Agressiveness

[Tammy Jones]

Hi,
I am very concerned about some apparent aggression that my puppy is displaying, mainly toward me. She is a lab/border collie mix, about 6 months old, and we have had her for 3 months now. She is not yet spayed, although I don't know if that makes any difference. She has been on NILIF for several weeks now, and she is crate trained. Whenever I am outside with her, she jumps on me repeatedly and often tries to bite or nip my arm when she jumps. I have tried turning my back on her or removing myself when she jumps, waiting for her to follow my command to "sit", and then praising her. That doesn't seem to be producing the effect I am looking for. In fact, when I turn my back on her and try to walk away, this is when she starts jumping on my back and actually trying to bite my back, jeans, jacket, whatever she can get her teeth on. Today I was outside doing yard work and throwing a Frisbee or ball for her. She was fine for a while, but then it was like someone flipped a switch and she began the jumping and biting thing, for no apparent reason. She was actually jumping very high, and it seemed to me that she was trying to bite my face. I literally had to run inside to get her leash (we have a big fenced-in yard) and pull her back inside. She never does this sort of thing inside, by the way. I am very upset by this behavior. I can't let her keep doing this to me, it's very nerve-wracking. I keep thinking that if I can't do something about this, I won't be able to keep her. I have a son and, although she hasn't displayed this behavior toward him, if she does she will have to go. PLEASE help me...I don't want to have to get rid of Oreo! TIA!

Tammy

[Krysta Smith]

Lola used to do this to me when she was younger and it always seemed that it was worse outside (she did it inside as well) and usually only me. She would start running around and then run up to me and jump at my hands and bite my pant legs after we'd been outside for awhile (especially if I tried to walk away). It was like she thought she was invinceable (sp?) because she was outside and she could do anything she wanted (I couldn't get near her unless I had her on a leash already). Anyway, I started taking her outside on a twenty foot leash and as soon as she started acting up (biting my hands or pant legs) I would frown and say "No! No Biting!" And take her right inside. Fortunately it didn't last long after that because Lola LOVES to be outside, especially if there's snow (which there was at the time). She did try it again a couple weeks later but only once and she hasn't tried it since.

[Marsha]

Spanky also used to do this to us, and he was much worse outside although he would do it inside, too. I was very worried that he was being aggressive. I finally had a dog behaviorist/trainer out. We had a 6 week session at our house with him. He was very good. He assured us that Spanky was not aggressive. He was a clicker trainer who only did off-leash training. (I had an appointment with another trainer who wanted him to drag a leash attached to a pinch collar, and I was not comfortable with that. I was afraid I would make him aggressive if he wasn't). Within a couple of weeks of working with this trainer, Spanky was so much better. I think what made the BIGGEST difference of all was that I became much more comfortable with Spanky. I haven't had alot of puppy experience, and I couldn't tell what was play and what was aggression and what was dominant behavior. The trainer put me at ease about the fact that he was not showing aggression at all. He was playing but in an unacceptable manner. I know the training has worked wonders, but I think this play behavior would not have gotten as out of hand if I had not gotten so nervous about it. When I became comfortable with Spanky, he seemed to calm down and become much more comfortable with me, and this play behavior died down tremendously.

[Alberta Hanko]

Linus also did this, with both my husband and myself, when he was about 5 months old through maybe 7 months old. I believe it is a rough attention getting game. But I agree it sure can hurt. He would start that and grab our arms--it was summer, and we would be bleeding. We did try what other people said about yelping--and that sure didn't work. So I luckily blundered into doing what Krysta did with Lola. I would take him out on a 20 foot lead, and let him drag it. If he got rough, I would end it quickly by taking the end of the lead and taking him back into the house. Although it took a few months for him to get completely out of it, we did start to see results quickly. Good luck with your pup.

Alberta & Linus

[Tammy Jones]

Thanks for the replies! It helps a lot to know that other people have dealt with this, too. My other dog (who is now 8, and just a wonderful sweetheart of a dog) never did anything like that as a puppy, so I just didn't know what to think. I will try the leash trick, because I know Oreo LOVES to be outside.

Tammy

[Renee Premaza]

Hi Tammy!

>>I have tried turning my back on her or removing myself when she jumps, waiting for her to follow my command to "sit", and then praising her.<<

Sounds to me like your dog is becoming overly excited during play times with you when you're both outside. I would suggest that when you're playing with her, always have her dragging her leash. That way, when she gets in this mode, you will be able to have immediate control by picking up her leash. When you do pick up the leash, quickly step on it so that you're holding onto the loop of it and standing on the leash where she only has enough room to sit or lie down. This will prevent her from succeeding at jumping on you, and it will serve as an immediate time-out. When she calms down, give her another 30 seconds or so, and then drop the leash and resume your game. If it happens a second time, take up her leash, tell her "too bad" and bring her back in the house and ignore her for at least 60 seconds. Be consistent with this and she will learn to realize that her behavior ends all her fun.

