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Out of control

2K views 8 replies 6 participants last post by  SRW 
#1 ·
Hello i have a golden dox which is half golden retriever an half dauchhaund i train him love him show him discipline an everything even though i work 12 hours a day 3 days a week when i get home i play walk an potty him on my 4 days off im with him 24/7 an he is 5 months old an he is out of control idk what to do he still knows his comands like sit plays fetch poops an pees on pads but he will bite the fire out of u bite ur ankles an ur feet what can i do
 
#2 · (Edited)
There are several ways to teach bite inhibition. The one that has worked for me is that when teeth touch skin, all engagement stops immediately. If it's only an issue when playing, then when teeth touch skin, all play stops until he calms down. If he just bites ankles when you're not playing, if teeth touch skin, walk into a room where he can't reach or see you. If possible, close a door, or set up a baby gate so that he can't follow. Wait until he calms down to go back. The message that you give is that if he bites, he gets his favorite thing (you!) taken away. I used that technique on my current pup and it worked great.
 
#3 ·
but he will bite the fire out of u bite ur ankles an ur feet what can i do
5 month old has probably in the process of teething, so, his teeth may ache and he needs plenty of chew toys, from different materials.

Hand/feet biting, well that's another thing and our 3 month old pup also has this issue. Albeit, we have had improvements regarding this.

Pups nip, especially during play - because when growing up, pups play as nipping each other. Since they have fur coat, that nip doesn't hurt them. Only when the bite goes too strong, they yelp and stop play for a short time. <- This teaches pups the mouth control, aka how hard it is okay to bite other playmates.

Now, with humans, if pup bites at same force as with playing with other pups - that hurts us, quite a lot. So, pup must learn not to bite that hard or none at all. But since pups are babies, and just like human babies, they too experience the world by putting things into their mouths. With a difference that 2 month old pup has very sharp fangs, while 2 month old baby has no teeth.

Here's humane way to do this:




Our pup gets very mouthy when he's overly exited and he tends to play "hard", biting our hands and feet. :cautious:
We've been in contact with our breeder and i've also researched this from the net and i've gotten loads of different techniques what to try:

* when pup nips you, say "No", to let pup know it's not okay
(We've tried it and when our pup is overly exited, this doesn't work.)

* when pup nips you, yelp loudly (essentially imitating dog) and turn away, to stop play
(I don't do yelps since i don't find that effective, instead, i think it "fuels the fire". My missus does the yelping and it rarely helps. It only pauses our pup for a second and he gets back to biting.)

* when pup nips you, say "OUCH" and/or turn around and walk away, to stop play
(I've tried the walking away method, doesn't work since our pup follows me and bites my feet even when i'm walking away.)

* when pup nips you, distract the pup by putting chew toy in place of your limb
(With this, i've had moderate success, but it doesn't work all the time and he prefers to nip my hands instead.)

* when pup nips you, don't react at all and relax your limb (to show the pup that it's boring to bite you)
(That i've tried and it's very hard/impossible since bites hurt, sometimes a lot. So far, i've tried it when he bites my feet, with moderate success.)

* when pup nips you, pinch pup's coat, to imitate another dog biting him/her back
(I got that suggestion from my breeder. I've tried it few times with no effect, other than pup turning towards the hand that does the pinching, to nip/bite it.)

* when pup nips you, distance yourself from the pup, either by going to another room and closing the door, or putting pup into pen/crate
(This has had the most success in calming our pup down. Since when there's no toys anymore around and he can't get to us, to nip us, he eventually calms down, so we can let him free. Albeit, this doesn't teach him not to nip/bite us.)


There are lots of suggestions and i've also read that the play biting/nipping is puppy thing and should pass until pup gets to 3-5 months old. Since when you look adult dogs playing, they don't nip/bite each other, instead, they run with each other. Also, it is possible to teach pup not to bite humans but for that, puppy school/ trainer help is needed, since on my own, i don't know how to teach it.
My current goal is not to let our pup to go into overly exited state at all, so that the biting doesn't appear. A calm pup/dog is much better than biting/zooming dog.


Only thing, that has helped us, thus far, is the last resort move, our breeder showed us.
We now say "NO" in a stern, loud voice, up to 3 times. And if pup still bites us, we grab strongly from his cheek and won't let go until pup doesn't try to nip/bite us anymore. Getting yelps/cries out of the pup, when strongly holding his cheek is preferable, since that shows him clearly that this kind of behavior isn't welcome. Also, we let pup to lay on the ground and wiggle but as long as he tries to bite us, we won't let go. Once in a semi-calm state, and when i remove my hand, pup usually tries to nip our hands again. If his teeth touch our skin (hand or feet), we again grab his cheek strongly and hold it until he doesn't bite us anymore. This continues until pup learns that this form of "play" doesn't go with us at all.

At 1st, it was quite a handful to do it but in time, we have gotten into a point where our pup doesn't bite our legs and hand biting has been also reduced greatly. Albeit, in overly exited state, he still tries to bite us and we say NO to this. I've had more success with it but my missus still struggles with the move (cheek grabbing and holding down in a such way, where dog can't bite her back).

Also, we have encouraged licking us, where we praise the licks and we even have a keyword for licking. I get that dogs want to interact with us and by instinct, it's bite. But we have to teach our dogs that we prefer different kind of "contact". Licking is great option since it feels so good, albeit it leaves hands/feet wet. But better to have wet hands/feet than aching/bloody feet/hands from nips/bites.

So, we are still in progress but the worst has passed. Still, it's not ideal, yet.
 
#6 ·
In my opinion, e collars and other training tools that give corrections should only be used with the guidance of a balanced trainer, if the pet owner does not have experience using those. It's not as simple as 'zap the dog when he does something wrong'. If you decide to go the e collar route, I'd strongly recommend finding a trainer to work with.
 
#7 ·
Im not using the e collar not untill he is about 7-8 months old an when i did use one before i do have experience with them i only use the vibrate or tone i never use the shock part an i have used one on my parents pit massive an my brother pitbull an never used shock.shock is only made for extreme agression in my opinion if ue is trying to attack or if he is trying to force himself opon someone my parents pitbull would attack upon command thats how i trained him for my parents for protection but this is the first time i have ever had a golden mix or a golden in general ive always had pits an German sheppards an american bullies
 
#9 ·
i do have experience with them i only use the vibrate or tone i never use the shock part an i have used one on my parents pit massive an my brother pitbull an never used shock.shock is only made for extreme agression in my opinion if ue is trying to attack or if he is trying to force himself opon someone my parents pitbull would attack upon command thats how i trained him for my parents for protection
That’s not how to use an e-collar and you’re setting your parents and yourself up for a lawsuit.
 
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