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Discussion Starter · #1 · (Edited)
Hi everyone, I'm wondering what I can do about my 6month female and her chasing and biting, mainly in the house Ruby likes to jump up excitedly, I try to ignore her, turn away but she keeps jumping and biting at my back or bottom or wherever else and it is sore, Iv tried making hurt noises and ignoring her but she carries on

What to do?
 

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When you make hurt noices you are telling the dog you are weak and she is boss. When you turn your back you are telling her again you are weak and she is boss.

Put her on leash and when she comes in to chase and bite stop her Turninto her and back her off as you take hold of the leash and make her sit then reward her. It will only escalate and get worse as she gets bigger. I hope you don't have children at home for her to bite. She should have been corrected when she was little before it got this far.

Is she in oebedience classes???? If not you both need to go to class to learn how to handle her.
 

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Well not all dog trainers are experienced in working with a dominant breed puppy. But do stop it now. If you have been to obedience classes you will most likely find out she picks it up quicker.

There is a saying - if what you are doing isn't working then you need to change it. It is hard not to laugh as I can just see the little stink exerting her brattiness!!!! Give her a hug and then get busy changing this bad habit while you still have a behind.
 

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When you make hurt noices you are telling the dog you are weak and she is boss. When you turn your back you are telling her again you are weak and she is boss.

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This actually works quite well for me. It says "I refuse to pay attention to you if you are jumping on me." In my house, it doesn't say the dog is the boss. I control when and if I give attention.

Now if my dog still jumped at me when I turned around, I'd make it difficult for them. I might kick my leg backwards without kicking the dog. Make it uncomfortable for her to jump on you. The second she stops jumping, REWARD the appropriate behavior.
 

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Without seeing it, I'm willing to bet she's trying to bait you into playing. If that is the case, redirect, redirect, redirect. I too have used the turning back, or simply leave the room for the time being without even acknowledging her inappropriate behavior. Often I would offer her a toy or toss a ball and tell her "get your toy", or whatever. Eventually when you see her starting to get into one of those moods, give the old "get your toy", and reward her with some attention when she does. The idea is that she will eventually approach you with the toy, appropriately seeking your attention for playtime. Good luck, stay consistent, how hard can it be?:goodluck: ... please note sarcasm!
 

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Discussion Starter · #8 ·
Besides OB classes, how much daily exercise does she get? Does she get any off lead (or long lead) run time in an open field to let some energy out?

Walks never did it for Sam. He needed a good romp to release his energy. :)
She gets at least three miles off the lead everyday and sometimes an extra walk later on, this does tire her out but she is full of beans as soon as she steps back in the house lol
 

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She gets at least three miles off the lead everyday and sometimes an extra walk later on, this does tire her out but she is full of beans as soon as she steps back in the house lol
Can you put her in her crate for some "settle down" time after a good run. She needs to be told to calm down and given appropriate space to do so. When coming in from a run she is still excited and hyped up, let her know it's not okay to act like that in the house. Although she gets walks, how much mental stimulation does she also get, like training, fetch games with you, etc? She could just be wanting your attention.
 

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This is definitely not a dominance issue. A breed cannot possibly be labelled as "dominant". This is generalization, as well as miseducation. Dominance is not a personality trait, and is entirely situational with many varying factors involved.
Please have a read here:
The Dominance Controversy | Philosophy | Dr. Sophia Yin, DVM, MS

I agree with the comments on mental stimulation. She has poor impulse control, and feels that her excitability (seen by humans as misbehaviour) is perfectly appropriate in order to get your attention. What she needs to learn is an appropriate alternative to request play, as well as the simple fact that she can't get what she wants whenever she wants it.
This is best done without harshness, aggression, or dominance.
I would start with some "It's yer choice" games, which basically involves you sitting on the floor (or on a chair if your dog is too excitable at this time), and simply holding a treat in your fist. As your dog attempts to retrieve the treat (often licking, gwaning, pawing), sit there and wait - say nothing, do nothing. As soon as the dog backs up (even if it is the split second before she barks), quickly give verbal praise and open your hand to shove the treat directly in her face to reward. Repeat.
The goal is to have the dog understand the concept that what you hold is your's, and she can have it only when she responds appropriately, WITHOUT the use of correction. But your timing needs to be super fast, and the treat needs to get into her face immediately (before she attempts to reach forward herself).
When you have consistent backing, bump it up to a couple seconds away from your hand, remaining backed up with your hand open, eye contact, more distance, longer duration, etc.
When you get to the part where you open your hand, when she reaches forward (because it will happen at first), simply close your fist. Do not correct, do not move away - just close and wait as before.
The dog is essentially teaching itself by performing a behaviour that is rewarding to it. A learned behaviour from positive reinforcement is stronger than one learned through the use of aversives. This type of training is also considered "shaping".

You can use this type of training to help your dog learn impulse control. First with food (assuming your dog enjoys her food), then with toys, and even with yourself.
Wait for an appropriate behaviour, reward verbally (some dogs get too excited by this alone), if she gets too excited and bounces around, wait for her to offer the appropriate alternative again. When she can remain seated with verbal praise, calmly reach to pet or offer a food reward (always keep your food hidden so as not to accidentally lure your dog). If she gets up before you reach her (even if you were really fast, some dogs are just faster), revert back to your silent standing or sitting position and wait. If she breaks, she doesn't get the reward, but she shouldn't be penalized either.
If you penalize her for greeting you excitedly, you run the risk of negatively impacting the whole idea of greeting you, rather than just the type of greeting, which I'm sure you don't want to do.

