Crazy Dog

robck1

Hi there,
We recently got an alaskan malamute and shes 6 months old today. Shes been free to walk everywhere because her injections were a few months back now and to date we hadnt any problems when we were out walking her. However now when we go walking she trots along side us without a problem for the majority of the walk but then for no reason at all she goes mental and starts jumping up on us and grabbing the lead.

It originally happened in the one place on every walk, but we started to avoid that place and she started at another place. It takes about 3/4 minutes to calm her down and then she will continue walking as if nothing ever happened. Whats strange is that she isnt aggressive when this happens. She is a very calm and almost shy dog usually except for these "instances" but she doesnt know the power of her own jaw and gives a nasty bruise.

Any help or opinions would be helpful?
Thanks, Rob

KhuntChops

Sounds very random. When you say "jumping up on us and grabbing the lead" in what kind of manner does she do this?

robck1

Well shes quite a big dog already at 6 months. She'll start by grabbing the lead in her mouth and start to play tug of war with it (difficult when trying to walk at the same time). Then when shes bored of that she'll jump up and put her paws on my chest, jump back down and repeat. However then sometimes she'll grab my jumper and again try and play tug of war, again shes not aggressive, almost playful, but it makes going for a walk an annoying prospect.

I admit its random but its only started happening in the last few days

luckat

Don't react. When she does this, turn your back and go all limp until she calms down and stops trying to play. Then turn and give her a 'Sit!' and a treat.

But she's obviously dying for play. Do you take her to the park and play tug-of-war with her there?

Discostuy

Are you taking her to new places? somewhere she isnt used to?
I know one of my girls used to hate walking to the shops becasuse we had to walk alongside a road, and the cars freaked her out. She would stop dead in her tracks and refuse to move. We had to coax her along, tell her it was ok and all that.
She is better now, but they still get a bit weary of new strange places.

Dyr

turning your back on a dog that size is pretty much an invitation to be sent flying by a push on the back, Ignoring big powerful dogs when they decide to roughhouse can leave you very sore in my experience.

I presume if you wnet through the trouble of buying a malamute that you know how much physical activity she's gonna need...

KhuntChops

Yes it sounds like altho your taking her on walks she needs more physical activities to burn off all the energy she has. Malamutes are working dogs and it could be that your not challenging her enough. Ive seen many husky type dogs with those back sacks (designed for dogs) and when I asked what they were for I was told it helped them feel as tho there working thus burning off more energy etc,now dont take my word on that for gold im sure someone else her could maybe inform you properly about this...

peasant

When she does that, does she also go down on her front legs at some stage?

Like the dog on the left in this pic:


or this one


If so, then the whole episode is nothing but exuberant invitation to play and you need to to two things:

a) play with her more (preferably on your terms and not when she's demanding it)

b) learn to control her better ...imagine what she'll be like at full strenthg if this continues

robck1

Thanks for the help.
Yeh we didnt buy a malamute blind, we knew she would be a handful! We are going to try and challenge her a bit more rather than just play and hopefully she'll lose a bit of energy through that, the weight sacks are another idea but we were recommened to wait another few months for them as her backs still developing