not sure if this is common...

[LILYLARUE]

Glad I found this string, cause I have a very similar problem with our 9 week old pup. A trainer at PETCO mentioned that if you hold them down by their collar on their back they will fight for a bit and then reach the "calm and submissive state." Now I don't personally agree with this technique, but has anyone heard of this style? Is it good, it doesn't sound good at all.

Thoughts?

Thanks,

Robert

NEVER, EVER USE THIS METHOD!!! I NEVER have to lay my hands on my dog to train them......and it works for all my dogs, even the pitties!

Find another trainer! This trainer is old school and shouldn't be training at all! There are much better and proven positive methods of training that won't harm your dog, instill fear, teach them to distrust you, and may potentially cause them to lash back!

They won't reach that "Calm submissive state" as they call it, they reach the "give-up and shut-down state" and learn that you are to be feared, not obeyed.

 

[harrisor]

What other methods could your recommend? I guess I will try a coffee can with pennies to distract for the mean time. The yelp and ignore don't work, unless I am doing it wrong. We tried the switch the bite from hand to toy method but that only helps a bit, and still tries to go for hands and such.

 

[johann]

What other methods could your recommend? I guess I will try a coffee can with pennies to distract for the mean time. The yelp and ignore don't work, unless I am doing it wrong. We tried the switch the bite from hand to toy method but that only helps a bit, and still tries to go for hands and such.

Say no! (or yelp), get up quickly, and leave the room. No physical correction, nothing...just walk out and leave puppy alone (baby gates will make this much easier). Leave the puppy alone (not for long! just a minute or two) every time they bite at you, even during play. Eventually puppy will learn that biting = game over, no fun, mom/dad leave me all alone.

If you do a search on here, there are great posts and threads about how to teach bite inhibition to your puppy. It is a very valuable and necessary thing that your puppy needs to learn.

 

[the OG]

Say no! (or yelp), get up quickly, and leave the room. No physical correction, nothing...just walk out and leave puppy alone (baby gates will make this much easier). Leave the puppy alone (not for long! just a minute or two) every time they bite at you, even during play. Eventually puppy will learn that biting = game over, no fun, mom/dad leave me all alone.

I tried the leave the room technique and have not been having any success with it. My Harley Wants to be able to be on our couches sooooo bad but I'm currently training her to
Stay down. As soon as she gets rough with the nipping and I go to leave the room she gets even more excited and thinks its open season to jump all over the couches.

And when I say she gets excited about nipping I mean she's growling barking jumping all over chasing me and just about anything else puppies love to do when they have to much energy.

I filled an old soda can with pennies and shook it at her when she started to mouth me or my clothes and at first it worked great. After about 2 weeks though, bless my Harley's little soul, she is starting to act tough and try to attack the can (in a playful manner). The can also gets her so riled up she goes BALLISTIC! She runs around so fast and so erratic she knocks stuff over and I'm afraid she might hurt herself. Not for nothing but it is absolutely hilarious haha but this is the exact opposite reaction I'm looking for. Needless to say in my experience the can technique doesn't always work. And yes i always coupled a can shake with a firm "no BITE."

The latest technique I'm trying has been working for a few days now. It has yet to stop the biting completely but it slows her down and keeps her from getting more excited from the nipping/mouthing. What I do is grab her and hold her in a firm but gentle bear hug and pet her and say alot of 'shhh's and lots of 'easy's. After about 20 seconds of this she'll start to realllllllllly fidget and try to squirm away from me presumably because she wants to be independent and not be coddled. Every time I do this, after I let her go she'll either grab a chew toy or go and flop down in a corner with the "why you gotta ruin the fun???" face.

Im certainly no dog expert and have no idea whether this is a good technique or not but it seems to be working so far. I know there are a ton of experts out there so I ask you to please chime in and let me know if he is a good technique and if some of the other members that are having similar issues that I am, should try it.

 

[elgerdes]

Thanks for the suggestions. Will continue I guess.

At this point, sometimes walking away doesn't work. If we are outside, I pull he off me (she usually has a firm mouthful of my forearm), set her down, get up and attempt to walk or turn away. But she just follows, so no luck really. If I continue to ignore, she pulls my pant legs or bites at my feet.

Inside, I pull her off of me and move away. Even if I walk away she tries to follow me. I'm worried when I put her in a time-out for a minute or two, she will either destroy the room (cords, which she won't touch when I'm there, but who knows when I'm gone!) or go potty.
Should I just get over that? I don't know.

I'm really lost as what to do. I have NEVER had a puppy bite this much. She attacks everything within mouths range and grabs hard. It's a normal occurrence to have her break skin.

