Puppy Biting/growling --the truth

antipunt1

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#41
Hey, I just got back to reading some of the recent posts.
~
@Ashley-hey i don't know if you'll even come back to see this, but let me start off by saying I can understand why you're reacting this way. That said, however, I also see where Dekka is coming from. The thing is, there's a lot not being said here, which is the info that Dekka is basing statements/opinions off of. The first thing is that turning a dog on their side/upside down is kinda a death threat, just scientifically. That is, to the dog, it is literally interepreted many times literally as a threat. There are exceptions probably, but I"m guessing most dogs will not interpret the roll kindly. In addition to not being effective for the most part, these strategies might get their owner in trouble!

The frustration/confusion regarding 'limit-setting' is another thing; people may have read your posts and taken it that you just don't know what you're doing. And the thing is: I am in the same boat! I would get FRUSTRATED UP THE WAZOO from my puppy! And I had no idea what I was doing wrong: no matter what I did (hence this THREAD), it just made her bite harder. And this is when I considered the alpha-roll ish type training as well. But the thing is, I'm starting to get convinced that I was mistaken at this junction, and that current science heavily frowns on these 'dominance training' stuffs.

And though my puppy stills bites (silly puppy), it doesn't mean I'm going to turn to the dominance tactics. The fact that the puppy struggles hard against the alpha roll is probably evidence of how threatening it is. But overall, thx for your attempt to help, but I hope you understand where your received comments are probably coming from, and won't take them as personal attack
~
@Lizzy: about the vet comment, its so true. Vet's are geniuses, but they don't know everything. My vet knows tons about puppy health, but told us to throw toys at it when it chewed (HAD NO IDEA! about bite inhibition training). It was hopeless explaining what I meant by "I'm gonna let my puppy bite my hands!", lol, so I just gave up trying, and explained to my parents outside of the room why it was I was doing what I was doing and probably why the Vet seemingly was objecting (misinterpreting).
~

Ooo yea. so phoebe. I can't believe I didn't mention this yet, I thought I did:

PHOEBE IS GREAT. She's like the most patient older sister I've ever seen. Wanta was 'acting in reverse' today: that is usually she was the one chasing the other dog making their life hell. Today she was running and growling whenever friendly Phoebe came close. And this time it WAS cute and funny b/c Phoebe would keep on coming closer to Wanta and sniffing with her tail wagging in full speed. Even when Wanta backed and growled, Phoebe came with tail wagging and patiently keeping a safe distance. And silly Wanta would growl/sneer, but when Phoebe turned around Wanta would chase at her a little and then growl while backing up when Phoebe cam eback. We were like "no one is going to take you seriously, who BACKS UP while growling". Lol 'make up your mind!'

I was curious why the role was reversed, but it was amazingly cute to interact with Phoebe b/c she was JUST LIKE my dog (genetics probably). The behavior was very similar; they had the same mannerisms, energy, and hyper-chase the other dog around friendliness. But I was curious to see that Wanta was the one growling/hiding this time. It seems at this point Wanta loves people (licked Phoebe's owner to death) but didn't trust dogs as much.

And this was weird since she was also chasing Dukie. I had two main hypotheses:

#1. this was Phoebe's territory, AKA not home, and foreign. This is the most likely answer

#2. Wanta didn't know dog's as infinitely patient/friendly as Phoebe existed. After having negative experiences with Ginger, Wanta has sworn off other dogs, especially those larger than her. This is not as likely.

And it's because Wanta has 0% of the time been confident outside of the home with other dogs. I don't think its a coincidence. It would also be kinda pessimistic/negative-nancy to blame Ginger for everything.

All in all, leaving Wanta with a family that loves dogs and has a dog that is both related to my puppy and also containing infinite patience/kindness is a huge plus for my SF trip with my family. I feel much more relieved; MUCH

I have faith that Wanta will eventually learn to trust Phoebe (hopefully warranted), and I have a feeling forumers would support this move as FINALLY being good for my dog as well (PROPER socialization). It should be noted that my conversation with Sarah (the owner) was a LOT less like with my Aunt. Phoebe has been to dog parks most of the time, although its been said she exhibits the same 'fraidy cat' behavior as my dog. They are so smiliar it looks like a mirror into the future when they play.

