[CaptCooke]

Joy is now seven months plus a week. For the most part she is an absolutely adorable loveable pup. The "perfect Golden" (you know what I mean). As I write this she is adorably asleep at my feet under the desk.

My 1% issue is this: At times Joy is the schitzo puppy. With out warning on a walk Joy will turn and go for my shirt sleeve as to say I am not done walking or I dont like this street. ( I am projecting.) But it gets to the point that if a stranger observed her behavior they would think I was being attacked by a wild dog.

My response is to turn away and ignore her behavior which usually works with in a few minutes. Am I just entering the teenage bratty challenges.

Advice from those who have been there is appreciated.

John

 

[mdoats]

Sounds like the bratty stage to me. It used to drive me absolutely NUTS when Rookie would do that. In his case, he would usually grab the leash first and if I tried to stop him from grabbing the leash, he'd start trying to grab my hands, my arm, etc. The only thing that worked was a tip I got from someone here on the forum. I carried a small spray bottle in my pocket with a mixture of water and bitter apple. If he started to grab the leash, I would squirt the mixture of bitter apple on the leash. Rookie hated bitter apple, so it would stop him immediately. After spraying only a few times, all I had to do was take the bottle out of my pocket and he would stop immediately.

Hang in there! It really is just a stage and you'll get through it.

 

[Debles]

Sounds normal to me. Just continue what you are doing. She'll outgrow it.
I also make the "Eck" noise and they'd stop.

 

[Oaklys Dad]

That sounds very familiar to me too. Oakly used to do that for the last few hundred feet of our walks for almost a year. I just stuck to my guns and put him on heel or would make him sit and wait for a few minutes. It will get better.

 

[CaptCooke]

Once again I get comfort from those who have been down the road ahead of me. Oakleys dad...thats exactly when Joy does this. This morning I let her have her zoomies on the beach off leash (she has great recall even at seven months) and that seemed to help a little.

Last night I left class (our 12th) early because I didnt want her to be a disruption to the others. I will be patient and stick with it.

Thanks for the quick responses.

JOhn

 

[Noey]

yes, it's normal. At least yours is not trying to take your feet out from under you. Noah goes for the pant cuff. If you move he thinks it's all a game once you start.

 

[Loisiana]

It's not something I would personally allow. I am working hard to make sure my puppy knows I am in charge in this relationship. Sometimes he will get really worked up (especially if I am trying to restrain him in some form), so I will sit on the floor and hold him tightly against me. The harder he struggles, the tighter I hold him. Eventually he will relax and then I can let go of him and reason with him.

 

[CaptCooke]

Follow up

Sounds normal to me. Just continue what you are doing. She'll outgrow it.
I also make the "Eck" noise and they'd stop.

Debles on our morning walk today I tried a deep throated "Eck" sound and it definately got her distracted enough to settle and let me praise the calmer behavior. Good Stuff.

I use to use "Yuck" before she learned leave it when we wallk the neighborhood and tourists drop everything you can think of. I know not to where it out cause she will get use to it and say so what!!!

John

 

[Willow52]

There are 3 other threads on this forum about this issue, so you're not alone!

My Maggie did this and it was one of her few faults. It was particularly annoying because it was usually in public, there was jumping, growling & nipping going on. All the things she knew were not acceptable. It's just a teenage thing which she did outgrow.

When we walked I would carry a walking stick. Not to hit her with but to put between us when the bratiness started. For some reason she didn't like that stick and would settle down when I pointed it at her while saying "hey, stop".