# How do I get Oliver to stop biting the leash?



## nfedyk (Jan 13, 2012)

Oliver loves biting and tugging on the leash. When he does this in the foyer after I put his leash on, I usually drop the leash and tell him we are not going out then. He will then usually stop. But what do I do if we are already walking and he starts biting and tugging at the leash? He has to be on a leash at all times outside so dropping it is not an option. I thought maybe he really wants to play tug of war. I went out and bought a nice tug of war toy yet he seems to have little interest in it. Thanks for your suggestions.


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## _unoriginal (Apr 8, 2012)

One of my dogs did (still tries sometimes) this and it drove me nuts. He would only do it if I stopped walking. Like if I stopped to talk to a neighbor, he'd get a hair up his butt to grab the leash and start trying to pull around. What ended up working for me is making him sit and be calm while I talked or whatever it was. When he would start grabbing again, I would say "No." and the tell him to sit again. Bottom line was we would not continue walking until he was sitting calmly, which sometimes took forever.

Another thing you could try is to just not allow him to grab it. If the leash is being held up behind him, he can't grab it, problem solved.


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## bridget246 (Oct 26, 2011)

Sometimes Bridget will grab the leash to try to control the walk even if the leash is behind her. I don't allow that. I'll tell her to drop the second she picks it up. If she looks like she wants something to chew on I keep a little tug in my pocket so she can chew on that a little if she is good.


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## doggiedad (Jan 23, 2011)

if i had a cute little dog like Oliver i probably would encourage
leash biting. my Shepherd is walking towards. i don't want him to see
this post. got to go.


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## Deaf Dogs (Apr 10, 2012)

I would stop walking immediately, ignore him and wait him out. When he stops biting the leash, praise and start walking immediately. He should learn that he gets nothing when he does it.


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## Makovach (Jan 24, 2012)

My brothers ex-gf's dog did this. He like to chew on the leather or nylon, and she hated useing chain leashes. She tried vinegar, bitter apple, bitter yuck, ended up soaking the bottom half of the leash in 1/2 cup cyanne pepper and 1 cup water and it worked. Stopping didn't bother him. He just liked to chew it.


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## malluver1005 (Nov 15, 2009)

Oh man, do I hate it when I see dogs doing this! At the hospital I work at...some dogs do this, and it drives me crazy! I don't have the time to stand there and train them...so I do whatever I can to make it stop. But I agree with the others, when he starts chewing, stop, and wait until he stops chewing, and praise him. Might take a while, but you'll get there.


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## Liz (Sep 27, 2010)

All my dogs learn "it's Mine" at a very young age - any thing that is mine never goes in their mouth.  Leather is too expensive for doggie teeth.


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## Maxy24 (Mar 5, 2011)

I agree, you can wait him out. You can try to make the leash harder to grab by holding it straight behind his head where his mouth doesn't reach (I've done this with Tucker, it works but he tries really hard for a while), You could try bitter apple. You can also take the leash below where he is biting and then drop the rest (so he's not pulling against anything) but that might make him mouth you or freak out due to being restrained so much. With one shelter dog that bit and pulled the leash I would just refuse to pull back. If he pulled I moved my hand towards his mouth and just continually made sure the leash stayed completely loose by moving my hand towards his mouth. He kept backing up, trying to make the leash go tight, I kept making sure that didn't happen. He never got the gratification of tugging and gave up on it. You sort of look like an idiot doing it because you might be walking towards your dog in circles, and you probably don't want to do it near any busy roads, but it worked very quickly for this dog.


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## nfedyk (Jan 13, 2012)

Thanks for all your great suggestions everyone.


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