Which is yet another secuirty for me: Sarah probably already raised "wanta" once already. She wasn't phased at all to see my puppy rolling her lips up for a growl. the bluff wasn't called and Sarah became instant friends with Wanta like a hot knife through butter. Very unlike that..mm..interesting lady at the vet office...who voluntered herself to pluck at my puppy's mouth/teeth saying "open your mouth lemme see your cute teeth..lemme see..". I was like...um....lady...yeaaa....back awaaay.. [lol note it wasn't like she worked at the office, she was having her dog checked up on]
~

*biting update: puppy is still biting but I'm learning not to be so hasty with expectations. Puppies will be puppies, and I'll let those "little sharks" be for a while. But that doesn't mean I'm not continuing with my attempts to teach; for example, the time outs still continue. I can only hope she gets it eventually. At least she lets me rub the inside of her mouth/teeth without chomping on me; I consider this as better than nothing :p
 
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Aescleah

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#42
i just want to say i was not alfa rolling yes argo rolls but i dont touch him when he does it i am against forcably alpha rolling a dog and when i started this the first time his belly was facing the ground where it belongs when i did it. it was more like saying i dont like what you were doing stop it. btw each time i have used this i touch him less and less and he gets the point.
as for advocating this to others i didnt i just related my experiences then gave a warning about it.

peace
Ashley
 
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corgipower

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#43
antipunt, it sounds like Wants found a playmate. :D

i just want to say i was not alfa rolling yes argo rolls but i dont touch him when he does it i am against forcably alpha rolling a dog and when i started this the first time his belly was facing the ground where it belongs when i did it. it was more like saying i dont like what you were doing stop it. btw each time i have used this i touch him less and less and he gets the point.
Whether you're touching him or not, if he's rolling on his back and licking, he's feeling overly threatened. This is not an approach anyone should take, and this can turn into a dangerous situation Many dogs when they feel threatened to that extent will bite.

I'm also confused ~ how can you not touch him, but touch him less and less?
 

Dekka

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#44
So you have intimidated your pup into begging for his life without you even touching him and you think this is a good thing?


Ohh and Antipunt1..where are the pics.. LOL we demand pics!!!
 

antipunt1

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#45
Ah I see, I think I'm starting to get it. Ashely, although your intentions for your dog are friendly I'm sure, I think what the forum is trying to inform is the fallacy of the method as a whole [rolling], and that most dogs won't respond similarly. I also am a little confused at how you describe your procedure, but it does sound to me its pretty much still threatening a dog to submission (but its OK, I'm sure you DON'T KNOW that). However, it has indeed worked for you, and its not like we can tell you to 'reverse training' ya know? All in all, I just hope you can understand the points conveyed, and take them as learning experience ;]
~

Yes yes, Wanta found a playmate. WHEW. I overworry for my pup, but this was a grand relief...I started believing all dogs were like devil-Ginger....

AH PICS. LOL, I've actually many times wished I could take mental snapshots of the cute things they were doing. I'm sure its not that hard to post pictures on this forum, maybe I'll bugger my dad for a digital camera and see what I can do at some point :D (as for reference, Wanta looks SURPRISINGLY similar to the anime-dog Wanta of which I named my puppy after [on my profile picture])
 

lizzybeth727

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#46
I was curious why the role was reversed
Dogs act differently with different dogs. It's just personality. Think about it - do you act exactly the same around everyone you come into contact with? No, personalities change and situations change. I wouldn't make huge generalizations about your dogs' socialization with other dogs based on one play date.

Congrats for it going so well, though, sounds like you all had a great time!
 

Romy

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#49
AH PICS. LOL, I've actually many times wished I could take mental snapshots of the cute things they were doing. I'm sure its not that hard to post pictures on this forum, maybe I'll bugger my dad for a digital camera and see what I can do at some point :D (as for reference, Wanta looks SURPRISINGLY similar to the anime-dog Wanta of which I named my puppy after [on my profile picture])
You could always draw some pics of her and post them in the dog art section. ;)
 

ihartgonzo

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#50
Honestly?

