I've had Ember for 4 months (got her when she was 9 weeks old). Her mother is a purebred beagle (the type that is longish and long ears) and her father is a shepherd-huskey. . The first month I had her was a breeze. She seemed to know the words come,-sit,-no almost the first time I said them and she was very responsive. When I took her outside she walked so close to me I wondered where she was. When I stopped she'd sit on her own (at which time I would say the word sit - I hadn't done anything to teach her. When I had had her a couple weeks she had learned to fetch and I took her on a long leash to teach her to come when I called (using a small piece of dog biscuit as a reward) and keep her from the road. Even before that I had got her acquainted with the word 'come' and after I had used the dog biscuit treat she would sit on her own a ways from me when I had her loose, waiting for me to call her, anticipating a treat!
However, when I started using the long leash more (which she was really too small for because it got under he legs easy) and she realized it was restraining her, she began to get angry with it and I first saw an uncontrolled anger - she was about 13 weeks old, which I read is when a dominant spirit shows up. She would grab the leash and hang on. I put cayenne pepper on the first couple feet from the snap and covered with duct tape; and that discouraged her from grabbing the leash, although she would put her foot over that part and grab beyond the duct tape. She’s 6 months old now. I let her loose outdoors (we have a field). But I do work with her with a short leash hoping she’ll get a better attitude towards it. There are times she does act better. I don’t have her on the leash much - just when doing a few minutes obedience training and a couple times when a child was at our place to help in her getting used to children, which has worked all right. She even layed nicely while talking with the child’s mother.
Yesterday (after doing some sit, stay, lay, come with her loose inside, I put the short leash on her and did a few steps of heal and sit. Then I tried doing a ‘long’ down ( about 15 to 20 minutes) having a short leash on her (I sat beside her on the floor). She was quite aggressive - showing her teeth - and determined to get up. But I kept having her lay (she would eventually lay quiet for a short time, get aggressive, got her to lay and kept this up for the 15 to 20 minutes and I ended it when she was laying quiet - at which time I had her do a few steps of heal and sit - then took the leash off and had her do sit, stay, lay, come.) I did it again today for about 10 minutes, with the same performance. She is good at commands to sit, lay, come. But she doesn’t like the leash (probably because I didn’t know how to properly introduce her to the leash when she was younger).
What is the solution to her attitude toward the leash?
One other question - I'm a little apprehensive about how staying in a kennel will affect Ember. In May we expect to be gone a week or so and I plan to put her in a kennel that has a fenced run for each dog (where I used to board a dog I had previously). I'm thinking of leaving her there one night before then to get her used to it. But she's such an active dog, I don't know what affect a week-stay in a kennel would have on her. She likes to chew on cardboard, so I thought I'd leave some cardboard with her along with a toy. She's in the house a lot, but I do let her out loose and we have enough land so she gets exercise.
Thank you for your help.
