Why Do Dogs Leash Bite?
There are a variety of reasons why dogs bite on the leash. Sometimes, they may be bored of leash training exercises. More often, they are redirecting their excitement or frustration onto the lead.
Walking outdoors is frequently a high energy, high stimulus, extravaganza of scents, movement, sound, and sights, for a dog. Therefore, they are more likely to lose control and act out, than when they are at home. This usually occurs when our dog sees a person, squirrel, cat, or some other trigger. Instinctually, he wants to chase the squirrel and cat, or interact with the person. When our dog is prevented from chasing, all that excited energy must still go somewhere, so it may get redirected onto the leash.
My dog was ultimately leash biting, because he was picking up on my weak, tense, and fearful energy. This increased his stress level, and would usually trigger his crazy leash dance. For shy dogs, unbalanced human energy may also cause fear aggression.
Which technique we use to prevent biting on the leash, will depend on the intensity and source of the behavior. If our dog has a bite history, it is best to hire a professional trainer.
For the Bored and Playful Leash Biter
Dog Training
1. Let our dog carry a stick or toy during leash training.
A problem with this technique is that some dogs may want to lie down, and just play with the toy or stick.
2. Play the Find-it game.
A fun game that I play with my dog during walks, is the Find-it game.
- First, I get my dog’s attention by calling his name.
- I reward him for giving me his attention.
- Then, I say Find-it and throw him a treat a short distance away.
- When he finds it, I praise him well, treat him, and repeat.
Once he is accustomed to finding it, I may combine the exercise with other obedience commands, e.g. Come. As his skills improve, I make the game more challenging by throwing the treat under bushes or in tall grass, but only if it is safe to do so.
Most importantly, I keep sessions short, fun, and rewarding. The Find-It game is a big favorite with all of my dogs.
3. Make leash training more interesting.
Leash training and walking will be a lot more interesting, if we change direction, change speed, and throw in some fun foot-work commands, such as Jump, Up, Weave, and Spin.
4. Walk our dog on a loose leash.
I walk my dog on a loose leash, stop often, and let him smell the roses. I only shorten the leash and move my dog into a heel position, when there are excitement triggers around, such as squirrels, cats, other dogs, and loud people.
5. Take our dog to interesting environments.
Visit nearby parks and empty school fields. These places have interesting smells and interesting objects that will keep our pooch happy, while he exercises his scent muscles.
For the Mildly Frustrated or Excited Leash Biter
1. Redirect our dog onto a toy.
Redirection worked initially, but after a time, my dog would ignore the toy and continue biting on the leash.
This technique is most effective when we catch the biting behavior early, so that our dog is not too frenzied to redirect his energy, onto another object. Redirection works best with Sephy, when I am calm and confident.
2. Issue an alternative command.
Once I notice that my dog is starting to lose control, I quickly get him to refocus on me, and get him engaged in doing obedience commands. I only use simple commands, which my dog knows so well that it is almost a reflex, for example Sit. Command redirection will only work, if we catch our dog before he gets too excited or frustrated.
3. Touch the dog’s body with our foot.
We can touch our dog, to try and refocus him back onto us. Do not kick him or apply excessive force to our ‘touch’. This refocus method worked for me initially. However, after a few touches, my dog got habituated to it and just ignored it.
Note that this technique may also be risky, if we accidentally apply too much force, if our dog is easily spooked, or if he is really sensitive to handling. Any of these conditions may cause him to lose trust in us, become even more anxious and fearful, or redirect his crazy energy onto our hands and feet, instead of on the leash.
For the Out of Control Leash Biter
In this situation, it is very important that we stay calm and use management equipment, as necessary, to keep everyone safe. With Sephy, I also have a plan ready, so that I can respond quickly and decisively.
1. Step on the leash and ignore our dog.
This technique is similar to a time-out, but it is not as effective. We take away our attention and our dog’s freedom to explore. However, there are still interesting things happening around him, and fascinating smells.
When I use this technique, my dog will settle down after a short time. As soon as I step away from the leash though, he will start his biting behavior again. I have tried lengthening the duration for up to about 15 minutes, but he still resumed his bad behavior.
2. Get our dog into a brisk walk home.
Forcing my dog to focus on an alternative physical activity, for example a brisk walk home, is the only thing that works for us. I also ignore him while we are walking home. I hold the leash really close to his collar, so I have good control of him, and just go. I do not look at him, talk to him, or touch him, for the entire trip.