It does sound like you got the "fiesty" puppy... not only that, but you got her at 6 weeks of age! Meaning, YOU have to do the 2-(preferably)4 weeks of work/socialization/guidance that Wanta's mother and siblings would have done.

Not every puppy is going to respond to the same method, just like not every adult dog responds to the same training methods. Fozzie thought that squealing sounded like a squeaky toy and he would actually get riled up when he was corrected with that method. But, a stern, short, growly "ah-ah" made him check himself immediately. I wouldn't walk away from a puppy who was getting too rough. Simply stand up, cross your arms, and give her a verbal warning if she procedes to nip at you - when you're standing stock still and not giving her any reinforcement, you are no fun! When she loses interest and chills out, initiate play with a toy, or offer her a chewy, or do some training with treats. It is important that she is given enough exercise, training, and play with you... so that she knows when it's time to play and when it's time to chill, and that the game ends the second she gets to rough.
 

antipunt1

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#51
it's interesting you say that, because I was kinda thinking the same thing (regarding my puppy's personality)

It's now around the 10-11 week mark, and Wanta is still as nippy as ever. But the thing is, I'm getting that red flashy "I'm doing something wrong" feeling. Because basically what my family has done, was that they molded FOR Wanta [instead of other way around]. I'm not saying this is a bad thing (as I'm doing this myself), but I'm still always the worrier I guess.

Basically she has this behavioral pattern I'm noticing: because we leave her to romp in our yard for a while when we are working/busy during the day, I've pretty much nailed what she does in this order:
1. excited no-nippy/happy to see you hyper snipping and jumping on you
2. after awhile, goes into the "i wanna play my-style" mode, and starts to nip

She follows this pattern with every new person she sees if she hasn't seen them for a while (couple of hours). After that, she stays in stage 2. I call it her 'real personality' jokingly, but I think there's some truth in it.

She loves hands. And feet. And at first my family was strict on yip-training and avoid-training, etc. ,but recently we just let her do what she does, with the underlying justification of "she's too young" [and also, NONE of the training tactics have worked even at the slightest, if not made her more nippy]. Obedience (class) training starts at like 16 weeks (legally), and I'm getting a lot of messages that I should take it easy on my puppy in terms of learning

But this conflicts with my inner-emergency signal, especially when I remember reading that socialization windows become critical at this time.

For example she hates leash walking, so we just tell ourselves she's too young. And she likes to nip/bite, but we tell ourselves she's too young. I'm not sure, maybe so, maybe not.

But its not like we don't do ANYTHING. My mom tries her [i secretly know its futile] semi-harsh No's; her body language says more; Wanta loves chomping on hands/toes more than anything else, and my Mom SAYS No, but her body language of 'fleeing' seems to show the dog who's boss. My brother is better at avoiding, and my dad is more effective with Nos, but all in all, Wanta is CRAZY. Lovable, but on a rampage!

Just yesterday she ran into some neighbors and passerbyers at the end of our night walk, and she did this very hyper [I don't see this often] semi-aggressive, but somewhat playful barking/edging closer-further behavior. It's cute, but once again that alarm went off. And the alarm was "PLEASE DONT BE LIKE GINGER, my aunt's devil dog, when you grow up!!".

Her personality is changing very rapidly, and she's still cute as ever, and has her 'moments' [ex: she seems great on holding her bladder while in crate area at night, and she will sometimes calm down sitting on your lap cutely], but I am getting this overwhelming 'aggression' that is developing. Then again, it might be normal for a puppy. I seem to get conflicting messages though, so I'm not sure.

It's also great we made a social friend Phoebe, but its not like we see her everyday. To counter my puppy's nipping, I do a combination of time-outs and kinda of playing back with her [I figure, if nothing else, I can get her mouth used to me messing with her teeth]. She never bites hard when I do that, which I consider something as opposed to nothing.

