Question about a particularly aggressive bite from a 14 week old pup

[ImJaxon]

Agreed on all. Thanks. I was just concerned that I may have imprinted him or something. My GF was playing ball with him. He goes and gets the ball from the SIT command. We roll the ball and he stays until we say "OK" and he runs and gets the ball and brings it back. Problem is puppy doesn't give us the ball back. So, we say "SIT" and then we reach for the ball and ask him to "DROP IT" sometimes he does, sometimes not. Depends on how excited he is. In this particular case she just ignored him. She then got the one nip. Ignored. Then a second. Ignored. Then puppy dropped the ball and gave her a good attention getting snap.

FYI, I don't bite him anymore. Was a one time thing I tried when he was a 8 week old pup. Since he had no siblings or other dogs to play with, I listened to some dummy who didn't know jack about dogs. We don't do that anymore. How stupid.

[blackshep]

I think he'll be fine, take the advice given here.

Just try to give him a time out before it gets to that point, you know whet they say - an ounce of prevention!

He is a beautiful dog, and sounds like a very clever and confident guy. I think you'll have fun with him as long as you continue to work at being the pack leader.

Puppy teeth are incredibly sharp, so it really doesn't take much to break the skin unfortunately. He is probably starting to teethe now too.

[Lilie]

I can be difficult to play 'ball' with a pup who gets overly excited and nips. A toy with the ability to tug, or a ball with a rope on it, might be eaiser to work through bite inhibition.

Just remember that he has puppy teeth and you don't want to tug too hard.

[David Taggart]

Your puppy tears (tries to tear) a victim, his prey represented in a form of a ball together with you, similarly to two wolves tearing a rabbit apart. He simply does it awkwady and bites you on the way. An agressive bite, that, which I call "an agressive bite" has a wish to destroy the enemy in it and acted under a drive to protect something important for your dog. The agression itself is driven by deep fear to become a looser. Many GSDs do not have real agression in themselves, even those who were trained K-9s and are perfect attackers: they simply take it as some sort of a game, and release the sleeve as willingly as they grab it. I'd try a thick rope and war-of-tug for a while, if I were you, instead of a ball. It could be safer, before your dog learns to "Leave it!" on command. Your puppy should leave it for something tasty from your pocket, make an exchange. It shodn't be difficut with the ball later if you trained him with a rope.

[ImJaxon]

Hey thanks you guys! This stuff is really helpful. We've already altered what we're doing and no more really wild and out of control dog!

Thanks

[Cassidy's Mom]

Originally Posted by ImJaxon

We roll the ball and he stays until we say "OK" and he runs and gets the ball and brings it back. Problem is puppy doesn't give us the ball back. So, we say "SIT" and then we reach for the ball and ask him to "DROP IT" sometimes he does, sometimes not. Depends on how excited he is.

Have you tried using food to get him to drop the ball? I'll use a very yummy smelly treat, and put it right up to the puppy's nose before asking for them them to drop the ball. When they do, mark it ("yes!") and give the treat. You're basically trading a treat for the ball, and teaching an association between your command and the behavior of giving up the toy. You can do this with a tug too.

As quickly as I can, I switch from showing the treat first, to having treats out of sight, in a treat bag or pocket, and only pulling one out AFTER the puppy has dropped the ball/toy - you don't want him to become dependent on the sight of a treat in order to comply with the command.

From there, I transition to the only reward being praise, and then I throw the ball again, or give the toy back. Treats are no longer necessary because the reward is continuation of play, the food is only to teach what the verbal cue means.

It's a good idea to work with him on trading, where you hold one end of a toy (anything tuggable) or a low value bone (Nylabones are good for this), while the dog chews the bone, or tugs with the toy. Work on your "drop it" command, trading a treat for the toy or bone, and then giving it back. Because you continue holding onto the end of whatever, you still "own" it, and he can't go off on his own and refuse to give it back. When you're done playing, end the session and put the toy away, or let him take the bone and chew it on his own for awhile if you wish.

Establishing a foundation of trust, where he gives you "his" things for a reward, and either gets them back again or he gets a treat AND he gets it back again, makes it much less likely that he will become a resource guarder.

Another thing for retrieving a ball is to teach him to bring it right to your hand, so he's targeting your hand with the ball before getting the reward. We do this in flyball training with dogs who tend to spit the ball out too soon, either while still going over the jumps, or before or slightly after crossing the start/finish line.

[ImJaxon]

Oh wow, thanks CM, that is awesome advice. Noted for further use!!

[Cassidy's Mom]

Good luck, let us know how it goes! I did so much trading stuff with Halo from the time she was little that she still brings me things to take away from her. She created this game, and it's totally initiated by her - I call it "Can I have that?"

Can I have that? - YouTube

Can I have that? - YouTube

She likes me to hold her bone while she chews it, and she'll go get one and sit in front of me and stare until I get the hint and grab an end. She does the same thing with her Orbee balls. She doesn't even expect me to throw it for her, she just brings it to me, I take it away and give it back a couple of times, and then she goes and lays down to chew it. It's actually pretty cute, and it makes it much easier to take things away when I HAVE to, when she's gotten ahold of something she's not supposed to have, because we have this foundation of trust already established.

[MiraC]

The pup sounds like he was overtired like when a little kid plays hard . He sure is cute red and black one of my favorite colors


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[ImJaxon]

I started doing your method last night CM. Works pretty good!

Thanks again to everyone for your input!