Mallory,

She is only 4 months old and is being a normal puppy.

Have you tried playing tug with her before your walks? And, are you using a high value treat with her on your walks to keep her attention on you?

Trust me, this is easily fixed with treats and making a game out of it. She is probably teething or starting to teeth right now, so use a soft rolled towel or rag to play with her.
"The Game of Trade" makes things SO much easier.

I would also not try and pop the lead out of her mouth, but rather trade it for a toy or a treat.

She does not know what you want yet, therefore, hot sauce and leash pops will not help a whole lot.

i don't pop the leash-because she thinks that is a game.

i will try playing before the walk-i thought(per CM) that the "exercise/discipline" comes before the play. But if playing with her first will keep her from hanging off my coat and sleeves-then i will do that.

i know that part/alot of her behavior is normal puppyness-but for me when i put all that she does together, that equals not good.

I guess i suck at knowing what i should let her do, and what needs to stop. The way i see it, what is ok for other puppies that aren't being aggressive is not ok for one that is.
When leash tugging and grabbing is ok or overlooked in another pup that otherwise minds should not be overlooked in a pup that doesn't.

But at the same time-pick your battles, you know.
but are these activities interrelated? that is my concern-that my letting her do some of these things will fuel the part i am trying to stop.

 Quote: mallory kwiatkowski

i don't pop the leash-because she thinks that is a game.

Oooops, I misread that part, I apologize.....

 Quote: mallory kwiatkowski

i will try playing before the walk-i thought(per CM) that the "exercise/discipline" comes before the play. But if playing with her first will keep her from hanging off my coat and sleeves-then i will do that.

This is how it goes at my house with Ember, I open the crate and I allow her to come out and she now sits, she gets a "yes" then a treat. I put her leash on, another "yes" an a treat. We then go outside and she potties, the reward again.
I ignore her jumping up on me and biting at my sleeves and such and I offer her the towel, she takes it and we play for a bit....she gets to "win" a couple times and then I trade her the towel for a treat.

We then start to walk. Anything she does that I want her to do in the future is rewarded and the other stuff is ignored.
Just as Cindy and I discussed last weekend, the "bad" behavior is starting to go away and she is starting to offer the things she knows will get her a treat, therefore I am starting to add in commands.

Michael Ellis explained to me, and hopefully I get this correct....when you first start out, do not say the command until she starts offering it to you, once she does it on her own means she understands what will get her a reward therefore you can put it with a command.

 Quote: mallory kwiatkowski

i know that part/alot of her behavior is normal puppyness-but for me when i put all that she does together, that equals not good.

Not quite sure I understand this part....

 Quote: mallory kwiatkowski

I guess i suck at knowing what i should let her do, and what needs to stop.

To be totally honest, I have said the same thing and have since learned that it is not true. So I do not think you suck at all.
I learned that it is all in the way we go about it. And it does not take long for the puppy to "get it". May seem long to us, but once the switch is flipped on, the feeling of accomplishment in yourself will make you work that much harder on the next thing.

 Quote: mallory kwiatkowski

But at the same time-pick your battles, you know.
but are these activities interrelated? that is my concern-that my letting her do some of these things will fuel the part i am trying to stop.

You need to give her an outlet to play and be a puppy, so letting her tug and stuff is a good thing and helps tire her out so that you can teach her things. Semi-tired or tired puppies learn so much faster that a pup you take out of the crate or kennel and immediately try making them focus. Let her run off the excess energy first, then get her to focus on you.

These "issues" will subside as she gets older and she learns what is acceptable and what is not.

YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

 Quote: carol boche

"The Game of Trade" makes things SO much easier.

This is a bit of a hijack, but somewhat apropos...
Carol (or anyone w/ an opinion), my pup is now almost 8 months old and I still trade w/ her when tugging.
Is this OK at this age, because I sure can't get her to drop a tug without trading! :

Does she trade right away?
If so, I think you should be able to start using the "out" command.

When you present the trade "reward" start saying "out" along with it.

BIG PARTY for her giving up the toy. And Repeat.....

Will she fetch and bring it back to play again? If so, this would be the same concept....throw, fetch, bring, out/trade for treat...BIG PARTY and then repeat.....

I hope that makes sense.

For the reward I would use a high value food treat.
I use the cheap sirloin steak cut into small cubes, ground turkey, hamburger, or any of the soft treats that LB sells.

Crunchy treats, IMHO, take too long for the dog to finish causing a loss of focus.

