How to Get a Dog to Stop Grabbing the Leash on a Walk- Reader Question

The following is a question from one of our readers:

How do I get my dog to stop biting the leash and trying jump all over me when on a walk?

She’ll be great for a while then get a bug up her butt and become uncontrollable. When I try to correct her she thinks I’m playing and continues her bad behavior. Obviously there is a disconnect.

I’ve watched your video and she (who is a seven month old half English setter, half Golden Retriever from purebred parents) does well with commands but correcting misbehavior is still a challenge. I pull the leash as my correction while saying “no” or “down” but that seems to egg her on even more. I’ve tried taking her to the ground and holding her to get her to calm down but that doesn’t work so great either.

Yikes! I’m clueless and losing my patience.

How to Get a Dog to Stop Grabbing the Leash on a Walk- The Video

How to get a dog to stop grabbing the leash on a walk on Youtube

How to Get a Dog to Stop Grabbing the Leash on a Walk- Key Tips

There are a few key points to consider in order to get your dog to stop grabbing the leash on a walk:

What type of training collar are you using? If you are using a flat collar, slip collar, or harness then those aren’t going to help you get over this problem. I’d recommend using a pinch collar or a prong collar.
I’m guessing that she is grabbing the leash and, with the positioning of your hands, you are likely just playing a tug-of-war with her rather than actually correcting her. When she grabs the leash quickly reposition your hands so that you are grabbing the leash next to her neck rather than further away.
Holding a dog down nearly never works for calming a dog. It typically just riles a dog up. Avoid this technique for any behavior problem.

Remember that the mark of an effective correction is that it will change behavior now and change behavior in the future. If you are continually correcting and seeing nothing for your labors it means that your corrections are not the right style, firmness, timing, etc. for your dog. Change the training collar and change the positioning of your hands and I think you’ll be in great shape.

“Okay, the first thing you need to do is keep your dog on a leash…”

“With your dog on a leash you can keep the dog supervised…”

“With your dog leashed at all times you can better teach obedience and other wanted behaviors…”

“Keep your dog on a leash and you can use the leash to correct behavior problems when they occur…”

These types of statements are things that I find myself saying on almost a daily basis when I’m working with my clients.

My clients come to me with house training problems, aggression issues, behavior problems, destruction, manners, and more and the first thing that I teach them is to keep the dog on a leash.

I found myself saying it so much that I wanted to examine why.

The simple reason is that most people give their dogs too much freedom too quickly.

The dog isn’t house trained yet they allow the dog to roam the house not supervised. The dog doesn’t know what not to chew on yet the dog is allowed to go chew on whatever he wants. The dog doesn’t know the proper way to greet guests at the door yet is allowed the freedom to go jumping on new guests.

Everyone WANTS a dog that listens when off the leash, does what he or she is told, and can be trusted to follow voice commands. The problem is that most people attempt to start there. They start with a dog that is off leash yet has never even learned to be good on the leash. Life doesn’t work that way.

You don’t set the goal to be a doctor and tomorrow start dispensing medicine. You work your way to that point. You don’t desire to be a mechanic and tear apart your neighbor’s engine this weekend having never done anything mechanical. You don’t expect to hit a home run out of the park the first time you swing a bat.

And you don’t expect a dog to be obedient with great manners if you haven’t started in the right spot.

That spot for most folks is to keep a dog on the leash, yes, even in the house, for the first month, two, three or more depending on how fast you reach your goals. As your dog improves with obedience and manners you slowly move away from leash work and you end up at your target goal.

Don’t skip the hard stuff, though. You need it to get to the payoff.