[german59mn]

I rescued a German Shepherd pup back in April, 2008 from a German Shepherd rescue facility. They thought that he was approx. 4 1/2/ mo. old.

When we first got him he seemed to be pretty mellow. He had some medical issues which we got all taken care of (they think someone kept him crated all the time as the muscles in his back legs had atrophied and he had large callouses on his elbows). He is now in excellent health and we also just had him neutered.

However, within no time at all he was nipping at our ankles, legs, hands and anything that moves. We have worked on Alpha training however, this hasn't stopped the problem one bit. Also, we have tried holding his bottom jaw and saying "no bite" and then also hold him down in the Alpha position until he calms down - to no avail. It seems as though the problem gets worse instead of better.

What am I doing wrong? Are there any other suggestions?

Thanks so much.
Cathy

 

[jarn]

what do you mean by alpha training?

when you say you are holding him down in the alpha position - are you referring to an alpha roll? i would suggest not doing that, as i think it could create more problems than it could solve. studies watching wolves found that it is a fallacy that the alpha rolls subordinates - instead, it is actually that submissive wolves roll over themselves in the presence of the alpha.

edited to add: you could work on redirecting him onto something appropriate - a favourite toy - when he nips you.

 

[wrenny]

I believe there are lots of stickies under the puppy forums for this problem.

Basically you need to redirect his attention. Hes a young puppy and a GSD. Always have toys and redirect him. He could catch on in a few days or a few months, but just keep it consistent.

If he bites, redirect to the toy, if he does it again, yelp and turn your back to him. Stop playing with him and then go back with the toy.

 

[DSudd]

Great advice. The only other thing we are doing is, if Apollo is mouthing us we tell him no, or make a loud noise and he stops. He will normally look at whoever is "bothering" him and the go back to the original task (we just keep repeating over and over) or he will give kisses (Praise him like crazy for this one) Redirection does work for him also, however, if I am walking down the hall and he starts we stop on the spot for correction.

 

[MaggieRoseLee]

You aren't doing anything wrong. Lucky you, you got a GSD puppy!!!!

Management is key for most of us, not so much any 'commands' or 'obedience' type stuff.

In fact, we have a permanent Sticky for this topic in The Puppy Place, under Puppy Behavior called Teaching Bite Inhibition (click here) we all use for guidance!

 

[SamsMom]

Samantha went through this phase, but luckily not to a terrible extent. She constantly tried to "heel' us and nip the back of our legs as we were walking. Anytime she did it, I screamed a terrible high pitched squeal and said OWWWWW!!!! It probably took 5 or 6 times before she quit all together.