My 8 year old son and I adopted 3 weeks ago from the Humane Society a 8-10 month old Springer Spaniel mix. When we first got her she was very calm and laid back. Now that she has become comfortable with our house, she is showing signs of being agressive when she wants to play. This is mostly with my son. We take her out to the yard and play fetch for a few hours a day. When we are ready to stop, she will jump on my son and bite at his arms and hands. Never hard enough to leave a mark, but this is not somthing that I want to encourage nor will I tolerate. We have tried closing her mouth and holding it closed and will give a firm verbal "Shame!". She will sit but then as soon as we let go of her mouth she will start to "mouth and bite at my son again". I just purchased the book, however, any suggestions to stop this behavior is greatly appreciated. She is a very intellegent dog who learned the sit comand in about 3 days and was house broke in about the same amount of time. I know she will learn quickly, I just need to know how to teach her, as I have owned several dogs in the past, but have no had this problem before.
I´m not sure if this technique is approved or not, but it worked for me.
When my dog ( as a young teenager like yours) did this to my kids, I went on the warpath! I behaved like a protective Lioness. I moved between the dog and my child, growling till it hurt my throat, and held my body in a very aggressive manner. I hunted her, growling and barking, away from my child and out to the garden. ( don´t think of the neighbours !) She tried to circle around with her tail between her legs, but I kept severe eye contact, and kept 'pushing' her away from the home.( I never used physical force) We then went inside and shut the door.
She sat there looking sorry for herself for a long time ( when she tried to bite the baby she was 'bannished for 3 hours, for play biting she was out there for 15 mins)
She was allowed back inside then and life was normal....no big Hoo Haa with treats or anything.
Maybe you think I was too extreme, but my thinking was that a dog is a pack animal and to be 'banished' from the pack is possible death ( in the wild) I felt that the worst thing I could do was to alienate her from the family. All I can say is that I have an extremely loving confident happy dog, who has attempted to bite twice, and then the problem was gone. Absolutely gone. I will not tollerate what may be a potential problem between my kids and the dog....
I must say that I always felt in control, this was not a 'gut' reaction and the punishment must suit the crime. Don´t be fooled that the dog is just playing ( unless is a very little puppy) and you can see that the dog will only behave like this to the weakest member of the family. Use your Alpha status to put the dog firmly in place.
The other side of this is I did extensive 'training' with my kids that they treat the dog well, behave in a confident manner, and don´t abuse their status. They also never play rough house/ wrestling with the dog.
Your son should establish himself to be a higher rank than the dog in the same way you will need to establish yourself as the alpha dog...did you read the alpha dog section in the book yet? My son is only six but he does the same techniques I use to keep our dogs at the bottom of the pecking order...make sure you and your son always go up or down stairs first, go through a doorway first, make the dog move out of your way if he's obstructing your path...if the dog nudges you to be pet, ignore it. You decide when it's time for the dog to be pet or brushed, and when it's time to stop. If your dog begs for a tummy rub and you do it immediately, you've just shown them that you can be told what to do. My dog is very clingy and always pushing on my hands for pets, ear scratches...it's hard to resist but I make him wait until he's stopped asking for it, then I call him to me and love on him! You and your son should eat first, before the dog, and don't give it food from the table. My dog that I adopted a year ago now knows that my son and I are the alpha dogs, and my new puppy is being taught that as we speak! He's a tough one-if I give him an inch, he'll take a mile and soon be ruling the house. Your son should also take responsibility for some training...make sure the dog knows that whichever of you gives a command, it's to be followed. Buy him a book of dog tricks and let him teach the dog to shake or speak or roll over...by giving him some control over training, the dog should learn to listen to him! Sorry so disorganized and rambling...hope something helps. Good luck!
Hi there, I like what was suggested above here. With my kids I had some rules. When we arrived home ( also coming home from school) they must TOTALLY IGNORE the dog for at least 15 mins. No matter what the dog did, or how cute she was they must ignore her. This really helped a lot. I explained to them that they are the 'king' entering the castle and they would not go around saying Hi to all the 'servants'. They really got this idea and the dog was really respectful of when they wanted to play again.
Feeding the dog is really good ( always supervised) and getting the dog to sit before eating of course. I actually asked my kids to not do much sit and stay exercises as kids don´t know when to stop, and when the dog ignored them and got bored then I had another problem....
Always the kids in the car first, through doors first etc etc
The dog was trained to drop the ball step back and sit before the kids could throw the ball, hope this helps, Annie
