Hello,
We have recently got a 10 month old border collie from the dogs home, she is very hyper and can be very playful as puppies are, but the problem we have is that she keeps snapping at us.
She can be extremely well behaved then all of a sudden she will just start jumping up you biting, the more you tell her "NO!" the more she bites and the harder, we have tried ignoring her, putting her in another room for awhile so she can claim down, and we have recently purchased a panic alarm so the noises shock her, all these work but for only a short time then she gets used to them and ignores them.
We don't know her what her past was like, does any one have any tips?
Thanks
Andrew
Border Collie - Biting
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
I would expect that she hasnt been taught at an early age to play nicely, or any bite inhibition.
Her reaction to being told NO seems to show that she thinks its a game and she must try harder.
Sheep herding dogs like border collies are more l ikely to use their teeth as its part of their 'job' - often if they are not socialised into family life and taught bite inhibition they will use this to make things happen (although to a degree all pups will).
If she likes toys you can shove a toy in her mouth when she goes to bite. If she gets YOU, dont say no, currently NO doesnt really mean anything (well it probably means 'bite me harder ill dance about and thats a fun game).
Instead, yelp loudly (imagine dog paw caught in a door), turn away from her and leave the room, shut the door behind you. Go back in after a couple of minutes.
This way you dont have to interact with her, biting = no interaction, it will STOP the game. If you do it the other way by putting HER into another room you have to look at her, probably manhandle her, and she gets to wiggle around and bite more and thats still a rewarding game.
You need to make sure that EVERYONE who comes into the house will do exactly this whenever her teeth make contact with skin, she needs to generalise that ALL PEOPLE are very breakable and that ALL will zoom off and leave her behind for a few minutes if she bites them, other wise youll find she will either try harder, or just leave YOU alone and carry on biting everyone else.
Once you are doing that, then you must set her up to do things that ARE rewarding. If shes jumping up and biting she has a need to do 'something'. If you give her that somethign to do, you stand a far higher chance of not resorting to bouncing around and biting.
That something can be, play with your toy (hand her a lovely toy, preferably one that does something fun like squeaks), do some sits, downs, roll overs for treats, sit on your bed for a treat, fetch the toy....
Hth
Em
Her reaction to being told NO seems to show that she thinks its a game and she must try harder.
Sheep herding dogs like border collies are more l ikely to use their teeth as its part of their 'job' - often if they are not socialised into family life and taught bite inhibition they will use this to make things happen (although to a degree all pups will).
If she likes toys you can shove a toy in her mouth when she goes to bite. If she gets YOU, dont say no, currently NO doesnt really mean anything (well it probably means 'bite me harder ill dance about and thats a fun game).
Instead, yelp loudly (imagine dog paw caught in a door), turn away from her and leave the room, shut the door behind you. Go back in after a couple of minutes.
This way you dont have to interact with her, biting = no interaction, it will STOP the game. If you do it the other way by putting HER into another room you have to look at her, probably manhandle her, and she gets to wiggle around and bite more and thats still a rewarding game.
You need to make sure that EVERYONE who comes into the house will do exactly this whenever her teeth make contact with skin, she needs to generalise that ALL PEOPLE are very breakable and that ALL will zoom off and leave her behind for a few minutes if she bites them, other wise youll find she will either try harder, or just leave YOU alone and carry on biting everyone else.
Once you are doing that, then you must set her up to do things that ARE rewarding. If shes jumping up and biting she has a need to do 'something'. If you give her that somethign to do, you stand a far higher chance of not resorting to bouncing around and biting.
That something can be, play with your toy (hand her a lovely toy, preferably one that does something fun like squeaks), do some sits, downs, roll overs for treats, sit on your bed for a treat, fetch the toy....
Hth
Em
