Chewing his Leash

I am back once more with some training questons about my gsd puppy Duke. He is now 6 months old and is starting to become a good obedience dog at least when it comes to listening to me. I have run into a hitch in his training though; he is a leash chewer.

Generally he grabs his leash and walks me to where I like work with him. Once we are there he drops his leash, sits by me, waits for the heel comand then grabs his leash again. When I am at home with him I can take the leash out of his mouth and he will not touch it again and when he goes for walks with me around town he will not touch the leash. No big deal there just a bit of work and there should be no problems.

Then there is the 4H workouts. This is where I hit a snag with him and he forgets that the leash is not a toy. Once we get out of the car he begins being a pain and must bark to let all his friends know he is there. Once we get to where the other dogs are he is fine and normally sits quietly by me. When we begin to work on the dogs heeling he looses it. He starts out by grabbing his leash and walking next to me, most of the time he does not pull, he simply holds the leash. When I stop out comes the leash and he sits. I try to take the leash away from him at that point just so he doesnt start tugging on it but that plan always back fires, he begins barking, forging, tugging at the leash, and just being a general pain.

I have tried bitter apple spray and even hot sauce on the leash to stop him from chewing but neither work. I have tried telling him to drop his leash (He understands the out command), gentally removing the leash, and yanking it out of his mouth (which my leader told me to do). When he pulls I avoid pulling back as much as I can.

I have tried doing everything I can think of to stop him but nothing seems to work. I need some help.

It is probably not a good idea to let him have the leash in his mouth EVER. It will be difficult for him to know when it is OK and when it is not. It sounds like at this point he sees it as a game.

Any time he lets go of the leash, tell him Drop it, or Out, or whatever your command is, and as soon as he does, treat and praise.

Thats what I was doing but now, with in the last two days, he has become the biggest pain.

I was out working with him today trying to get him to stop his chewing. I told him "out", took his leash out of his mouth and unleashed his wrath. He pulled, barked, snapped at his leash, and even mouthed my hand (which he has not done since we first brought him home). He sat down and was quiet for a few seconds and I gave him a treat then he just started going wild again.

He has started to loose his baby teeth within the last two days. Does this have something with his sudden super urge to chew his leash even though he has a few other toys?

Just a stament..but dont they like make stuff you can spray on there to make pups stop chewing?

have him carry a toy in his mouth for a while (incompatible behaviour), when you are trying to go for a walk. When you are working on it, stop moving and ignore him. The MOMENT he lets go, even just a second, give him a cookie and walk on (if you have a clicker you can click the moment he lets go) Give him lots of praise and little cookies if he walks without grabbing it.

(oh and when I say cookies, I mean small soft treats, like diced cheese)

lila8dog, yeah they do. I tried that with him with no luck.

I was out with him today and he was doing much beter. When he first tried to chew I did as Dekka said and it seemed to work. Hopefully he will keep this up.

Thanks for the tips but don't be to shocked if I end up coming here with this same problem.

Does he have his own chew toys at home? If he's teething he needs things to chew on. Maybe get him a big raw thigh bone from the butcher, it'll help him to shead his baby teeth. You can also teach him leave it by holding a treat in both hands, one in front of his nose, the other behind your back. Don't let him get the one in front, but say leave or leave it. When he stops touching your hand, remove it & let him have the treat from the other hand saying take it.

He has several chew toys and I bought him a bone to chew today.

Took him out to practice today and he did very well. Tommorrow night is a 4H work out so I'll test him there.