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Hi I've been there not long ago If I had to re do it, my first concern would be impulse control, as it's a matter of security - fluent response to his name - response to smacking sound and look at me - drop it - leave it - sit - stay - come when called This seems to be very basic, but what you have the impression that going well at home will find a deaf ear when outside, or playing, or following critters... The other thing would be "life training" - crate and pen if you have - car !! This one should not be underestimated - handling and manipulation : touching collar, paws, putting harness and leash Because you just don't want every day basic doing becoming a fight every time Life saving tips : - forcing naps is life saving and life changing, as a cranky, bitey, not wanted to do anything puppy is likely tired but don't want to miss out - do not be greedy and cheap on the chews : chews are mental stimulation, and also calming. The right chew at the right time on a devil possessed puppy may transform him into an angel it seems a lot for just a start, but hope it'll help please post in the picture post when you have him 😉

Hi Robert, Welcome to the forums! You have received excellent tips above. For ease of navigation, I will provide some of the links where you can find all the guides. The first days, it's mostly about getting the pup used to his new place and the crate and starting potty training. Puppy may whine at night so keeping him in the bedroom with the crate nearby can help him habituate and can help determine when and how often to be taken out (2-3 trips at night/early morning are not unusual initially.) Love the crate exercises: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/video-archive/love-the-crate/ Main article on potty training: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/7-secret-potty-training-strategies/ Advanced potty training program: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/advanced-potty-training/ Obedience guides are found in the link below. Since your dog is likely a young puppy you will need to factor in short attention spans, so make those training sessions brief and fun (you can start with just 2-3 minute sessions spread in 4-5 sessions throughout the day and see how it goes.) You want to end the sessions with your puppy still having fun so to inculcate eagerness to being trained. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/ Importance of socialization: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/socializing-your-puppy/ Smacking sound: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/the-smacking-sound/ Handling exercises: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-teach-puppies-to-tolerate-touch/ Bite inhibition and bite inhibition games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/biting-mouthing-nipping/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/ Prevention of resource guarding: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/the-importance-of-preventing-resource-guarding-in-puppies/ Brain games are great to keep your pup busy and mentally stimulated: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/ As your puppy develops, exercises to prevent separation anxiety: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/exercises-to-prevent-separation-anxiety-in-puppies/ With a large breed dog as a mastiff, tackling jumping early is important: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/jumping/ If you search the forums you will also find loads of extra tips for puppy nipping and lots of other puppy related info. Keep us posted when you get your pup! Happy training! Best, Adrienne

Amazon has some relatively economically priced beginner sets. Without knowing the age of your GSD, though, I'll throw this caution out there: until 18 months their growth plates aren't fully able to handle the load and if they land wrong the soft tissue can get damaged. For smaller dogs it might be more like 12 months, but our bigger dogs are late bloomers. 🙂 The tunnels and weaving poles are still a-okay to use, I'd just avoid any jumping exercises until mature. There was a gal at the dog park once who had two GSDs and she would put them in a sit stay while she walked off into the wooded section (this dog park was Awesome). She'd hide two balls, one for each dog. Then she'd walk back and release them to find. It was fun to watch them proudly bounding back to her with their prizes. Meanwhile, there was my dog, head under water, fishing out rocks . . . lol. When he was a puppy I had a plastic pool for him and I'd put sinkable toys in there for him to pull out. I never did find a good use for his skill (I didn't know Adrienne, yet!), but he sure enjoyed it. This is the course I bought: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017TBQ4Z2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Most of them are around $60 for the poles, ring, and tunnel. If you have anyone crafty you could get them to build a ramp (I don't know what type of space you have available). In fact . . . I think I need my husband to do that with our spare lumber - glad you asked this question! 😆

Dear members, We are pleased to announce our new potty training guide! Below is the link to enter Potty Training Supercharged https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/advanced-potty-training/

Hi there, Welcome to the forums! I am not too much a fan of numbering sessions when it comes to length, frequency and number of reps because of so many factors (age, breed, history of training, health etc). When I worked for a big box store, we had modules that used a cookie-cutter approach to train dogs and the head trainer was very adamant in having the dogs do 10 sits in a row, 10 downs in a row etc. Were the dogs learning this way? Yes, their sits were getting quite mechanical as muscle memory sunk in. Did they look interested? Towards the end of the 10 reps I was seeing signs of tiring in some dogs. It didn't help that we had dogs of different ages and breeds all clumped together doing these exercises. So I would suggest putting more emphasis on whether the dog seems to be enjoying the interaction and not getting bored or frustrated. You can certainly try to do some reps as a trial and see how it goes. See what your dog thinks about it. Your dog may like to do some mix and matching of cues to stay interested and this can also help him/her discriminate between those cues. Always aim to end up the sessions on a positive note, before boredom or frustration sets in. Remember as well to add variety and distance, duration and distractions. All these cues once fluent at home, need to be taught as well in the yard, on walks, at the park and at pet stores. You can also integrate them into several impulse control exercises https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/10-impulse-control-games-for-dogs/ Happy training!

Try saving the article as a PDF. That seems to be working for me.

