HELP! Obedience Class!!!

B

BLover

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I'm not sure what to do. I signed my 6 month old puppy up for obedience class and he is doing pretty good. We have some trouble with biting though and sometimes he bites my arms and legs so hard I have bruises.

We were doing a game in class where you touch the dog I think so they get used to grooming and the vet and stuff and my puppy started doing the biting thing the teacher came over and when he bit her she grabbed him and held him to the ground?!?! He fought her for a bit and then stopped and he stopped biting.

The teacher told me that a 6 month old puppy should never put teeth on skin. I thought it was normal puppy behaviour we just had to work through.

Is it normal??????? Should I hold him down when he starts it?

HELP!!!!
 
I personally don't like how the instructor handled your puppy, but at 6 months your little fellow should have a soft mouth. Start feeding by hand ( from your fingers and not an open palm) do not let him have the food until you can feel his tongue ( it's not possible to bite and lick at the same time). Anytime he bites or you feel teeth on skin with pressure say OW really loud - like it hurt and take the food away. For biting during play, end whatever you were doing, take away the toys and ignore him completely, he will learn that biting earns him nothing.

If you don't start to see improvement, I would look at getting a trainer involved (one who uses positive methods and not pinning the dog) as the longer this goes uncorrected, the more possibility there is he will bite someone later and you don't wantto be dealing with that situation.

Keep us posted on how it goes,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CsRrW8Wm1xg
 
Everything I've read about training shelties says that they're very sensitive about corrections. I would go with a gentler reprimand, and would worry that continuing the pinning would lead to problems in the long run. Maybe talk to your teacher after class, and tell her that although you know the biting is something that needs corrected, you would like to stick to more positive training techniques?
 
Wow. I can't imagine my trainer doing that to my dog. Not cool.

Go with the OW as suggested below. Also work with the dog taking treats gently. That will give mouth control and the idea teeth should not be in you.

Do you happen to have a matronly dog available (even a male)? My old Aussie taught the pup how to control the mouth by playing a game I called the hippo game. They sat for hours opening their mouths and sticking heads, paws, teeth in each other's mouth. It taught the pup massive mouth control. I read older dog teach younger dogs that. I never went through the teeth-on-me phase.
 
Yikes! I would run a mile from that trainer! Actually I would scream at them first for daring to touch my puppy then run a mile:biggrin2:

As for biting, could you say a bit more about the triggers? Is it just touching him? In which case he may be using the behaviour to make you avoid touching him and you will need to gradually increase his tolerance for touch.

While Merlin was always very soft-mouthed, my lab Cadbury was a nightmare, even passed a year. He never caused bruises but he was so mouthy and he is still dreadful for snatching food. Actually if your pup was a lab I would be going, yep normal, probably teething too.

What have you tried to stop mouthing (if it is mouthing rather than biting)? I used to turn my back on Cadbury and ignore him. Other people say switch your hand for a toy so the dog learns what it is ok to chew.
 
Mouthing does not leave bruises, for that you need jaw pressure so to my mind we're only a step away from breaking skin. This puppy has already learned that he can get away with biting a person hard enough to leave a bruise, that isn't acceptable puppy behavior and warrants serious and immediate remediation. I'd be very worried about pinning leading to escalation.
I wonder of he was an only puppy or got taken from his litter mates too early, before he got a chance to learn bite inhibition?
 
Thanks everyone you are telling me what my heart new run from this trainer as fast as could be. I signed up for these classes because its supposed to be positive training when I asked the owner told me about clicker work and being fair to your dog no corrections no prongs I guess I just don't get it.

As for the bruising its just little pin pick bruises i'm not mangled or anything. It happens when he gets too excited or overtired. if we're playing in the yard running around sometimes he just gets really wound up and thats when it starts. He was 7 weeks old when I got him.

I think the touching set him off because we were doing recalls and running and playing and he was just too wound up after to settle down so he started biting at my arms i think to get me to play.
 
labgirl said:
Yikes! I would run a mile from that trainer! Actually I would scream at them first for daring to touch my puppy then run a mile:biggrin2:
Click to expand...
This. There is no reason for your trainer to do this to a 6 month old baby. In fact, he might go out of his way to bite her again.. heck, I would.

That being said, what is triggering him to bite? Is it just you touching him? Can you pet him without being bitten? Sometimes my pup (who will be 10 months soon) will bite my hand when we're playing. It's only me he does it to though and usually not hard, BUT he has bruised me because sometimes he forgets how hard he can bite... I allow him to play this way though because it's just how we play. He doesn't do it to my fiance or any other person. When he does bite me too hard though I say OW! really loud and hand him a toy. You need to redirect him and let him know it's not okay to bite- but don't do it physically. If your dog understands "bad boy" or "no" this might be the time to use it.


Please please please do not let your trainer handle your baby this way ever again. It will scar him.
 
Wow, someone should pin that trainer down - totally inappropriate behaviour. What the trainer did is outright aggression and should never, ever be tolerated, it's tantamount to beating someone's child. If the trainer cannot provide one single, positive method for handling what is a common puppy issue, then she isn't a trainer. I would also be running a mile - it sounds like someone who not only doesn't know what they are doing, but also doesn't use positive techniques. It is also instructor 101 not to approach a dog and encroach on it's space if they are not comfortable or they may react - it's the whole purpose of the exercise to slowly get them used to it.

7wks was too young for a pup to leave it's mother, bite inhibition often suffers as that little bit of extra time getting training from mum makes a huge difference. You will need to put in the extra work to compensate, esp as he is also teething. As mentioned, at 6months he shouldn't be putting any sort of pressure behind a nip.

If the 'ow'-ing doesn't work there are other techniques, esp as it sounds like he is nipping when he is over-excited. One technique is 'be a tree' - which is stopping perfectly still and withdrawing attention whenever he nips (I think someone on the forum may have posted an article about it recently). Another technique is to redirect his mouth onto something more appropriate so if he can't stop with the nipping he will redirect himself. I used both the approaches with my male (who was hand reared), he always wants to mouth when he is excited but he finds something else to mouth that isn't me.
 
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