cojoe

[PaulBlanchard]

Good afternoon.

I have purchased your book for training. I have a question about how a dog turns cujoe with seconds and how to handle it.I have a 8 month old mini aussie. There are times when your side jumps up and grabs your hand. When you say no the aggression gets worse. she will not stop jumping and try to grab whatever she can. one way to stop her is to throw a ball. Everyone tells me how loving these dogs are but at times I have a hard time believing. Looking to see if you have any advice.  

 

 

 

[Adrienne]

Hi there,

Welcome to the forums!

It must be upsetting to deal with this type of behavior and I am sorry to hear you are going through this.  I would like to have some more information to grasp a little better what may be going on. 

1) How long have you had your dog? Has she always been this way or is this something new?

2) It sounds like she jumps up and grabs your hand, is this accurate? Have you noticed when this type of behavior occurs? Is there some type of pattern? For example, does it happen when you are trying to leave a room? Does it happen when you get close to her food bowl? Does it seem to happen in the evening when you are sitting on the couch? When you tell her not to do something? When she can't have something? Just trying to see whether there is an exact trigger for this behavior rather than just happening out of the blue with no rhyme or reason. 

3) From your description it sounds like saying "no" aggravates the behavior. Are you saying "no" to stop her from biting, or are you saying "no" when she's doing something else and your "no"  triggers her to bite?

4) When she bites, does she bite hard? Is she breaking your skin? 

Thank you for taking your time to provide these details.

Adrienne

[PaulBlanchard]

We have had Stella since March when she was 8 weeks old.  She always did some biting and broke skin but attributed it to sharp baby teeth.  Now it seems she is very aggressive when she jumps up on me scratches me and yes, the skin does get broken.  most of this has been on my arms.  I cross them so she cannot get to them and I yell OW.  Not sure if she is scratch ing more than biting to draw blood, but there is definitely a lot of teeth showing.  Seems to happen more when we are outside and she is very excited.  Cannot walk towards house as she goes for my ankles and pants when she is like this. Usually this occurs around 5 to 6 in the evening but yesterday when I let her out and after awhile I went to go find her and she came running towards me and jumped up towards my face grabbed at my bicep on my arm.  I started screaming.  This was in the morning.  When she is in her "cujo" mood she does not listen.  Saying "no" does not seem to make her more aggressive but she certainly does not stop what she is doing.

 

[Adrienne]

Thanks for the extra details, they are very helpful.

It sounds like her playful puppy nipping has never gone away and now has established and exacerbated over time. There may be possibly a component of anxiety or frustration mixed in. Since it happens outdoors, it could be that exposure to certain stimuli increase her anxiety and arousal level and this spills into an aggressive display. It's unfortunate, but in some cases with certain types of dogs saying "OW"or "No" or screaming overstimulates them even more making them more likely to escalate. 

We also must consider that although Stella is a miniature Australian shepherd which are often described as being devoted, good-natured and easy to train, they are still herding dogs at heart. So they may be particularly predisposed to being attracted to movements and nipping when excited or overstimulated or frustrated. On top of this, she is 8 months which puts her at the peak adolescent time which can be a trying time. You can read more about the dog teenager stage here:  https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/survive-dogs-adolescent-stage/

One good thing though is that you described her as being distracted from biting when you toss her a ball. This tells us that, given guidance, she is quite easy to redirect which is good considering that some dogs are so focused on biting, it's extra challenging distracting them once they have latched on. So we can take advantage of this, and put it to our advantage. The ultimate goal would be preventing her from rehearsing the problem behavior as much as we can, and  teaching her that there are alternate behaviors to engage in (rather than scratching and biting) and that these activities can be far more rewarding. 

So here are a few tips that come to mind:

-With biting, we want to try to stray away as much as possible from intervening physically such as popping a dog's nose, pushing them away or grabbing their collar as this often evokes defensive biting and risks teaching dogs that human hands are something negative. Instead, as mentioned, we want to focus more on giving her some alternate activities to focus on that surpass the appeal of biting, so let's take a look at some alternate activities.

-First of all, the fact that this biting happens mostly outside provides you with a great advantage versus biting that occurs at random regardless of place: you can be prepared. So it may help having a treat bag handy filled up with super-valuable treats or a stuffed Kong (or a bag filled with several balls) kept behind your back.  The moment you notice she's coming your way with the intent to bite, you can try several of the following and see what works best to divert her attention from biting:

--Try redirection using high-value toys. So right when you expect her to come towards you to bite,  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 outside focusing on something else. 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!) as you are already doing 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 rewarding to interact with and release frustration/anxiety or arousal than your body. Dogs who love to herd may enjoy chasing large balls used for the sport of Treibball. 

-Redirect to an interactive game with you. As soon as she approaches you, ask her for a sit and reward by tossing one piece of kibble/treat. She'll likely eat it and come for more if she perceives them as valuable enough. Repeat several times. This makes your dog tired, provides an outlet for chasing instincts while you incorporate some fun obedience. Here is how to train sit, which is an incompatible behavior compared with biting (a dog in general cannot sit and bite legs at the same time).  Here's a link on how to train sit, of course start in a quiet room first ad work your way to making sits very fluent before asking them in the yard under distractions.  Initially, as your dog is learning to sit, you can just toss the treat without asking for a sit as soon as she approaches you. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/obedience-101/sit/

-Alternatively you can redirect to an empty water bottle with no lid filled up. Most dogs cannot resist the crinkling sounds produced by chewing on these. They make an economical. temporary chew toy. Always monitor your dog when chewing if your dog tends to ingest things and consider that excess chewing can make some parts sharp. To make the bottle even more interesting, fill it up with a portion of your puppy's daily ratio of kibble so your puppy will keep busy trying to roll the kibble out. You can read more about this fun game here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/high-school/the-bottle-game/

-Make sure you provide outlets for pent-up energy. Brain 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 these games more and more which can turn your hands pretty boring after a while because she gets more out of these activities when she's bored/frustrated/overstimulated. 

-Don't forget to train your dog some bite inhibition. This is a very important skill. A good exercise to train this using treats is here: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/train-dog-take-treats-gently/

-Adolescent dogs also thrive with structured routines and some impulse control games to learn to better cope with frustration. You will need to teach these very gradually, taking baby steps and paying attention that she doesn't get frustrated. https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/impulse-control-frustration-tolerance/

By providing outlets for her energy and needs for mental stimulation, teaching her better impulse control and reinforcing more appropriate behaviors, you should eventually start seeing a decrease in the biting behavior. Keep track of it so to measure whether things are getting better with time. If things are going well, you should have created a new routine where your dog looks forward to being outdoors with you because of all the rewarding activities you provide (which don't involve biting). In the initial stages, it may also help sticking nearby a door so, should she start biting, you can quickly leave the scene and then return only once she looks calmer and you can quickly redirect her. 

Last but not least,  a disclaimer is warranted here. Since you mention her baring teeth and breaking skin, and therefore being present a potential aggressive component, it would be important seeking the assistance of a dog behavior professional for an in-person assessment and in-person guidance. This is important for both safety and the correct implementation of behavior modification.

I hope this helps,

Best,

Adrienne