biting feet and ankles

[MAGGIER]

Hi
My molly will be 2 in August and she has started a habit of nipping at our feet and ankles if we get up and walk across the room. Also she barks if we tell her a firm NO ! the more we tell her NO the more she barks, and it is almost like an argument until we give her a time out in the kitchen.
I would like her to just do as she is told.
Also we just cannot leave her out if we have visitors, she drives them mad jum,ping all the time at them and pestering. We have tried to put her on her leash when people come over but she just rolls on her back and paws us until we are almost wrestling with her until we just put her in the kitchen away. She will sit there and just BARK BARK BARK almost persistently, as if she has a divine right to be in our company when people come over as if she is saying "how dare you put me in the kitchen when people have come to see me!
It is driving us all mad
Any help would be gratefully accepted
Maggy

 

[lucasmum]

Hi, I would carry on doing what you're doing with the time outs. Tell her "no", if she continues, put her in the kitchen. If she barks, wait for a break , then bring her back in the room, if she misbehaves again, do it all over again until she learns that when she's quiet, she gets to be back in the room with you. On no account release her while she's barking. This way, she'll learn that she gets no reward from the barking. We had the same thing with attention barking. You have to be consistent, it may take time but she'll get it eventually. Same thing with visitors, keep her on the lead, when she jumps on people, tell her to "leave" or whatever command you use, if she doesn't, give her a time out and start all over again. I had the same problem with Luca, jumping up, in and out of the house, so I got some training discs and that worked really well for me, and the improvement was almost immediate. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[MAGGIER]

thanks for your reply , I will persevere with what I am doing I just needed reassurance that I was doing the right thing. Could you please advise me how training discs work, I have never come across these.
Many thanks
Maggy

 

[JulieJay]

PHEW.. sorry so long

I know a trick that we used in class for jumping you could try that as dogs are never to old to learn something new.

what you do is:
Tie the dogs leash to something that can't move.. chair, door etc....
let the dog go as far out on his leash as he can before it get tight. Stand two feet in front of them and wait. When he sits down walk over to him and be the most exicted person you can be ( like u have never seen a dog before or what most guests do when they come in) If they get up turn away and walk back to your spot and wait for him to sit again when they do go back and get really excited, toch head, hi pitch voice, slap the legs.. if they stay seated they get a treat. once you have mastered that area, move to another one and then move up tothe main door and have another perons be the "rock" and come in and out of the door while doing all the previous steps.

I hope that helps... PHEW!!

Also keep them on leash when ppl come over and if they start to jump, youcan put your foot on the leash to make it short so they can't jump and when they sit and relax praise them for that.

I also don't let ppl talk or touch Caine when they come in. I tell them to wait as they are here to see us and not all about him. once he is calm he is allowed to go over and this seems to be helping as well

 

[lucasmum]

training discs are about 4 or 5 metal discs in a piece of ribbon that make a noise when you jangle them, a bit like a bunch of keys. You start off by trying them out with food. You put apiece of food on the floor, near enough to you so that you can grab it. As sson as the dog goes to get it, you say "leave" and throw the discs on the floor, this startles him, you pick up the food and reward him. Eventually you get to the point where the dog won't attempt to touch the food. ( you get instructions with the discs) Once you get to that point, you then move on to the jumping issue, The first time I did it, my son was visiting and as soon as Luca went to jump, I said "no jumping" and threw the discs down. After that, I only had to rattle the discs in my hand and he would stop, so it worked really quickly for me. It works on the same principle as a rattle bottle, you know, just a plastic bottle filled with stones or coins, but Luca is a little jumpy at times so \i didn't want to use anything too loud, also the discs fit in your pocket, and my biggest problem was him jumping at people while we were out. The ones I got are made by MIKKI, and I got them on the internet, I can't remember where but try googling it. I hope this helps, keep us updated.

 

[DukeWood]

I am having the hardest problem finding these in the US. I basically can't !

training discs are about 4 or 5 metal discs in a piece of ribbon that make a noise when you jangle them, a bit like a bunch of keys. You start off by trying them out with food. You put apiece of food on the floor, near enough to you so that you can grab it. As sson as the dog goes to get it, you say "leave" and throw the discs on the floor, this startles him, you pick up the food and reward him. Eventually you get to the point where the dog won't attempt to touch the food. ( you get instructions with the discs) Once you get to that point, you then move on to the jumping issue, The first time I did it, my son was visiting and as soon as Luca went to jump, I said "no jumping" and threw the discs down. After that, I only had to rattle the discs in my hand and he would stop, so it worked really quickly for me. It works on the same principle as a rattle bottle, you know, just a plastic bottle filled with stones or coins, but Luca is a little jumpy at times so \i didn't want to use anything too loud, also the discs fit in your pocket, and my biggest problem was him jumping at people while we were out. The ones I got are made by MIKKI, and I got them on the internet, I can't remember where but try googling it. I hope this helps, keep us updated.

 

[Lives4Fuego]

We learned in our obedience classes that ignoring bad behavior is best. If the dog jumps on you, turn your back. If they continue to jump or run around to the front of you, put them in the kitchen as you have been doing. Sometimes yelling 'no' at a dog isn't effective because what they want is your attention. Dogs can be like teenagers () where if they want your attention they will take any attention you give, even if it is negative. Our trainer said to leave the dog for about 30 seconds and then bring them back out again. You could try the same thing when visitors come. Tell your visitors to ignore the dog if she jumps on them. As soon as she has all four feet on the ground tell them they can greet her. She will learn that jumping doesn't get her the attention she craves.