 Quote: Carol Boche

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

i know that part/alot of her behavior is normal puppyness-but for me when i put all that she does together, that equals not good.

Not quite sure I understand this part....

i mean that-if she was just hard to walk on a lead(grabbing it, chasing things) that would to me be normal puppyness.

If she were just whining in her crate(not like she is doing now-growling/biting bars/barking, etc at other dogs-not to get out) that would be normal puppyness

if she were just nipping or chewing, hat would be normal puppyness. Not her biting and grinding teeth into my flesh and having to be pryed off.

When you take what she does apart, and isolate behaviors, it can seem that she is just acting like a puppy.
But when you look at everything as a whole-to me it seems like it isn't good-

by that i mean-her behaviors are related(are they?) and so the combo of chasing everything, biting,grabbing my coat and hanging off when we walk, attaching the chi/brother spells trouble.

so i am curious if i just work on lets say not holding and tugging the leash-she will still latch onto my clothes.
If i ignore her acting out in the crate-she still does it, and gets so worked up that she gets worse outside of the crate.

So i am wondering if i should treat her behavior like it is all related and feeding off the other behaviors-or if they are indeed separate behaviors.

Is the chasing cars/leaves combined with the crate freaking combined with pants biting causing/making worse her behavior around other dogs, like her brother and at the vet office?

If i want her to not posture/show off/growl/lung at dogs in the waiting room-do i need to stop her from this other stuff?

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

i mean that-if she was just hard to walk on a lead(grabbing it, chasing things) that would to me be normal puppyness.

If she were just whining in her crate(not like she is doing now-growling/biting bars/barking, etc at other dogs-not to get out) that would be normal puppyness

if she were just nipping or chewing, hat would be normal puppyness. Not her biting and grinding teeth into my flesh and having to be pryed off.

This sounds familiar...
When you know she is going to come after you and attach to your clothes or what not, you need to be ready for it and hold her out away from you so that she cannot do it. Not hang her or anything, but just a calm hold out to the side or front.
Be ready with a treat and once you release the tension, have her come towards you and treat her for coming towards you in a calm manner.

If she is attached to you already, calmly lift up (on the top of the neck) and forward on her collar until she releases you. Do not talk to her, or be rough about it.

She WILL learn that the behavior does not get what she wants, but something else (insert what you want her to do here) does.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

by that i mean-her behaviors are related(are they?) and so the combo of chasing everything,

You need to keep her attention on you, and if you see something coming that she will likely chase, get her attention before she starts the wrong behavior.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

biting,grabbing my coat and hanging off when we walk,

explained that above

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

attaching the chi/brother spells trouble.

If you know she does this, it is all the more reason to keep them separated.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

so i am curious if i just work on lets say not holding and tugging the leash-she will still latch onto my clothes.
If i ignore her acting out in the crate-she still does it, and gets so worked up that she gets worse outside of the crate.

So i am wondering if i should treat her behavior like it is all related and feeding off the other behaviors-or if they are indeed separate behaviors.

I would say they are separate and you need to tackle one at a time. By this I mean, concentrate on one thing in one or two sessions and then something else in another session. Working on them all at once will just confuse her. How often are you working with her. I work with Ember at all potty breaks plus 3 to four other times a day. Keep them short and lenghten them as her attention span gets longer.
Maybe she could use a little more excercise time as well, like a game of fetch or something.

 Quote: Mallory Kwiatkowski

If i want her to not posture/show off/growl/lung at dogs in the waiting room-do i need to stop her from this other stuff?

Have you tried covering the crate so she cannot see? And when she acts up in the crate, what do you do?

I put a blanket over her crate, but she pulls it through the bars and rips it up.

when ahe is acting up in the crate-i don' do anything. I don't tell her quiet, i dont fuss, i dont even look at her.

When she learns what quiet means-i will tell her quiet when she is in the crate, like i do my others. But right now-she has no clue what quiet is-so i dont say anything.

Have you rewarded her for being quiet in the crate? You can reward and say "good quiet". That is what I do.
Do you give her something to chew on while she is in the crate?

A heavier blanket may work, something she cannot pull through.

I am hoping some more members will chime in here and give some advice.

I am not trying to say to do exactly what I do, just letting you know what works for me and what got better when I changed the way I was doing it.

You could try putting a board on top of her crate that is bigger than the crate itself, then putting a blanket over the board. That way the blanket will be too far away from the bars for her to reach. Someone else on here had that idea and I thought it was a good one!