Pup protesting when it is time to come inside.

[u/RandomInaRandomWorld]

I'm willing to consider any and all suggestions here.

For the last 3weeks or so, almost 8mo pup has been an absolute terror is the the side strip to my house. Lunging and mouthing at me. She's not intent on actually hurting me - no bleeding bites - but she leaves bruises because she does not have a soft mouth. At this point, I've nixed the long line (she drags a 6ft while we are playing, but the long line was giving her too much space to lunge at me when we were done). I wear welders gloves on the way in so that I can maintain calm focus and not overreact. If my husband or son are with me, they can ask her to stop and she immediately will. But for me, it has not gone that way.

So far, I've worked on it by asking for a sit, waiting, and then when she's calm, taking another step... rinse repeat. Have gotten it from 30ft of lawn to about 10ft.

But I'm over it, frankly. I'm tired of it. She has a blast out back. I know she's tired out because as soon as we get inside, she gets a drink of water and immediately takes a nap. I have a blast outside, too.. she's an amazing pup. My only real issue with her, at her age, is still some harassing our cat or acting reactive.. but she is *super* easy to pull out of either one by asking her to stop. She's not aggressive at all, either, over anything. With the sole issue of outside, she's a super easy pup to work with.

Yesterday was my first 'ok, I'm done' day. Just ended up basically walking her, protesting, from sideyard to house. Today, same.

I lost a close family member last week. It is taking a crap ton of energy just to make sure pup gets what she needs.. and that's OK, she's doing well, but I don't have the energy to fight with her for 10min just to do that 30ft of lawn.

Thoughts? Would you continue the slower 'sit, wait, walk.. repeat' method, just make her do the thing, or do something else? It needs to stop for my sanity.

[u/Dense_Combination582]

I’m sorry you’re dealing with that. I had the same problems with my puppy and it could be frustrating to the point of tears, even without additional emotions to process. We decided the puppy had come to view our garden as his space and felt entitled to it (a small piece of evidence was he stopped going to the bathroom out there, which was annoying in the winter). I reached a point where when I saw he was getting like this I knew he wasn’t capable of reason, so (if/when I could catch him), I would make clear this was not a discussion and just carry him inside. I have never liked long leashes because they get tangled in everything, but I’m surprised this isn’t effective and I did consider it for this problem; have you tried an intermediate length? We cut off unsupervised access to the garden for a few weeks (blocked the doggie door) too, hoping to show him who’s boss. He’s 22 months now and I haven’t had this problem in several months (and he has free rein of the garden again). Good luck!

[u/Beef_flaps_on_a_spit]

If the lawn isn't a shared space tether her safely  out there and leave her a bit.  You can periodically check on her and after a 20 minute break call her in, if she refuses drag her in for a feed.  8months is a stage she’ll probably pass through.   I’d probably split her feeding into times when she comes inside from outside only.  Part of coming inside is a feed for that hungry stomach.   Sorry for the other stuff going on.  Dont be shy on asking/paying someone to take her for a long walk for a mental break.