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Hi there! Welcome to the forums! So sorry to hear about the loss of your Pry. These losses deeply impact us and our dogs. Many dogs get overly excited when they see the leash. If this is a new behavior, there's likely also some element of anxiety as well considering all the recent changes. I hope she has good bite inhibition, when dogs "miss" and end up biting us in this highly aroused state, the may not be as good in gauging the pressure of their bites. Please make safety your top priority. If she's rough with her mouth use a bite-proof basket muzzle for extra safety, (https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/train-your-dog-to-wear-a-muzzle/) and if you notice aggressive behavior, please don't hesitate to work along with a dog behavior professional for safety. Now, let's think like our dogs for a moment. A leash on its own may be a neutral stimulus and something that our dogs could care less about. In fact, a puppy who has never seen or worn a leash before may even perceive it as annoying, entertaining, or something to chew on. As your puppy or dog gets used to having the leash clipped on and taken for a walk, the leash then starts to represent some strong, positive associations. It turns into a conditioned stimulus (previously a neutral stimulus), and your dog develops a conditioned emotional response to it. This conditioned response may consist of a variety of emotions depending on how walks are perceived. For some dogs who are fearful of the great outdoors—those scared of noises, seeing people, or other dogs—their emotional response may be based more on fear than excitement. For others, it can be great emotional arousal from going on the hunt for critters, new intriguing smells and meeting other dogs and people. Some others there may be elements of mixed emotions, anxiety, fear mixed with excitement for all the things that can happen. Trying to tone down the excitement/anxiety by scolding or pushing away can often makes things worse, and even if the dog maybe stays still for a bit, it's more a result of us suppressing the dog's emotions which can lead to side effects. For example, in sensitive dogs, it may lead to further anxiety of going outside. So rather than getting frustrated we can tackle this excess excitement/anxiety in two ways: 1)Using the leash to our advantage to reinforce desired behaviors and 2) reducing the saliency of the leash. It's worthy to skip walks for a while so that you stop reinforcing all the excitement package taking place when your dog is in this hyper/aroused state. Because if every time we go out for a walk, Elizabeth is rehearsing all these problematic behaviors just prior, soon a new routine establishes and we're reinforcing it, sort of like letting a toddler go play with his friends outside after throwing a major tantrum. If the tantrum works in having mom and dad let him out, he'll be likely to repeat this scene over and over. So here are some tips: -Use a Chain Leash Since you mention your dog chewing the leash, I would suggest for a while using a chain leash. Most dogs don't like to chew on chain and will give up chewing it after some time. With a new leash you also have an object with "less baggage'' in other words less rehearsal history. -Prevent Rehearsal of the Problematic Behavior If every time you grab the leash, your dog gets hyper excited just by seeing it, you will have to start changing things, or you may be stuck with a dog that lacks impulse control. On top of this, your dog may adopt these impatient these behaviors in many other aspects of her life. So we need to tone down things and prevent her from practicing all these hyper aroused behaviors. We therefore need to take several steps to keep her better under threshold. Here's the thing: when dogs get into too aroused states, they tend to get nippy, jumpy, humpy, and yes, they may chatter their teeth if anticipating something. So the primary goal is taking several steps to keep your dog under threshold: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ -Try My "Unpower the Leash" Method Here's the thing: dogs live in a world of associations. The leash therefore becomes particularly salient to our dogs because it's presented at distinct times, that is, always right before the walks. For sake of comparison, we can say that the leash becomes super salient and highly predictable such as the noise of the food bowl announcing dinner, or the treat bag announcing a fun training session, or the door bell announcing guests, or our car keys announcing our departure (and triggering anxiety in dogs with separation-related issues). The contingency leash=walks therefore becomes particularly strong. So how can we break up this contingency? By removing the power from the leash and making it less salient. We will therefore present it throughout the day so to desensitize her to it -Casually keep the leash around I would skip grabbing the leash in front of your dog for now because she'll likely get all revved up, and maybe even more nippy because she may get frustrated that it will be presented when she's not going on walk. So let's start easy peasy, when she's out in the yard or in another room, away from where the leash is kept, get that leash out and place it on the couch or hang it to the door knob. Then, let her find it on her own. Because the leash is lifeless at this point and not in your hands, she shouldn't get overly excited about it. ***If at any time she tries to grab the leash/steal it, say 'leave it" and toss a kibble away. If she knows "leave it" already, even better. