Sophie going weird on her lead

Bobs missus here !!!

Hi, for about the last week or so, we are walking quite nicely when Sophie has suddenly stopped and really attacked her lead. She growls and snarls and is like she is playing tug but feircer than that. She is definitely NOT playing.

I spoke to her trainer who is also a dog behaviourist. He asked if something had happpened that has triggered off these episodes. The only thing we can think of is about ten days ago we were walking her in a grassy area. This idiot with his dog off lead kept throwing their ball closer and closer to Sophie. I asked him politely to keep his distance but was met with a rude reply.

The other dog appoached Sophie in what appeared to be a friendly way, then suddenly lunged at her growling and snarling. I picked her up in my arms for her own safety. The other dog continued to jump up at us until eventually the idiot managed to get his dog back on a lead. He muttered 'sorry' and walked off.

There was no injury to either of us but we were both shaken. Sophie didn't react whatoever except wriggling in my arms attempting to get further from the dog.

Our behaviourist seems to think this MAY be the cause of her sudden 'episodes' on a lead where something is triggering off the memory of what happened. He says (which is true) that dogs use more of their senses than just eyesight and it could be any number of things that I am unaware of that is the is the trigger.

His advice was to shorten the lead right up to her collar and wait until I regain Sophie's focus and then click and treat her.

The last few days she hasn't done this and then walking her this morning she started it again, three times in quick succession. It was difficult to regain her focus (especially with her jaws lunging at a lead very close to my hand) but I persevered and clicked and treated when she had calmed right down and we continued on our way. I was going to bring her home, but we changed route and continued our walk as though nothing had happened.

When she does this, it is in a different place each time, though has so far always been on or beside grass.

We will make sure we have always got some treats for when she calms down but will not treat until she has stopped the behaviour and is sitting nicely.

She has met other dogs since and made friends with them though she is always on a lead and I hold her back a bit so she doesn't flatten the dogs in her excitement.

Each time this has happened there hasn't been anyone in sight, just her and me. She has also done it to Bob as well.

She is ten months today and like I say has only just started this behaviour in the last week or so.

We can't think of anything else negative that has happened. We took her to the local fete last Sunday when it was reasonably quiet and she clearly loved all that was going on around her and wasn't fazed or stressed by any of it. She and Bob also shared their first ice cream !!!

We would welcome anyone elses thoughts/advice/experience of this.

Seems to me like you are doing everything right and got good advice. The only thing I could add would be to try keeping the collar and lead on in the house so she can get used to it again and associate it with good experiences.

Agree with Jstaff, sounds as if your doing everything right, with persistance I would hope it will sort itself out. Sorry I can't be more help, maybe you could try a harness and see if there is any difference Xx

Hi, thanks very much for your prompt responses. Just a thought, the lead we use is a black 3m training lead which we obviously shorten whilst road walking therefore not really practical keeping it on indoors.

We would prefer if possible to keep her in a collar/lead as she is a grabber and with a harness we would have less control over her head but do you think it would help if we replaced her lead with another, perhaps of a completely different colour/type?

All suggestions and advice very much appreciated.

How about a halti? That would still give you control over her head (even more so than the collar) but could be different enough for her not to attack the lead? You could also use a harness with it and as you have a training lead you could clip one end to the halti & the other to the harness - double control!

Most dogs take a fairly short time to adjust to a halti.

To be honest I don't think it will make much of a difference, but it wouldn't hurt to try though, maybe a flexi lead that retracts when she is playing or walking ahead so its not just 'there' if that makes sense?!

Many thanks for all your help. I will speak with Bob and discuss your suggestions when he comes home from work.

We want to nip this in the bud before it becomes a real problem and clearly waant to help Sophie.

Good luck Xx