In a pickle

You might remember we used to have a problem with Kimmy biting in trousers/pants during walks. I thought we conquered it and that it was a thing of the past, but this unpleasant behaviour returned with a vengeance last week.

Now it's like Kimmy's possessed. She will attack my trousers, grab them with her teeth and shake her head from side to side as if killing a prey. The trousers be damned, but sometimes she inadvertedly grabs my leg/foot as well, and although she does not bite down, she does press with her jaws and it hurts, especially if the fabric is not very thick.

When I stop walking, she usually goes on for a few seconds, then stops. But as soon as I step out again, she's hanging on my trousers again.

Then there's the "trying to climb on me with her front paws" trick. Her dewclaws are sharp and she scratches my legs from thighs down.

I know that she doesn't do any of this to hurt me, but damn, it's annoying and worrying at the same time!

I of course spoke with the dog trainer about it and she thinks it's stress related - a behaviour problem that seems to be common with Dobermans. They are what they call a nervous breed and they don't handle stress very well, especially before they reach mental maturity (around 2 years of age).

She recommended distracting before the teeth touch the trousers, and calming, soothing talk to relieve the stress. Since it came back in such force after Kimmy was attacked by a man with an umbrella last Tuesday, the dog trainer thinks it was the trigger, and Kimmy internalized the stressful feeling she had when he hit her, and it now resurfaces every time we go out, because in her mind walk=possible danger=stress.

Oh, and the "best" part? This sort of behaviour problem is hard to fix, and it takes a lot of time and work. Waaaah!

She never does this at home or in the garden. Just on walks. When we go somewhere new, she is strongly attacted to exploring instead, so she stops the biting routine after a couple of minutes, and goes on the run around and have fun.

So I guess I will need to focus on this, and keep taking her in new places, so she can get distracted by the environment.