There can be several different reasons why a dog bites his leash. Most of those reasons are due to the dog resisting you and your control or just wanting to play. No matter which one, it’s annoying and should stop if you want to train your dog to walk well on a leash.
The methods I discuss below try to make the leash taste bad so that it is undesirable for your dog to have it in his mouth. Of course, keep in mind that patience is important when kicking this habit.
If your dog has already started this annoying habit, you will need to modify his behavior to eliminate the problem. The first method I always suggest is to soak the bottom 18 inches of the strap with bitter apple. Bitter apple is a spray that is available at all pet stores and will deter your dog by its bad taste.
If that doesn’t work, I suggest soaking the bottom 18 inches of the strap with lemon juice. It seems that most dogs don’t like the taste and will stop putting the leash in their mouths to avoid the taste.
Of course, there’s always that tough dog who doesn’t seem to care about sour apple or lemon juice, so we move on to my third option, which is spicy. Yes, you want to buy a hot sauce like tabasco, cholula, or any other hot sauce that comes in a bottle and is available at all grocery stores, usually where they have Mexican foods and spices.
One way to avoid this problem altogether is to start training your dog to tolerate leash and enjoy going for walks early while he is still a young pup. It seems that the longer you wait to insert the strap, the worse the problem will be.
There is no better way to establish a good pack leader attitude for your dog than to go for a walk. Taking the time to teach your dog to walk side by side and not to bite or pull on the leash is something that will be rewarded with many enjoyable walks. Walking your dog builds the master dog relationship and is something your dog will thank you for many times over the years.