Yorkie biting and pulling his own leash
 

Nigel, my 4 pound pup has started pulling his own leash during walks. Does anybody know why he would do this and how to stop it?

Just a few guesses without knowing more, perhaps he just wants to run free without the leash or perhaps he just isn't fully leash trained yet.

You could spray the leash with bitter apple spray and that might stop it. :)

lexi does that tooo.... she just wants to do what she wants and go where
she wants... we have some training to do.....

Could the leash snap be too heavy?
 

I'm not a professional trainer but I've leash trained lots of dogs and I'm working with 2 right now. Both of them started out fighting, pawing and biting at the leash. I just let them lead me for a while then gradually started exerting control, first by just standing still when they wanted to go off in a different direction and letting them be surprised when they came to the end of the leash and couldn't go forward. I just stood there like I was completely uninterested. I think they thought the reason they couldn't go forward was a force of nature. They didn't seem to connect it to me at first; later I think they did.
More recently they've done a lot better, but yesterday my mom's dog was back to fighting it. At first I couldn't figure it out, but now I have a theory I want to try out. I think Little Bit's leash is too heavy and the snap hook that connects it to the collar turns the collar so that the buckle hangs down on her chest instead of coming up from the back of her neck. That forces the leash to not be in the right position and pull awkwardly and I think the snap bangs her chest and hurts. In fact, I think the whole thing is uncomfortable for her. Yesterday was the first day I used Little Bit's leash; I had been using Susan's which is lighter and thinner. So I'm going to go back to Susan's leash with Little Bit today and see if Little Bit does better.

So maybe you might look at your dog's leash too and see what you think about the weight of the shap.

Dog trainers, is there anything to this theory?

I am reading this and thinking to myself that I hope you are NOT using collars. Harnesses are the only thing that I tell my new parents to use. Collars can put pressure on the trachea and we all have read the problems when that happens. So please switch to a harness and use a lightweight leash probably one of the adjustable ones. You have good control with that. Treats and praise are an absolute positively necessary part of training..
Dogs who have domination issues will want to control their progress so either jerk it out gently but firmly and use a bad tasting substance. I swear, I am like someone who just invented deodorant. I have it on everything that I do not want these brats to chew on..

Leash pulling is new
 

Nigel used to walk fine on his leash before. He just started this behavior recently. I use a harness and a lightweight leash. WHen you stop, do you pull in their leashes?

I totatlly agree with Whispersmom. ONLY use harnesses, PLEASE. And the retractable leashes are the best, because when you have a lot of room for them to roam, you can let it out, and then you can bring them in when you need to. Mine love it, I have used these since day one, and there was never any problem. They are lightweight, and they are never dragging on the ground, etc. :thumbup:

I wish some trainers would weigh in on this. All the dog training books I have said don't try to train with a harness because it's a wasted effort. But I've wondered about the trachea problem with such a tiny dog. Trainers, what's the deal? I think I've noticed that show dogs have collars.

I always train with a harness. I do not use a retractable leash when training. I use a short lightweight nylon leash and only allow them enough leash to be able to walk beside me. After they have learned how to walk properly beside me I allow them a little more leash, the first sign of pulling I immediately shorten the leash again. I find using the short nylon leash allows me to quickly wrap it around my hand if I have to bring them back in. It takes time and practice.

PLEASE do not use collars on yorkies they are so susceptible to trachea problems and even just the slightest pulling on a collar can cause problems.

I'm going to get Susan a harness today. The last thing I want to do is to hurt her. Do they mess up the dogs' hair real bad?

Sebastian chews on his leash too! I use a harness and I was using a retractable leash but, he chewed right threw it. We weren't even walking we were sitting out in the front yard with the kids. Next thing I knew he was free!! I just went and boust a regular leash thinking that he wouldn't chew on that and he does. If I leave his harness on him he will try to chew through that. I think he just likes having something to chew on. I may try to get some bitter apple to spray on it and see if that helps.

:)

You can also try using a Gentle Leader or a Halti which fit around the dogs nose and gently teach them to behave on a leash.

No they don't. Depends on the match you get between Harness and HAir of course. Chewey is shaved and wears a nice stout harness full-time. In fact when I remove it he looks sooo funny "naked" without his clothes on. He seems to find his harness comfy and he never fidgets at it like he did the old one. It's also SUPER easy on and off.

Death, on the other hand makes the hair lose quite a bit of luster. I'm not kidding at all. Having a Yorkie who's already doing the honk-cough before I even got him (honking cough is a sign of tracheal problems which ahve been confirmed in his case). I get so pissed just thinking of who must have collared him before I got him. Collars do NOT belong on a Yorkie for ANY reason.

In show, I can understand, because they have had extensive training leading up to that point. If your dog is already trained like a show dog, and will merely prance lightly at your heel despite ANY distraction, then I suppose a collar, for a brief time, is tollerable. That's about as far as I can imagine budging on this.

The tracheal damage is a horribly SAD condition even if it's only minor. For example, any time Chewey has too much fun, he has to stop and honk his throat back open. For worse cases, any activity at all provokes an episode where the pup can't breath. Imagine doing something to a puppy where it can never have fun! That's jsut too pittiful for words!

Don't leave the harness on all of the time. Only when you are walking. That's just a puppy thing, the biting of the harness and leash, anyway. They will outgrow that. Make sure you always have a chew bone for him when you are sitting around. I used to hold mine for them while they chewed. That always calmed them down.