Thank you! I really thought she’d throw a fit without her usual walk but we did training games outside for about 20 minutes then took a 5-10 minute walk to get her to poop and omg maybe it’s a coincidence but she was able to see a big dog from our steps and not completely freak!! She didn’t even bark she just stopped and stared which is huge! She did small barks at some passerby where our “backyard” is (I live in an apartment it’s basically grass and a bench with a fence to the street) but that’s the least foot traffic of all the areas near me. Then we’re playing some indoor fetch and tug (shes not ready to play outside yet, just doesn’t want to) to get out any extra energy. We’re going to try this routine for a few days while we work on the behavior modification towards sounds. 🙂

I'm going to add, always praise him for coming. Even if it took 10 minutes, refrain from negativity. Say you're late to a friend's house and they greet you enthusiastically and was happy to see you vs arriving at a friend's house and they yell and gripe at you for being late. Which friend are you going to want to visit again? Cannot agree more on this one, even if it's difficult, and specially for us during the teenage phase : last experience : we were walking, and he was with a doggie friend, we let them loose to play fully in a field, which is next to the forest... the 2 rascals started to play next to us normally and at some point, they decided having an adventure in the forest was much more fun... they fled like bullets deep in the forest... and took almost half an hour to come back... Emotional roller coaster. Just pissed at first, then annoyed, then angry, then afraid something happened, then sad because we thought of the end... And then they came back to us, just happy... I would have killed him on the spot for the emotional ride, and the total absence of obedience... but we praised and rewarded the coming back, otherwise he would quickly think "when I come back I get grounded / scholded".... punishment was ending the walk on short leash while he's usually on long leash

I've been doing some desensitization with Esther and found a wide variety of barks on YouTube. If you have a Bluetooth or WiFi speaker, those are extremely helpful as they're louder / more realistic than a phone or tablet speaker and you can move them around to gain or close distance, experiment with behind doors, around corners, outside vs inside, etc . . .. If you can't get the sound through the speaker via its natural coding there is a program I use (I have a Sonos speaker which does not play YouTube, for example) here: http://www.streamwhatyouhear.com/ With that I can play YouTube through the Sonos speaker now. I mute my computer so there's no feedback or competing sound. Not sure if they have it for other devices - I use it on my Win 10 PC. Phones and tablets should be able to use Bluetooth with no issues, not sure about WiFi as we've only ever had the Sonos for a WiFi speaker. Bluetooth are so inexpensive you could pick one up for under $10 just for this purpose.

If I may barge in, just to say the steps are spot on, and provide a little self experience although all doggies are Actually the 1/ was one of the most powerful for us. So that he would go by himself to see if another one have spawned. One thing we did much also was complementing with capturing : if he would go in on his own and we see it, he would get an high value treat. Now, when I get near the crate, he would hop in, sit, and look at me like saying "you see how nice I am ? May I get my treat now ?" And also, you have to give time its due. Even with working daily, he would cry and whine a bit when crated, although less and less. And few months later, you call bedtime, he will go in, sleep without any whining

And then I just snapped, it was the "too much" moment. I grabbed him by the scruff, put him down on his back, and said in a firm voice, but without yelling "STOP ! NOW ! ITS OVER !". A few seconds, he didn't whine, my gf went back, I stepped up, Loki too, I went into the house back, and he followed me, and went to lie down after that. I was feeling so bad about myself, and was thinking "oh my... its over... i've killed our relationship..." Then I went to cook, he came to the kitchen, offered a sit, I gave him a little piece of cheese... I tried to pet him, he let me... I don't want to justify my action, I don't like it much because it was done out of loss of patience, but weirdly, it may have helped. He was calmer. I was afraid he would be now frightened by me, but not at all, I would still come near me, took treats, and let me pet him. It reminded me a bit of a toddler who pushes, pushes, pushes, got grounded, and settle back I don't want this kind of episode to happen again because I really felt not good about it (and still do today whereas everything's good) but that made me really think about something like "pushing the limits", and the teenage phase, when I saw the consequences and him being better after being grounded please don't be too harsch with me, I love him, I would never abuse him, I'm just human I am not here to judge or be harsh firstly because I know how well loved Loki is and secondly because I think as humans, we can have a breaking point, especially when a loved one or another dog we care for is at risk. The good news is that (in general) dogs are rather resilient and bounce back. That is, if it happens just once, they'll come to think we just had 'that one episode" an odd, exceptional behavior that was out of character for us. Sort of how we may surprise them when we accidently step on their tail or trip on them, and then they understand it's all good, no harm was meant. If we keep at it though, that's when we do the most damage. We come to prove to the dog over and over that we are unstable, untrustworthy and unpredictable when dogs need to feel deeply secure with us. Physical corrections, snatching things from their mouth and even yelling can have negative repercussions. As a result dogs may become suppressed, anxious and even defensive (fear/stress/uneasiness is the main cause of aggression). Signs of a dog acting suppressed/anxious/defensive include walking tentatively (like on eggshells) towards the owner (in what mood is my owner today? I better walk slow=appeasement signal), keeping the ears back, tail low (dog making himself as small as possible to appease), defensive behavior when in possession of something, hyperactive behaviors (the fool around response in stress, one of the 4F responses to fear), the cliché' of typical dog who appears well behaved when instead is in a state of suppression/ learned helplessness, lack of initiative (the dog is no longer an active learner as is afraid of trying new behaviors), displacement behaviors (yawning, scrolling of the fur) and several more. Our dogs can sense when we are calm, and our calmness reassures them. If we tend to be on the reactive, excitable or frustrated side, it's important for us to at least try our best to act calm in the presence of our dogs. Moving quickly, talking in frustrating tones, breathing fast, petting them quickly ruffling up the fur, fleeing from the scene, risks making them hyper, reactive or unsteady. Catching our dogs when calm indoors or outdoors and praising calm behaviors with a calm, soft tone of voice,(possibly dropping a non-too exiting treat at his feet) and preferably without making eye contact, can help capture the calm behaviors so that they repeat. Excited/hyper behaviors shouldn't get our attention-any form of that means none of the positive or negative type. Even in play with other dogs, our dogs benefit from taking breaks if their play gets too hyper. . Before we give any form of attention it's therefore important that we evaluate in what state of mind our dog is. It's amazing how many calm behaviors our dogs display during the day and they often go unnoticed, but as soon as the dog misbehaves, he gets all eyes on him. It's therefore not surprising why then we get a higher percentage of the latter. On top of capturing and rewarding calmness, controlling the circumstances (antecedent control, management) so that the dog wants to do what we want him to do is what ultimately sets them for success. In other words, we can pave the path to good behaviors by avoiding rehearsals and trying to preempt behaviors and giving something more acceptable to do praising and rewarding that so to compete with and supersede the innate reinforcement gained from acting out in ways we do not like. On top of this, getting to the root of the problem is paramount (not enough sleep, too many stress hormones, not enough outlets for instinctive behaviors, too much social pressure, etc). Therefore as difficult as it may be, it's important to take several deep breaths at critical times and become proactive rather than reactive and do some goal setting to prevent these situations from occurring in the first place and then implementing an intervention plan that is both easy for us and our dogs to adhere to (baby steps with possibly a way to track down whether the behavior is improving over the course of several days). Setbacks can always happen through the process, but these should gradually become more more far in between and and if occurring more than expected, a careful evaluation of what may trigger it and a little tweak back on the drawing board can help soon set things back on the right path. Finally, as tempting as it is to think that dogs misbehave just for the pleasure of upsetting us, it's important to remind ourselves that it's nothing to be taken personal and that they simply do so because they are in a phase of their lives and most likely it is fun, relieves pent up energy or stress, or simply grabs our attention.

