How to stop a dog biting the leash

The AKC's trainer lists the usual causes: boredom and too little enrichment, frustration in a busy, arousing place, a dog that does not yet understand what the leash is for, and mouthy breeds or individuals. Many puppies go through a leash-grabbing phase and grow out of it, though it can start at any age. Adolescence adds fuel. Cornell's veterinary college places it from about 6 months to around 18, and explains that teenage dogs are often more impulsive because the brain's self-control is still developing.

Watch two or three walks and note when the grabbing starts. The first minute out the door points to arousal at the start. After you stop to talk to a neighbor, it is frustration at standing still. When another dog passes, it is frustration at not being able to reach it, which can shade into leash reactivity. On the way home it is often fatigue. Each has a different fix, and plenty of dogs have more than one.

A leash swinging in front of a young dog's face invites a grab. The AKC's advice is to keep it loose and behind the dog, stop dangling it like a toy, and avoid the tight leash that frustrates a dog into tugging. Gather the spare length into your hand, hold the leash at hip height, and use one that suits the space you walk in. A flat leash of standard length is far easier to keep out of reach than a long loop trailing near the dog's mouth.

When the dog does grab, the worst move is the natural one: pulling back. Now there is resistance, a moving prize and your full attention, which adds up to a good game of tug. Freeze, let the leash go slack between your hand and the dog, and wait or trade. Gloucester's dog rules say a dog must always remain under the control of its owner or keeper, so on a busy street hold the leash short and steady at your hip, without yanking, while you wait out the grab.

Some leash biting is not about the leash at all. A dog that moves up from the leash to sleeves, hands or ankles, growls with a hard stare while it tugs, or grabs mainly when another dog passes is showing arousal bigger than a walking problem. Calm & Connected, our program for adolescents, new rescues and adults, works on impulse control and minor leash reactivity, and React Less, Relax More gives eight weeks of trigger work for dogs that lunge.

For a plain leash biter, private sessions from $94 fix the start of the walk and your timing with the toy. An adolescent with energy to spare may do better with a Dogtown Academy day, $89 full or $69 half, which mixes a training session with fitness, enrichment and play. Off-season beach days, from October 1 on Gloucester's beaches at the time of writing, are a big test for a leash biter on a long line, so pack the tug toy for those too.