Marble Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 i have a question for you all, as usual :) dresden is, for those of you who don't know, an australian cattle dog/doberman mix. i have had her for eleven months, close to twelve (and we've both survived amazingly enough). when i first adopted her she was terrible about biting, and it was not little puppy bites it was like grab and bite as hard as she could.........well she's been improving and everything but she still trys to mouth/bite me when she gets excited, not really hard but it's still kind of annoying, sometimes it is kind of hard......a lot of times she'll come up to me and rest her chin on my leg and act all sweet but when i go to pet her she'll mouth my hand....i've tried everything, but i keep wondering if it's because of her breed combination or if it's because she may have been on her own for most of her first four months???? what do you all think? she's now almost 16 months now..........THANK YOU!!! Quote
imported_Debbie Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 :o I've got a Lab/Rott that does this too !! I've just kind of thought it was her breed mix, having the Lab in her and all...... I still say "NO BITE" when she does it, she doesn't do it to hurt me, I think it's out of excitement. :-? I'm willing to hear any kind of advice on this. :wink: Quote
bk_blue Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 bk does the same thing when he is hyper... when he was younger he'd try to get you to play or follow him by grabbing your hand with his mouth and dragging you to where he wanted to you be. :roll: We all say "NO BITING" very firmly and he stops. but you know how he is. he just likes to push and push those boundaries. :lol: I suppose for Dresden it could be a combination of both her breed (ACDS like to mouth things and people and for some it's a way for them to show affection towards you), and her situation prior to being adopted by you. Just be firm and consistent with your command and try not to lose your patience (hard, i know!)... that's all the advice I can think of... :) Quote
imported_Cassie Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 Here are some methods you can try although dresden is no longer a pup these methods still may work...some times a dog just hasnt learned proper manners....as you stated she was on her own for the first 4 months and probably did not have a chance to learn bite inhibation from other litter mates. Startle response and redirection Patricia McConnell, Ph.D., an animal behaviorist and adjunct professor at the University of Wisconsin, suggests a method which startles the biting puppy. Just as the puppy bites down, make a sudden, abrupt, high-pitched and loud 'AWRP' sound. This would be the same sound that a littermate would make if bitten by the puppy. The sound should be so sudden and sharp that the puppy is immediately startled and stops the behavior. If done correctly, you will be surprised at how instantly the pup removes his mouth and looks bewildered. At that point, quickly substitute a toy, such as a ball, the puppy can chew on. This redirects the puppy's biting behavior to the ball. This way the puppy learns it is no fun at all biting you, but chewing on the toy is. You may need to do this multiple times if the puppy gets excited in play. If the 'AWRPs' make the puppy more excited, try another approach. Stop the action Dr. McConnell also suggests that, in some cases, just immediately (and dramatically) leave the room when the puppy bites. This is certainly a method children can use. After multiple times, the puppy will learn that every time she bites she loses her playmate, and that is no fun at all. Important prevention measures! No matter what method you use, do not entice the puppy to bite you. Games like tug-of-war and waving your hands in front of the puppy instead of using toys may encourage the puppy to bite. Quote
slim86 Posted July 23, 2003 Posted July 23, 2003 I had a Australian Shepherd who would do that. He did stop at about 18 months, though. Hopefully your dog will grow out of it too. Some people have told me that you can grab their nose and holt it closed and tell the no. Some people told that you can use a squirt bottle. None of these have worked on my GSD but I guess you could try them. Good luck, Slim Quote
Marble Posted July 23, 2003 Author Posted July 23, 2003 thanks for all the advice, you all are awesome! :) people here are so helpful. i have tried a bunch of things, but right now i'm working on "gentle'' with her, as she is not very senstive.......if she mouths me i hold her muzzle gently and tell her gentle, if she doesn't listen i just ignore her. it's nice to know some of your dogs do it too, makes me feel less like a bad trainer :), especially older dogs like blitz. also helps to know there is a chance she will grow out of it......... it's also funny to think of it as a sign of affection, that had never occurred to me! makes sense though. anyway, i really appreciate all of your help, the monster is growing up, i just want to train her out of as many bad habits as possible.........:) it's always worth a try...... Quote
courtnek Posted July 24, 2003 Posted July 24, 2003 Freebee had a bad nipping problem as a puppy - she would grab your hand and nip down with those razor sharp puppy teeth..she wasnt being nasty, she was just excited....If you pull your hand away, TURN YOUR HEAD so you're not looking at the dog, and make the AWWRRR noise, (like an injured puppy would make) MOST dogs will stop...Freebee didnt. Her solution was to take her ear in my hand, and "nip" down on it with forefinger and thumb... NOT HARD...just enough to make her realize that her behavior was unacceptable (the mom wolf would do this gently with her teeth, it's a warning) dont pull away from nipping her ear until she has that "chastised" look on her face...realized she was wrong and accepts the correction. This brought Freebee into line in three days...she has never nipped since, but I am a STRONG believer in the notion that a dogs teeth should NEVER touch your flesh...for ANY reason...... The lower ranking dogs in a pack will NEVER set their teeth to the Alpha, so it's good for training as well. Quote
courtnek Posted July 24, 2003 Posted July 24, 2003 I need to go to bed, I forgot the second half of the correction.... After you have pinched her ear, yell NO BITE loudly, I mean YELL... when she lets go of your hand, tell her to SIT ( a command I hope she already knows) and then praise her lavishly for obeying... she will see the negative side of nipping you (the ear pinch) and the positive side of obeying a command (the SIT) and in time will realize that biting gets her nothing but trouble, but sitting on command is a GOOD THING.... :D Quote
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