Issues walking new puppy

[Challo]

Looking for some advice on walking our new puppy. We have a 4 months old Cockerpoo who has been fantastic and we love him to bits. One thing we have noticed on some walks is that he gets over aggressive, and starts biting and jumping up.

The walks always start off great, sniffing around and walking fine, but near the end of the walk he will grab and bite the lead, and then start to jump up, bite, growl/snarl and get very aggressive. Sometimes he will snap out quickly, but other times he will continue for 5 mins and its hard to calm him down.

We have restricted his walks to 20mins, but its frustrating on why he does it and how we can handle it?

He visits a dog sitter once a week and he is fantastic on walks with other dogs and never has these episodes.

[super7]

When you say 'Aggressive' are you possibly confusing that with wanting to play?

The description of his behaviour to me is one of a young chap wanting to play? Probably needs a damn good run off the lead with plenty of things thrown for him to catch and play with.... Puppies will mouth a lot and he's probably got some teeth that are comming through.

If you really mean 'Aggressive' i.e. he really wants to hurt you, then chop his bks off....

edited too add..... our Golden Doodle bounces around like a leipzig pony when we take her out. Part of the 'doodle bit in her!!

Also, reducing to 20mins, how about increasing to 40mins or longer.... tire him out!

Edited by super7 on Wednesday 6th February 14:29

Edited by super7 on Wednesday 6th February 14:32

[Howitzer]

My Rottweiler does this when we are pickin* up his dog food from the pet shop. He carries his own food and knows it’s only 10 minutes of walking so instantly goes for the lead on the walk home and wants to play.

I indulge him sometimes but other times I correct him, make him sit, reduce the lead length and carry on the walk.

When he first used to do this when he was young a tap with my foot from the opposite side, so he didn’t see it coming, or a dig in the belly with a finger always snapped him out of it. He is good as gold now and the techniques work really well.

A friends Cockerpoo was similar and the tummy dig worked wonders on him too. It doesn’t hurt, it just distracts them long enough so you can get their attention.

Dave!

[Pieman68]

Sounjds to me like he wants to play, and teething at 4 months is very much normal practice

Also, at 4 months (from all the advice that I read with ours) his walks should be limited to around 20 minutes anyway (5 mins per month of age up to being fully grown at about a year) as overwalking runs the risk of causing problems later in life as their bones are not fully formed

[Challo]

super7 said:

When you say 'Aggressive' are you possibly confusing that with wanting to play?

The description of his behaviour to me is one of a young chap wanting to play? Probably needs a damn good run off the lead with plenty of things thrown for him to catch and play with.... Puppies will mouth a lot and he's probably got some teeth that are comming through.

If you really mean 'Aggressive' i.e. he really wants to hurt you, then chop his bks off....

edited too add..... our Golden Doodle bounces around like a leipzig pony when we take her out. Part of the 'doodle bit in her!!

Also, reducing to 20mins, how about increasing to 40mins or longer.... tire him out!

Edited by super7 on Wednesday 6th February 14:29

Edited by super7 on Wednesday 6th February 14:32

Thanks for the comments.

We actually popping into the vet on Saturday, and one things was to ask about neutering so we certainly need to get that done. We where reading about taking puppies out for too long and potentially hurting there growth, and to really stick to 5mins x age (months) for the lengths of walks. I think i'll take him out for a longer walk tonight and tire him out.

I suspect your right with the play comment, and him trying to asset dominance. Hopefully the longer walks really knacker him out.

[Chester draws]

We've a 5 month old Labrador.

A month ago most of her exercise was off lead, recall, chase recall, sit, wait, come, leave, etc. Also training a retrieve, drop on command etc. Walking close off lead.

Only now has she responded more to walking on lead nicely. Before, everything else was just too new and exciting.

If yours walk nicely for 10 minutes, that might just be the limit of the attention span.

Let it have a run!

[Challo]

Appreciate the comments. Few tips to try and see how we get on.

[Pieman68]

Chester draws said:

We've a 5 month old Labrador.

A month ago most of her exercise was off lead, recall, chase recall, sit, wait, come, leave, etc. Also training a retrieve, drop on command etc. Walking close off lead.

Only now has she responded more to walking on lead nicely. Before, everything else was just too new and exciting.

If yours walk nicely for 10 minutes, that might just be the limit of the attention span.

Let it have a run!

Agree with this as well. Our cocker is 8 months. He's great off the lead and his recall is good but he's a bloody nightmare on it and it's a real struggle and not enjoyable at all

Tips on getting him to heel would be great ;-)

[anonymous-user]

Challo said:

Thanks for the comments.
. Hopefully the longer walks really knacker him out.