Congrats on your upcoming bundle of barks, er, joy! 😆 Dachshunds are pretty smart pups so I don't think you'd have an issue when he gets older. There's a section in the training for putting "potty" on command that would be useful for this. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/advanced-potty-training/potty-on-command/ That comes in useful if there's a designated area for him if you ever travel with him. When nature calls and he's in that field, it will happen even if potty isn't on command, lol. Having it on command makes it easier so they know it's what they're supposed to do in that area. I'm not sure if it's the breed or my husband's "training" but his Dachshunds were little devils about going inside so I highly recommend the command route and routine. Routine is one of the most powerful tools we have with helping dogs live in our world of rules. :)

I wouldn't be able to advise on the subject as our boy is alone, but just wanted to say the picture is precious ! They're lovely !

Hi No question here 🙂 just a little sharing : we try to implement the carpet game but with a towel as I have no carpet 🙂 I like the Come+stay+go which starting to be real good at home 🙂 https://youtu.be/l2LWN2c0r3w

Célébration day today people !!! Day of joy !! Mister Loki finally accepted to go through the dreaded feared road. I must confess I didn't train it specifically lately but several things may have helped : - we sometimes walk by until he was not ok with going further, then just stayed around enjoying there while being sure he was under threshold and not in a fearful mood - sometimes we met dogs and people around he could greet and train impulse control with - he even met his best doggy friend and could even fully play with him unleashed one or two times - he was walked there with my parents in Law, who didn't know about this fear. But being with them overdid the fear and he walked with them with no issue (I was a bit bothered as with me he wouldn't... But with them it was ok 😭😂) sometimes it doesn't have to be complicated, but what is sure is what you said : "slow and steady win the race"

Thank you FrederykbBlot and Adrienne for the information! Adrienne, the first and third link will not open for me. Both say I do not have access. All the others are fine. Is there something I can do to access these? We brought our girl home today. She is such a cuddly one. Now to implement some of the trainings into our routine.

As today is celebration day, some more updates on the progress that are causes for joy - his wait is getting better and better, in duration, distance, and environment (we're outside where things are going + muffin game is likely his favorite...) - recalls, and specially recalls when free... that gives us even more trust to let him loose to enjoy I swear it's not bragging, but just a sharing of joy :D :D

Thank you and yes he once did bite over a wrapper with food. After that dilemma I hand fed him for 2 months whilst also training him. I now can get him off street objects and food by a simple leave it or tossing treats away from him. I will try the above mentioned, I didn't even think of steak being higher value than a bone, so thanks for the info. I will let you know how I go. Here's a pic of my cheeky boy.

I feel you. Internet and media are great for information and skill learning but I found the hard way that : - you can read so many things, all claiming this is good, and this is bad, and discerning the reality in all of that can be difficult and can create much self questioning - what is shown is usually the best, in the best of world : everyone is happy, puppies are lovely, they all seems to have a perfect solution to a specific problem.. even with difficult dogs, it's always shown as they can "correct" them quick, while in reality, there are always some struggles... but struggles isn't something anyone want to share on Facebook or Instagram, or YouTube Once you get to the point that you accept that you just doing the best you can, with the skills you acquire and the love you have, while accepting making errors, it all become more bearable

This is my little big girl, Fraser. She is obsessed with puppies that live in mirrors and window reflections (herself). (Not sure why the image is showing rotated 🤔). She is a real sweetheart. Photos show her age 5-7.5 months (she’s 8 months now)

Stella loving her first spring! Also peep her after spay surgery gown it was so adorable!! If she didn’t hate wearing clothes i’d still use it to be honest and yes she did chew through her leash 😂 IMG_5285.MOV

Aww beautiful, Gizmo has a black eye patch also

Gizmo... gorgeous after a play in the secure field

You are very welcome! Just as an FYI, I think in most places vets are open for business with the lock down, they are just taking extra precautions (you have to wear a face mask, keep distance as the vet examines the dog and some vets may do visits in outdoor areas). Just pointing this out as it seems like many dog owners are delaying their vet appointments for some even rather urgent cases (not your case of course) not knowing that they are open. I hope your pup turns out fine! Best wishes Adrienne

According to the DNA test, Katie, the doggie on the left, is 64% Chihuahua, 20-something% Mini-Schnauzer, and the rest terrier mix. Doesn't give me much trust in DNA tests! But she's a love and we rescued her last June. Duffy is a Bernese Mountain Dog. He's the bestest boy in the world and is 4 years old. They've become great buddies and playmates.

Ziggy at 10 months.

They have access to water all the time, we don't take anything away. They don't have an accident every night, in fact they just went a week without one, then day 8 there was one. We have rescue remedy so will try that too, thankyou.

I read that there were videos when i sourced this program on the internet. I cant find any and would like an alternative to the long detailed readings thst are overwhelm8ng me.

Just chiming in to say that it's great that you followed up and provided the list of force-free trainers to your vet. As the saying goes "Give a Man a Fish, and You Feed Him for a Day. Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime".