But her general 'nipping' behavior itself has gotten 'worse', depending on how you look at it since she is technically just 'older' and growing up. She gets growly/semi-aggressive, but at heart I know she just wants to play.

All in all, I'm getting kinda of a message like "OMG!!! Guys, I have like a BAJILLION volts of energy and you guys are all pacifists, what's WRONG with you?". I think anyways?.

But Wanta you have a whole yard to yourself! You're lucky you aren't confined in the playpen all day!

And when we walk her, we always do it at night in a secluded block-loop, b/c [and I know its taboo], but we walk her without a leash. Before I get chewed out :yikes:, I wanna plead the reason why is b/c I have so much trouble keeping up with her, that we decided she's just too young to learn it. She just complains to no end, and challenges me. B/c I can't pull on a puppy leash [so I'm taught], soon walking became absolutely futile/impossible. That is, unless we let her go. And as soon as we do, She transforms and stays by our side as if telling us she's proving her loyalty. It's safe, but once again, completely against common-rule, which worries me. But my parents say, again, "she's too young". There might be some truth in this, however, because its kinda like, with the leash, we can't even walk. And I know my puppy has enough energy to burn that transforms into 2-3 walks.

The reason why I mention this is to explain just how hard it is to work the energy out of our puppy, and just how surprised I am at her in general. So we're restricted to one walk a day [I can't walk her during the day, she won't even do it]. Basically, at night we walk in a group of 3. Without all of us, she becomes a SUPER chicken [kinda cute], but it becomes virtually impossible to walk her.

So its funny. She seems to be jolting with energy. She has a yard. We walk her at the cost of performing a TABOO of doing so without a leash. What else can we do basically?

We figure she's just way too young. That's what I keep telling myself anyway when I get the red-flashes "your dog is going the Satan path!!".

It seems the time out is the only effective strategy for biting [by that, I mean keeping us 'safe', not making her stop!]. Crossing arms doesn't work for us b/c she's like "hm...soo...WHAT you gonna do about it?". She knows we're pushovers, and tries to provoke us. She wants fun, but we don't wanna become chewtoys. [by knowing we're pushovers, I mean she knows time-out is our only resort, and we'll never nip back at her like her mother/siblings probably would've]. And still, we keep tempting her with her toys, even stuffing her mouth with them. The only one that even gets a second glance is her rope toy. She ignores allllll the other ones, and even the rope toy doesn't work 80% of the time.

Then when she's timed out in the crate, its 'whine whine whine' again. Funny. We let her out after she stops whining, and its biting all over again! You can imagine why the 'too young to understand' is very believable.

Thx guys; sry for the lengthy post, but I just kinda updated everything :p . Hope all is well, and that Wanta will chill out later in life. Oh yea, so my folks are pretty convinced about obedience class, which is very sweet. Problem is she has to get all her shots, which will last until around 15-16 weeks I believe. Isn't that..like..when the window starts to close?

until next time ;)

PS: I know I'm emphasizing a lot of Wanta's problematic behaviors, but its important to note that she isn't anywhere close to Ginger-satan right now. There's many positive moments not mentioned. Just wanted to keep things in perspective, as I'm focusing on her problems that need fixing at the moment, and it may make her sound worse than she is :p
 
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Dekka

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#52
Part of the issues COULD be that she is a byb dog and 'might' not have a great temperament. BUT it could be just as likely at this stage that she is too young.

If you are really concerned I would find a great trainer. Its hard to give advice over the internet cause we can't actually see your dog.

Do you walk her on a harness or a collar (when she is on leash)?

By accepting that she doesn't want to be on leash you are training her to no accept a leash....

Your WHOLE family must be consistent. AND if it worked for a while she is going to keep doing it (and get worse) before she gives up. This is called an extinction burst.
 

antipunt1

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#53
Noted about the whole family consistency. It seems harder to coordinate than I had originally planned

For walking, we use a leash. I was afraid of that 'regarding the reverse leash training'. So maybe the 'you're too young' isn't a good excuse then? But at this rate she won't be able to walk at all, though if this does do 'reverse training' we'll have to drop the ball cause that'd be HORRENDOUS.

noted about the extinction burst, thx for the info. I think obedience training would be the furthest my dad will allow, but I'll note the personal trainer recc.

