# My puppy won't stop biting when i try applying his leash



## [email protected] (May 19, 2011)

I have an 11 week old maltipoo pup and I'm in the process of training him. I have him enrolled in a Petsmart puppy course and alot of the training methods involve him wearing a leash.

Just one problem, although he's teething, he is getting better about chewing on objects that aren't his toys that I provide to him. But when i go to put his leash on, he instantly starts biting my hand. I try to hold him in place with one hand and apply the leash with the other, but he fights me with all his might until he gets his jaws on my hand. I swear, a few days ago, it probably took me more than 5 minutes of struggling with him before i could get the leash on. And in the end, i had scratches all over my hands.

Removing the leash is not an easy task either.

Keep in mind I have tried offering him treats or toys to keep him busy while i try to apply the leash, but as soon as my hand comes into contact he ditches them and goes right for my hand again.

Will he eventually grow out of this or am I possibly doing something wrong?
Does anybody have any tips on how to improve his behavior?


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## luvntzus (Mar 16, 2007)

He's not teething, this is him fighting against you. It's something that won't get better with time. It'll get worse unless something is done to fix it. It's hard to know if he's scared of the leash or is resisting the control that a leash has. Can you get help from the trainer with this? You said that it happens when you put on or take off the leash. So you can show the trainer exactly what happens. Maybe someone else here will come along with more advice. Good luck!


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## Puddin's Training Tips (Apr 9, 2011)

Use desensitization and counter conditioning to help him feel better about the leash. Offering treats is good, but you need to stay "below threshold." so in the beginning just reward him for looking at the leash, then reward touching the leash, then reward having the leash on for 1 second. And so on and so forth.
Here is a muzzle example. Just replace "muzzle" with "leash"
http://blog.mysanantonio.com/latrenda/2011/05/muzzles-part-iv-acclimation/

Here is something for nippy puppies: http://blog.mysanantonio.com/latrenda/2011/03/puppy-nipping/

Also, there is a sticky titled "The Bite Stops Here"

Good luck!


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## lil_fuzzy (Aug 16, 2010)

Why do the training methods involve wearing a leash?

If he knows you're going somewhere when you put the leash on, I would stop putting the leash on if he struggles, say 'too bad' and end the 'going out activity', so he doesn't get to go out. This might be a big ask for a young puppy though, and he might not have made the connection between leash coming on = going somewhere fun.

Are you doing any handling exercises with your puppy? If not, start now. Pick him up and cradle him on your lap every single day. Touch his paws, inbetween his toes, look inside his ears, inspect his eyes etc. Bascially touch him all over. To begin with he will probably struggle. It's very important that you don't stop when he struggles. Only ever let go of his leg or let him down when he is calm and limp in your lap. Your vet and groomer will thank you, and this will make nail trimming and hair trimming around the face and ears sooo much easier for you as well.

Once he accepts that he will get handled whether he likes it or not, you shouldn't have to struggle with him so much. Even if you can't put the leash on normally, you could always pick him up and cradle him, and put the leash on while he is limp in your lap.


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## colorisnteverything (Jun 11, 2011)

This is something that is pretty common in small breeds. My family has owned two small dogs before I alone adopted my chihuahua mix and both had this hand biting problem. My late shih-tzu was a sweet boy for the most part, but his hand biting became outright dangerous. He didn't mean for it to HURT, but he meant it as a domination technique. My mother thought that it was cute or okay and just let him do it not knowing any better. It was probably the only thing he ever did that was unusual or dominating. With our terrier poodle mix, this once again is an issue. My mother started to take him to reactive dog classes and discovered that this was a dominance issue. He has since become a much better dog. What the trainer instructed us to do was yelp (as the above article says) and to reward him (he's in clicker training) when he does let you put his harness/lead on without the biting or when you come home and in his excitement he doesn't bite. The other thing that we do is that if he begins the behavior, we ignore him for a couple of minutes and then keep trying. It really has worked. You might try any of these with your puppy. Malteses and Poodles are both smart dogs, but Malteses especially seem to be a lot like Shih-Tzu's in that they often do not want to listen. I used to call it "selective hearing".


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## [email protected] (May 19, 2011)

colorisnteverything said:


> This is something that is pretty common in small breeds. My family has owned two small dogs before I alone adopted my chihuahua mix and both had this hand biting problem. My late shih-tzu was a sweet boy for the most part, but his hand biting became outright dangerous. He didn't mean for it to HURT, but he meant it as a domination technique. My mother thought that it was cute or okay and just let him do it not knowing any better. It was probably the only thing he ever did that was unusual or dominating. With our terrier poodle mix, this once again is an issue. My mother started to take him to reactive dog classes and discovered that this was a dominance issue. He has since become a much better dog. What the trainer instructed us to do was yelp (as the above article says) and to reward him (he's in clicker training) when he does let you put his harness/lead on without the biting or when you come home and in his excitement he doesn't bite. The other thing that we do is that if he begins the behavior, we ignore him for a couple of minutes and then keep trying. It really has worked. You might try any of these with your puppy. Malteses and Poodles are both smart dogs, but Malteses especially seem to be a lot like Shih-Tzu's in that they often do not want to listen. I used to call it "selective hearing".



This sounds great. I was given a clicker at the Petsmart class and I'm just learning how to use it effectively. thank you for the tips.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

Until his passes you could also wear gloves lmbo (just kidding )

I love lol fuzzy's ideas of desensitation, which I do with all my puppies when they are young.


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