Hi there! I hear you, this has happened to me several times. We don't have many strays where I walks dogs, but we have neighbors with dogs who sometimes escape their yards. Some are friendly, others are fearful/territorial, others I don't know what their clear intent is, so I always use the upmost caution. In these cases, my personal "go-to" approach is to carry extra treats in my treat bag and "treat bomb" the dog. In other words, I will aim to scatter the treats in the dog's direction hoping to distract him (several treats end up bouncing off of him) and that he realizes that we "come in peace." If we meet the dog several times, with time, rep after rep, I even see a change in his body language, from being /territorial/fearful/aggressive to calmer, and even happier anticipation. However, this won't work will all dogs. That's why I like to carry with me a can of Spray Shield which was crafted by dog trainer Grisha Stewart. It's sprays citronella in a sudden burst which stops dogs in their tracks. I used it on a group of Chihuahuas one day which had bitten the ankles of another dog (another neighbors' dog) walking by, and they turned around and headed back home. I have never tested it though on a large dog with a serious intent to harm, there may be chances it may not work. Hopefully, we will never make such an encounter! I also make sure the dogs I walk have some training in attention heeling past dogs https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/ and use emergency u-turns if the dog is heading our way. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/emergency-u-turn/ I have personally found that once we distance ourselves past what the dog perceives as his territory, the dog will go back to his property and we'll then use a different route. However, I aim to walk dogs in areas I am pretty familiar with and that I know there are no stray, aggressive dogs. Had to sometimes drive to some areas if there were dogs I didn't trust around other dogs. Edited to add: I was notified of an earlier post, but can't see it anymore. Feel free to use the info provided on dealing with stray dogs in your blog, you can quote me as Adrienne Farricelli, dog trainer and author of Brain Training For dogs (link to this website). If you haven't already, you may be interested in joining our affiliate program that allows you to monetize on your blog. If interested contact: [email protected] or visit this page for more info: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/affiliates/ Happy training! Best, Adrienne

Beautiful attention heeling! Wow! And what a magnificent place to train.

Yes! That's Precisely how I train it. <3 I start with whistle / treat / whistle / treat, rinse and repeat. I don't worry about over treating this object because I Want them to drop Everything else if they hear this. Then I start with them in a stay and I take a few steps away. When I blow the whistle they come, treat. Then we up the ante by me going around the corner. Next step is a different room. So on and so forth. I didn't train Monkey at all. He figured out whistle = food by watching the dogs. He prefers Pachelbel's Canon in D, but he'll respond to the whistle, lol. The silent whistle is especially helpful for me with the insomnia because I'm often out with the girls at 3 or 4 in the morning and who wants to hear their neighbor hollering at that hour? :D The reviews for the ACME whistle I bought were complaining about how it doesn't work. More accurately, it doesn't work to stop the neighbor's dogs from barking. 🤣

Thank you again for a thorough reply. We’ll up the ‘leave it’ and ‘drop’ work and hope it helps. My dog loves bread, in fact he loves all food, even fruit like apples and bananas. I’m going to have to find a food that he’s not so keen on, somehow, in order to make the transition from objects to food.

OMG ! They're so precious !!! Ivory and Ebony !! Twins from different wombs 🙂

Hi there! With excited greeters, practice, practice and more practice is what is needed. More than corrections, these dogs need to learn what we expect from them and we need to make the desired behaviors extra rewarding. Now, one may say, how can I teach my dogs to behave despite the distraction of guests, when they are over the top and super "over threshold"? Here is a read on threshold levels by the way, and what it means: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/threshold-levels/ We basically help them through management, baby-steps, using super-duper tasty treats and organizing set-ups for training in a systematic way. Let me go over these. Management: practice makes perfect. The more dogs rehearse over-the-top, overly excited behaviors, the more these are likely to establish and risk becoming their default behaviors. So yes, if they act uncontrollably and over the top, it is best to keep them away (behind a baby gate, in another room, in a safe yard, crated with some tasty goodies, or in an x-pen), at least, until you can get them a little more under control and get the cognitive part of their brain in a semi-working state. This is usually just a temporary measure, and/or for those times when you don't have willing guests who take directions on what to do or you need to give them undivided attention. Baby steps: Dogs learn best when we present them with training offered in easy-peasy steps. These easy-peasy steps have a two-fold advantage: they help dogs better assimilate the training and help us as well as we are more likely to get results, which makes us more energized and motivated, versus getting discouraged and frustrated. Steps are offered incrementally, gradually raising criteria. If at any times, the dog struggles with a certain step, it's a sign we need to go a step back and make it easier or make some other adjustments. Super-duper treats: greeting guests can be a very exciting and overstimulating event for dogs, there may also be some stress mixed in. It may be difficult to grab the dog's attention and therefore we need to use super high-value treats that are capable of competing against the saliency of guests. Organizing set-ups: these require that we have some volunteer guests who can follow our instructions. Guests who give dogs ANY FORM of attention when they bark and jump all over them, are a big no-no because they will likely reinforce those behaviors. So you need guests who are cooperative and can ignore your dog when entering your home ( no "aww, what a cute dog as the dog jumps all over them!"). It is very helpful to start with only one dog, since dogs feed off each others' emotions and tend to compete over greeting guests. You may find it helpful leashing your dog initially and keeping distance from the guest and taking baby steps. Skipping the knocking/ door bell can also help if your dogs start getting overly excited by that. You can work on that separately, here is a guide of desensitizing to door bells and door knocks: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/behavior-training/barking/doorbells-knocks-on-doors/ Training starts easy peasy, by having your volunteer enter the door as you toss several small pieces of tasty treats on the ground. Once the dog is about to finish the treats, the volunteer leaves. Rinse and repeat several times, until your dog seems calmer. After several trials, have the volunteer enter and try asking for a sit before tossing the treats. If your dog was able to sit, toss the treats and once again, have the volunteer leave once the dog is about to finish the treats. Rinse and repeat several times, until your dog seems calmer. Next, further raise criteria, see if you can ask your dog to lie down before tossing the treats. If your dog complies, toss the treats and have the volunteer leave once the dog is about to finish the treats. Rinse and repeat several times, until your dog seems calmer. Repeat the above with your dog off leash. If your primary door leads to unfenced yard, practice only with a door that leads to a fenced yard for safety (many dogs will escape if a door is opened just a bit and they see something that attracts them). Next, further raise criteria. Add a mat, place it nearby the door and as your volunteer is about to enter, ask your dog to go lie down on it. Give the treats there. Have the volunteer leave once the dog is about to finish the treats. Rinse and repeat several times, until your dog seems calmer. Next, ask for a long down/stay on the mat. As your volunteer enters, ask your dog to lie on the mat and this time offer a longer-lasting chew *(like a whole dog cookie). Have your dog stay there as you chit-chat and shake hands with the guest. As your dog is about to finish the chew, have your guest leave. Further raise criteria. As your volunteer enters, ask your dog to lie on the mat and this time offer a much longer-lasting chew like a stuffed Kong or safe long-lasting edible. Have your guest sit down on the couch for some time. As your dog is about to finish the chew, have your guest leave. Then, you would practice with both dogs together each lying on their own mats. *Avoid this exercise if your dogs are prone to resource guarding valuable foods in presence of people or each other. The goal is to be able to have the dogs engage in alternate behaviors. These alternate behaviors help dogs swap to a rational, cognitive state versus acting over the top. The alternate behaviors can be several (doesn't have to be lie on a mat, although this may work best as it has built-in duration) and you can pick which ones you prefer. Having the dogs hand target the guest's hands when the guests are sitting works also well to replace obnoxious hyper behaviors. If your dogs also jump on you, it also helps to do several trials at home where you see what behaviors evoke hyper behavior and gradually expose your dog to them as your dog sits watching, then you can work on entering the house, turning around and exiting when your dogs act hyper, and entering and praising when your dogs act calm and even sit. If your dogs can't resist jumping on you, they will find it even harder not to jump on guests, so make sure they learn with you first before working with guests. Here is a case study on working on jumping: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-assessing-jumping-behavior-desensitization/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-practice-greetings/ Hope this helps, I am here is you struggle with nay parts or need to do some troubleshooting. Best regards, Adrienne

