Leaderboard
Popular Content
Showing content with the highest reputation on 06/13/2020 in all areas
-
Hi CouponQueen1956, It sounds like you sure got a handful! All puppies nip and it's a normal stage of their development, albeit your case sounds to be on the extreme side. Sometimes this happens, especially with working lines of purebred puppies. I hope it's just a matter of rough mouth and that she is not exhibiting any signs of aggression. I suggest to stop smacking the nose and holding the snout or other physical interventions as these can trigger defensive aggression in the long run as the hands are perceived as aversive. It sounds like your puppy is persistent and by biting you when you are standing still she is trying to engage you back into moving. While yelping can be effective with many puppies, it doesn't always work with very determined or "drivey" puppies as the yelping increases their arousal because it makes us humans sound like a hurt animal. If the yelping seems to increase arousal or doesn't seems to work, then it might be time for plan B. The fact that she grabs stronger when you stop interacting with her, may be an extinction burst (see the glossary section for this). Basically, it can be her way of trying to engage with you more. If you freeze and stop interacting and she grabs stronger and that gets you moving (hard to stay still if the bite hurts!), then her stronger bites are being reinforced. "If I bite stronger, my owner finally engages with me, yay!" To prevent this, you would have to persist and be determined to not move at all to prevent her from getting any reward history, but I know this can be a challenge, especially when those sharp teeth hurt! You may be better off therefore giving a shot to redirection at this point, trying your best though to catch her before she has had the opportunity to latch on. Now, you mention that redirection doesn't work: Generally when a puppy doesn't respond to redirection, there are some possibilities: -The puppy is too over threshold -The puppy hasn't been trained an alternate behavior that is fluent enough (this may take some time to train) to replace the problem behavior -The toy offered to redirect is too low value in respect to nipping -Treats offered to redirect are too low value in respect to nipping -Games offered to redirect aren't rewarding enough -The activity the pup is being redirected to is too brief. -There hasn't been much consistency among family members. If the behavior is allowed sometimes yes and sometimes no, it puts it on a variable schedule, which means persistence is being rewarded. -Children are encouraging the nipping by playing with the pup in chasing games/play with hands/moving fast away when puppy grabs pants etc. -The nipping is being rewarded by moving away or providing resistance (which is what encourages dogs to latch on more as we become human tug toys to them) Here are some tips: -Try redirection using high-value toys. Trying to redirect using a regular toy that likely your puppy has always access to can be rather boring compared to your clothes she can play tug with. Instead, try walking in the room when you expect her to come towards you to nip, and as soon as she is close to you, freeze (become motionless) and offer her a stuffed Kong (Kong toy stuffed with smelly goodies like peanut butter mixed with some kibble and dog cookies stacked to make it hard for her to get the kibble out), rather than just a regular toy. This should occupy her for long enough for you to walk away and keep her busy. A Kong Wobbler/ Buster Cube filled with a portion of her daily allowance of kibble can also come handy once she learns how to get the kibble out. - You can also try to engage her with toys that add movement into the game such as a tennis ball tossed in the opposite direction (make it extra fun!) or a flirt pole (stick with a stuffed animal attached one end). The goal is to find a way to make these toys much more interesting, rewarding and fun to interact with than your body. -You can also encourage some fun games that are also rewarding. Here are some fun ones: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/m...ibition-games/ -Training a replacement behavior can also come handy. You can try with Targeting, which is explained in the Brain Games sections of the course. Since she's a young pup, you can teach her to target a target stick or long wooden spoon you can carry when you walk so that you can keep her focus off your body but on the wooden spoon instead. - You can teach her to do some attention heeling inside the home (no leash needed), if she can stay so focused on your clothes, she can eventually be taught to stay focused on your eyes if you make the activity rewarding. Every time she makes eye contact with you, toss a treat across the room so that she gets a workout too. Now, with the short attention span of puppies, don't expect to get long attention, but just a quick glance works for now. After several reps, she should approach you to make eye contact in exchange for a tossed treat, rather than focus on your clothes. -If she loves her kibble and you are training her indoors and have time, starting today, start using her kibble and putting her to work for it. Place her full morning portion in your treat bag and put her to work for every single piece if feasible. Depending on the size of her kibble you may end up with 50 or more opportunities to reinforce desired behaviors. By the time you are done, she should be ready to nap and you should be able to fill up your treat bag with her evening portion for later on. You can use this portion to fill up interactive toys or do more games/training. Now ask her to sit when you see her approaching you and reward by tossing a treat away. Do this as often as needed. You should see an increase in the sitting behavior and a decrease in the nipping behavior overtime as sitting and catching tossed treats are more fun! -Teach that gentleness pays. Place a smelly treat or kibbles in your hand inside your fist. Ask your dog to sit (this helps her to remain calm) then present the closed fist to your dog, keeping it slightly under her chin. If your dog bites your hand, continue keeping the fist closed. Be persistent and patient. Once your dog stops biting and nibbles gently or licks your hand, praise, open the fist and release the treat. If your dog has an alligator mouth, for the sake of safety wear gloves for this exercise until he develops a softer mouth! However, it’s also true that gloves may blur sensation and you may think he’s not biting when he actually is! -Remember that learning (of good and bad behaviors) always takes place in all your interactions with your puppy. You may find it helpful to carry a treat bag filled with some kibble on you at all times so to provide opportunities to make good choices. This for the most part initially until you puppy learns to seek alternate forms of entertainment. -Make sure you provide outlets for pent-up energy. Games, training, exercise and opportunities for socialization should wear her out and provide outlets for her basic needs. With brain games that allow her to chase things and get rewards out of them (like kibble out of a bottle or a Kong Wobbler) she should seek them more and more which can turn your clothes pretty boring after a while because she gets more out of these activities when he's bored. -Also remember that puppies need to sleep too. Sometimes, when they are super nippy, they just may be cranky and in need of a nap. Give a pleasant time-out in a crate with chew toy. Chewing should relax her and make her likely to sleep. -To tackle the biting when you go grab the leash, practice some fun leash grabs. Do several in a row. Everytime you go to reach the leash, (use gloves if needed) use your other hand to hand feed her several kibbles in a row. Feed her some as you are walking her as well after the leash grab, preferably doing some steps of attention heeling. This should redirect her for some time if she is trying to nip for play, but can also help cancel out the negative connotations the act of grabbing the leash may have assumed in case you have used the leash to correct her. Now, I must be honest here in saying that 3 days or more is not enough to start seeing a significant reduction in nipping. It generally takes several weeks or even months and the reduction in nipping to a certain extent is part of of the pup maturing and understanding that we are not playmates to play with using their mouths in a rough manner, but that we are a different species with thin skin and that we play and interact with them in different ways. You may have to try several of the above options and see what works best. Redirection to a rewarding treat-dispensing toy or game that uses treats should be quite easy at this age if these activities are made rewarding. Teaching an alternate behavior is also important because dogs cannot misbehave if they are busy making eye contact or sitting! It may take a bit of time though to teach these alternate behaviors fluently but it is sure worth the time and effort. By providing outlets for her energy and needs for mental stimulation and reinforcing appropriate behaviors, you should eventually start seeing a decrease in the nipping behavior. Keep track of it so to measure whether things are getting better with time. I hope this helps, Good luck! Adrienne1 point