Walking himself????

[bearkat]

While Clyde is trained on leash, and off, to heel, "leave it" (my command to forget what he is going after and listen to me), down, sit, and down stay, he has started grabbing his leash and walking himself, with me on the leash for decoration, I guess... He seems to not be able to leave the leash alone! Anyone else have this problem with youngsters under a year old?? What is your correction?

[Lady B]

Lady-B went through this along with mock war of tug, usually right in the middle of a cross walk! If no cars were approaching I would simply stand there and ignore her. When she settled down a bit I would give her one of my stern looks, lowered voice (in the key of growl) and ask her "Are you done". This worked for me. If cars were coming I had to cross over with my dog walking me and then proceed with the lesson. I think this is the adolescent phase they go through to test your boundaries and what you are willing to accept as far as behavior. Lady stopped this after awhile, but not after thoroughly testing my patience, boundaries and on some days my dignity. She would always pick the time when we were right in the middle of a crosswalk with people and cars everywhere. There was always some person who had to make the comment about who was doing the walking, me or the dog. Just because she looked all growed up didn't mean she was!

[katheyt]

Although I'm not a professional dog trainer I have paid one to train my dogs over the last two years... He explained to me that "funny" behavior such as you described or standing on your feet, leaning or trying to beat you out the door is a ranking situation. Because my male has been professionally assessed as aggressive I do not tolerate any of this behavior because it could escalate (dogs are opportunists). My female is a sweetie and I am far more tolerant of these antics with her. I'm not saying you should do anything but be aware of what could be going on.

[LucyJ]

We adopted a 7 month old male about 3 weeks ago. After our first few walks "Chief" did exactly the same thing. I thought it was hilarious until he absolutely refused to let go. What eventually worked, to my surprise, was when I said "drop it" and blew on his nose. He dropped the leash immediately. We went through this only 3 or 4 times. Then a few more times I just had to tell him to drop it. Now, he doesn't even try anymore.

[MJ22LAM]

Sammy will walk on a leash for a short time then he walks himself carrying the leash in his mouth while I walk with him, and occassionally he will play tug with it, which we dont allow. I have noticed he walks directly next to me when he has his leash in his mouth and walks almost proud (like look at me mom, I can do it myself)he is only 11 weeks.

MJ