they start trying to rough play with us. My lab started this behaviour at 6 months and is just starting to behave at 10.5 months. I tried the "sit" command and all that jazz but she would not listen if she managed to latch onto my clothes. She's actually ripped my jacket and pants! So I only wear the same designated clothing for walks. You could try a distraction by pulling out a tug toy when she does this. Or try to freeze and ignore (this didn't work for me but it does for others" I always watch her like a hawk, she'd look at me when the crazies started to kick in, and I'd stop and look away. Then once she moved forward to walk we would start walking again and I repeated this. For three weeks she had awesome walks and started again at 9 months ? I honestly just had my leash around my wrist and held them up so she couldn't grab my coat, and kept enforcing the "off" command. As soon as she backed off I'd praise her. Lucy also had a hard time with the sound of my voice as it's pretty high. Eventually she started learning the difference when I was not happy and she backs off. It's been two weeks and she hasn't been crazy with me. If I remain super calm, ignore her except for some commands on walks and not get to the point of yelling she behaves better (freaking out adds fun for them, don't do it lol ol) It's a matter of phases they go through, you just have to see what works for you and keep patience. Try training the phrase "time out" when she's naughty and end the walk. That might help, I do that when Lucy gets mouthy in the house during playtimes. She goes in her crate for 5 minutes to cool down and behaves when I release her. So she knows it means no more playing and snaps out of it. I also use the phrase "In the bed" for naps and nighttime so she knows it's sleeptime not timeout. People say not to use the crate for punishment but it depends how you use it. What else are you going to use for timeout? Lol leaving them in a room alone so they can destroy something isn't the best idea either especially if they are naturally naughtier like mine. Good luck and keep us posted!

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