Aggressive bitting towards owner on walks

[IsabelMGS]

Hi all!
I have a 5 months old standard schnauzer, and I have had him since he was two months old. Sometimes during our walks, he has a random moment of aggression, which usually only happens once and last about 30 seconds, after which he gets distracted and everything gets back to normal. It has happened to me and my daughter, which are the people that walk him regularly.
I will be walking him and everything is fine, but then out of nowhere, he starts trying to bite me very aggressively, and I have to pull him away from me by his harness. He has ripped my clothes, he has bitten my legs and hands, and drawn blood.
I’m unsure what causes these episodes… sometimes it’s after I have disciplined him for eating something he shouldn’t, or after I’ve pulled on him because he was trying to go somewhere he shouldn’t, or sometimes even right at the start of our walk when crossing the street, which can be very dangerous.
The rest of the time, he is fine and friendly. He has never became aggressive towards other dogs or at home or towards people. He lets me pet him, hold him, groom him, etc.
I would appreciate any suggestions.

[zeta1454]

Hi Isabel and welcome to the Forum

I think you need to get in touch with a professional dog behaviourist that will be able to observe what is happening with your puppy and offer specific advice.
Dogs are rarely aggressive for no apparent reason so something must be causing your boy’s reactions and you will need to discover the trigger in order to try and help him overcome this behaviour.
You say that it is sometimes after you have ‘disciplined’ him and I am not sure what you mean by this. If you are using physical punishment or anything that may actually scare him, it could be that he is learning an aggressive response. Training a dog should always be a communication based on trust and positive reinforcement so, for example, he learns not to lunge at another dog or person by being rewarded for not doing so and training this by getting him to focus on you when called and rewarded every time.

It is possible that he is just getting over-excited and hyper (he is going through adolescence at this time) and the start of a walk or at certain times on the walk, this excitement becomes too much for him to control and he is acting ‘aggressively’ in his exuberance rather than wanting to hurt you. Standard schnauzers are strong dogs and even as a puppy can inflict injuries if their teeth come into contact with your skin. If the behaviour is only happening when he is restrained on lead, it is possible that this is connected to adolescent hyper-excitement and hormone surges but of course you will still need to try and stop this happening. Maybe he needs more free off-lead time to burn off some energy and plenty of mind challenging games and short training sessions (of any kind) at home. Mental stimulation can be better at times than physical activity for calming a dog and also relaxing them afterwards. Training sessions need not be on any specific behaviour for this as any training to focus his mind will be useful.

However, I really do recommend finding a good professional behaviourist to observe you with your dog on walks to offer some advice specific to your dog as they may should be able to identify what is triggering the biting and advise you how to work with him to overcome this.