Off leash puppy problem

Dublinsmom · #1 05-23-2007, 02:44 PM

Well Dublin has reached teenage time and we thought we were breezing through it so nicely. Wrong! We found a new off leash park and he loves it so much we go everyday and he has been great no chasing bikers on the trails etc. However the last two times he has out of no where decided to jump on and bite(not hard) my 8 year old. Yesterday while I was trying to pull him off he was barking and nipping at me too. Now being we were about 20 minutes walk from the car how do I deal with this? At home we leave the room and that works great. I ended up getting a hold of him and putting his leash back on for the rest of the outing. Other than that not sure what else to do. He loves his off leash walks so much and is usually great about coming when called etc. In fact about 10 minutes before we had the outburst we ran into a lady with 3 dogs and that ran at each other and played a bit but we kept walking and called him back to us and he came. I went from being so proud to of him to the total opposite. We have taken puppy class and the Vet assures us he is submissive. He has just been such a good boy lately and now this? So sorry this is long but any great ideas or just been there done that advice would be great. Also should I stop the off leash walks for awhile? We started also making out daughter be the one who feeds him and puts him in his crate with his kong and we've had her working on just basic sit, down, stay etc with him.

Biff · #2 05-23-2007, 03:54 PM

I think you are doing all the right things. Letting your 8yr old feed him, and obey her commands will let him know she is higher up the pack order than he is.

Putting him back on the leash when he misbehaves like that is good too, but you may want to take it one stage further. Put him back on the leash, say nothing, and take him right back home. No attention for a while either. Basically, send him to the "dog-house!"

He will soon learn that this kind of behaviour results in termination of his "fun time"

Good luck!

BetsyB · #3 05-23-2007, 06:49 PM

Sounds like Dublin is going through one of the notorious "trying" stages. He's simply testing you to see what you will let him get away with, and trying to see if he can advance his role in your pack by targeting the "weakest link", your child. I completely agree with Barbara's suggestions, and would also like to offer the idea of using NILIF especially during this time.

Dublinsmom · #4 05-24-2007, 01:47 AM

thanks guys we are doing Nilif and we also went around and picked up any of his toys/chewthings other than one current raw bone. We are now only taking the toys out for play time and when we decide playtime is over we tell him all done and the toy is put in a drawer. I think we are partly to blame as we were so used to him behaving better we weren't as strict and were not doing as much training. Glad its normal stuff. I also took him for a on leash walk today and he was sooo good but he kept looking up at me as if to say come on let me go play. So I think we are going to keep up the mix of on and off leash trips. Thanks again and if anyone has more to add I love the advice I get here.