bella is now 5months old & on the whole really good, toilets outside follows basic commands sit/lie down ect and has always loved walkies in the woods/round the corn fields however over the last week or so its become a dread rather than a pleasure
i can't take my 4 & 5 yr old anymore because as soon as she is off lead she goes crazy!

racing to the kids and snapping in a really nasty way, very hard to control bella and protect the kids
she also does this to my eldest when she walks her (shes 20)

not so bad if im walking her or my mother, though she still has a go
its quite a concern at the moment and im unsure what to do, i tried diverting her attention with a ball, tried the sit command and the stay down command with no luck, she just wants to pounce and nip
at home shes great with the kids and soon stops getting too boistrous when told but on walks is just insane!
tried keeping her on her lead but she gets so wound up by this she jumps & bites constantly

any advice greatly appreciated

kirst & bella x

Hmmmm, sounds like she gets over excited when she goes on her walkies and she has all this excess energy that she doen't know what to do with. Have you tried kicking a ball around for her to chase in the garden for 5 mins before you take her on her walk to burn off some of that crazy energy?
She will grow out of it soon enough though..
Daise xx

Hi,

Dexter went through this stage and it will get better

It is over excitement, and the mouthing is typical in puppies the world is a new and challenging place for them.

I would wait until she is calm before you let her off lead, and then when she starts to nip put her back on the lead again and say no. If she tries to nip you when your walking her on lead stop and stand still and ignore until she stops then say good, and walk on again repeating when you see the bad behaviour.

Then only when she is calm again does she go off lead again, you may have to repeat this several times before she learns that if she nips and jumps up she goes back on the lead and if she carries this on still the walking stops also.

Try to gain her attention with tasty treats like cooked chicken or some cheese, I found clicker training really worked with Dexter.

Indoors Dexter used to do this nipping and jumping up we used to turn our backs and ignore but he would bite our bottoms instead little wotsit! Must be cream doods

Does she have any doggie friends she can let off steam with? It's hard for us to give them the play they crave, they have so much energy, a charge around with another dog will let her get it out of her system.

What about using a long line so you can take her to one side until she calms down? We had this ridiculous behaviour when our cream doodle was younger. It does stop

thanks for all the advice, she has been on a long walk/dash with a labrador pup today, knocked my friends 3 yr old over a couple of times but not in any way nasy or bitey (my small 2 were not there)

wonder if its just my children

she does meet lots of dogs on our walks but mostly old dogs and the owners are non too keen on bella bounding towards them

also people don't always realise shes just a pup as shes rather big so think shes just a naughty dog

fingers crossed she soon calms down on her walks as its so different to how she is with the kids at home

kirst & bella x

Arthur is fine off the lead however he is going through a bit of a phase of getting nippy and aggressive when on the lead, not all the time, it's usually as we are walking home - and when I tell him we are going my way home, not HIS way. Anyway I have found I can calm him down if a have a few treats in my pockets which then make him sit down and behave. I think what you are experiencing is similar and just a phase they should grow out of.... Hopefully!

thankyou singeralvie, its very reassuring to know im not alone, was starting to think i had a very bad dog
always a worry with small kids (who were terrified of all animals before bella)
i think the puppy training needs revising, i never really bothered about some things bella does (getting on sofa uninvited) so back to basics from now. im very firm but fair so if anyone wants to train my mother ?? hehehe

kirst &bella x