Update! Kira is slowly but surely improving. Yesterday I was so proud of her she saw three dogs (and two were quite close and in motion!) with 0 reactions. She still has her bad days but she is definitely improving. I think a big thing is also my energy, I'm much calmer now and just need to continue to demonstrate that calmness around other dogs. The biggest improvement I've seen is being able to bring her attention back to me (thanks a lot to the "look into my eyes" game) and when she looks back at me I reward her. If I see that maybe we have to hang back a bit and let the other dog walk on before we can continue our walk I'll usually get her into a sit and ask her to "watch me" while holding a treat. Then when the dog is gone or we have enough space for her to be under threshold we continue.

Esther is becoming a master at sit. I use it for so many things and it really helps to deescalate things and get her focus back on me. :) It also helps with leash pulling when I'm putting on or taking off my Sloggers. Gertie still seems to think she's too well-behaved to bother with sit. She gets away with more because she's generally calmer and rarely does anything "wrong." Once Esther is better at response it shall be Miss Gertrude's turn. Both of them Really like that VitalEssentials raw food as a treat. I can use my thumb nails to break them into smaller pieces. She told me to try it with the Zuke's and whatnot and the girls respond just as well as they ever did with a whole treat. I do need to check that swapping walk and train is okay with her. With Esther's incontinence it's really important to get outside asap! Morning session is sit, down, bed, and here in any combination. Trainer comes back next Thursday and we'll see what she has in store for us for that session. And yes, I was Not made for mornings, lol.

Sounds like a great plan and you have awesome goodies to reinforce all desired behaviors. This trainer seems to be on the same page as me when it come to methods (like desensitizing to triggers, look at that, about turns, impulse control training and using kibble for indoor, easier exercises). I am glad to hear that Esther is improving in her training. I am sure your dogs love all the extra attention and training you are providing, even though it means to get up so early. I am not a morning person, so I know how it must feel.😁 On the positive side, it will all pay back nicely as you start reaping the rewards that come with all the training.

If he's not chewing them up, our Dachshunds absolutely Love to burrow. Dachshunds were bred to hunt badgers. Their little bodies are torpedo shaped and their paws are almost like seal flippers so they can propel themselves into badgers' tunnels. I don't know if this is specific to Abbi, but she has one super duper fine tuned sniffer. Two things we've done is a) blankets - she burrows deep into them, the more blankets the better. To the point I worry about her suffocating but she pulls them back over her or digs in deeper if I flip them back to give her fresh air. b) snuffle mat or any other treat hiding game. There are lots of beds on the market that have cave or tunnel-like qualities that might work for him. The donut bed is Abbi's absolute favorite. This is the one we got: https://www.chewy.com/furhaven-calming-cuddler-long-fur/dp/281286 Here's one another one we have: https://www.chewy.com/furhaven-microvelvet-snuggery-gel-top/dp/205680 A different version: https://www.chewy.com/ethical-pet-sleep-zone-cuddle-cave/dp/216013 I wanted to give this a try, but she's so arthritic now she can't get in or out: https://www.chewy.com/frisco-cave-covered-cat-dog-bed/dp/140613 All our dogs chill with us on the couch, even at dinner time. They learned, over time, that they weren't getting any food and eventually they start ignoring us eating as we're ignoring them while we're eating. What you Could do, and Adrienne will correct me if I'm wrong, is put the bed on the couch and put him in that bed with a treat, preferably a long lasting something so he makes a positive association with that bed. Once he takes to the bed you could move it to the ground and slowly move it to where you'd like him to be when you're having your couch time. That's how I moved Gertrude off our bed. Her hair is like needles and there's So much of it - I couldn't take it any more and she had to go to the floor. Not to mention it doesn't matter if it's an 8-lb or 80-lb dog. They Will hog the bed. Abbi is 10 lbs and gets 3/4 of the bed, much to my chagrin! Gertie leaves her alone, but the husband feels better with her near him; Esther is in her crate because she won't settle down otherwise. When you rescue him from the crate, how long has it been and are you interacting with him in any way while he's there (even a "shhhh" or poking your head around the corner counts). Do y'all put him in the crate straight after playing? He'll get into the Kong eventually. All three of ours lost interest quickly until they figured out how to work them. You might try putting easier treats in there to start and if he's not into peanut butter you can totally do plain yogurt, natural apple sauce (no sugar and no xylitol), his kibble moistened (maybe even moistened with beef or chicken broth to make it extra special), pumpkin puree, pureed veggies if he likes any (ours like carrots and sweet potatoes), maybe even a smear or two of baby food (just check the ingredients - they're getting Way too fancy these day and the husband bought some with leeks which are not good for dogs). Just expect a few more potty trips if you go the veggie or pumpkin routes as they're high in fiber - excellent for if he gets stopped up, though.

