Grabbing and biting

[peter.glynn]

I have a 5 month old border collie who sometimes goes to bite my arm he doesn't do this everytime he will sometimes try to bite me when i go to put his lead on which a front leader he is in his crate except for potty play and training he doesn't get to go for walks much mainly because I don't drive and the wife does and she works shifts the park is a 30 minute walk so it's to far for him to walk also when we do get chance the weather is bad I play fetch and tug with once or twice a day he doesn't sleep much during the day.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Peter Glynn,

Just wanted to let you know that I am working on some tips for you and will get back to you shortly this evening.

[peter.glynn]

Ok thanks for your help.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

I have a 5 month old border collie who sometimes goes to bite my arm he doesn't do this everytime he will sometimes try to bite me when i go to put his lead on which a front leader he is in his crate except for potty play and training he doesn't get to go for walks much mainly because I don't drive and the wife does and she works shifts the park is a 30 minute walk so it's to far for him to walk also when we do get chance the weather is bad I play fetch and tug with once or twice a day he doesn't sleep much during the day.

 

Border collies can be a handful! They have boundless energy and strong instincts due to their history of being selectively bred as herding dogs. If he is trying to bite you when you go to put on the leash, it may be because he doesn't like to be touched when you put it on, (or perhaps he bites simply because your hand is so close to his head) or he is too excited/aroused about going out. Here are some tips:

 

1) You can try to distract him with a treat held between your fingers in one hand as you clip on the leash with your other hand. Practice several times, snapping the leash on and unsnapping it as you feed a treat. Do several of these trials several times a day until he seems more collaborative. You want him to form positive associations with the leash being snapped on and off so that he looks forward to it rather than dread it.

 

2) If he knows sit, make it a habit of asking him to sit while you put the leash on. This will help tone down the excitement and your dog learns that you'll clip on the leash only when he is calm. Find how to train sit here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/

 

What if your dog gets up from sitting right when you are about to clip on the leash? In that scenario, stop trying to clip the leash, turn around, and walk away. By doing this, you are informing your dog that their excited behavior sends you away.

 

Be Persistent: Come back and try again. If your dog is still wiggly and bouncy and tries biting, make a turn and try again. At some point, your dog will tire out from acting excited and will get the message. You should, therefore, start seeing some calmer behaviors. At that point, ask for the sit, clip the leash on, give a treat and go for a walk.

 

Make sure you exit the door only when your dog is in a calmer state of mind. It may take some time to get out of the door the first few times, but since you keep going towards the door and then turning the moment your dog acts hyper, your dog will get tired; you will eventually start to see a calmer dog. Things get better once your dog understands that calmness equals walking towards the door and getting out. If you are consistent, you should notice an improvement.

 

I will be sharing some ideas for providing exercises and mental stimulation in the next post.

Edited March 10, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Since your puppy has had all his vaccinations and he is 5 months old, walks offer a great opportunity for learning good leash manners and continuing socialization. Here is how to teach heeling: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/heeling-attention-heeling/

 

While the park may seem far if it's half hour to go and half hour to come back, walking around your neighborhood is a sensible choice until you can ask your vet for specific exercise recommendations based on your pup's developing anatomy and physiology.

 

In between walks, socialization and opportunities to nap, you also want to ensure to provide training, brain games and access to interactive toys.

 

You can turn games of fetch into more structured activities by inserting some obedience in them. For example, ask your puppy to sit every time you toss the ball to reward calm behaviors, and with tug, ask your pup to "drop" on request. Most dogs will drop the tug if you stop tugging, freeze and present a treat. The moment your pup drops the toy, praise, reward with the treat, then ask your pup to sit and then invite him to play again saying 'take'. More on how to train drop here:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/drop-it/

 

A 5 months, doggy adolescence is right around the corner, here's just a head's up on what to expect:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

 

Hope this helps,

Best,

Adrienne

Edited March 10, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli

[peter.glynn]

Hi Adrienne

Thank for the tips and ideas will put them into practice one other thing he does when put the lead on he goes to bite the lead and jumps up on me this happen when I take him to potty outside I don't know if this is harnonal and he is still teething or he has belly ache from wanting a poo or frustration when he sees the lead when he in that mood he tends to grab it and growl but I have noticed wants he has had a poo he is a little bit calmer, when I am training him in the morning he is fine he just has these mad moments.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You're very welcome. Biting the lead is not uncommon in puppies and it's often seen as a result of play or excessive emotional states (excessive excitement, frustration) that the puppy doesn't know how to cope with. Teething can act as an aggravating factor considering that puppies finish teething anywhere between 6 to 8 months. Here are a few ideas that come to mind (I might have offered similar ones in another post so I apologize in advance if this is repeat information)

 

-Try to focus on getting your puppy to perform desirable behaviors rather than trying to stop an unwanted behavior. We want to do as much as possible to prevent rehearsal of the behavior (the more dogs engage in a problem behavior the more it puts roots and becomes a difficult habit to eradicate) by asking for/engaging in alternate behaviors.

-Try redirection. If your puppy bites the leash the moment you put it on, ask your puppy to sit in front of the door and reward the nice sit with a treat. Sitting will keep your puppy's mind off the leash as he awaits for his treat and then keeps his mouth busy eating it. Once you provide the treat, be ready to walk out the door so your pup can focus on outdoor stimuli rather than thinking about the leash again.

-Have a back-up plan. If your puppy goes to bite the leash the moment he gets up from sitting, take it off and sit on the couch. Rep after rep, puppies learn fast that their behavior results in no walks.

