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Molly our almost 12 week old retriever is causing us some concern. My husband and I are a little worried about her biting. I've read a lot of posts on this forum but her behaviour seems a bit different. I've also read Ian Dunbar's book and tried to put his advise into action but when Molly gets tired or over stimulated (which happens easily) she escalates quickly from play to uncontrolled biting, barking, jumping craziness.
We pick her up and give her a short time out. We let her out again when she calms down but if she starts up again its another time out. Eventually, she gets it but it doesn't seem to stick. The next day its the same behaviour. Also, she loves the neighbourhood children and will pull and tug at the leash if she hears their voices. Unfortunately, she's really nippy and I don't want the kids to get hurt. Already one of the little ones calls her the 'bitey' dog.
I hold her in sitting position and instruct the children to wait until she's calm. Often I have to take her back inside because she won't calm down. She loves people but both my husband and myself find ourselves avoiding non-dog people because it such an unpleasant experience. (that being said she's not being socially deprived as she has easily met 100 people) We take her to puppy play time and she does get worked up. The trainer is not concerned although she has had to pick Molly up a couple of times to calm her down even though she is the youngest puppy there. The trainer tells us that Molly is, 'no shrinking violet.' Great, but we don't want this behaviour to continue to escalate, we want her to be able to meet people without biting them. We have tried and continue to use the loud 'OUCH' which at times seems to get her going even more. We always have chew toy to stuff in her mouth. What else can we do? Any and all advise, suggestions , whatever would be greatly appreciated. We love our Molly and want other people to love her too! We don't want her to be the 'bitey' dog!:no:
We pick her up and give her a short time out. We let her out again when she calms down but if she starts up again its another time out. Eventually, she gets it but it doesn't seem to stick. The next day its the same behaviour. Also, she loves the neighbourhood children and will pull and tug at the leash if she hears their voices. Unfortunately, she's really nippy and I don't want the kids to get hurt. Already one of the little ones calls her the 'bitey' dog.