Nipping at ankles and pulling on clothes

[hraymer1]

I have a 9 week old Sheepadoodle who grabs our pants when we are trying to walk and proceeds to try to play tug of war with our bodies despite us letting out a sharp Yelp, freezing turning our backs to her and crossing our arms. She just seems to grab stronger hold sometimes pinches our skin. She doesn’t respond to redirection with a toy. we essentially pry our clothes out of her mouth or pick her up. She is a very kind smart girl when she is not wild like this, but she can turn into a stinker very quickly. Please advise how we can stop this behaviour.

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Greetings, and welcome to the forum.

 

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

-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)

 

 

Now, this is a very young puppy, (so it's good this is being tackled before the pup gets larger and stronger), but sorry to say, one breed component (Old English sheepdog) of this particicular mix is one that is predisposed to nipping behaviors. Old English sheepdog pups can be quite a challenge, and the nipping can take time to overcome because it has a strong genetic component. This behavior needs to be redirected as it can get out of hand if not addressed. It's play, but it can get rough and a strong habit.

 

Being that she is smart, we need to outsmart her. The main goal being providing consistency and making our bodies and clothes rather boring to interact with, while making other toys or games more appealing.

 

While yelping can be effective with many puppies, it doesn't always work with very determined puppies or those with high prey drive 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 if 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.

 

-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 and dog cookies), rather than just a regular toy. This should occupy her for long enough for you to walk away. 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 bodies or clothes.

 

-You can also encourage some fun games that are also rewarding. Here are some fun ones: https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-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 small, 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 clothes 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.

 

- 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 clothing nipping behavior overtime.

 

-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.

 

You may have to try several of these and see what works best. Redirection to a rewarding treat-dispensing toy or game thar uses treats should be quite easy at this age. Teaching an alternate behavior is too 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

Edited October 19, 2018 by Adrienne Farricelli