Puppy biting feet while walking

Hey,

I've got a 4 month old Samoyed puppy who always goes for my feet as soon as we leave the house. He'll stop after 2 minutes, but it's still rather irritating.

What normally happens is he grabs hold of the leash with his mouth, and when I correct him he goes for my feet (ankle/leg area). Any tips on how to stop him? When I yap him away with the leash he almost become more motivated and bits harder. He's not trying to hurt me or anything, but he needs to understand that this is not an acceptable form of play.

How do I address this? I usually make him sit for a long while until he calms down, but it's now that effective. I'm a fan of positive training, so I try to yell at him as little as possible, but sometimes I have to.

Any help is appreciated and feel free to ask for additional information!

HAve you got your boots on?!

Puppys are very oral and some, like yours, which do have some herding propensities (way back when they changed from hunting Rudolph to herding them) can be activated by movement and want to control it.

Going out is a high arousal activity and this may manifest itself in this sort of behaviour.

The good news is that, if handled correctly, it will fade.

You may find that in the short term the use of a chain lead may assist as the dog will not like to grab hold of it and cannot pull, tug or rag it like a leather, cloth, etc lead.

Also you may want to give him something to hold in his mouth when he goes out.

However PRIOR to this you may want to interrupt this behaviour before it becomes a habit by asking for control IN the house before going outside.

EG what is he like when you put on the lead?

Does he sit calmly whilst you attach it or is it a wrestling match?

You can just teach the dog that 4 feet on the ground = lead on and leaping about means nothing by cause and effect training.

So no words or commands are needed (this minmises the likelihood of you getting into the habit of shouting).

Dogs do what works, but it takes time so this is best practiced when you are not in a hurry to go out etc.

Once this has been accomplished you could then move on to further exercises of self control.

EG put on the lead and then go and sit down and pay attention ONLY when he is still and quiet. If you clicker train then this would be the time to click and treat.

Alternatively you could reward the dog by making a fuss of him and then getting up,if he starts fooling around again sit down.

So all of this can be worthwhile training before you GET to the door.

Another way of preventing the behaviour is to get the dog to do something that is incompatible with its current modus operandi.

Take treats out and drop one on the floor as soon as you open the door.

The hansel and gretel method of teaching a dog to walk nicely on the lead will be of use here. So whilst the dog is looking expectantly at the ground for a treat to appear it will not be attacking your trousers!

HTH