Jumping & Nipping

[Guest LJS1993]

Okay guys I need some input here. My BC Freckles is starting to go through some teenage behaviors now. She is nearly six months old and has a real jumping problem. Furthermore there are times when she really wants to herd me thus nipping on my pant leg. Now this only occurs when she is on a leash. Trust me, I am the alpha as she behaves very submissive otherwise with me. What can I do though to break her out of this? My last BC Shadow, rest her soul, was a jumper also but not quite to the extent as Freckles.

[dobro_21]

things i have read said when they jump, turn aroud and ignor them and walk into a different room, then they will soon learn that if they jump you will leave and anther site said teach your dog to sit and u do that enough she will sit and not jump on you, your talking about jumping on your right?

[smileyzookie]

Spray bottle of water could work unless she loves being sprayed. What we did with Riven was not acknowledge her and turn our back on her till she sat and waited.

[dobro_21]

I always wanted to try to spray him with water but some ppl said that makes the dog mad like as in more mean, and some say its the best thing, but then again i dont think zipper would mind casue he likes to chase the water out side on the hose so spraying him with watch probably wont work but i still might try it.

[smileyzookie]

LOL... Riven when I got her submitted very well to being sprayed. It immediately got her attention and she stopped whatever she was doing. Unfortunately I recently broke out the spray bottle again and for some reason she is terrified of it. I dont think that would happen to your dog, since Im sure Rivens issue is from her unknown past. Either way, I dont think it would hurt to try. If water doesnt work add a tad bit of vinegar or lemon juice. (I have never tried that but a trainer told me to).

[mbc1963]

Because my dog was so challenging, I put him through a couple rounds of basic obedience with the same trainer. This guy got 100% non-jumping within minutes by simply removing his attention unless the dog sat calmly. The jumping is all about getting attention and interaction from the human, so teaching that the human would remove that "reward" was very effective.

 

I saw the trainer do this, week after week, with great success. It took him several tries, but each try, he got closer before the dog jumped, and literally 5 minutes later, he'd have a polite little sitting dog. I tried it with a little jumpy dog who I meet at the dog park, and within days, she was sitting when I was 15 yards away, in preparation for getting patted.

 

I agree with the former poster who said that training a "sit" is a good idea. My trainer told me to have my dog sit as if it were the word "please." Nothing good happened until the dog asked nicely. So now he goes up to potential treat-givers and does an immediate "sit" in front of them. I know that he's technically begging... but to everyone around me, he just looks like a remarkably polite dog.

 

Mary

[Guest LJS1993]

Because my dog was so challenging, I put him through a couple rounds of basic obedience with the same trainer. This guy got 100% non-jumping within minutes by simply removing his attention unless the dog sat calmly. The jumping is all about getting attention and interaction from the human, so teaching that the human would remove that "reward" was very effective.

 

I saw the trainer do this, week after week, with great success. It took him several tries, but each try, he got closer before the dog jumped, and literally 5 minutes later, he'd have a polite little sitting dog. I tried it with a little jumpy dog who I meet at the dog park, and within days, she was sitting when I was 15 yards away, in preparation for getting patted.

 

I agree with the former poster who said that training a "sit" is a good idea. My trainer told me to have my dog sit as if it were the word "please." Nothing good happened until the dog asked nicely. So now he goes up to potential treat-givers and does an immediate "sit" in front of them. I know that he's technically begging... but to everyone around me, he just looks like a remarkably polite dog.

 

Mary

 

this is the fiance...

 

We have trained her to sit. She knows sit, down, OFF (the FIRST thing we taught her) She's being a teenager and deciding she doesnt need to listen to us. Im going to try the ignore thing and see how that works out for me. I hope it works!!

[Guest LJS1993]

Fiance again...

 

any suggestions on the nipping (yes on the right side) we tell her NO BITE! so she stops but how do we get her to stop doing it to us in the first place. I know this is instinct but dogginit in shorts it hurts She is still teething. We have lots of stuff for her to chew on...its just CONSTANT she ALWAYS wants something in her mouth. She especially likes LJ's socks

[mbc1963]

this is the fiance...

 

We have trained her to sit. She knows sit, down, OFF (the FIRST thing we taught her) She's being a teenager and deciding she doesnt need to listen to us.

 

Oh... yup, didn't mean to imply that she hadn't learned "sit." I was just framing it the way my early trainer did: the dog has to sit before ANYTHING good happens. When sitting, the dog can't be jumping. It helps if you can make every bloody person who greets the dog force him to sit before they give him any attention.

 

As for teenagers... oy! My dog came home and within 2 weeks learned to "sit/stay" before he could get out of the car, for safety reasons. But then, after a few months of doing it perfectly, he decided he didn't want to do it anymore. I would say "sit," and he would stand in the back seat, starting me dead in the eye, and I swear, I could hear him LAUGHING at me, saying, "Lady, I'm not gonna sit. Whatcha gonna do about it?"

 

Grr. Worst of all, it was my own fault, because I had gotten inconsistent with making him do the behavior. So he was just waiting me out, seeing how long he had to play chicken before I caved.

 

After I left him standing in the back seat a half dozen times while I faked going about my day, he stopped mocking me so brazenly.

