Puppy Biting Leash During Training

A lot of pet owners get frustrated with their puppy biting the leash during training. Although this conduct may make you want to rip your hair out, it is a behavior that can be easily changed. Don’t make the mistake of thinking it’s normal conduct. It isn’t and it is important to get your little one trained as quickly as possible before it becomes ingrained in their mind like one of our labrador puppies for sale in this picture.

Stop Disciplining Incorrectly

While you might want to yell at your dog when they are biting on their leash, this isn’t going to get you anywhere. Your dog will probably just start chewing on the leash right after you tell them to stop and correct their behavior. Usually dogs are doing this because they want attention, so giving it to them is just going to be seen as a reward in their eyes. This is the last thing you want.

I remember spending a lot of time telling my dog no before I gave up and looked into other training alternatives. Here’s what you can do to solve this problem and enjoy going on peaceful walks with your puppy.

1. Rewards

Just like humans, dogs love to be rewarded for things they do right. When your dog is walking with you and not chewing on the leash, give them attention and a nice pat on the head. Feel free to give them treats as well. Just make sure you drop down to do so or they might think you are trying to teach them to jump!

I started giving my puppy more attention while we were walking and she was being good. What do you know, she stopped biting her leash. If the positive reward process doesn’t cure them of the leash problem, you need to move on to the next approach.

2. Trick Your Puppy

Sometimes dogs need to be taught in ways that require you to be a little tricky. If your puppy is still biting the leash, then attach two leashes to their collar. Then, when your puppy starts biting, just drop one leash and grab onto the other. Soon enough they will realize that they aren’t getting anywhere by chewing, so they will stop.

3. Hot Sauce

Hot sauce on a leash will cure your puppy of its urge to bite the leash. This doesn’t mean you need to dump a bottle of the sauce on your leash. Instead, just dab it in the bite area. Just look for the teeth marks. Now go for a walk. Your puppy will quickly learn the leash doesn’t taste good any longer and you will have solved the problem.

The key to finding out what works best for you and your puppy is patience. Puppies take a lot of time to train and they can be hard to figure out. Fortunately, once they learn a lesson, they hold on to it for the rest of their lives.

What about professional help? Yes, you can call someone in, but I don’t recommend it. You need to learn how to deal with your puppy and teach it how to act. You can do it. It is not that difficult. Try the above and you should put an end to the leash biting issues.

Annie Klacks
@animaroo