I would recommend taking a look through some of Susan Garrett's resources. She has on old blog, a new blog, a puppy peaks online program, and a couple books.
Old blog:
Susan Garrett’s Dog Training Blog

New Blog (Puppy peaks is accessible on the right side of the page):
Susan Garrett Agility Training

Books:
Ruff Love
Shaping Success
 

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In my opinion it is okay to teach a puppy OFF. I am not in the ignoring behavior camp when the behavior is hurtful to the human or dangerous. I personally believe it is okay to stop whatever the dog is doing that is hurting you or is dangerous by 6 months of age. At six months I would be correcting for this behavior but first I would have taught the "off" and "sit" command. You cannot correct what you haven't taught and you may not have to correct at all if you taught the pup appropriate greeting behavior. Eli jumped on visitors when he was young and I kept him on a line in the house so I could grab it when necessary, or hold it and walk to the door, tell him sit and guide him or later correct him if he jumped on my friends. He learned to sit and be petted when people came over by 5 months. I also had treats available by the door that I gave my friends. I carried treats in my pockets for almost 2 years to reward him when he did what I asked. None of my puppies jumped after a certain age and I have never turned my back on one, instead I teach them sit, wait, stay, off, down and if they come flying at me jumping they learn to do something else instead. Dobermans are a powerful breed, my particular doberman is not a biddable guy and consistant using of commands that he understood was the way to "teach" him what was acceptable and what was not. Biting my butt when the pup is 6 months is something I would stop immediately I would forge into it and then position her to a sit, while saying sit. In your class does she know sit? If she knows it when you come back from your walk keep the leash on her so when she starts this business you can tell her what you would like and correct her if she doesn't do it. Eli wore a line in the house until he was about 14 months. He would hammer my older dog and didn't care if she yelped, I have never bought the yelping theory myself. I had to teach him how to be with her. I would not allow biting at my butt period. My doberman is a very persistant guy and I can't imagine how long it would take him to learn not to do something if I ignored it. Some dogs may even get used to the "squealing you hurt me sound" as it is a response. Just my opinion. I have raised many puppies over the years, titled several and am continually learning as we all are. Training is an art I have decided but everyone can teach their puppy the basics.
 

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my trainer suggested that the yelping noise could actually start sounding like squeaky toys and her favourite wubba ;). It got her more excited when I would yelp than actually deterring her from nipping or jumping. I still have a jumping puppy, I turn my back to her for a minute, ignore it, turn back around and tell her to go sit/down. She is very good at doing it after the first command now, and is starting to realize that's what is going on before you get greeted or pet from anyone.

I love the it's your choice games, look them up on youtube there are tons of videos on how to do it. It really teaches great control.

Dogs are great at learning behaviours, if they are not taught off, sit, wait, etc they don't know they are not doing something right!
 

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Holly we also had the exact same problem, and we tried lots of different methods to stop our puppy biting. Unfortunately no matter what we did, we didn't seem to be able to stop it. We ended up finding a method that worked to completely stop biting/mouthing and not many people try it as it is more of a last resort and quite disgusting. Everytime she bites/mouths our hands we put our entire hand into her mouth with our index and middle finger slightly down her throat. She realised that she didn't want our hand in her mouth anymore and tried to get it out. After a few days of doing this she realised that biting/mouthing us just wasn't a good idea.

As regards jumping... We also had major problems with this. We mainly redirected behaviour by making her sit and then we rewarded her with a treat. Or if she jumped to get our attention we would not look at her but say 'sit' and use the hand signal. Once sitting, then we would bend down to pat and praise. The second she stood up, we ignored her again. We never turned our backs.

Remember every dog is different you just need to find which method works for you and your pup.


However, all dogs are very likely to repeat behaviour which results positively, and less likely to repeat actions which have negative consequences.

Good luck it might take a while but stick to it :)

Remember that these are vital puppy stages and they do it to learn their place in the pack.
 

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Discussion Starter · #15 ·
Holly we also had the exact same problem, and we tried lots of different methods to stop our puppy biting. Unfortunately no matter what we did, we didn't seem to be able to stop it. We ended up finding a method that worked to completely stop biting/mouthing and not many people try it as it is more of a last resort and quite disgusting. Everytime she bites/mouths our hands we put our entire hand into her mouth with our index and middle finger slightly down her throat. She realised that she didn't want our hand in her mouth anymore and tried to get it out. After a few days of doing this she realised that biting/mouthing us just wasn't a good idea.

As regards jumping... We also had major problems with this. We mainly redirected behaviour by making her sit and then we rewarded her with a treat. Or if she jumped to get our attention we would not look at her but say 'sit' and use the hand signal. Once sitting, then we would bend down to pat and praise. The second she stood up, we ignored her again. We never turned our backs.

Remember every dog is different you just need to find which method works for you and your pup.


However, all dogs are very likely to repeat behaviour which results positively, and less likely to repeat actions which have negative consequences.

Good luck it might take a while but stick to it :)

Remember that these are vital puppy stages and they do it to learn their place in the pack.
I have to say thank you for the piece of advice about putting your hand in the mouth and fingers slightly down the throat, as soon as I tried it, it was amazing the difference she seemed to learn quickly not to do it :) sometimes the last resort seems to be necessary
 
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