Over excitable dog jumping biting

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bendog
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by bendog »

Also, might not help, but I have a pup who can tend to want to bark at and chase cars :roll:
This is her way of letting off excitement and frustration similar to how yours jumps at you.

I find she is much better if I have time for 10 minutes doing a training session in the house or garden so she is more focused on the walk, and has run off a little of her excess energy through the session.
emmabeth
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by emmabeth »

I would suspect that walks are actually a bit too much, information overload and shes getting giddy and silly and hasn't the maturity to calm herself down or exercise self control.

Sorry to say this but a major start point is going to be to go back to walking her on your own - her walks are for HER, any socialisation for YOU is a nice bonus but right now its not appropriate and its probably making the problem worse (if not directly by winding her up then indirectly because its MUCH harder to swiftly and consistently deal with the problem when you are with someone else!).

The tethering solution is good - for times when you are not near something you can safely tether her to quickly then stand on the lead so she has no option but to lie down or sit, she CANNOT jump. To do this safely she must be wearing a flat buckle collar or a harness where the leash attaches to the front of the chest or behind the shoulders. No anti-pull harnesses that tighten under the elbows or choke collars.

Make your walks MUCH shorter for now - 30 minutes at a time is about right for her AGE but because shes struggling with self control and behaving very immaturely I would suggest her attention span is too short to cope with that length of walk. Cut her walks down to 10 minutes but do three instead of one - if you find shes still doing it, cut them down to five minutes (but do six!).

Focus JUST on having her walk nicely on the leash, interacting with you for rewards - so a walk starts to = 'time to earn stuff from my human' and ideally at the end of each walk you leave her thinking 'aww that ended too soon, I want more of that' and N OT 'omg i cant cope'.

At home - more training. Clicker training, lots and lots of it. Divide up her food into ten portions and use that as training rewards (if shes horrified at not having a meal in a bowl then put a small amount in a bowl for a meal and the rest is training rewards) - this way if you have a lot of food left at the end of the day and you find yourself wanting to put it in her food bowl for tea, you know you are NOT doing enough training with her!!!

Work on self control exercises - things like waiting before something happens, check out the articles section for 'Its Yer Choice' which has a video about self control - also check out Kikopups channel on youtube, particularly for clicker training and especially for using the sound or sight of a potential distraction as a trigger for another reward (so your dog isnt getting stressed because the sight or sound of something is usually paired with being told off for losing concentration, but is paired with another reward for seeing it and not reacting so actually starts to find these distractions a GOOD thing).
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BeejayCBJGall
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by BeejayCBJGall »

July feeding him butchers puppy and small amounts of beta. Did use naturesdiet but that is high in protein and thought that might be making him hyper.
JudyN
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by JudyN »

BeejayCBJGall wrote:July feeding him butchers puppy and small amounts of beta. Did use naturesdiet but that is high in protein and thought that might be making him hyper.
Aha!!

Butcher's dog food is the equivalent of feeding your dog on MacDonald's and blue Smarties. It could well be the main cause of your issues - which is good news, as it means your problem could be easier to fix than thought! (It still won't fix overnight, of course, because jumping up has become a habit.)

Naturediet is a good quality food. Taking water out of the equation, it does look high in protein, but as I understand it, this isn't the problem it was once thought to be. The quality of the protein is far more important so as Naturediet is good quality, it is a far better choice than Butcher's.

There are other good foods of course - JWB, Burns, Orijen, Autarkey spring to mind - and many, including me, would recommend at least thinking about raw feeding. Not sure about Beta, but if you want more advice on choosing a good food we can go into more details.

So yes - as well as what's been suggested above, I'd definitely change food - now!
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
CatHay
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by CatHay »

This was really helpful for us with our 8 month old lurcher cross.. At certain times of day (we've not yet figured out the trend) he would jump up and nip pretty hard (although not at full strength) repeatedly. Just turning our backs and redirecting him to something else just drove him wild so we've now started leaving the room completely, without a word. It takes several goes each time but even on the first evening it started to make a difference... so thank you!



Ari_RR wrote:Ignoring worked very well for us.

But it ought to be complete ignoring... I notice that some folks try to "ignore" a dog in a presumably discouraging way, sort of stopping the play or walk while mumbling (or yelling) "Stop it, bad boy, stop it right away!" That's not ignoring, that's a reaction, which, even though meant to be discouraging, is in fact rewarding for the puppy.

Ignoring outdoors - you freeze and become a boring unanimated object, fold your arms, no eye contact, no talk.. nothing. When he settles down, you become a human again... He "attacks" again - you become an unanimated object again! This can be fun, actually... But watch out for helpfull neighbors, some good samaritans may be compelled to rush to your rescue, seeing you being "attacked" by a dog :lol:

Ignoring indoors is much easier - we would just stop whatever we were doing (dinner, TV, whatever is was) and leave the room. No talk, no eye contact, no "bad boy!", just get up and leave. Come back 10 - 15 sec later. He "attacks" again - get up a leave the room again.

It was a lot of "stop and go" outside, and a lot of "get up and leave" inside, but just for a few days. Applied consistently, this produced amazing results very quickly.