~

WHAT, just like 10 minutes my puppy freaking attacked me! I mean, I know she thinks its fun, but JEEZ, talk about your suspicions for temperament. She got excited cause I was dusting off myself of her fur [I think], and did this growl thing and lunged for my feet. She seriously looked like attacking [like the whole growl and bite/shake her head thing]. I was like WHAT?! SERIOUS Time out for you.

But dam, I've been thinking about the counter to the "too young to train" argument, which is that training starts from day 1. If that premise is true, regarding the reverse-leash training and the 'not as harsh as possible' training for biting, intermingled with her general [possible] personality and this incident, my family [and me] might have to do some serious rethinking then!

But this is strange, Phoebe [her older sister] seems very nonaggressive at 8 months. So is this time to get the military-trainer-in me awake, or maybe she'll grow out of it. But...DANG..just wow
 

Dekka

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#54
NOT too young for training. Too young to expect swift and permanent results.

You have to remember for the last while she found the if she bit you-you made fun noises. It will take LONGER for her to 'unlearn' it than it did for her to learn in (the extinction part)

Here is a great example (from my psych prof) of human extinction behaviour.

You are thirsty.. you see a coke machine. (and you like coke and have a loonie..loonie being the canadian one dollar coin for those of you not in the know)

So you go over and put your money in the machine and press 'coke'. Now from that behaviour you expect to be rewarded with a nice cold can of coke.

But nothing happens? Do you just walk away and learn to never put loonies in a coke machine ever again? No.

Likely you push the button again. Maybe press it harder. You are doing the behaviour More and stronger than the first time.

Maybe just before you give up and go find a water fountain you might hit the button or kick the machine. This is an example of an extinction burst. The behaviour gets stronger in the face of no reward before it is given up.

Lets say on the way to the water fountain you see another coke machine. You have another loonie so you try it and it works. You are right back to your 'old behaviour'.


How many times would it take for pop machines to eat your money before you gave up every putting money in them? 10 times, 20 times? What happened if most of the time it worked, but sometimes it didn't? Most likely you would still try it.

That is why consistency is sooo important.
 

Maxy24

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#55
It's now around the 10-11 week mark, and Wanta is still as nippy as ever.
10-11 weeks old is VERY young still, there is no way she would have stopped nipping this early, normally she would have only been home for 2-3 weeks at this point. You have to remember that just because you got her earlier does not mean she's going to learn at a younger age, instead you'll have to deal with it longer. I would not expect nipping to stop entirely until teething is through...around 5-6 months (sorry). Of course that somewhat depends on the dog. So don't give up yet! keep at it and don't feel like she is behind or acting odd for her age, that is not the case at all ;)
but recently we just let her do what she does, with the underlying justification of "she's too young" [and also, NONE of the training tactics have worked even at the slightest, if not made her more nippy].
Don't do this please, she'll learn it's okay to nip, plus the more she gets to sit there and do it the stronger the behavior will become. She is not too young to begin learning, she's just too young to have figured it out. You may think well then why not wait until she's old enough to figure it out to start? The reason you start now is because if you were to let her get away with it now and learn how fun it is then by the time she is old enough to figure it out she'll already think chewing you is the greatest thing in the world and it will be very hard to break her of the habit you created. if anything it's important now that she never gets the chance to chew on you and learn it is fun. You must remember that of course they have not worked yet it will take much more than a few weeks for her to learn this, it's such a natural and fun behavior.

my Mom SAYS No, but her body language of 'fleeing' seems to show the dog who's boss. My brother is better at avoiding, and my dad is more effective with Nos,
She does not know thew word "no", sending an actual message by removing yourself from her reach is something she will understand much better. Of everyone your brother may be doing the best thing by not letting her practice on him and learn how tasty and fun he is to chew. the dog wants to play remember, so you leaving the room when she plays inappropriately is the best message you can send, she is not biting to make you leave, she is biting to initiate a game, it's easy to tell her you never will play that game by leaving or standing and ignoring. Remember if as you stand and ignore her she tries to jump or nip just wait it out and stand stiffly, once she gets nothing back from you she should move on. once she moves on wait a few seconds and then pick up a toy and play WITH the toy. As soon as she goes for you return to ignoring. Persistence is so important, pups can be relentless you just have to make them give up before you! then reward them for it with a game using a toy.