Thank you for the insights From what you say, it seems we allowed too much that he's excited around her, and should we be less tolerant to any kind of hyper state around her As cute as he is, it would be important that your girlfriend act calm and use a calm tone of voice around him and follow the same rules you have established. If she must praise, it must be done in a lower tone, that doesn't cause excessive excitement. It would help to involve her in the training. Take turns training, side-by-side, you first ask for a sit, praise/reward then right afterward she does, then you ask for a down, then she does, etc. We try to as much as possible, but not on every aspect For example, we brush together, like one treating, one brushing, evening walks are together, but I do morning alone It's true we do not do obedience at the same time. Mostly me, and sometimes she does We pay attention to our tone. In the beginning, we were a bit at the "dominance" school, like big shouted "NO" in case of bad behavior, and other stuff I wish I didn't do, but now most of it calm, even when cutting the interaction : a firm but not shouted "no mister !" and walking away We are around in what you say, butI think we just wait a little too much and tolerate for long He would start to bite, to tug, she will try to remove the arm, he will go again, she would dodge, he would finally get it, tug with more strength, which would be the ending point ==> We will now not accept even the first tug For humping she would be chilling, he would come, start to paws on her, she would turn her back, or dodge a bit, he would get back, get the paws on, and the humping position ==> after the first paws, (in the case we could prevent it) if he doesn't respond to "paws on the ground", we will cut here also instead of getting another round of him trying Thank you for the help ! We'll implement that and see how it goes ! I sense we will do quite some trips in the cellar now (it's the "interaction-cutting room :))

Thank you both for your answers and details I feel more at ease now. As the first one I've contacted had a minimum age limit, I was thinking it was something necessary for better management I finally contacted other pensions that have no age limit, and little Loki will likely have some days there during summer We're gonna make some pre-visits in the upcoming weeks to see which one suits better our style That was my thinking, and I'm glad it makes sense We're having my parents-in-law, and we would like to show them around a little, but we the sun these days, and how young he is, it wouldn't be able to take a full day of walking in some cities, or in hikes... and as they come once a year or so, just being stuck in the house or in the close area would be a bit sad

In the end it says to avoid removing things from pup by force, but even when walking with treats, the highest value we have does not compete with used tissue, or used Covid masks (people are pigs) I think in these cases, we need to evaluate and troubleshoot what may be going on. For instance, if we say our "leave it" too late, that is, once the dog's nose is already sniffing the item and getting ready to pick it up, it would likely go to deaf ears. Fun fact: when dogs sniff, they use 30 percent of their brain to study those odors so there's quite a good amount of concentration going on there. That's also why sniffing is considered such a tiring activity. So we want to say "leave it" before the dog is already close or getting close at sniffing point. I like to work on "leave its" purposely creating some set-ups. This can be a fun game to play. You can have a helper place some mildly interesting items on a path ( items that are safe and can't be eaten by a puppy in case he grabs a hold of them) and then you purposely walk by them, initially far enough the he can't reach them, and the moment you catch your pup's interest, you would say "leave it" and then feed the higher value treat. This is a great exercise to consolidate the training for leave it you have started at home. It's also a great exercise for you so that you can work on your timing in catching your puppy before he's already in sniffing/grabbing the item mode. An important consideration: when we haven't trained a fluent response to a cue like "leave it" or "come" well enough and the dog therefore doesn't respond fluently to it, we are at risk of creating a phenomenon known as "learned irrelevance." In other words, we cause those words to risk becoming irrelevant and the dog starts no longer being responsive to it. So we need to ensure that we set our pups for success by starting with easy leave its and gradually increasing difficulty so that we maintain the power and energy of those words. Learned irrelevance is our enemy as it ends up draining that power. For me, in that case, it's a matter of safety... Is there a way to limit the impact of those forced removal? He's definitely turning the head when he senses I will go for it, but if he doesn't take the treat, I'm not sure I want to leave him chewing on a used Covid mask...(we train Leave It, which is OK at home with a kibble, but way more difficult outside with a new thing he never saw before) Scanning the environment is one of the best things to do in these cases, I call it the defensive driving version of walking puppies. My hubby is often upset with me when we go for a walk and I am bringing along a pup and I never pay attention to what he tells me. This is because I am constantly scanning the road for things on the ground and stimuli approaching. I become the dog's eyes and ears. I struggle concentrating in this state of mind. I am overly cautious because there are things out there that can really harm a small puppy. I imagine walking with a toddler surrounded by potentially poisoned candy on the floor. No phone allowed on these walks! The moment I notice something on the ground, I will walk at a distance from it so that the pup can't get a hold of it even if at the end of the leash, or if the pup knows "leave it' I will purposely walk close enough to it to the draw the pup's interest, but not that close that he can snatch it. I will say "leave it" the moment he makes eye contact with it and reward with the treats in my treat bag or pocket. To answer your question about limiting the impact of a forced removal, there is a strategy I use, but I practice this a lot before hand at home, so that the pup always has a positive association with it and isn't startled or defensive. It's mentioned in this article under "mouth inspections:" https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/the-importance-of-preventing-resource-guarding-in-puppies/ I am posting that section here: "Getting your puppy used to having his mouth checked is good for getting your puppy used to having his teeth brushed and mouth checked by your vet, but also in case you ever need to retrieve some item out of his mouth. Every now and then, open your puppy’s mouth open and stick a tasty treat inside. At some point, if you catch your pup with an item in his mouth (that he isn’t prone to guarding), let him sniff a super high-value treat as you gently extract the object from the mouth, promptly replacing it with the tasty treat. This will make your puppy more collaborative and help him learn that when you remove something from his mouth, something tasty will follow. However, aim to train your puppy to “drop it” so he’s a willing participant and you no longer have to manually extract things." As Jennifer has mentioned below, you need to work on finding what your pup really loves. *Note for Jennifer: Yes, Jennifer you are correct! We aim to form those strong associations so that, when the dog hears leave it or drop, it's music for their ears sort of like "ding-ding-ding! you just won the slot machine!"

