How to teach a dog not to chew a leash starts when you learn why your dog chews on the leash. After you familiarize yourself with the 5 causes of unwanted chewing, consider distracting and replacing your dog’s interest on the leash with something else. Follow the steps below.
It’s easy to think your dog chews on its leash because of a desire to lash out at it to try to free itself. But truth is most of the time your doggy is just being playful.
Dogs by nature are very playful animals, especially during puppyhood, and an excited dog sees a leash like a great toy for playing tug-of-war with you – especially if you’re pulling back on the leash to get it out of its mouth.
So what can you do to get your dog not to see the leash as a chew toy?
Start By Training Your Dog At Home
Trying to train your dog to not chew a leash while walking your dog outside is much harder because of all the distractions the outside will give your dog. It will be much harder for it to listen to you when excited by all it sees outdoors.
So start training your dog at home. Get it into a habit of not chewing the leash inside the house before you expose all the exciting stimuli outside.
Here are simple steps to get your doggy not to chew a leash:
Step #1 – Make Chewing The Leash Boring For Your Doggy
Get your dog to stop thinking of the leash as an exciting toy. Make chewing on the leash a boring experience for your dog, and not chewing the leash a specially positive experience.
For this exercise you’ll need your dog’s leash and a good amount of small treats.
Grab your leash and dangle it in front of your dog very casually. This is not meant to entice it to lunge at the leash, so it shouldn’t be done in a playful way. A casual pass in front of your dog should do it. If it instantly goes for the leash, then step back a bit.
As long as your pup isn’t focusing on the leash, give it lots of praise and reward with little, tasty treats.
You’re rewarding for not biting. So, whatever your dog does that isn’t biting on the leash, give a treat for. If it sits or lies down, looks away, smell but doesn’t bite the leash, focuses on you, etc., then reward.
Make these sessions short. No more than 2- 3 minutes at a time.
As your pooch gets better at not focusing on the leash, increase the difficulty by moving the leash more, dragging it on the ground, waving it in the air.
If at any time during these exercises your doggy bites on the leash, then drop the leash. Softly grab your dog by the collar, or harness, and just chill there without moving a muscle for a few seconds. Show your doggy how boring it gets whenever it chews on the leash. When it drops the leash, give the dog a treat.
Do these exercises until your dog has no interest in the leash while you’re moving it in its face.
Now comes the time to get familiar with having the leash on your dog.
Step #2 – Distract The Dog With Something Better Than The Leash
Next it’s time to get your dog to lose focus on the leash while wearing it.
Just as in the previous step, work on this exercise indoors first.
Start by taking a step at a time with your dog on the leash. Get its attention by talking happily to it while you take steps forward. Keep focus off of the leash. For each step you take that your dog doesn’t focus on the leash, reward with a treat.
If it lunges at the leash, stop moving, sit tight for a few seconds to show how boring it is to tug at it. Reward each time the dog lets go of the leash, and then try again.
As your dog reacts to the leash less and less with each step you take, increase the number of steps between the giving of treats. For example, take 2 steps before giving a treat if the dog doesn’t chew the leash. Then 3 steps, Then 5 steps before your deliver the reward.
The goal is to get your doggy to walk with you without even taking notice of the leash.
Check out this exercise in action:
Step #3 – Give Your Doggy The Right Instrument To Tug On
Dogs instinctively just like to tug.
So, after training sessions, pull out your dog’s favorite tugging toy and let it go at it. This ingrains the idea that tugging on the leash doesn’t bring excitement or fun, but tugging on a tugging toy does bring excitement and fun. (Check out pricing for the one in the picture at Amazon by clicking on the link.)
Fulfill your dog’s natural desire to tug, by channeling that energy toward a tugging toy rather than a leash.
Step #4 – Get Outdoors And Put The Above Into Practice
Now that you’ve practiced in the house, and possibly even in your front or backyard, it’s time to try everything outdoors in the “real world”.
You may find that your dog will revert for a short time back to chewing on the leash because of the excitement from being outside. That’s when you just kick into gear the same exercises you’ve been practicing indoors. You’ll find after some reminding that your doggy will remember how unexciting it is to chew on her leash.
And before you know it, you’ll be out enjoying brisk walks with your dog and a loosen leash. No more leash-of-war with your doggy.
Once your dog has learned not to chew on the leash, consider what leashes work best for your type of dog, especially if you own a puller dog. Dealing with a dog that pulls is a different matter altogether than how to teach a dog not to chew a leash.
Final Thought On How To Teach A Dog Not To Chew A Leash
Be patient. Getting your dog to stop chewing on its leash may take as much diligence as teaching it not to lick its paws raw. Show some dedication. Some dogs learn faster than others. And with practice, both you and your fur baby will be able to enjoy the great outdoors together so much more.