Good luck!
Kirsty95
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by Kirsty95 »

Thank goodness I'm not alone! I have a 9 month old GSD. I've started tying him to a post this morning & he nearly got the message. Not in time for him to have a decent walk unfortunately.
puppypaws
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by puppypaws »

Over excitement among dogs usually occurs from boredom and a lack of stimulation. I will suggest you to assess the way you interact with your dog and try out the following techniques if possible:
1. Ignore the hyper dog behavior. Try not to touch, talk, make eye contact with your dog when he is excited.
2. Engage your dog with some work. It will redirect his energy elsewhere. You can let your dog carry a backpack with an extra weight which will help focused on carrying while you take him for a walk.
3. Control your own energy. Nervous, anxious mood can translate into nervous, anxious body language which affects the energy of your dog.
4. Try aromatherapy. A Certain smell can have a calming effect on your dog. Find out what smell may work for your dog by consulting a veterinarian.

Hope this helps :)
JudyN
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by JudyN »

puppypaws wrote:2. Engage your dog with some work. It will redirect his energy elsewhere. You can let your dog carry a backpack with an extra weight which will help focused on carrying while you take him for a walk.
Work of some sort, yes, but it will take time before a young dog can focus on 'work'. In my experience, overexcitement is as likely to come from overstimulation as understimulation. But backpacks are not a good idea for the vast majority of dogs. Shamelessly quoting what Nettle said elsewhere (I hope that's OK Nettle):
Nettle wrote:... we have to be very careful with dog backpacks. This is NOT a comment on any individual make or any particular dog, but a general warning.

Dog spines are very flexible. Horse spines are not flexible between withers and croup, so the bit we sit astride does not have the same stresses as a dog spine. Horse packs and saddles are made to load the muscles either side of the spine with rigid clearance over the spine, and so the spine itself is not laden. Dog backpacks can't do that. Therefore unless we are very careful and very aware, dog backpacks can damage the dog's spine.

Dog gait is also different from horse gait, though may look the same until we really study it. The dog flexes its spine much more when it moves, both laterally and longitudinally, and brings its feet further underneath it. This can also cause damage if restricted by a backpack.
Plus, in general terms, you wouldn't try to calm down a hyper human toddler by attaching a heavy weight to them so they can't jump up and down (well, only on a very bad day :wink: ). Sure, they may appear calmer, but it's not helping their mental health any.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
Ceysmart
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by Ceysmart »

Hello I have a Goldendoodle who has just gone absolutely crazy. He jumped and nipped previously but this was a new level of hyper! He's about 8 1/2 months now. I have been ignoring him and turning away but he was off lead and in an open field so I had to try and get him on the lead which I don't think helped. This thread has really helped and I will try to be consistent and not reward bad behaviour but it is so nice it hear others have gone through it.
My first comment to my husband when I got back was "that's it! He's having his bits removed!"
JudyN
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by JudyN »

Ceysmart wrote:My first comment to my husband when I got back was "that's it! He's having his bits removed!"
It won't help - really. It would be as well to avoid open fields - this was a trigger for my dog as a pup. I well remember him leaping all over me when I was carrying a very full poo bag trying to walk back to the car. By the time I got there I was covered with poo and I burst into tears the moment I got us both in the car. Believe me, one day you'll be able to look back and laugh even though it feels like hell at the time :lol:
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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Nettle
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by Nettle »

Yes - nothing to do with the dangly bits and everything to do with his age and developmental stage, plus his breeding, as retriever types can be very pushy at this time of life.

Food can make a huge difference. I suggest you look at one of the dog food analysis sites if you are feeding commercial food, and consider feeding out of a series of kongs and puzzle toys. This doesn't involve huge expense - cardboard boxes make brilliant food-concealing toys - check out our Exercise the Mind thread.

And come here any time you need a cyberfriend. JudyN especially has been through the mill with her Jasper, but I bet wouldn't swap him.
A dog is never bad or naughty - it is simply being a dog

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JudyN
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Re: Over excitable dog jumping biting

Post by JudyN »

Nettle wrote:JudyN especially has been through the mill with her Jasper, but I bet wouldn't swap him.
Not for the world - but I'd have settled on half a Kit Kat back then :lol:

You never stop learning... just this morning we almost stumbled across a cat sitting in a driveway. Normally J will get a grip on himself and calm himself after a few seconds, but this one was too close and too sudden, and then sat there staring, as they do. I'd managed to get a few feet further, but it was too much for him and he started to redirect onto me - normally jumping up on me, roaring, and trying to bite through his muzzle. But before he got his paws off the ground, I put the lead between my legs and held it short. My legs are much stronger than my arms, and with a lower fulcrum I was much more stable. Plus the lead was the perfect height for him to be held standing but not able to jump. I was even able to walk him like this (I can't normally walk when he's kicking off). And because I was now firmly in control rather than trying to keep my balance, he finally self-calmed himself and decided the cat wasn't worth the waste of energy.

Management of this sort should always be a last resort, the priorities being avoidance and training self-control, but there will always be times when the unexpected can happen, and young jumpy-bitey dogs won't have developed self-control and can be set off very easily, so you need to have some good strategies in your arsenal.

And note that though I may have been in control, it's Jasper who does the self-calming. I think this is really important, as, in my experience, it's almost impossible to get the dog to snap out of it simply through any commands, and force is never going to result in a calm dog.
Jasper, lurcher, born December 2009
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