Leash tug of war -- a behavior question

I'm curious what people make of this.

Dahlia is super friendly. Above all else, she loves kids and other dogs. But she has an odd behavior after we part ways.

For example:

A couple days ago we were out on a walk and ran into a mother and her young daughter who was almost 4 years old. The daughter asked if she could pet Dahlia (yay for a wonderful child who has been taught correctly!) and Dahlia walked calmly up to her and while the girl stroked her ears, Dahlia rested her head against her chest.

When the girl let go, Dahlia walked over and greeted the mother, also calmly. Got some nice scritches from her as well. (This is typical; Dahlia is an equal opportunity lover!)

Then we parted ways and Dahlia did what she does almost every time we part ways from a child or dog. She grabs onto the leash to play tug of war.

Any thoughts on what this is about? I have some ideas, but I'm curious what other people think!

I think it's her way of dealing with the energy that greeting people and dogs must arouse in her.

My Dog does this sometimes too, she is almost 8 months, and does tend to get excited when she gets to greet people/other dogs. She also used to do it at the end of a walk for a short while and then snap out of it, as I always stand still, and she stops quite quickly

My theory is I think she gets a bit of an adrenaline rush, as another thing she does, when off lead, after greeting certain dogs is to run around in circles looking well pleased with herself. Perhaps something to do with the fight or flight mechanism that all dogs have.

Would be interested to hear others opinions too.

sounds like she is blowing off some steam after being so good
why not take a tuggy out and reward her with a nice fun game after calmly greeting people

Hi,
My Lilly does this too! She's a 1y/o lab/bordercollie/golden mix (who looks JUST like yours!)

I agree that the excitement of the meeting creates an adreanaline rush and that's how she's expressing it. I've no doubt that if she was off leash, she would run around in circles like a maddog, at full tilt!

We are still in the process of working out this behaviour, and I've seen some improvements over time. After an exciting encounter, even before she bites the lead, I stop and give her a look, then give her the command heel. Now, she's still trying to grab the leash, so I simply stop, say No, give it. She does, then we carry on. We have to repeat this several times before we can fully carry on, but since I've started correcting her, I don't have to repeat as much.

I hope that was helpful!

Well, now I want to see pictures!! lol

I've actually sort of indulged this. I usually indulge anything that's play or play-like in Dahlia because she came to me (at about 2 years old) without understanding the joys of play and I haven't wanted to discourage it.

I may try redirecting her to the tug toy tonight. I don't MIND the leash tug of war; I've just been worried about what it might mean!

oh Im not sure how to do that...=(

The only reason why I don't indulge Lilly is b/c she's WAY too strong for me!

Tass will do it (I have taught her to) after she has passed another dog (she has dog aggression issues).

I use the Chill out game by Dee Ganley to great effect with them.

Tass rarely need the tug now, but if she has gone past a dog and she has found it very hard, she will turn to me for a tug game....with the lead.....or my sleeve

Lana does this too. I've always thought it was because the people who had her previously played tug of war with the leash with her. I don't allow it as she has tried it while we were crossing the road which could be dangerous.

I used to stand there constantly saying no. She would bark and the first time I thought it was maybe because she was wanting to play but next time realised it was her way of arguing back. I say no then turn my back on her and ignore her. She usually stops but sometimes when I start walking again she starts and I have to stand and ignore her again.

I can't really play tug of war games with Lana as she tends to stand on her hind legs and my arms then don't reach high enough so I end up getting scratched and her teeth catch me as well as she jumps and pulls. If I find a high enough step to stand on then I can. My previous dog tended to bend down when pulling so it made it much easier for me.

Hi Cysania I would venture to say this is one form of displacement behaviour.

When a dog is placed in a situation of 'conflict' (Dahlia was enjoying the petting or the company of another dog but was removed from it), in excitement/ frustration they will redirect their behaviour onto something else in this instance the lead.

You can see this behaviour in one form or another in many different situations. A common one is when an owner returns home and the dog in its excitement grabs a toy and runs around with it. Wilbar made some excellent observations about this in a previous thread (*see below) this action can reduce stress. When terriers (and Schnauzers too ) get excited for any reason they will often grab a toy and shake it.

Chloe does the same thing as Dahlia when we have stopped to talk to someone and then move on or if she sees something to chase like a squirrel but is prevented from doing so by the lead.
When she does this 'lead grabbing' I stand still and wait until she is calm before we move off again, I don't reward the behaviour with attention or turn it into a tugging game.

Puppies will often grab the lead a lot when they are first learning to walk on one , a metal chain lead with a leather handle can help with this, most dogs don't like the feel/movement of the chain aginst their teeth .

* http://www.dogsey.com/showthread.php...28#post1888128