Addressing biting when trying to fix jumping

[KarthikMuthuswamy]

Hello dog lovers,

I am training my pup by following the steps to address jumping. However, my 4-month old pup has this weird method of biting when I turn around to stop his jumping.

When I try to remove him from biting my legs or pants, he begins to bite my hands. Due to this, I keep him mostly inside his crate after his train, food and walk schedule.

Any ideas to fix his biting behaviour? I believe I should be able to fix his jumping once his biting subsides. Thanks!

[Adrienne]

Is this form of biting fairly new (meaning it started since you have started turning your back to him) or has he been overall nippy for some time? Is the biting mostly happening when you turn your back or does it happen as well at other times of the day in other contexts? If so, let me know in what contexts does the biting more commonly arise. Also, what methods were you using to stop jumping before turning your back?

 Just trying to determine whether you may be dealing with an extinction burst or just the regular puppy biting, which is very common in puppies of this age and sometimes exacerbates when puppies are cranky and in need of some sleep. 

[KarthikMuthuswamy]

He usually bites his leash a lot after coming back from a walk perhaps signaling me to remove it. When I try to remove it he tries to bite my hand as well. This is one example but there are several occasions where he is nippy and I’m unable to correct this behavior. This also happens when I teach him to stop jumping and results in him still jumping more. Any ideas or suggestions would be really helpful. Thanks!

[Adrienne]

Gotcha! 

So when you have to remove the leash, you can try some conditioning exercises where you practice first at home clipping and un-clipping the leash from the collar. It would go like this:you clip the collar on, you give a treat/kibble, you un-clip it and give a treat/kibble. Do this several times until your pup seems happy to have the leash clipped and un-clipped and will look for his treat rather than biting your hands.

We may also though want to find ways to reduce the leash biting since this can be habit-forming. Since you know it happens coming back from a walk, you can try to distract him and engage him in a different activities making them extra rewarding so that he chooses these activities over playing tug with the leash. I will provide some tips for curbing this behavior. Often, when dealing with this behavior it helps to take a multi-faceted approach, in other words, we tackle it from different angles. It may also take trying different methods to see what works best. So here are some tips.

-Divert With Treats: When you are on walks, you can divert your dog's attention by playing alternate games. The moment you notice your pup is about to bite the leash, divert his attention, and start tossing some treats on the ground; tell him to "find them!" This can be quite a fun game to play and rewarding if you use hard treats/kibble that he can chase around.

-Divert with Targeting: hand targeting(or using a target stick) is an easy game to play with and if you train it fluently at home, chances are, once on leash in the yard, your dog may choose to engage on this activity versus tugging with the leash if you use high-value treats. However, your dog may go onto going back to leash tugging the moment you stop the targeting exercise, so you may need to do several reps in a row to keep his focus off the leash. Here you can find how to train targeting:

https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

-Divert with attention-heeling: this may take some time to master, but is another exercise you can train and it can turn helpful in redirecting your pup to this rather than leash tugging. The best part is that you'll be training a great behavior that can turn helpful in many scenarios (e.g. when walking past distractions etc). You can find how to train attention heeling here:

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

-Be patient: You should expect a few "bumps" along the road. Your dog may revert to his old leash biting antics every now and then, but this is normal. If you persist in rewarding the alternate behaviors with high-value treats, you should see a gradual and steady increase in the desired behaviors and a gradual decrease in leash biting.

--Let your dog carry something. Goldens can be very mouthy dogs and they may enjoy carrying things. Letting your dog carry objects (tennis ball, toy) while walking can help reduce the leash tugging behavior.

-Change texture. Many dog owners have had success reducing leash tugging by slipping a long piece of PVC pipe over the leash as dogs do not like to bite hard textures. Another options is to invest in a chain leash or adding a lightweight piece of chain to the leash as dogs do not like to bite the texture of the chain.

 

[Adrienne]

For the jumping, I like to carry a treat bag filled with treats or kibble in the initial stages of training so to reward desired behaviors. Remember, practice makes perfect, the more he jumps and bites and has fun, the more he'll want to engage in this activity, so we have to find creative outlets and make them far more reinforcing. Here are a few tips:

-Use a baby gate. You can step over the gate as soon as the puppy jumps, and then return only when the puppy stops. Rinse and repeat as needed.

-You can also try to train a "take".  Simply, train him to go get a a toy on cue (and maybe even shake it!) by pointing at it for those crazy biting and jumping moments. It’s an easy redirection for those crazy jumping and biting fits which are usually excess energy.

-As soon as he walks towards you, throw treats/kibble on the ground. When he starts  hovering a few feet away from you waiting for the food, you can start rewarding for making eye contact. Maybe even introduce some Airplane games: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/the-airplane-game/ or targets: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/brain-training/preschool/targeting/

- Train your pup how rewarding it is to sit and click/verbally mark and treat when you pup has "4 legs on the floor. "  If you toss the treat to the floor a few feet away, you can wait till your pup turns back toward you and click and toss to the floor again before he reaches you. Rinse and repeat as needed.

Here's a case study on rewarding for sits in a jumping dog: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/case-studies/02-maggie-assessing-jumping-behavior-desensitization/

Hope this helps!

Best,

Adrienne

[KarthikMuthuswamy]

Thank you very much for all the information. I'm able to slowly wean him away from his biting and jumping using treats. I divert his attention to something else when he tries to nip and that seems to work most times. I'll keep working on this and get him to completely move away from nipping.

[Adrienne]

You are very welcome, sounds like a plan! Keep me updated on how things go.

Best,

Adrienne