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Originally Posted by littlekitty
We have used a chain lead and he also bit that and made his teeth/mouth bleed. I have been giving treats when he does right.
With the barking we do ignore him, but he seems to bark louder if you do, I only pet him when he is calm and settled.
I am in Cambridgeshire at the moment, so if someone could give a bit of help, that would be great.
He gets half can of Pal in the morning and a handful of Baker's complete at night.
OH usually takes him for his walk, takes him in the car, to the field without his lead on, oh does put his leash on him as he knows that we have to get him used to just a collar and lead. We did get him a harness but he out grew it, and he was still trying to bite his lead then.
I want to be able to take him out myself, so we need to get the lead issue sorted out.
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Going to answer this is bits to address each point
Quote:
Originally Posted by littlekitty
We have used a chain lead and he also bit that and made his teeth/mouth bleed. I have been giving treats when he does right.
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Ah right. You are doing 100% the right thing in rewarding him for walking nicely and not chewing the lead.
The only thing I can think of would be to put some anti-chew bitter spray on your material lead and see if that makes a difference?
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I am in Cambridgeshire at the moment, so if someone could give a bit of help, that would be great.
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Here is a list of Cambridgeshire based APDT behaviourists and trainers. I like the APDT in particular because they only use positive reinforcement based methods which I feel is so important.
Local Dog Trainers in Cambridgeshire UK
The APBC are also very good:
Cambridgeshire | Association of Pet Behaviour Counsellors
Quote:
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OH usually takes him for his walk, takes him in the car, to the field without his lead on, oh does put his leash on him as he knows that we have to get him used to just a collar and lead. We did get him a harness but he out grew it, and he was still trying to bite his lead then.
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One thing that might be worth trying is a headcollar- you could use it as a training aid whilst rewarding calm walking on the lead. Because of the way that it holds the nose and back of the head of the dog, it is said to have a calming effect on some dogs and works on a simular basis to a head collar for a horse. It may also restrict his ability to bite/chew his lead also?
You'll need to make it a super positive thing- i.e. when you put it on him feed him treats or let him play with his toy and praise him. You want to him to associate it with really good things.
Headcollars look like this. The one below is called a Halti:
As you can see they are not muzzles as the dog is still able to open it's mouth, however the fact that you have control of the head may restrict the dog's ability to chew the lead?
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He gets half can of Pal in the morning and a handful of Baker's complete at night.
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Changing his diet might help. Bakers complete isn't a particularly good food in my opinion. It is full of additives and colourings which really do make dogs HYPER
When my friend's dog came to her he was being fed on Bakers and was completely loopy- they immediately changed him on to Nature diet and the change in his behaviour was amazing.
I would suggest any of the following foods (many are alot cheaper than Bakers and better quality or work out cheaper when you compare how much you need to feed
)
DRY:
CSJ - email Ceri and she will help you find a suitable food
Dog Food for gundogs, sheepdogs, agility dogs, and show dogs.
Whites Premium:
Whites Premium Dog Food
Skinners:
Skinners Petfoods - Feel good factor for Dogs
Orijen:
ORIJEN Biologically Appropriate Dog and Cat Foods | Orijen Pet Foods .co.uk
Burns:
Burns Pet Nutrition - Real Food For Pets
Arden Grange: (also does wet food)
Natural Premium Dog Food & Cat Food From Arden Grange
Wet:
Nature diet
HOME | Naturediet
Natures Harvest
http://www.natures-harvest.org/
Natures Menu:
Natures Menu Natural Dog Food & Natural Cat Food | Feeding as Nature Intended
I certainly think changing the Bakers side of his diet could help his behaviour.
Oh and one quick question:
How old is your dog and what breed is he?
Hope this all helps. You seem to have done a good job with this dog so far and to me none of this sounds serious. I'm sure you can get it sorted soon enough.