Once my dog realized that leash biting only ends the walk and gets him a quick trip home, he stopped the behavior. He still gets excited when he sees a moving deer, but is able to calm himself down once we move a certain distance away from temptation.
Note – I only do this because my dog has good bite inhibition and will not bite hard on my hand, which is now near to his rather large teeth.
There are several advantages with this leash biting technique:
- Engaging my dog in a physical activity, gives him an outlet for his frustrated and excited energy.
- The brisk walk quickly removes him from the object or event that caused him to lose control. It also ends his enjoyable neighborhood outing.
- Since he is busy walking, he does not have the opportunity to do anything else, including leash bite.
- Finally, I can get home quickly and put him in a full time-out, if he continues to act out.
3. Time-out.
If my dog leash bites in the house, then I put him directly into a time-out area. This allows him to calm down, and shows him that extreme behavior will get his freedoms revoked.
Dogs are smart, and will quickly stop a behavior that gets them nowhere.
4. Spray water on our dog’s muzzle.
This is an aversive method, albeit a mild one. Nevertheless, it still comes with some of the dangers of applying an aversive stimulus. When I tried this technique, my dog just attacked the spray bottle. In addition, it will not be effectual if our dog likes, or is not bothered by water.
Some trainers suggest adding some vinegar or using mouthwash. If we do this, however, we must be very careful with our aim so that the added chemicals do not hit our dog’s eyes. I only used regular water on my dog.
5. Leash correction.
Leash corrections did not work well for Sephy. It only caused him to fight back and escalate his leash biting behavior. Leash corrections are difficult to implement and can be risky, especially when not properly applied.
6. Desensitization exercises.
Another good way to reduce leash biting, is to desensitize our dog to the triggers that get him over-excited. For example, we can do controlled desensitization training with people, other dogs, and even cats.
Desensitization and counter-conditioning exercises helped a lot with my Shiba Inu.
Reactive Dogs and Leash Biting
Some dogs get excited more quickly than others. My Shiba Inu is a very reactive dog and like a super sports car, he can go from 0 to 60 mph in under 5 seconds. Once a dog loses control, he is no longer able to listen to us, and anything that we say will fall on deaf ears. A very high priority treat may sometimes snap him out of his frenzy, but I found that to be unreliable. Most of the time, when a dog goes rear-brained/reactive, he will be totally disinterested in food and other rewards.
At that point, it is no longer possible to redirect the dog’s attention away from the squirrel or cat. Instead, I take Sephy to a quiet, low stimulus area, away from the trigger object, so that he can calm down.
In general, we want to catch the behavior early, and prevent our dog from obsessing over the trigger object (squirrel, cat, dog), before he gets into a reactive state. This is one of the reasons why some trainers suggest walking a dog in a perpetual heel-like position (without the more stringent demands of precision heeling).
Forcing a dog to walk close to us, with eyes ahead, can help to discourage distractions and over-excitement instances. However, it also makes for a more boring walk, that does not fulfill a dog’s need to smell and explore.
Precision heeling demands constant attention from both dog and handler and is not appropriate for long periods of time, like for your daily walks around the block or to the park.
~~[ASPCA]
In general, I walk my dog on a loose-leash. At the same time, I stay vigilant and redirect my dog’s attention back to me, as soon as I spot a squirrel or cat. In these cases, distance is our greatest friend. Moving our dog away from the trigger object will help to reduce its potency. I usually redirect my dog’s attention onto me (by calling his name), and move him away from the trigger area.
Retraining behaviors will take time, effort, and repetition. However, if we are consistent and fair, our dog will quickly learn which behaviors are positive and rewarding, and which behaviors are not.
Ok, I’m embarrassed to ask this question, but: As a last resort, would it be acceptable to muzzle a dog to keep him from biting and tugging on a leash?
Before anyone hates on me, here are my circumstances, and I hope that people will empathize with them:
My wife and I have an 11-mo-old golden retriever and a 4-mo baby (human…) girl. I just finished my family leave and returned to work, so my wife is now managing both the baby and the pup at home alone when I’m at work. Tall order.
The pup still periodically playfully bites and tugs on his leash for many of the reasons that you mention in your article — particularly, excitement, boredom, and sometimes frustration. I’ve tried all of your tips and some others, and I’ve found that many of them have been effective in stopping the leash biting – at least until the next time the pup gets excited, bored, or frustrated. But of course, those tips also take time and therefore necessarily extend the length of the walk.
