Now that I'm out of school and have way too much time on my hands, I thought I'd start working on Kiba's basic obedience skills. Which are sorely lacking. What he lacks a bit in brains he makes up for in sheer enthusiasm, so he should be a blast to work with. We worked on "down" tonight and every time I'd praise him he would butt tuck and zoom around for a few seconds. :lol-sign:
I don't think the poor guy has ever had any fun training sessions before. I have to watch myself how I use my hands and voice because he acts like you're going to hit him at times. I have him sit/stay for his dinner and without thinking tonight I barked out my stay and swung out my hand like I do with my other dogs and he winced and turned his head.
He recovered quickly and no harm was done, but it breaks my heart that he feels the need to be hand shy like that. I'd like to smack his old owners upside their face a few times and see how they like it. Ugh.
Anyways, right now I just want to focus on the basics with him (sit/down/stay/come/stand), but later I'd like to work on heel work with him. And when I get to that point, I'll probably be asking questions.
For now, in addition to basic commands, one thing I really need to work on with him is his physicality. When he gets excited, he jumps up, uses you as a spring board, body slams in to you, and nips. He's not hard to redirect if you know what you are doing, but he does the same thing to my 10 year old sister and she physically can't take it. And if he ever acts that way with someone who cannot take it or doesn't want to take it...well...let's just say I'd like to avoid having someone call foul on me because he got revved up and nipped. (And when he nips it HURTS and leaves a mark.) Blackie was the exact same way as a young dog and it wasn't fun when he did it either. But I don't remember what we did with him to get him to cut it out, other than that he just out grew it.
When Chloe was a pup and would start to get wound up (she would also nip, coupled with growling and barking) I taught her to redirect onto a toy. That kind of works with Kiba, but if you run he'll drop the toy in favor of chasing you down and launching himself up at you. It is all in play, but that kind of play is not so good unless you're in a bite suit. LOL
I was going to play the "rev up/cool down" game with him to see if that would help, but he already does that to an extent. If you are boring, he obviously does get excited so he doesn't jump. If we're running and we stop running, he stops, too, and doesn't continue to maul us.
Tips on how to get him to stop being so physical and be more gentle in play? I'm going to try stopping all interaction whatsoever when he starts to get physical, but I wasn't sure if that was the best way to handle it.
I don't think the poor guy has ever had any fun training sessions before. I have to watch myself how I use my hands and voice because he acts like you're going to hit him at times. I have him sit/stay for his dinner and without thinking tonight I barked out my stay and swung out my hand like I do with my other dogs and he winced and turned his head.
He recovered quickly and no harm was done, but it breaks my heart that he feels the need to be hand shy like that. I'd like to smack his old owners upside their face a few times and see how they like it. Ugh. Anyways, right now I just want to focus on the basics with him (sit/down/stay/come/stand), but later I'd like to work on heel work with him. And when I get to that point, I'll probably be asking questions.
For now, in addition to basic commands, one thing I really need to work on with him is his physicality. When he gets excited, he jumps up, uses you as a spring board, body slams in to you, and nips. He's not hard to redirect if you know what you are doing, but he does the same thing to my 10 year old sister and she physically can't take it. And if he ever acts that way with someone who cannot take it or doesn't want to take it...well...let's just say I'd like to avoid having someone call foul on me because he got revved up and nipped. (And when he nips it HURTS and leaves a mark.) Blackie was the exact same way as a young dog and it wasn't fun when he did it either. But I don't remember what we did with him to get him to cut it out, other than that he just out grew it.
When Chloe was a pup and would start to get wound up (she would also nip, coupled with growling and barking) I taught her to redirect onto a toy. That kind of works with Kiba, but if you run he'll drop the toy in favor of chasing you down and launching himself up at you. It is all in play, but that kind of play is not so good unless you're in a bite suit. LOL
I was going to play the "rev up/cool down" game with him to see if that would help, but he already does that to an extent. If you are boring, he obviously does get excited so he doesn't jump. If we're running and we stop running, he stops, too, and doesn't continue to maul us.
Tips on how to get him to stop being so physical and be more gentle in play? I'm going to try stopping all interaction whatsoever when he starts to get physical, but I wasn't sure if that was the best way to handle it.
