New puppy growls and snarls at me and my son.
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
New puppy growls and snarls at me and my son.
I have a 13 week old lab/aussie mix. She was dumped along with her 3 siblings when they were only 6 or 7 weeks old. Saddie is very intelligent and I have been trying to train her in the basics (I'm learning as I go) and I have a couple of problems with her. One of the problems is she won't come when I call her. I keep treats on me to give her when she does but most of the time she refuses. How do I encourage her to come when she's called? My other problem is her biting. I have tried yelping, a firm no, giving her a chew toy and nothing seems to be working. She seems to know she isn't supposed to bite because she will stop and run when you tell her no or she will start barking. She will also purposely bite my feet and when I get on to her she will bark and run under the table. Then it's a game to her and she will bark and growl when I try to get her out from under the table and put her in her crate for a time out. It has been 12 years since I have had to try to train a puppy and I am afraid of doing more harm than good but I cannot afford to take obedience classes. Please help!
-
Ocelot0411
- Posts: 593
- Joined: Thu May 24, 2007 7:30 am
On the recall thing, it may be a caseof 'horses for courses'. Some pups go mad for treats some toys etc. I think its a case of finding what it is that she really likes and then using that to tempt her back to you and then loads of praise when she comes.
Re the biting, I think part of the issue may be that she was so young when you got her (obviously through no fault of your own). She may have missed out on some vital lessons from her litter mates and her mum particularly the 'ow that's hurts you little monkey!! Tone it down!' so I'm afraid its up to you now to teach her which may take a bit longer as obviously you don't speak 'dog'. Sound like you are doing the right thing with the yelping but I would also be walking away from her and letting her know that bitey pups get left all on their own!
If you have a trawl through the forum there are loads of threads on this subject as its a very common problem, so you should get some tips from there too. As with most things though persistance and consistancy is key. Best of luck
Re the biting, I think part of the issue may be that she was so young when you got her (obviously through no fault of your own). She may have missed out on some vital lessons from her litter mates and her mum particularly the 'ow that's hurts you little monkey!! Tone it down!' so I'm afraid its up to you now to teach her which may take a bit longer as obviously you don't speak 'dog'. Sound like you are doing the right thing with the yelping but I would also be walking away from her and letting her know that bitey pups get left all on their own!
If you have a trawl through the forum there are loads of threads on this subject as its a very common problem, so you should get some tips from there too. As with most things though persistance and consistancy is key. Best of luck
Thank you so much for your response. I have an update to my post though. We took a trip to the vet today and Saddie tried to bite the vet. She looked absolutely terrified. I have noticed at home that she will jump out of the way when she thinks she is going to get in trouble. The vet told us that we need to get her socialized and in an obedience class (which I am currently checking on). Part of this I feel is my fault because I have yelled at her when she comes up and bites me or bites at my legs and feet. We have also tried using a newspaper on her hiney when she gets out of hand. I think this has made her somewhat fearful. The vet also said that if we don't get her under control now that we will have a huge problem later on as she is going to be a big dog. We have had her for 6 weeks and I am afraid that she will always be fearful even with the training and socialization. Also, the earliest I can get her in a class is 2 weeks from now. What do I do between now and then? Please help...thanks!
-
Lis & Addy
- Posts: 204
- Joined: Mon Jun 25, 2007 2:27 pm
Get rid of the newspaper. You're right, it's scaring her.
Go for positive reinforcement training only--reward good behavior, and as far as possible ignore behavior you don't want. The other part of that is to manage her and yourselves so that you don't trigger bad behavior when it's avoidable. I.e., no "exciting" play that gets her revved up, because that will trigger play-biting. And avoid scaring her, because that will trigger defensive biting.
You want to reward calm behavior. Find out what she likes--treats, toys, petting if she enjoys petting. She gets Good Stuff (whatever that is for her) when she's behaving appropriately. She gets ignored when she's not behaving appropriately.
I would recommend crate training, because in a good crate you can know that she's safe while you need to ignore her for a bit. (It can also help with house training, but it doesn't sound like you're having any concerns there.) But as long as you can safely confine her when you can't be home or can't pay attention to her, that's the main thing there.
It won't happen overnight, but she can make lots of progress if you are patient and consistent. Addy was very scared when I got her a bit over a year ago, when she was already a year old. She's a different dog now.
One thing that MAY help, ONLY if your house set-up is such that she will ALWAYS be visible to you when you do this. If she can get out of your sight, this is too risky. Put a leash on her, and let her drag it along. As long as she's behaving in a calm manner, she has the freedom of whatever areas aren't blocked off from her. She starts getting revved up and out of control, you can grab the leash and get her under control without grabbing her--it should be less scary for her.
But trailing leashes can get caught on things, so this is bad if she can wander out of your sight. Look at your household carefully before deciding whether or not you can try this safely.
Lis
Go for positive reinforcement training only--reward good behavior, and as far as possible ignore behavior you don't want. The other part of that is to manage her and yourselves so that you don't trigger bad behavior when it's avoidable. I.e., no "exciting" play that gets her revved up, because that will trigger play-biting. And avoid scaring her, because that will trigger defensive biting.
You want to reward calm behavior. Find out what she likes--treats, toys, petting if she enjoys petting. She gets Good Stuff (whatever that is for her) when she's behaving appropriately. She gets ignored when she's not behaving appropriately.
I would recommend crate training, because in a good crate you can know that she's safe while you need to ignore her for a bit. (It can also help with house training, but it doesn't sound like you're having any concerns there.) But as long as you can safely confine her when you can't be home or can't pay attention to her, that's the main thing there.
It won't happen overnight, but she can make lots of progress if you are patient and consistent. Addy was very scared when I got her a bit over a year ago, when she was already a year old. She's a different dog now.
One thing that MAY help, ONLY if your house set-up is such that she will ALWAYS be visible to you when you do this. If she can get out of your sight, this is too risky. Put a leash on her, and let her drag it along. As long as she's behaving in a calm manner, she has the freedom of whatever areas aren't blocked off from her. She starts getting revved up and out of control, you can grab the leash and get her under control without grabbing her--it should be less scary for her.
But trailing leashes can get caught on things, so this is bad if she can wander out of your sight. Look at your household carefully before deciding whether or not you can try this safely.
Lis