That said, when my wife is at home alone with the pup and the baby, she has exceedingly limited time to walk the dog before she needs to manage the baby’s needs (feedings, screaming, changing, or whatever). And, she needs to walk the dog while she’s pushing the baby in a stroller. So, when the dog inevitably starts biting and tugging on the leash, it’s tough for my wife to utilize some of the tips that you’ve suggested, both because she’d need to set aside the baby in the stroller, and because she’s on borrowed time during the walk. Because of that, my wife has given up on trying to walk the dog, and the dog must wait until I get home in the evening to get a walk.
I’d think that a muzzle would be acceptable under these circumstances, and would be better than no exercise at all. But, I thought that I’d check with a guru.
Thanks so much.
Yikes! I am no guru.
I just write about my experiences with my dogs.
One of the things I learned after an initial rocky start with my Shiba Inu is not to listen too much to so-called gurus, especially to a single guru. The ‘people’ that I rely on most when it comes to getting dog information –
1. My dogs. They are pretty good at communicating to me what they want, what they need, what works, and what does not work.
2. Studies from well respected behavioral psychology labs.
3. Veterans of the breed. I had a lot of issues with my Shiba Inu initially, and the advice from experienced Shiba Inu owners were extremely helpful. More so than all the inconsistent lessons from the current popular ‘guru’.
As for muzzles, I prefer using the open basket muzzles. They are less restrictive, and still prevents biting. Here is a pretty comprehensive article from the aspca on how to train dogs to wear a muzzle –
http://www.aspcabehavior.org/articles/20/Teaching-Your-Dog-to-Wear-a-Muzzle.aspx
As you say though, muzzles only manage the biting but doesn’t really retrain the behavior. Definitely still keep up with regular bite inhibition, refocus, and redirection training techniques.
http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition
Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.
Snoop Bob, have you tried a weighted backpack? It helps slow down dogs with a lot of frustrated energy. It was the best $60 I ever spent – and is very fast-acting – I saw a marked improvement from the first walk with mine.
Thank you for such an informative website!! I have a new 11 week old husky/shepherd mix puppy, so I’m really find all your info very helpful!
For my puppy, he is biting his leash, but not on walks. He only does it while he’s playing or when he is tethered. So, I’m not sure if he’s doing it because he thinks it’s a chew toy (which I suspect is part of the reason, since he does what you call the “kill-move” on it the same way he does his soft plushie animal chew toy), or it’s because he doesn’t like being tethered (although a lot of times after whining a little he’ll just plot over and rest and eventually fall asleep while tethered).
I’ve tried to teach the “drop” command, but it only works like 5% of the time and never on the leash. I’ve tried to do the exchange technique but he considers the leash high priority or something. I’ve also tried to do an incompatibility technique, but he just straight up won’t pay attention to me. If I walk him to a time-out in his crate, he goes there with the leash in his mouth since it’s not a walk walk. Do you have any idea what might work on this stubborn little one??
Oh, I forgot to mention exercise since you addressed it below. I try to exercise him a lot everyday. We do 2 short walks, one in the morning and one in the afternoon/evening. Then I try to have play time with him, but he looses interest in everything after like 2 minutes, if that. I also try to find fun ways to feed him his meals: I feed him his breakfast in the bowel, his lunch with a dogzilla treatball in his crate, and his dinner by doing the find-it game in the grass while mixing in obedience training. I also portion out a small part of his overall diet as treats for training reward throughout the day. During some crate times, I also give him some peanut butter with a kong. Sooooo, I’m not quite sure how else I can divert his attention. I guess this also applies to your hyper dog and chewing dog posts, since he pretty much prefers to chew everything but his actual toys.
Hello Alice,
Congratulations on your new puppy!
Here are some things that really helped with my dogs –
1. Consistency –
It is extremely important to be consistent. Every time I non-mark Sephy, I am always prepared to follow through on that. Like a chess player, I would also plan several steps ahead. For example, if Sephy starts biting at the curtains I would non-mark him (ack-ack) and give him an alternate command. If he ignores me, I would body block him away from the curtain. If he goes back right away, I would calmly say time-out and take him to the laundry room.
2. Time-out –
I take Sephy to time-out using a drag lead. Sephy is very crafty and his favorite game is to do something undesirable, and then run away from me, thereby starting a fun game of chase. When he was young, I put a pretty long drag lead on him (only with a flat collar), so that when he runs, I can just step on the drag lead and then haul him off to time-out.
When taking him to time-out I move at a pretty fast clip and hold the lead close to his collar for better control. This forces him to focus on walking and also prevents him from leash biting.