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/take-leave-it/ -Add Movement Have the leash on the couch or hanging by the door knob, and casually during the day, move it a teeny bit. Your dog may show interest at this point, twitch an ear or come running towards it, so be ready to toss her a kibble or treat every time you move it. The kibble or treat should keep her from thinking about nipping you and keep her mind busy on something else. It also reinforces any other behavior than the nipping. Do this several times. -Add Sits If your dog knows how to sit, start practicing this exercise: Move the leash a little bit and then ask for a sit and toss a kibble/treat to reward that. Rinse and repeat several times, the movement/noise of the leash should become a predictor that a sit must follow. The treat toss should keep her busy and prevent her from thinking about nipping. -Start wearing the leash If your dog did well with the above exercise, start "wearing" the leash. In other words, walk around with the leash clipped to your belt. You want your dog to start getting used to seeing it around more and more without getting excited. Every now and then, stand in front of your dog, lift the leash a bit, ask for a sit and toss a treat. -Desensitize to the clipping noise Every now and then, as the leash is clipped to your belt, stand in front of your dog, lift the leash a bit ask for a sit, make the clipping noise by opening the snap hook thingy and toss a treat. Rinse and repeat several times, lift leash-ask for a sit, clipping sound- toss treat. -Start practicing clipping on the leash Start practicing clipping on the leash to your dog's collar, when your dog is sitting calmly. Lift the leash a bit make the clipping noise by opening the snap hook thingy, ask for a sit, clip it to the collar, feed a treat. Then, unclip it and give another treat. Rinse and repeat several times. The leash comes on only when you dog is sitting calmly. -Work by the door Do the same exercise this time by the door. Lift the leash a bit, make the clipping noise by opening the snap hook thingy, ask for a sit, clip it to the collar, feed a treat. Then, unclip it and give another treat. Rinse and repeat several times. The leash always comes on only when you dog is sitting calmly. -Walk Away From Undesirable Behavior What if your dog breaks the sit or starts getting nippy right when you are about to clip on the leash? In that scenario, stop trying to clip the leash, turn around, and walk away. By doing this, you are informing your dog that their excited behavior sends you away. Come back and try again. If your dog is still wiggly and bouncy, make an about turn and try again. At some point, your dog will tire out from acting excited and will get the message. You should, therefore, start seeing some calmer behaviors. At that point, ask for the sit, clip the leash on, and go out the door a brief second and then back inside, unclip the leash and feed a treat (you can toss several small pieces, treasure hunt style) -Don't Be Afraid to Repeat the Technique What if your dog sits nicely when you clip the leash on but pulls towards the door, jumping and acting hyper again? In that case, once again, turn around. You don't want to reinforce this behavior. Make sure you exit the door only when your dog is in a calmer state of mind. It may take some time to get out of the door the first few times, but since you keep going towards the door and then turning the moment your dog acts hyper, your dog will get tired; you will eventually start to see a calmer dog. Things get better once your dog understands that calmness equals walking towards the door and getting out. If you are consistent, you will notice an improvement. -Watch for Frustration If you notice any signs of frustration building up, or reverting back to nipping/jumping, take that as a sign that you have progressed to fast. You may have raised criteria too fast and need to back to a few steps in the process. Make sure to use treats that are valuable enough to your dog so that it's easy for her to make good choices. -Implement Impulse control games Dogs who get overly excited and struggle coping with their emotions, benefit from learning more impulse control. Training is ultimately teaching dogs to better cope with their emotions and develop better frustration tolerance. They must learn that patience pays and only calm behavior leads to what they want. Here are several impulse control games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/10-impulse-control-games-for-dogs/ Once the leash has lost its salience and you are putting the leash on and walking towards the door only when your dog is calm, you are tackling the issue on several fronts: -You are no longer reinforcing excited behaviors -You are rewarding calm behaviors -The leash will have assumed less importance so that you can help your dog succeed -Your dog is learning how to tone down her emotions The above techniques are more tailored for dogs who act super excited when they see the leash. Remember, if your dog is super excited, this may be a sign that your dog needs more training, enrichment and mental stimulation during the day. Make sure you provide enough brain games, training, food puzzles so that you will have a calmer and better behaved dog. Now, you have mentioned some issues on walks and these will need to be tackled too, as they're part of the arousal problem package. I will be discussing this later today in the next post. Disclaimer: behavior modification comes with risks. If your puppy or dog shows signs of potential aggression (lunging, barking, growling, snapping, biting) for safety, please consult with a dog behavior professional who uses force-free behavior modification techniques (no shock, prongs, or physical corrections) for direct in-person guidance. Articles, videos and general info found in the forums or course (or any online source) are not meant to replace in-person training/instruction. By using this course and forum, you are waiving any liability claims or other type of claims related to any dogs' behavior against you or others.