Over excitable dog jumping biting

[BeejayCBJGall]

Hiya
I have a 6 month old standard poodle puppy, he is very obedient, when he wants to be, he has been castrated but my real bit problem is walking. He jumps up at my hands and arms and bites not to draw blood but enough to hurt, once he kicks off there is almost no controlling him, sometimes he is fine sometimes a nightmare. The only way to get him under control is to get him to chase treats but that,ultimately is rewarding him for bad behaviour. I have tried all the usual techniques and advice, use teatree oil on my hands anyone got any better ideas ?

[Ari_RR]

Hi there
What are the usual techniques that you've tried?

[BeejayCBJGall]

Turning back, ignoring him, saying no, trying to distract him, water spray and dog corrector

[bendog]

When is he doing the jumping up? At the start of walks, end of walks, any particular place (open spaces, near busy roads etc)?

How long are the walks? And how often is he walked?

[JudyN]

Also, if/when you do ignore him, what exactly do you do and how long do you do it for before either you or your dog gives up? Have you tried this approach consistently for any length of time?

[BeejayCBJGall]

Anytime during the walk he just kicks off, he just looks at me and that is it. I try to ignore him for a
Eight of time but lie just jumps and bites and humps given a chance. He is not an aggressive dog just very very excitable, if we meet anyone the he will start when I leave etc.

[BeejayCBJGall]

He is walked twice a day for approx an hour each time! By the way I am in the UK.

[JudyN]

Sorry, I also should have asked what you feed him on.

At six months, he should really only be walked for half an hour at a time to protect his growing joints. So I'd cut back on the walks but give him more play/training/mental stimulation on the walks and elsewhere to compensate. Have a look at the video on impulse control and the thread on exercising your dog's mind in our useful links section: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=11503 Work on a good 'watch' command to use on walks - if you can do it when you suspect a jumpy session is due you may be able to distract him.

I think it's likely you may be able to work out some triggers. For my dog, it was mainly open spaces, towards the end of the walk, and if he wanted to play with another dog but couldn't. So we walked mainly in the woods, keeping to narrow paths, and kept the walks short. The advantage of walking in woods is that you can ignore him by standing facing a tree so he can't come round the other side!

I gave up an all the adversives because they just weren't working. I either turned away and ignored him, wrapped his lead round a convenient tree/fence/post, or stood on his lead and ignored me - not enough to pin him down, but so he couldn't jump up. Within a few days of being really consistent I noticed that the 'attacks' were stopping sooner - though there were several times when the moment I walked on he'd start again, so I'd have to do the ignoring again.

It does take time, though Jasper was a particularly bad case. My arms were black and blue he's two now and he will still do it sometimes. For some reason, running up sandy slopes can set him off. But when he does, he stops quickly. I also often see him running to me with 'that look' in his eye but then he'll change his mind and pull up short (sometimes helped by me holding up a finger and saying 'ah-ah' as a reminder - but I don't think the 'ah-ah' will help you yet as your dog simply hasn't the self-control). I then reward him for his self-control.

Another hint is to wear old protective clothing. I spent a long hot summer in a thick denim jacket from a charity shop. It's important to stay calm and it's impossible to do that if you're worrying about the state of your clothes!

Some people find that asking their dog for a 'sit' when he jumps up works. If it does, that would be great (and it would be worth working on a really good 'sit' for this), but it wouldn't have worked on Jasper when he was younger because the 'red mist' had descended.

I hope some of that helps - good luck!

[Ari_RR]

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

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!

[Sarah83]

Lol, I did similar with Rupert Judy, I'd clip his leash (double ended one with the rings part way along) around a lamp post or tree and just walk out of reach. I couldn't just ignore him, he bit hard and deep (not through aggression, just a serious lack of bite inhibition) and would also gouge chunks out of me with his nails. It actually didn't take long for him to catch on that jumping at me resulted in him tied to a tree and unable to have any fun.

[JudyN]

Lol, I did similar with Rupert Judy, I'd clip his leash (double ended one with the rings part way along) around a lamp post or tree and just walk out of reach.

Just a word of warning (not for you, Sarah, but for the OP and anyone else reading) - at times I'd do this with Jasper and walk off a fair distance. In fact, I often felt like walking all the way home and leaving him there This really didn't help - not surprisingly, as he's not the most independent of dogs, this stressed him out and made him even more jumpy! So if you try this, don't move so far away that your dog might feel he's been abandoned.

[BeejayCBJGall]

Thanks everyone, I,shall try the ignoring again, unfortunately I do walk with someone else sometimes so,this is not always easy, but Imshall stick with it Anymore advice will be appreciaTed. Beejay and Max (the dog!!!)

[Sarah83]

Just a word of warning (not for you, Sarah, but for the OP and anyone else reading) - at times I'd do this with Jasper and walk off a fair distance. In fact, I often felt like walking all the way home and leaving him there This really didn't help - not surprisingly, as he's not the most independent of dogs, this stressed him out and made him even more jumpy! So if you try this, don't move so far away that your dog might feel he's been abandoned.

Oh no, literally just to where the dog can't reach you. I only did it for the same length of time I'd give a time out at home for too. Or until he stopped trying to get at me, whichever came first. I often felt like just going home and leaving Rupert there too aren't we awful? lol.

[BeejayCBJGall]

Very windy raining and a manic dog not a good walk very naughty this morning. Wish there was some magical answer to all this. Have had five previous standards all been good on leads and walking, even my last and she was only 20 months old when she died, but this is destroying me at the moment. A very very depressed Beejay

[JudyN]

Hang on in there... At least you know it was the weather that was to blame for this morning (partly, at least ). Stick to the ignoring, walking places that make it easier, and avoiding potential triggers as far as possible. The first time you notice he gives up just a little sooner than previously, you'll feel better. But it's not going to be fixed overnight.

What are you feeding him? It's possible he's sensitive to something in his food that makes him a bit hyper.