You'll do well to outwalk a cockerpoo.

Anything with cocker in it needs proper training as well as exercise. They will run all day.

[Chester draws]

Pieman68 said:

.......
Tips on getting him to heel would be great ;-)

We've had best results one on one (no family / kids around). Quiet road, few distractions as possible.

Try to get her attention every so often, try not to trip over her, if she makes the lead go taut, stop dead until she comes back to "heel".

Reward with praise and treats when walking nicely.

It's not been instant, but seeing a steady improvement. It's when she sees a person / dog ahead she wants to pull ahead. Trying not to reward that at the moment.

[Challo]

desolate said:

Challo said:

Thanks for the comments.
. Hopefully the longer walks really knacker him out.

You'll do well to outwalk a cockerpoo.

Anything with cocker in it needs proper training as well as exercise. They will run all day.

We are certainly working on the training point and he is picking things up quickly. We move in 2 weeks to a new house with plenty of fields and woodland walks so will be the perfect place for him to explore.

[super7]

Pooodles are one of the cleverer breads..... should pick up stuff very quickly!

[Chester draws]

I'm sure he'll rise to any challenge!

[Yertis]

Challo said:

super7 said:

When you say 'Aggressive' are you possibly confusing that with wanting to play?

The description of his behaviour to me is one of a young chap wanting to play? Probably needs a damn good run off the lead with plenty of things thrown for him to catch and play with.... Puppies will mouth a lot and he's probably got some teeth that are comming through.

If you really mean 'Aggressive' i.e. he really wants to hurt you, then chop his bks off....

edited too add..... our Golden Doodle bounces around like a leipzig pony when we take her out. Part of the 'doodle bit in her!!

Also, reducing to 20mins, how about increasing to 40mins or longer.... tire him out!

Edited by super7 on Wednesday 6th February 14:29

Edited by super7 on Wednesday 6th February 14:32

Thanks for the comments.

We actually popping into the vet on Saturday, and one things was to ask about neutering so we certainly need to get that done. We where reading about taking puppies out for too long and potentially hurting there growth, and to really stick to 5mins x age (months) for the lengths of walks. I think i'll take him out for a longer walk tonight and tire him out.

I suspect your right with the play comment, and him trying to asset dominance. Hopefully the longer walks really knacker him out.

That 5 mins per month of age advice is spot-on. The way to tire out a puppy – if that's what you want to do – is not through knackering his joints with excessively long walks or runs. Instead he needs lots of interaction and mental stimulus. Also (and I'm not an expert on cockerpoos by any stretch) my understanding is that having his nuts off before about 12 months is not a good plan. Just play with the little lad!

[super7]

Yertis said:

Challo said:

super7 said:

When you say 'Aggressive' are you possibly confusing that with wanting to play?

The description of his behaviour to me is one of a young chap wanting to play? Probably needs a damn good run off the lead with plenty of things thrown for him to catch and play with.... Puppies will mouth a lot and he's probably got some teeth that are comming through.

If you really mean 'Aggressive' i.e. he really wants to hurt you, then chop his bks off....

edited too add..... our Golden Doodle bounces around like a leipzig pony when we take her out. Part of the 'doodle bit in her!!

Also, reducing to 20mins, how about increasing to 40mins or longer.... tire him out!

Edited by super7 on Wednesday 6th February 14:29

Edited by super7 on Wednesday 6th February 14:32

Thanks for the comments.

We actually popping into the vet on Saturday, and one things was to ask about neutering so we certainly need to get that done. We where reading about taking puppies out for too long and potentially hurting there growth, and to really stick to 5mins x age (months) for the lengths of walks. I think i'll take him out for a longer walk tonight and tire him out.

I suspect your right with the play comment, and him trying to asset dominance. Hopefully the longer walks really knacker him out.

That 5 mins per month of age advice is spot-on. The way to tire out a puppy – if that's what you want to do – is not through knackering his joints with excessively long walks or runs. Instead he needs lots of interaction and mental stimulus. Also (and I'm not an expert on cockerpoos by any stretch) my understanding is that having his nuts off before about 12 months is not a good plan. Just play with the little lad!

Don't you just love Pistonheads where everything you say is taken verbatim and everything is shot down immediately by the perfectionist police.....

Of course your not going to run out and chop the poor buggers bks off straight away...... Of course your going to wait for him to grow up and then chop them off..... and obviously without seeking a Vet's opinion!!! Just get the garden shears out!! fks sake!!!