-Offer a stuffed animal to carry. Use one your puppy doesn't see often. Many puppies will happily carry the stuffed animal which will keep their minds off the leash.

-If your puppy is particularly eager to play tug, make sure that during the day you provide outlets for this need with tug toys. While you're at it, make sure you put playing with the tug toy on cue. Tell your dog "take!" when you present the tug toy. Teach your puppy also to drop in exchange for a treat.

-If the biting happens on walks, train your puppy to heel and deliver treats at a high rate so to help keep your puppy's attention on the treats rather than on the leash. Practice a few steps at a time and then progress to more steps. The goal is to make the activity far more rewarding than biting the leash.

-Some puppy owners have success switching to a harness that clips on the back. With the leash no longer dangling in front of their pup's faces, puppies soon learn to ignore the leash.

-While there is always the option of switching to a chain leash (which puppies don't typically like to chew on), it's important to consider that this solution won't fix the issue. However, it can be used as a last resort as a management measure while alternative behaviors such as sitting and heeling are trained.

Hope this helps,

Best,

Adrienne

[lionelpang2002]

Hi please i need help with my 2 months old maltipoo dog that is teething but he growls and once he bites on my hands or leg he will never let go and its not a soft bite . I tried every thing like standing like a tree or the ouch training and he stills don’t care and bite harder and harder

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Hi Lionelpang2002,

Welcome to the forums!

The growling may be concerning, but it is also true that puppies often growl in play and they can play very rough at times, especially when they tug on clothing or use our body parts as a game of tug. In a case like yours, it would be important to provide redirection and focus on rewarding alternate behaviors to the biting. Here are some tips/ methods that may help you out:

 

 

-Avoid encouraging rough play by wrestling or offering a hand or arm to grab onto.

-Avoid correcting puppy nipping by smacking puppies on the nose, closing their mouths with hands, pushing them away or alpha rolling them. This may trigger biting, but this time, no longer out of play, but defensively.

-Redirect your puppy to an alternate activity any time you see him approaching you with the intent to bite. Carry balls in your pocket or a tug toy to shift his focus. As soon as you see your puppy approach you with the intent to bite, toss the ball in the opposite direction (make it extra fun!) or use 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. Once your puppy gets a hang of it, introduce even some obedience training by asking for a sit before tossing the ball.

-One great thing to teach mouthy puppies is targeting. By training hand targeting and rewarding this behavior, you teach puppies another way to interact more kindly with hands. You can find how to train this helpful behavior here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

- You can train him to sit when you see him approaching you and reward him by tossing a treat/piece of kibble 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!

-You can teach him to do some attention heeling inside the home (no leash needed), if he can stay so focused on biting your hands or legs, he can eventually be taught to stay focused on your eyes if you make the activity rewarding. Every time he makes eye contact with you, toss a treat across the room so that he 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, he should approach you to make eye contact in exchange for a tossed treat, rather than focus on your legs or hands. You can find how to train attention heeling in the behavior 101 section.

-You can find some bite inhibition games here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/

-Encourage brain games and fun games such as hide-and-seek as outlined in the brain training for dogs section.

-Get your puppy used to handling (having his ears touched, paws touched, coat brushed) by creating positive associations with treats. Every time you touch your puppy, feed him a treat until he seems to tolerate handling better. Practice often.

-Help your puppy learn to be delicate with his jaws by training him to take treat gently: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/

-Puppy classes offer a good opportunity to train your puppy manners and how to properly interact with other dogs and people and help with the important socialization stage which closes around 16 weeks. Play with other puppies can provide an outlet for their desire to bite and they can refine their biting through feedback from other puppies. Look for classes run by experienced trainers and inquire on their policies and procedures for preventing infectious diseases.

-When all of your puppy's needs are met and he keeps nipping, consider that he may just be cranky and in need of a nap. Provide him with a dark quiet area to rest with a safe chew toy. Chances are, he'll chew the toy a bit and then fall soundly asleep.

-Remember that learning (of good and bad behaviors) always takes place in all your interactions with your puppy. If you allow your puppy to bite and hold on, you are allowing the behavior to put roots and persist. Soon, it becomes the pup's favorite way to interact. Catching your puppy before he has the opportunity to latch on by redirection is important. 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. Toss the kibble across the room to prevent him from latching on when you see him approach you. This for the most part initially until you puppy learns to seek alternate forms of entertainment (sitting, hand targeting etc)

-If you search puppy biting or puppy nipping in the search bar of this forum you will find many others dealing with similar issues and lots of other tips and ideas.

-It generally takes several weeks or even months to reduce puppy biting 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 extra rewarding. Teaching an alternate behavior is also important because dogs cannot misbehave if they are busy making eye contact, targeting hands 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. In the meanwhile, tossing a ball or pieces of kibble or providing a food dispensing toy can help redirect so that the behavior of latching on and biting is prevented to put further roots. Consider that biting is rewarded by moving away or providing resistance (which is what encourages dogs to latch on more as we become human tug toys to them)

 

By providing outlets for his 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. Also, monitor when the biting seems to occur the most so to make adjustments (if when tired, provide the opportunity to nap, if when you walk around, provide games based on movement like tossing kibble or toys etc ) If you think your puppy is acting aggressively rather than play, it would be important consulting with a dog behavior consultant for an assessment and implementation of behavior modification.

I hope this helps,

Best,

Adrienne

Edited April 29, 2019 by Adrienne Farricelli