Along with doing basic obedience training (i.e., sit, down, stay, come when called, leave it, etc.) there are many play-training games you should begin using with her. First, teach her that jumping will NEVER work. Jumping is an attention-seeking behavior. If you speak to her, look at her, touch her or show her ANY attention when she's jumping, you're reinforcing this behavior. You need to actually train her that when you do something very exciting, she will be heavily rewarded for sitting. Here's some training exercises I advise my own clients to do:

1. Teach her polite sits for greetings. Tether her to a strong chair or table leg with her leash. Approach her 3 times and as you walk to her, tell her to sit. If she does, give her a treat each time. On the 4th approach don't say anything and I'll be you she'll sit pretty. Practice this everywhere in the house, and especially at the front door. Ask your visitors not to speak to or pet her until she does a polite sit for them. Then they can give her a treat and pet her.

2. Teach her that sitting will always be rewarding no matter how silly you get. Again, tether her. Do some jumping jacks, and as you start to jump around, tell her to sit. If she does, reward her with a treat. As you work, increase the time that you're doing your jumping jacks to get her used to sitting there longer and longer before she gets that treat. Anytime she tries to jump up on you, immediately turn on your heel and walk out of the room. Then return to her 30 seconds later and try again.

3. Teach her a game called, "go wild and freeze." Take her leash when you're outside and begin running with her just for a couple of steps. Then instantly tell her to sit. If she does, treat her. If she jumps on you, step on her leash quickly as instructed above. If she'll play this game, begin to increase the wild phase of this game and then quickly tell her to sit. She must sit as soon as you ask to earn her treat. When working with these games outside, use much better food treats to provide the motivation for learning. Remember that any training done outside requires heavier reinforcements.

4. Get someone to hold her leash for you. Then run up to her with your arms flailing, but as you do this, tell her to sit. If she does, reward her. Get her used to YOU acting like a total lunatic while she learns to just sit and watch you make a total fool of yourself (lol).

5. One final suggestion is to put her into a sit, and then smack your legs and your chest to encourage her to jump - just don't tell her to jump. While you're doing this, tell her to sit! After a few reps of this, stop telling her to sit and see if she sits automatically. Once she's sitting for this, begin to clap your hands over your head and teach her to sit when you do this too.

This should give you enough to work on to solve this problem. I hope these ideas help you! Make sure you're training her in the basic obedience commands and that your NILIF program is consistent.

Good luck!

Hi,
I am very concerned about some apparent aggression that my puppy is displaying, mainly toward me. She is a lab/border collie mix, about 6 months old, and we have had her for 3 months now. She is not yet spayed, although I don't know if that makes any difference. She has been on NILIF for several weeks now, and she is crate trained. Whenever I am outside with her, she jumps on me repeatedly and often tries to bite or nip my arm when she jumps. I have tried turning my back on her or removing myself when she jumps, waiting for her to follow my command to "sit", and then praising her. That doesn't seem to be producing the effect I am looking for. In fact, when I turn my back on her and try to walk away, this is when she starts jumping on my back and actually trying to bite my back, jeans, jacket, whatever she can get her teeth on. Today I was outside doing yard work and throwing a Frisbee or ball for her. She was fine for a while, but then it was like someone flipped a switch and she began the jumping and biting thing, for no apparent reason. She was actually jumping very high, and it seemed to me that she was trying to bite my face. I literally had to run inside to get her leash (we have a big fenced-in yard) and pull her back inside. She never does this sort of thing inside, by the way. I am very upset by this behavior. I can't let her keep doing this to me, it's very nerve-wracking. I keep thinking that if I can't do something about this, I won't be able to keep her. I have a son and, although she hasn't displayed this behavior toward him, if she does she will have to go. PLEASE help me...I don't want to have to get rid of Oreo! TIA!

Tammy

[Peggy Jensen]

My 3 year old mini-schnauzer Mickey does this too. It seems like mainly when we have been out walking and turn around to go home or in the morning when I am ready to leave for week. Usually if I just keep walking and ignore him (which is a little difficult with a 25 pound dog attached to your pant leg) he will quit and not try it again for the rest of the walk. In the house I try to go in another room and shut the door for a couple of minutes.
He went especially wild this morning for some reason when I was getting ready to leave for work. He grabbed my pant leg, chased and nipped at my feet and I decided to bend down and quietly tell him to settle, he finally did after biting at my arms and hands, he did not actually bite, which he has done in the past, so I took this as a step in the right direction. Maybe you could try this if he isn't actually biting to hurt.