I updated my banner, too. All our fluffers are there now. ❤ Esther really looks up to Gertie and Loves snuggling with her. Gerts, in Gertie fashion, goes along with it. Gertie used Esther as a pillow last night so things are going well with them now that I've taken toys out of the equation. :)

Bonjour Ivana! And that's about all the French I know. :D You are not alone. Most of us have dealt with the "stealing" from our new companions. This one is dear to my heart because it was my first post (cry for help) here when we adopted Gertrude Marie. Thieving Pooch https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/296-counter-surfing/?tab=comments#comment-1453 https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/271-my-dog-is-a-thief/?tab=comments#comment-1340 https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/forum/topic/242-raiding-the-waste-basket/?tab=comments#comment-1178 The other three are from people with similar issues so you can see it's something nearly all dogs go through. A flirt pole comes to mind for your pup, or the "treasure hunt" game. I read a bit about the Epagneul Breton and it seems they're great at agility and hunting. With agility I'm thinking he has energy and with hunting I'm thinking he would enjoy using his nose. The flirt pole would help get that energy out and is an excellent tool to train "leave" and "drop," which are two things a "thieving pooch" definitely needs a lesson in. Treasure Hunt Game

Thank you! We actually started some training last night. We have food and just sat nearby (within 2-3 feet) and kept talking to let him know we were there. “Good boy” “supper is yummy” things like that. At a few points, without touching him, we got his attention and gave him a small piece a dried beef liver which is loved. We the just let him continue eating while using encouraging, friendly tones. His tail wagged the whole time and his body posture was very relaxed with no growling. Breakfast this morning went the same. While we do not agree with our trainer about being able to put hands in the food bowl, we do have small kids who are very active. If they just happen to run by him while eating I want both of them to feel safe. We very much like the idea of starting from a distance and just offering him a treat or two while eating to let him know it’s ok for us to be near him while eating. My husband and I also see no point in being able to put our hands in the dish of food.

It would be truly wonderful if dogs could share to the extent humans do.. it would make our lives much easier! Every now and then on Youtube we see videos of owners raving about their dogs sharing bones and food bowls. As endearing as this can be, sometimes there are very subtle signs of impending trouble and even if things seem to go well overall, there's always that chance that things may change at some point. Close supervision for alterations is always a must. "Humans may prefer sharing food widely, but this is not the case among canines," points out Adam Miklosi in the book: "Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition." Here's the thing: from an ethological point of view, the protection of food is a typical behavior that has been observed among a dog's ancestors, the wolf and that has perpetuated into the dog most likely because it's an adaptive behavior (that ups the chances for survival in case of scarsity). David Mech who studied wolves during the summers of 1986 to 1998 on Ellesmere Island, Canada, described an ‘ownership zone’ around the wolves' mouth, or within lunging distance, which was respected by others. Sure, dogs aren't wolves, but they retain several traits, albeit they may have modified with time. With domestication, breeders and then owners mostly control access to food food distribution. However, often dog owners struggle with their dogs having squabble albeit innocent over resources such as toys, food and bones. That's understandable considering our culture. Sometimes though dog owners may become intolerant of one dog repeatedly taking things from the other or guarding and he or she may reprimand such dog for guarding stuff from the other and for dogs refusing to share. Such unrealistic expectations though can risk making things much worse. "The expectation that dogs should inhibit this behaviour is either anthropomorphic or it assumes that this behaviour has been selected against during domestication. However, even in the latter case, many dogs need to be trained to show temperance," further points out Miklosi. "Dogs, being predators, come programmed to guard resources that are crucial to their survival as part of their behavioral inheritance from their ancestor, the wolf. Some of those resources may be in short supply at certain times of year or in certain environments, and are therefore valuable," says dog trainer Grisha Stewart. "Socially skilled adult dogs don't normally take things from each other by force. If it's in your zone it's yours until you relinquish it. These rules are not instinctive or innate. Dogs have to learn them. "points out Alexandra Semyonova. Of course, while dog-to dog guarding may be acceptable to certain levels where it's mostly communication and respect for personal spaces, we certainly though treat dog to human resource guarding differently, in terms of addressing it even if it's very subtle such as just a growl or a dog rushing to grab the resource as we're walking towards it. Early intervention in key. This doesn't mean we should ignore dog-to-dog guarding, we just need to constantly monitor it to ensure things don't escalate and no dog is emotionally impacted as it can come to harm both parties (the dog who lashes out is most likely always stressed due to compulsive thoughts of losing the resource, the victim dog can become stressed being about even innocent things such as just walking around and breathing). So the options to manage resource guarding are always these: strict management to prevent rehearsal of troublesome behavior (feeding food, treats, toys, bones or anything dogs seem to fight over in separated areas using crates, doors, exercise pens, extendable gates and baby gates. Cleaning up as much as possible, e.g. removing empty food bowls, pieces of bones, stuffing from toys and crumbs. Training obedience cues fluently e.g. training all dogs to respond promptly to leave it, go to your mat, down, smacking sound, and come so to redirect dogs at a moment's notice from each other as needed so to avoid conflict. And of course, enlisting the help of a certified veterinary behaviorist/behavior consultant for safety and correct implementation of behavior modification (desensitization and counterconditioning mostly to obtain that lovely +CER https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/conditioned-emotional-response-cer/ Yup, good things happening contingent on the presence of the other dog/animal. Treating resource guarding among dogs/animals who share the same home can be complex and requires years of practice, skill, careful observation, and the institution of safety measures. In some cases, meds may be needed along with behavior modification to pave the path to cognitive changes that evoke a better state of learning.