Yelping, saying "no" firmly or "ahh" don't work with this dog! She is such a little $h1t.

Does the pennies in the can really work? I can try it but as the previous poster said I'm guessing she will just get all riled up.

 

[SnowDove]

Yelping, saying "no" firmly or "ahh" don't work with this dog! She is such a little $h1t.

I would like to second that sentiment, on Daisy's behalf. Arghhhhh

On TOP of the psychotic nipping/biting, we have now entirely regressed in our potty training... Daisy spent the entire weekend accident-free, going to the back door and asking to go out EVERY TIME she needed to pee or poop. Now, starting a new week, she peed in the house twice yesterday and pooped once. This morning she pooped again in the hallway. I don't leave her alone for long without watching her; she's actually waiting until I am momentarily distracted and then sneaking off to do these things! What the heck?!?! I'm guessing she's just testing her boundaries, but SERIOUSLY!

She is truly lucky that I find her face so dang cute. Grrrrrrrr

Going outside now to try and work on bite inhibition - will post if anything seems to have any affect!

 

[SnowDove]

Okay - so Daisy, Cole, and I just had quite a lovely play session on the back porch! I figured that might be a good way to start, as Daisy never nips Cole with significant pressure. (Cole has fantastic bite inhibition, which I'm guessing he learned from his rottweiler "Mom".)

Anyway, we were all playing/roughhousing together, and I told Daisy "Good!" every time she put her mouth on my hand with no pressure. As we were playing, evidently Cole nipped her a bit too hard for her liking, and she let out this super high-pitched sound - Cole immediately backed off. It was nothing at all like a "yelp" - just a fairly quick high-pitched squeak. Well, I decided to give it a go, so the next time she had her teeth on me with a little pressure, I tried my best to mimick it... and Both dogs immediately froze! hahaha I tried it three more times and it seemed to work pretty well. Two of those times, Daisy stood on her hind legs and got up in my face, checking on me.

I'm guessing that (as with other things I've tried) it will lose its efficacy over time... but I'm hopeful that she might understand it better, since it was the signal that she gave Cole for being too rough.

Fingers crossed for progress - hahaha

On a side note, I just went around the yard picking up old poops while Daisy followed. Every time I found one, I enthusiastically yelled out, "Good POOP!" - I'm willing to bet my neighbors think I need to be committed to a psychiatric ward. (On the bright side, she seemed excited by MY excitement, and after a few she squatted down and gave me another "Good Poop!" to be happy about!)

 

[harrisor]

I may try the higher pitch yelp today, I am almost excited to try, . Thanks for the tip/hint/progress.

 

[elgerdes]

Well, right now I am currently listening to Macy and Zoe wrestle under my bed (it is super high, about a foot. Still a low clearance though). Tried getting them out, not worth it.

They are being a bit rough, but a couple of times Macy has FINALLY mouthed Zoe back! Zoe will "squeal" when Macy holds on too rough. I will also try and mimic this noise. Oh joy...neighbors will love this! And two of my neighbors have daycares, haha! I'm hoping Macy will finally stand up against those puppy teeth!

Now Zoe just took TEARING off down the hall and down the stairs. Pretty sure she didn't hit the last few because when I checked she was sliding across the kitchen floor

Thank god my brother was there to let her out because she was racing thru the house and out onto the deck. I don't think it was for potty, I think she's liking those boxer burns!!!!

If I come up with any fantastic ideas I will let you know. For now, I will have to deal with puncture marks and hoping for the light at the end of the tunnel.

Emily, and Zoe Monster

 

[LILYLARUE]

I would suggest getting a few books by Ian Dunbar....he was the originator of the positive methods. He is amazing! I went to a few seminars by him and was worth every second. His methodology is not trying to stop unwanted behaviors but replace them with another acceptable behavior. He never yells, touches or yanks on the dog. And he gets a dog to behave just with his voice and commands. Pretty impressive!

Another great author is Patricia McConnell....again another top trainer and behaviorist. She does a lot of analytical type training - meaning getting into the head of the dog, understanding things from their perspective and then training based on the dogs abilities.

I would also check into clicker training.

The whole concept of positive method training is giving the dog opportunities to succeed, build trust and THEN the dog will do whatever to please you. Trust me, this concept works!!

The best thing to do, is work with one behavior at a time. Start with the most offensive. Once you have that behavior nixed, then move on to the next. The time you put in now will save you years of frustration and a unhappy dog.

Raising puppies to be well behaved adults takes tons of time and work. So, start researching, reading and using positive methods. Cans with pennies is not a positive method.....and as you witnessed was only a bandaid in the problem solving, not a longterm behavior change.