3. Exercise and routine –
The things that drained the most energy from my pups during puppy stage –
a) Puppy play sessions. Puppy class is great for this. Then I was even able to invite some of the people to stay after class to have a supervised play session afterwards.
b) Flirt pole. But make sure they follow very strict play rules.
c) Going to new places and learning new things. Just need to be careful that puppy is not exposed to anything dangerous before he is fully immunized. That is why puppy class is a great way to socialize puppies. The daycare center near my place also organizes puppy play sessions for free during the weekends – and these can be a lot of fun.
Learning new commands is also a great way to drain puppy energy.
During the puppy stage, I usually use all of puppy’s kibble for training, games, etc. Then I use frozen Kongs for when they have to settle down. I usually tether Sibe puppy Lara, then give her a frozen Kong to work on. After this I expect her to rest for at least 1 hour. I ignore all whining etc. She usually settles down after a bit. Now it has become a routine, so after I give her the Kong, she works on it and then goes to sleep on her own.
Thank you Shibashake! I just thought of another quick question. I remember reading somewhere else where you mentioned that you only save time-outs for severe actions like leash-biting while you’re holding the leash. But what if I’m not holding it? Should I non-mark that as well for consistency’s sake or just let him have fun with it? I’ve also switched back to the simple rope leash that was given to me when I adopted Marcus indoors so he won’t build a resentment for the actual leash when it really needs to be used outdoors.
I think that would depend on the pup. With my Sibe puppy Lara, I just let her play with it because she is not a very intense or stubborn dog. The lead was something new and she was just exploring what she could do with it. However, I do not let her chew on her tether lead. She only gets to play with the drag lead when it is not being held.
With Sephy, I don’t let him chew on his lead at all. He is much more intense and much more stubborn. He will always be pushing his boundaries, so if I let him chew his lead sometimes, he will test to see if he can chew it when I am holding it, when he is on tether, etc. He is quite a character! 😀
When in doubt, I would prevent all lead chewing so that as you say, it is clear and consistent.
That is a good idea. Just make sure that there are no loops etc that can catch on furniture or objects in the house. I also use different leads for when they are in the house and backyard vs. when they are on walks. For the house, I use one of those cheap and light nylon leashes. I just cut the handle loop to prevent it from getting snagged while puppy is running.
Another alternative to time-out is to tether puppy to you. That way he still has access to you, but loses some of his freedoms around the house.
When Sephy was young, I also blocked off the kitchen area. When I was busy doing stuff he would get to roam around in the kitchen freely, but not be able to get to the books and curtains which were his favorite chew toys.
With Sephy, prevention and management were the best ways to deal with his mis-behaviors. If I don’t give him a chance to be bad, then I don’t have to keep correcting him. 😀
Thank you so much once again. I don’t think you understand how much your website and posts are helping me!
All your Sephy stories are adorable as well. I would never have guessed he is such a trouble maker from the photos. I actually baby-gate Marcus out of the kitchen because he likes to chew on the large food bags on the floor that can’t be stored anywhere else. Also he once peed on one of said bags full of onions, haha.
I need some help…
My Shiba is almost 8 weeks old now, I’ve had her for five days. She’s been a great dog so far with eating, sleeping and going outside, but she hates and I mean hates a leash. When I got the leash on for the first time she freaked and tried jumping, biting and screaming, anything to get off the leash. She was in a frenzy and would ingnore anything I tried to do. Any suggestions on how to warm her up to a leash?
Hello Matt,
Two things that helped with my dogs –
1. Don’t hold the lead.
During puppy-hood, I usually let my dogs drag around their lead in the backyard. I am there to supervise to make sure the lead doesn’t catch on anything and I only do this with a nice and thick flat collar (not an aversive collar such as the choke collar or prong collar). This lets puppy get used to the weight, smell, and feel of the leash.
I also find drag leads to be very helpful for controlling a misbehaving puppy.
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training#draglead
2. The Find-It Game
Some puppies may get apprehensive being on leash and/or going outside to walk. The Find-It game is very helpful in distracting them and making the experience fun and rewarding. I usually play the Find-It game with my pups while they have the lead on, but without me holding it. Then after they forget the leash and start enjoying the game, I start holding the leash while playing the game. Then we play it while we are on the front-lawn, etc.
hi my dog is 3 months old and his a pitbull crossed staff a brindle and his always bitting the leach i’m going to try this but i will need your help if you can give me a inbox i will be pleased thank you very much i will need lots of help to train him i got him when he was 6 weeks old he had 2 sisters and 1 brother he was out of the pack now i need to get a other dog for him to make his own pack
Hello Shazz,
In terms of leash-biting, I have found that it is very helpful to first identify why the dog is doing it. Most dogs leash bite out of excitement – they see the leash moving around and they think it is a fun prey chasing game. For this type of leash biters, exercise can help a lot; as well as having structured play-sessions where the dog is trained to follow very fixed rules.