he did this very hyper [I don't see this often] semi-aggressive, but somewhat playful barking/edging closer-further behavior.
Because she is off-leash and a puppy you have no physical or voice control over her which would have been very useful here. Normally I would use the leash to walk in the opposite direction as soon as she started barking. Then when she stopped you could start towards the people again. I would really use the leash. She sounds like she wanted to play, make sure she is getting a lot of socialization though so she learns how to properly behave and feel comfortable with strangers.

To counter my puppy's nipping, I do a combination of time-outs and kinda of playing back with her [I figure, if nothing else, I can get her mouth used to me messing with her teeth]. She never bites hard when I do that, which I consider something as opposed to nothing.
I'm not a huge fan of time outs (although I suppose for some dogs they work) because I feel they take too long to initiate, you have to take the time to bring the dog to the time out spot. Things like standing up to ignore can happen immediately. I would not play back with her after she already nipped hard otherwise you teach her that nipping allows the game to continue or even become more fun. It's also best to pick one method and stick with it so that the dog is very aware of the consequence of his actions. I know you are frustrated but it's important not to confuse her, she needs to know nipping with force ends play ALWAYS.
we walk her without a leash.
that is probably illegal and IMO very dangerous, what if she sees a cat or another dog or even some people? will she stay with you or go to see it? She could get hit by a car, lost or attacked by the dog who she goes to meet. Or she could run up to a kid and start nipping him. At this age you have no voice control over her either. Put a leash on her, she simply has no idea how to walk with one, waiting will do nothing. At the rescue I volunteer at we get plenty of adult dogs who have never been on a leash, they freak out, zig zag, pull etc. and it's much worse from an adult dog than from a small puppy.
You do not have to keep up with her you need to stop and wait until she calms down. Let her get used to the leash by wearing it around the house when you are home so it is not strange for her.

She wants fun, but we don't wanna become chewtoys. [by knowing we're pushovers, I mean she knows time-out is our only resort, and we'll never nip back at her like her mother/siblings probably would've].
Like you said, she wants to PLAY. By not playing and removing yourself from her reach you are disappointing her very much so don't act like it's a useless punishment. It's just not one that causes her fear or pain, it sends a more specific message "this does not work as a play method" as opposed to "If you try and play with me like that I'm going to attack you", I like the first one better. you are only a pushover if you allow her to nip you and don't bother teaching her anything at all.

if while you stand and ignore her she actually hurts you or sits and just chews away you can try what was suggested earlier and have a place in the room to tie her too quickly (which means she'll have to already have the leash on) like a door knob, chair or wall tether and stand out of her reach.

I also wanted to mention something called an extinction burst which occurs when you ignore a dog. The behavior will get worse for a short time as the dog tries her hardest to get what she is doing to work. It is IMPERATIVE that you not give in during an extinction burst. After this burst is all done and the dog does not get what she wants the behavior is usually very close to being all over with or become much easier/quicker to stifle at each occurrence (instead of having to stand and ignore 12 times in one play session you might only have to do it 4 times).

So all in all stick to one methods for a long time, you've had her for a month, she should have only been home for two weeks, and you've been switching up methods as you learn, there is no WAY she would have stopped nipping yet, it will take a long while.

Puppies are hard, there is no question there but persistence it key with them. So stick to it! And don't let it get you down because if you do stick to it then it will get easier eventually.

You might want to check out some books, I don't remember how old you said you were, some books would be hard for younger kids. I started reading them when I was 14 or 15 so if you are around there then you can read most of them I'd guess. "The Culture Clash" (great for helping managing dog behaviors) and "Bones Would Rain from the Sky" (help to build a strong bond with your dog) are great books. Ian Dunbar has two puppy books I believe that would probably help (I have not read them though).


