[armymp1014]

my 4 1/2 month old pup is a great do 85% of the time but sometimes she is just insane. i like to call it happy hour.
happy hour happens here a couple times a day. today she was so pumped up all day my mom took ava out side to potty. when she got outside ava took off. when she got to the end of her leash she pulled the leash right out of my moms hand. my mom then chased her down and got her. ava the was running back and forth to try to jerk the leash out of moms hand again. in the process wrapping her self up in the leash.when mom tried to free ava from the leash ava started to bite my moms hand and drew blood. i have had puppies before never have i seen one bite like this. most of the time she will stop with a loud " NO BITE" if that doesnt work then i get up and walk away and ignore her. but lately it isnt working. i get up and walk away and she will bark like crazy and attack my legs for a few minutes befor giving up. i love my dog but the biting is getting out of hand. i do everything i have been told to do toys, ignore her, timeouts. what do i do?

 

[KZoppa]

start bopping her when she does it, tell her very firmly NO! and walk away. or do all except the walk away. crate her for a nice long time out.

 

[armymp1014]

i have swatted her in the butt once or twice but i really dont like it. she looks at me like "you hit me. how could you?" we are gonna start training classes this month and i have been reading books about training but she seems to go crazy.

 

[KZoppa]

i have swatted her in the butt once or twice but i really dont like it. she looks at me like "you hit me. how could you?" we are gonna start training classes this month and i have been reading books about training but she seems to go crazy.

i understand. We had the same issue with Shasta not too long ago and we actually started bopping her on the nose pretty hard when she did it. After roughly 5-6 times of that she started toning down the biting a great deal.

 

[jakeandrenee]

Sounds like maybe the puppy needs more exercise also. Jake was a handful at that age sometimes. I really upped the exercise and gave him lots of things to chew. I found with Jake that holding his muzzle, tapping his nose or anything made it WORSE. It would excite him more. I found that ignoring it and redirecting to a toy worked the best, however there was a time when the bite marks and bruises were really bad! It will get better!

 

[bianca]

I called it the witching hour! Molly was always at her worst when she was tired...kind of like a bratty child fighting sleep lol. I had the same experience as Renee so in the end more mental and physical exercise, and IGNORE or redirect. Good luck and try and remember that it will get better!

 

[Miss Molly May]

I called it the witching hour! Molly was always at her worst when she was tired...kind of like a bratty child fighting sleep lol. I had the same experience as Renee so in the end more mental and physical exercise, and IGNORE or redirect. Good luck and try and remember that it will get better!

:rofl: I remember the"witching hour" and am so happy its a thing of the past. Just stay with the one method and its all about repetition. It really take a while to train these habit out of them!

 

[Good_Karma]

I don't think it's a good idea to "bop" your dog on the nose. If you don't do it hard enough to be unpleasant, it will just increase the excitement. And if you do it hard enough to hurt, you are teaching your dog that human hands can hurt. Then maybe the next time you need to grab her collar, she may dart away from you.

Also, the next time she gets away, don't chase her to catch her. Run away calling her name and get her to chase you, then you have a better chance of grabbing her leash.

Rosa would get the crazies too. She would grab her leash and try to play tug, then race around like crazy too. She never did the biting thing though. Anyway, the best way for me to deal with it was to try my best to ignore her. I kept turning my back to her and just let her try and yank the leash away. I never pulled back, just held on firmly until she got it out of her system.

Do you have a safe place you can take her off-leash? Sometimes it is best to let the dog really stretch it out and race around the yard like a maniac. Can you fence your yard, or part of it? Off-leash play is really fun for the dog and fun for you too.

She's ready for classes too, those are a good idea. It will help teach her that paying attention to you equals good things.

It also helped me to think about those crazy outbursts as something my dog could not totally control. Remember when you were a kid and you were just bursting with energy and you just had to MOVE! Same thing. So give her an outlet and don't encourage it when it's not polite.

 

[JakodaCD OA]

sounds like typical 'rabies attack' puppy Up the exercise, hard playing, as in fetching, tugging, letting her have the zoomies to release that built up energy.. I don't 'bop' my puppies on the nose or anywhere else for that matter unless it's a really serious incident (as in aggressively biting someone)..and then I'd tend to do a scruff grab on them.