In terms of getting a second dog, two dogs mean two times the biting. 😀 In general, I have found that it is best to only consider getting a second dog after the first one is calm and mostly trained. That way, the first dog can teach the second one good habits and provide a good example for the second one to follow.
Congratulations and good luck with your new puppy!
Hello Roxanne,
What a lovely picture! He is a very handsome boy.
“if we put him in his cage for his inappropriate behavior, will he always associate it with punishment?”
Yes – probably so. In general, it is better to do time-outs somewhere else. I put my Shiba in the laundry room when he gets especially naughty. He has nothing to do in there, and I make sure he can’t chew on anything.
“And, is it ok to stand on his leash to controll his friek outs… or is that too aggressive?”
Personally I don’t think that is too aggressive because it just restricts freedom similar to a timeout. However, I have tried this on my Shiba for his leash biting and it didn’t really have any effect on him. Once I stepped away, he would start biting again.
My Shiba drove me nuts in the beginning as well – but it will get better 🙂 The thing that helped most was controlling my own energy. Once I was able to remain calm and just focus on redirecting his behavior, things improved significantly.
Here are some things that helped with my Shiba when I first got him –
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
My stray shiba is really testing us. He bursts into a frenzy of biting, chasing his tail, and jumping and nipping…. my partner is really fed up… but I love the little guy. I have so many questions, and no one around here has any experience with Shibas! One question is, if we put him in his cage for his inappropriate behavior, will he always associate it with punishment?
And, is it ok to stand on his leash to controll his friek outs… or is that too aggressive?
Hi Jessica,
Yeah, please let us know how it goes and what works best.
What also worked well with my Shiba is to hold his leash really close to his collar and to just keep moving him along.
If not, he would try to move in different directions and get all tangled up with the leash. Using a very short leash provides better control as well as solves any tangling issues.
Good luck!
Excellent suggestions! I walk an English bulldog that seems to take his frustration out on his leash. I’ve actually tried everything except for spraying him with water and jogging with him. I KNOW he would attack the water bottle so that’s out. I am going to try the jogging technique on him and see if that will relieve some of his frustration. I’ll keep you updated!
Thanks for this! My dog has just started leash biting. He’s over a year old and he’s been with us for about 6 months now, he’s a Beagle & Shepphard mix (I think).
I take him to the dog park and for a walk on his leash twice a day. He is on week #5 of his obedience class and I think that this problem has something to do with this class, and the aggravation that he feels when he is in the gymnasium with all the other dogs and has to be on his leash.
Last night at our class he was jumping on me, biting my forearm and pulling at the cuffs of my jeans, and he was even trying to pull me off my feet by my shoelaces.
This morning when I took him for a walk on the trail, in the beginning he was fine, but I was going over all of the lessons from the class and I guess he was getting frustrated, he started biting on the leash and then he jumped up and grabbed my forearm. It was almost like he was playing tug-of-war with his rope. I didn’t know what to do really, so I scolded him and made him lay down. He calmed down for a second, but then started again, he even barked at me this time.
I know that I am giving off a stressed and nervous energy when this happens. I’m not used to it happening and I am almost tempted to give up on the obedience school and find a one on one trainer, because I’m so embarrassed by what happened in the class last night.
I’m definitely going to take your advice, and try all of the methods that you suggested, but did it ever get this bad with your dog? Is it because I am not dominant enough with him? I spoil him rotten and I guess I don’t come across as alpha with him. Is this a dominant/ non-dominant behavior? The teacher at doggy school suggested the spray bottle thing, but I already know that my dog would think this was a game too.
Thanks again for your advice and any additional advice that you could give me would be appreciated. Sorry he’s not a Shiba, but you seem to have the best advice on the internet.
Cheers, 🙂
@akirchner
lol – I am glad my Shiba is only about half that weight. Otherwise I would have been toast really early on.
One thing that really helped with my Shiba’s biting (he is a very mouthy dog) is to teach him bite inhibition.
http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition
Time-outs and redirection also worked wonders for his biting.
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/puppy-biting-how-to-stop-puppy-biting
Btw – how did the text-linking thing go?