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Jogging problem

2K views 12 replies 9 participants last post by  boomer11 
#1 ·
Hey guys,

I have a 13 month old male gsd. He's an awesome dog with little to no quirks except for this one glaring issue. We exercise a couple times a day using long walks, hikes, dog parks and bike rides to tire him out. We can never fully tire him out be we can get close. The issue arises when going on a walk and I decide to beggine jogging. He freaks out and starts biting my arms and jumping on me. I usually remain calm and try to redirect him but were talking about an 80 lb shepherd. It's not the end of the world for me because I can suck it up and deal with it but my girlfriend can't and shouldn't have to deal with him in that crazy "attacking"mode. Also I used bite inhibition when raising him which is the only things saving my arms. He was raised in a very good and positive environment, never hit never used any harsh feedback. I am just trying to understand and fix this behavior. I was thinking maybe this is linked to their herding tendencies (?)

If anyone could tell me where this is coming from or why that would be greatly
Appreciated. Also I would love to know how to begin to tackle this issue. I've spent countless hours socializing him and exposing him to things to avoid wierd quirks like this but somehow I failed when it comes to jogging.

Thanks in advance
Sam
 
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#4 ·
Try this: as soon as he makes an attempt to bite and throw fits, stop and turn yourself in a statue while keeping him away from you to take away his payoff. He might have learned that this behavior is rewarded (running, if he loves it) so it continues. As soon as he is calm, wait a few seconds before going, then go again and repeat.
If he doesn't like running, it might be a protest for some reason.
 
#5 ·
Reply

Before the jog he is perfectly fine. Because he doesn't know wether we are going to walk or jog so he is normal level of excited, nothing excessive. By attack mode it is not as bad as I made it sound. It's a really
Rough play as opposed to aggression. He doesn't break skin or anything but it still leaves marks. It's at the begginung of starting up but recently it's been so intense I couldn't work thru it and normally I just walk after . I have never rewarded the behavior by continuing to jog and he loves running so I'm really confused as to why.

I will definately try that technique and keep you guys posted.
 
#6 ·
At 13 months his physical response maybe trying to understand the knew body language and commands of the jog. How is he at heel when moving slow to fast. Good heeling is primary to a good jogging partner on or off the leash. He is at the right age to start. Not heavy, short slow jogs at first, stay on a soft surface and be aware of over heating in the summer, although at human speeds it's difficult to overheat a dog in good shape. I have jogged with all my GSDs for years. Had similar behavior problems more than once. Your young dog wants to go go go. Once down it is a breeze.
 
#7 ·
Reply to hoby

I appreciate the reassurance hoby. I hope this is just a temperory and feeling out phases and not here to stay. As far as conditioning we should be more than fine. We bike 4-5 miles at a fast rate and that doesn't even begin to make him tired. Thanks again for letting me know that others have had this issue and I didn't mess up somehow.
 
#8 ·
Heeling

He is an average Heeler. For the majority of the walk he is at my hip or one step back. Every couple minutes I have to make a slight correction to remind him that I expect him not to pull. He's more than capable of heeling once we start jogging if/when we are able to get past the crazy mode at the beginning.
 
#10 ·
I was going to say no running on pavement for a 13 month old. He could be biting you because he doesn't want to what he knows hurts his still forming joints.
 
#11 ·
Meh. I was doing very small runs with my dog at that age. Interspersed with walking and I did try to keep him on a gravel shoulder is much as possible but he did do some on asphalt. He will be three this June and runs about 35 miles a week with me, 8 to 9 miles at a time, mostly on asphalt. He loves it.

If you are comfortable with a prong, you need to give him a correction immediately. I would most definitely not allow that behavior to continue. I would think he is under the impression that you are wanting to play. You need to teach him that when you are walking or running, it is not playtime until YOU initiate it in a different manner.

I realize my dog is a dog, so I do allow him a couple pee stops on a long run; but runs are not for playing, stopping, or sniffing. Walking is for that. When we're running, it's our "run". He runs at perfect heel and all I have to do is give a verbal command, hand command or a slight tweak of the leash if I want him to move in particular direction. It did take him some time to "learn" how to run, but it was very fast. I would never tolerate that kind of behavior from a 13-month-old dog beyond a learning phase.

Good luck and I hope you can teach him how to be a great running companion with you. I recently went on a nine miler by myself and I have to admit, it is going to be very difficult for me to run without him the times it is unavoidable.
 
#12 ·
Reply

As far as him overworking on pavement i don't think that's related to the behaviriol issue. We rarely exercise on pavement, the majority is on trails. Most of the time we avoid the asphalt so I'm pretty sure that doesn't factor in.

Rocket dog,
I appreciate ur post. I think that's exactly what's going on, he thinks it's time to play when I begin to jog. I definately will begin making more serious correctlons when the behavior manifests itself. I think another issue is that I don't jog very often so I wasn't able to work out the kinks at a young age.
 
#13 ·
My pup used to bite my feet when I jogged. He was about 6 months old. When he bit I just stopped and walked. Then after a couple of seconds I began to jog again. When he didn't bite I praised him and kept Jogging. After a while he just stopped biting. I would be patient with your dog and try this for a week.

Then if it doesn't get better I would correct and correct very hard. A pup who might still be in the land shark phase is one thing but a 13 month old should have no excuses.

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