ETA: whoops there were some posts before i hit enter, sorry if i repeated anything.
 

antipunt1

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#56
My God Dekka; thank you for making that so incredibly clear. I myself studied a lot of psych, and your explanation of extinction behavior was well put and rehashed my memory from long back

It makes a lot of sense and I"ll explain it to my family; hopefully they'll understand. But for now I have to grasp the reality that my puppy BIT me. Like...snarl snarl bite kinda bite. And this wasn't the first time. In fact this wasn't the first time today. I'll have to spend some time understanding why Wanta would bite the hand that feeds her. It's a disturbing thought for me psychologically.

I'm having so much trouble understanding whats going through her mind. I brought a treat outside ready to teach her some basic 'sit' reinforcement. After smelling the treats, I started to walk [training her to sit somewhere else/patience]. She growled and gnawed/shook my feet, causing yet another scratch mark of many. I was appalled; the extinction argument is making some sense outta this, but honestly, I don't recall anyone teaching her to be a MONSTER. Lunging past every chew toy I shove at her; going straight for my hands and gnawing them. If what we're saying is true about her other behaviors [such as the walk-leash learning and whatnot], then isn't this kind of hostility dangerous for her adulthood? And dang, I can't believe I'm calling it 'hostility', but at this point it totally is

~EDIT

thx maxy for reinforcing Dekka's comment on "not too young to learn, but too young to expect fast results". In combination with the extinction explanation, its actually unfortunately easy to see why my puppy thinks hands are fun. Aw gosh...I gotta tell my family what we've been doing wrong. It's gotten so bad recently that she rushes past toys..its like she doesn't even see them
 

antipunt1

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#58
lol really? I thought it was the chihuahua in her...but ehhhh what do I know :confused:

PS: wow you and Dekka are tag-teaming like the same point (oddly at the same time) lol. Information noted, and thank you very much. I'll let my family know its gonna get worse before its ever over.

Also I'm convinced to change the leash tactics. NO MORE SPOILING for you!

And its new to me to hear that you're supposed to stop the puppy in its tracks. I've been taught that you're supposed to chase the puppy and not let the leash tense up. My dad thought I was crazy telling him this though..

thx again. until next update =]

PS: I've been VERY curious about this point and I think its a good time to bring it up. If the puppy doesn't understand "no" or all my negative-commands, then what should we do when she does something wrong? Like bite a shoe? Or act aggressively outside of biting. The 'getting out of reach' for biting seems easy enough, but what about the other bad-behaviors. I'm guessing we just change our tone to strict or something?
 

Maxy24

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#59
I dog sat for a terrier mix pup once (Doxies are terriers, they were bred as all terriers were, to go to ground and hunt what lives under there. In a Doxie's case it is Badger)...not my cup of tea. She was like you describes VERY tenacious, wanted to nip me and almost got "no way in h*ll your gonna stop me" about it. I know it was just determination, you have to be determined to attack a badger and not back down. She had the genetics telling her "don't back down" and it was going to take a lot of persistence to get her to stop. For this type of mind set, more than any other type, it is important not to use force, they will FIGHT force with force. You should try to make what you want her to do (play with that toy) more fun.

Have you tried putting a toy on a piece of twine (long piece) and dragging it on the lawn, she might like to chase. they sell cat toys that make a little squeaking noise when they are touched, I'd find one of those (i found one at the grocery store,make sure it's too large to be swallowed) and use that so it really gets her wanting to chase it. that would be a great way to redirect her and play with her without using hands and it releases more energy than gnawing on a stationary toy. Only use this toy for interactive play so that she does not eat the string and so she does not get bored with it.
So if she seems like she's in that mood but BEFORE she starts nipping bust out this toy and let her get out this energy on it. If she does not like it I'm sure we can think of something.
 

antipunt1

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#60
Wow that totally explains the fire in my puppy's eyes. Thx for the info, and I'll consider the toy idea. I'm assuming I'm gonna hafta teach her drop it =P
 

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