Puppy Goes Into Stupid Mode On Walks

[fuzzy82]

I have a just over 4 month old puppy, Obi. Ever since I got him we have done regular puppy classes, where he is completely focused on me, loves all the other people and plays nicely with other puppies. The instructor and other people in class regularly comment on how smart he is, and how advanced (obedience wise) he is for his age.

We have been to the dog park, pet store, friends' places, birthday parties, and he has behaved perfectly. He loves people, and is generally a fearless puppy. The only thing he has ever had an issue with is traffic, but he has gotten better with that.

He hasn't had regular walks, but we have been up the road and back a few times. And every time we walk out the front door, he goes into stupid mode. Like, raving lunatic type behaviour. Every little sound, every little movement (people walking towards us, but still 100 metres away, cats running around, dogs barking in the distance, hearing a car coming) makes him pull, bark, growl and generally go crazy.

And he doesn't lack self control, we use release words before eating, have done crate games, he knows 'leave it' etc, so he is generally a very well behaved, obedient puppy.

I tried going up the street with him earlier today, but had to cut it short. I figured I would try again just now, because it's evening and quiet and I figured we would just stay in the driveway. He did some sits and drops and loose lead walking next to me, but inbetween being asked to do stuff he was a complete lunatic.

Just not sure WHY he is doing this? He never does it anywhere else, so I wouldn't consider him a fearful or reactive dog. What am I supposed to do? He is getting to the age where he should be getting regular walks, even if they are just short ones, just for the sake of getting used to traffic and people etc, but I can't walk him the way he is now. He becomes unresponsive, he growls at people, barks (and his bark is so loud and piercing) and it's just embarrassing to be seen with him.

[raineth]

Hi Fuzzy82,

I hope you get some more replies.

I think there may be a bit of a gap in his socialisation. Dogs don't generalise from situation to situation; so while he might understand what he needs to do in a puppy class environment, he doesn't understand how to behave in a street environment. Sounds like he also finds the street environment very scary.

go to the puppy sections of this forum and check out the section on puppy development.

I would also recommend you tell your puppy playschool instructor and see what he/she can tell you.

I think one of the things I would do is to just sit in the driveway with him. Just sit and chill and let him watch the world go by. Ignore any behaviour you don't want and reward him for any relaxed behaviour. Just be prepared to sit out there for a long time while he habituates to that environment (take a cushion to sit on and drink bottle).

Take it slowly and when he relaxes there you could move to the next driveway or footpath and do the same thing.

With his extreme reactions you need to set him up for success. So you need to keep him at a distance (from things he's reacting to) in which he is not feeling threatened and scared. If you make him go to close you'll probably make the situation worse.

[sas]

Your puppy is 4 months old, regardless of how smart you believe the puppy to be it is only a baby puppy.

Try using prevention techniques, for example if you know your puppy goes nutty the moment you step out of the door then stop the very second that behaviour starts and don't move until the behaviour ceases and then repeat.

If you have allowed the puppy to behave in a looney manner each time you have stepped out the door then the dog is going to continue with this behaviour.

When you're training a puppy or any dog for that matter you can train them something in one location and that doesn't mean they will do it other locations, dogs don't generalise like that, you have to do activities/training in different environments and situations to help the dog generalise that the command/activity isn't just location based.

I would think you just need to do baby steps, i.e walk from the door to the letter box with the dog in a calm frame of mind before going past there and that could take a while, you have to be 100% patient and never angry or frustrated. I personaly don't verbalise anything during these moments, I just keep my mouth shut and work with the dog in silence.

Being a bit worried about traffic is perfectly normal, those are big noisey machines to puppies.

Please also consider that your puppy is probably entering the 2nd fear period which is generally between 12-16 weeks of age. Click here

Edited December 2, 2010 by sas

[fuzzy82]

He hasn't been this bad previously, and mostly walked nicely, apart from when we walk past a house where a dog is barking at him, or someone walks right past us on the footpath, and then he wants to go up and say hi. I considered that normal for a puppy.

When I take him out with my other dog he is perfectly fine with everything, as he just follows her around and copies her behaviour. But they both keep crossing over in front of me, so he needs to be taught to stay on the side where he starts out before I can take both of them out together on a regular basis.

It wasn't until yesterday that he went into absolute stupid mode. But the other day we walked down to the riverbank (both dogs, so he was fine walking there) but then we sat down there for a while, and there were a lot of other people just hanging out there as well, and he was very curious about everything, but as a woman walked past the bench where we were he started barking and being silly. He doesn't try to run away, he's all perked up, tail up and pulling towards things, not away from them.

But I will try to sit in the driveway with him, or maybe just on the patio right outside the door to begin with, and see how that goes.