Worried about your dog jumping up, over aroused and does the behaviour seem beyond playful, or even panicked?

Maybe they grab your lead or legs or hands on walks. Perhaps you just don't know how to calm them, and each day feels a bit like a battle.

This blog post is going to address all those things for you.

The thing about this kind of behaviour is that it's usually not only because the dog isn't trained. This kind of behaviour is created not by a dog's training or lack thereof, but the way the dog feels.

Arousal is energy that the dog doesn't know how to cope with. They might not be getting their needs met, they could be stressed, anxious, worried or even in pain. Learn about pain affecting behaviour here.

Think about how you feel when you're in pain and someone is trying to move you, touch you, rush you, that's stressful isn't it. How about when you're scared and just need time to think, but the scary thing just won't go away? Not great, is it?

So when a dog is grabbing your lead, or jumping up over and over, they're not being naughty. They're communicating.

A dog jumping up is often a release valve for feelings that have nowhere else to go. It can look like excitement, but underneath it can be frustration, worry, or a nervous system that's simply overloaded and doesn't know how to settle itself.

The same goes for dog grabbing lead behaviour. That grabbing, tugging, biting at the lead in your hand isn't your dog being disobedient. It's often a dog trying to discharge tension the only way they know how, through their mouth and through movement.

Some dogs redirect onto the lead because it's there, it moves, and it gives them something to do with all that unspent energy. Others do it because walks themselves are overwhelming, full of things they can't control, and the lead becomes the one thing they can grab hold of.

Scentwork is one of the most powerful ways to help a dog process arousal and settle their mind. Sniffing lowers heart rate and shifts a dog from a reactive state into a more thoughtful one. It gives them a job to do that uses their brain rather than just their body.

For a dog who jumps up or grabs at leads, short scentwork sessions before a walk, or scattering food in the garden, can take the edge off before you even leave the house.

It's not a quick fix, but it builds a habit of calm, focused engagement that carries over into other parts of the day. Learn simple scentwork in this blog post.