I would think bopping on the nose would tend to make them head shy.

A tired puppy is a good puppy

 

[BayouBaby]

One thing I've read here on the forums that others do for other reasons is to squirt water at her with a squirt gun. For example - she bites, you tell her no bite, she still bites, out comes water pistol and she gets a face full of water. I dunno if it'd work, but I've read that it works for other things here. =)

 

[JKlatsky]

Generally when puppies get like that it's a combination of excess energy and drive. They have to put their mouth somewhere...so you have to give them a place to do it. And you have to understand that at times like that they are just a little out of their mind. They don't really know what they are doing all they know is that they HAVE to DO. I honestly never pet my pups when they are like that...What I do is I take them out into the backyard. I bring several toys that they like- usually balls. And I walk around, ignoring the puppy and just kicking the toys. The moving toys give the puppy something to focus on and having several keeps me from getting mauled when they bring them back. Usually 5 minutes or so of sprinting after the toys takes the manic edge off and then we can have a civilized interaction.

It's a phase. With consistancy and age it gets better.

As far as the water. Tag was/is a barrier barker. Something about not being able to get to something he wants to get to in his crate or kennel gets him just NUTS.

 

[onyx'girl]

I agree with tiring out the pup thru fetch, flirtpole or tug and NOT bopping.

When pups are mouthy a good game of tug will get that oral need satisfied. I would get pup into a class, up the exercise and practice NILIF.

 

[Mrs.K]

There is very good topic on biting inhibition on this forum. It's even a sticky. Why don't you read through that, it'll explain a lot.

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/puppy-behavior/85888-teaching-bite-inhibition.html

Never bopp and pleeeaaase don't use the Watergun either!

Would you bopp or squirt a year old human baby because it touches and puts everything into his mouth?

 

[Baersmama]

I agree, a good pup it a tired pup. Our first GSD would terrorize my daughters when they got home from school. She was so wound up and excited, I used to tell my husband (jokingly) that she was going to be an ad in a newspaper. It is true, that for most, it is a phase, and with training....and age... she settled into the most wonderful dog ever. (we now have our fourth and fifth GSD) There is hope!!! LOL. Good luck.

 

[BlackPuppy]

I would not use the words "no bite" together unless you want the dog to bite. That's just my thinking. (I also don't think "NO BARK!" is a good idea. Say, "No... Quiet")

When my puppy was young, I would say "no.....kisses only!", and I'd make a smooching noise by his nose. All my dogs know what the smooching noise means.

And this also happens to be the way Boaz's trainer trained the entire litter not to bite. When I went to pick him up, all the puppies wanted to lick me.

Now, if you plan on doing Schutzhund, you don't want to discourage biting.

 

[Zoeys mom]

The water trick made Zoe even crazier.....she likes water in her face apparently,lol Take her for an off leash run in your yard with lots of fetch when she does this. This behavior is all energy to burn I promise. I gave Zoe time outs that ramped her up even more, water well she likes it, and ignoring made her even more feisty. A good run made everyone happy around here

 

[armymp1014]

thank you for all the feed back. i do agree that a tired puppy is a happy puppy. most of the time that is how i handle it. just wear her out. i got hurt while i was in the army and some days i have some trouble getting around. my yard isnt fenced but i am working on that. we go for long walks and go to the park to run free. i do need to get the yard fenced. this is ava's forever home and that will not change. i do have the time and money to train her. am looking for a good trainer here. i dont want to do petsmart or petco. i havent herd good things about them. any one know a good trainer in central florida?

 

[Stosh]

Is there someone who could volunteer to exercise her on days you're not feeling well enough? Maybe someone at the vet's office or Humane Society might know. My mom suffered a serious injury and while she was recuperating she couldn't give her gsd enough exercise, so she called the shelter and one of the volunteers came to her house and walked the dog and played with her until my mom was able.

 

[jakeandrenee]

Have you tried a flirt pole????

 

[armymp1014]

my brother comes over alot. so when i am not feelin so good he makes sure she gets walked. we try to go to the park at least 3 or 4 times a week but i always feel i could be doing more. and it is pretty easy to see that when she is tired she is better behaved. we just got back from the dog park then had a bath and now she is passed out. i like when she is tired lol.
p.s. i met a super cute woman at the dog park today