Nipping, Jumping and general badness - what a horrible day

[Sandy]

So....this was Toby's worst day in a while. Jumping incessantly. Nipping, which is actually starting to feel a lot like biting. And just not listening at all.....not even a little. He's 15 weeks old now. Is there an end in sight? We had the house lead on, stepped on it to prevent jumping, and got bit on the feet. Sprayed bitter apple in his mouth, and that stopped him for a couple of minutes. He's just acting like a beast today. I just want to know that my consistency and training will pay off at some point......Anyone else ever feel hopeless?

[Sandy]

Thanks. Sometimes it just helps to hear I'm not alone. We have a fenced yard, and he has plenty of opportunity to run and play, with us, and by himself. He also gets walked 2-3 times a day, usually for 20 minutes each times. Sundays are his miserable day, as the schedule is completely different, and there are usually extra people in at lunch after church, etc. I am hanging in there......he seems a little sorry he did it this morning. We'll see how the day goes! :)

[Leslie, Dexter & Kirby]

Dexter was a little terror at that age. The jumping/nipping was horrible. We just kept correcting him - it got so much better for us when he was around 5-6 months old.

[Sandy]

So there IS hope? I love him so much, but.....the behaviours, not so much.

[Leslie and Halas]

Halas was terrible with the nipping. He still gets a little too wound up sometimes now and tries it, just to see if, maybe this time, it will be allowed. Wrong. Anyway, we tried all the regular methods, yelling ouch, ignoring him, etc. None of them worked for us. Finally, an obedience trainer gave me a tip that worked. Firmly say NO BITE, while putting a drop or 2 of lemon juice in his mouth. Halas hated that, and I only had to do it one or 2 times. Halas was quite a bit older than Toby is now, but the point is, it will get better. You just have to find the method that will work for you and Toby. It might take some trial and error, and some time, but you'll get there.

[Sandy]

How did you aim the lemon juice properly? He's usually jumping in for a nip, then jumping back. And usually only on me, not my husband. Last night I squirted bitter apple right in his mouth. That definite sent a message.

[Leslie and Halas]

It's tricky, because you don't want to get it in his eye. Halas usually nipped and jumped back, too, but I was able to catch him one time and get it right in his mouth. The trouble with trying to catch him is that if you miss, it turns into a game for him, and you don't want that. You can probably set him up. Maybe put a couple of drops of lemon juice directly on your hand, and then kind of put your hand where you know he'll try to grab it. Maybe having the juice on your hand will be enough. I carry the lemon juice bottle around with me, and I have it ready. So if he is nipping on my left, I try to quickly squirt with my right hand. Even if I get Halas' whiskers, he still rubs his face on the ground for about 2 minutes. So you could squirt and just try to get it as close to his mouth as possible, but aim low, so that if you do miss, it isn't up in his eyes. After a couple of squirts with Halas, I just had to say lemon or show him the lemon, and he would stop.

[Sandy]

We are in puppy kindergarten - last class is this coming Friday. It has been very valuable for learning some of the basics, and some tricks, etc, to keep him busy. I haven't found any puppy playgroups, and the people at the trainer's advise against dog parks. They say you just don't know what kind of dogs might be there, aggressive-wise.

With the jumping up, it is more on the couch or at the counter, so turning my back on him isn't an option there. We have a house lead we put on him - then we put our foot on it, and prevent the jumping until he settles down. Today has been a much better day, thank goodness.

[22y8rmuouwttt]

Hi Sandy,
I came across some training videos and have been using them on our new Sophie - there is one excercise called "the chill" which has been particularly effective in stopping the nipping, and getting her to calm down around our smaller children. The key is to use it consistently but with a few tries it really works! Here is the link: http://www.perfectpaws.com/video/puppy_biting1.html
Jane (and Sophie)

[Sandy]

We were using this, but our trainer told us that's one method she would never use. Apparently she's seen it go wrong in a hurry when dogs get bigger. She met one woman for personal training sessions with teeth marks in her neck. I guess her dog "chilled", and then when she let go it's natural instincts took over, and it dove for her throat. So.....we aren't using it anymore. Although, when we did, we found it pretty effective.