 

Mary

[Guest Freckles LaLa Mom]

This is the fiance, I made my own name. still no suggestions eh? This isnt my first dog but Freckles is my first pup. She doesnt play ball or tug or anything...I dont know how to teach her how to get the ball, she'll chase it down, look it it and run back to me....and this is ONLY if she chases it...sometimes she just watches it. She wont tug as soon as I touch what ever she haves she drops it. I sort of got her to play ball last night but she drops her ball in her excitment of getting back to me.

[Macks mum]

I have been teaching my pup mack 12wks old to fetch he loves to play ball infact he'll play with 2 at once he'll have 1 in his mouth and knock the other a round with his front paws rather cat like lol.

Anyway when i throw him the ball sometimes he will fetch others he will just go and play by him self. To solve this i have started throwing the ball and as soon as he retieves it if it looks like he's going to go off and just have a chew i with intercept him and tell him to give which he does and then i get him to sit and throw the ball again since doing this he has been bring the ball back alot more often as its more fun than playing alone. i normally have a few balls with me to so if he doesn't bring 1 back i have another to throw before reteiveing the last one.

i had a staffordshire bull terrier for 9 yrs who sadly passed away in dec she never really liked playing with toys she'd play chase with the kids round the garden and play fight with me and cuddle and snuggle up but never play with toys until she had a litter of pups i kept 1 a dog for 18months until he finally went to his new home my dads. He loved playing with toys and would play fetch and everything his mum who never had any interest in toys would run over and steal whatever he was playing with and hide it from him i never quite worked out whether this was a dominance thing or her version of a game. I think some dogs just don't play games with toys and prefer some sort of other stimulation or maybe you have just not found the right game yet. Lets face we don't all like the same sports and games so why should dogs be any different.

I would just keep trying different games your bound to find something that your puppy loves as much as your attention

[Dixie_Girl]

Nipping at your heels is not "herding" behaviour, it is "puppy bad manners"! If you are walking on lead when he does this, a quick, SLIGHT, jerk on his collar, turn to him, say NO, stare with a mad face, then continue. If he is not on lead, stop walking, grab the scruff of his neck to pull him back a few paces, say NO, stare with mad face, then continue. Lavish petting on him when he is good. Of course if you have another "hey, you ain't allowed to do that" word, use it. I use the AHH AHH AHH. Soon, just that will be enough, and then he will not do it at all. All dogs are opportunists. You have to make the action not worth the effort.

 

As for the fetching, some dogs do, some don't. I was lucky(?) with Jackson, he loved it from day one! Skip was more interrested in chasing Jackson than the toy! But around 5mos. he started getting more interrested. Now, every few throws, I will put Jackson in a down/stay, just so he gets a chance to retrieve the toy! No one is faster than Jackson! LOL Sometimes he brings it back sometimes no. But then I can always send Jackson after it. If yours goes for the toy AND brings it back, make a big deal out of it, lots of good boy, petting, and such. If he grabs it, and doesn't bring it back, walk in the house for just a few min. then try again. Again, they are opportunists, and if bringing the toy back gets all the good times, and not bringing it back doesn't, he will start bringing it back!

 

Good luck! And have fun!

[Guest Freckles LaLa Mom]

thanks guys!

[Guest LJS1993]

All I can say is major break through today with Freckles. Everytime she went to jump on me or nip I jerked her chain, stopped and grabbed her face and in a mean voice said NOOOOOOOO!!!!! KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!, then proceeded to make her sit and wait to continue are walk. Well after about three laps around the ranch she got the idea. She still turns to me and runs, but she merely runs and then backs off and continues on with our walk. I am so proud of her right now.

[Sue R]

Everytime she went to jump on me or nip I jerked her chain, stopped and grabbed her face and in a mean voice said NOOOOOOOO!!!!! KNOCK IT OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!, then proceeded to make her sit and wait to continue are walk.

 

The key word here is "everytime". Consistency will get results with a variety of training methods but is essential for all methods. Trust me, I know, I'm the queen of inconsistency.

 

Now, and this is just my opinion, try a gentle jerk, just holding her muzzle, and an authoritative voice (or maybe I'm just reading a bit too much into your description of your actions) - only using as much reaction on your part as it takes to get the desired result.

 

Best wishes!

[Guest LJS1993]

The key word here is "everytime". Consistency will get results with a variety of training methods but is essential for all methods. Trust me, I know, I'm the queen of inconsistency.

 

Now, and this is just my opinion, try a gentle jerk, just holding her muzzle, and an authoritative voice (or maybe I'm just reading a bit too much into your description of your actions) - only using as much reaction on your part as it takes to get the desired result.

 

Best wishes!

 

I shall work on it.

[Guest Rockie's mum]

Someone gave me the tip of spraying cold water and Rockie loved it! he even used to go to where the bottle sat on the counter and wait to get sprayed as reward! A wee tip worth trying for nipping and you can extend this to other things as well - have your pup sit in front of you and hold a treat in your hand, when he goes for the treat move it very slightly out of his reach saying OFF each time. Wait until he looks away then give him the treat. Once he has learned this command you can use it for anything you dont want him to do. Good luck

[Michelle K]

The turning around and walking away, that someone else mentioned, works the best, or, at least, it has always worked better than anything else with our dogs and the dogs that we had fostered over the years. The key to it, though, is to not look at or speak to the dog, because you're still rewarding if you do. My dogs were all horrible jumpers as pups (well, Nykie is now), and they have all learned that jumping gets them absolutely no attention whatsoever, but when they sit nicely at my feet, they get lots of praise. Just remember that with any training at all, be consistent.