Hello and welcome to your forum, I hear you. It does get frustrating at times and we may have moments of feeling helpless and emotionally drained. We do need take breaks every now and then-we are only human. This is also why we have a forum, to offer support to each other and find ways to make our lives easier. I have gone through this multiple times. I sometimes must admit, I looked for it-when offering to volunteer for a shelter I often asked to foster dogs that were a "challenge" and deemed difficult to adopt. I ended up having no life-sleeping on the couch because the dog couldn't be crated nor left unsupervised until trained, going through bruises and scratches due to over nippy dogs, having to separate my dogs and almost totally ignore them for weeks on end (luckily my hubby took care of them!) as the problem dog absorbed every bit of energy I had. It can get very tiring. Although I wanted to help in fostering as much as I could, I had to take breaks from it after some time due to the emotional toll and the accumulation of compassion fatigue. We do our best and what we can. It's not easy and my heart goes out to all of those going through these challenges. Thank you for bringing up this important subject.

Hi Lisa, Welcome to the forums! This tends to happen when treats aren't faded properly. In other words, the dog has come to associate the presence of the treat with the execution of the behaviors. With no treat in sight, no behavior. To tackle this issue we therefore need to gradually fade the use of treats. If you notice, in the obedience 101 guide there's mention of fading the food lure in several commands. It's an important step to do as soon as possible. Also, following the obedience 101 guide you'll find a special guide called "polishing up training" that goes more in depth on this: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/polishing-up-training/ And here is another guide, specifically crafted for those encountering this problem. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/dog-listens-treats/ You will also find a guide on how to move from a continuous schedule (give one treat for every correct behavior) to an intermittent one (given randomly) here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/polishing-up-training/fading-continuous-rewards/ https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/use-treats-training-dog/ Of course, consider that we should never stop giving primary reinforcers such as treats completely otherwise we risk the behavior weakens and possibly extinguishes at some point. . Let me know how things work out for you! Best, Adrienne

Hi Adrienne, Thanks for the response. Harmonie is definitely leery towards strangers, whether they come to the house, in the yard, or out on walks. When people come to the house, she pretty much keeps her distance. She will come up to them and sniff them and whether they ignore her, talk to her, or try to pet her, her reaction is just about the same. She just backs off. She doesn't seem overly nervous, she lies down and rests. When we encounter people on walks, she just keeps her distance. If someone asks to pet her and they put their hand out for her to sniff, she sniffs it and then backs off. I have a friend that comes over and doesn't make eye contact or talk to her and Harmonie just ignores her the entire time. I have another friend that talks to her and Harmonie will approach her when she's sitting down and she lets her pet her. Harmonie has access to our fenced backyard, we live on a farm, she spends a lot of time outside barking and keeping a watch on things. She comes in the house to check in and maybe take a nap, then back out. I have noticed her being startled in the house. One time she didn't know I was behind her and she jumped up and ran, then came right back when she realized it was me. She gets startled outside with a loud noise that surprises her but she doesn't seem to be scared in an ongoing way... more just a startle until she quickly figures out what it is. I tried to take her to get groomed last week and she was having no part of going into the building. She was pulling and I couldn't/didn't want to drag her in because I figured if she wouldn't walk in, she wasn't going to have a good experience once inside. I have made some mistakes with her grooming at home. She is known for getting really muddy outside and I have used the hose to spray her feet off - she has started really resisting this and now it's almost impossible. I have to go back to square one and take it super slow. Okay...on to the older dogs. All 5 dogs are spayed/neutered. I wouldn't say that the 12 year olds are showing much as far as aging. I do think Taffie's (female) eyesight might be a little worse than it was. Tigger (male) doesn't seem to be showing signs. Poppie is definitely showing more signs of aging but I don't see any issues between him and Harmonie. Taffie sometimes cowers a bit or hangs back until Harmonie goes away. Tigger doesn't seem to be affected at all. Tigger pretty much holds his ground. I would say after the initial encounter, they go back to normal. Most of the time they all just do their own thing. I don't think it has a lasting emotional impact. One thing I do notice is that Harmonie seems to intentionally sit (sometimes) in front of the dog door so that the others can't go in the house. About 2 times a day I hear someone bark to come in and when I go out, she is sitting right in front of the dog door. I think I have a lot of work to do... she has been a really good dog as far as being perfectly house broken, not destroying things, she doesn't jump up or anything like that...but, I haven't asked her to do much, she pretty much does what she wants. I don't take her too many places for a few reasons, the craziness of the world right now, I don't go anywhere and, having 5 dogs makes taking 1 or 2 more difficult. While I wait for your reply, I'm going to take a read through the exercises and make a plan to start slowly working with her more. If you have suggestions on any particular behaviors to start with, I'd appreciate the advice. She's not overly food driven or toy driven. The other day when I took her for a visit to the vet, I brought some cheese to reward her for going in and she had no interest in the cheese. As always, I so appreciate your expertise and friendly advice. Thanks, Susan

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! Adrienne