Hi there. My 4 month old beautiful boy has been great with me apart from a couple of times a day when he would jump up and bite and run around like crazy. I took advice and gave him some quiet time because he was probably tired and in need of a rest. However the older he gets it's happening more and more often. He continuously jumps up at me nipping at me biting my clothes when I don't react. He is playing as the tail goes non stop. This now happens when I'm out on walks when he is off the lead and I've had some nasty nips on my hands ( trying to get him back on the lead again). he is not like this with my husband and so feel that's it must be something I am doing/ not doing. The fact is I am almost to the point of feeling scared of him, which is not good. Training was going well but I feel that now he's not listening to me at all, if I try and speak firmly with a command that can set off the mayhem and he barks at me and runs and jumps at me. Apologies for going on and on, I am now feeling a little bit run down with it all and won't deny there have been a few tears. Any advice would be greatly appreciated x
Hi, I posted a very similar thread a month or two ago. Bill is now 10 months but a few months back displayed the same behaviour as you are describing. It is worrying and a bit frightening when they are doing it. Same as you, at training I only had to say "stay" and he would be off on one. He was as good as gold with everything else. Bill was mouthing a lot so that was the first thing I worked on. If he was mouthing at all I was making a fist and telling him to "leave it", so respecting the hand. When he went crazy I would ignore his behaviour if possible(not always easy) or if at home, put him in his crate for a very short time. Then quietly let him out but not really acknowledge him. It worked for us - I realised the other day that we haven't had that behaviour for a while - so fingers crossed we are the right side of it! I am not an expert just an owner, so let's see what others say
Hi @Nik , I've been through a similar thing with Cassie -- when she was about 14 months old, so big! In her case it was triggered by allsorts of things, mainly hormones, but that's by the by really. In her case the only solution was absolutely no further interaction, by standing on her lead, attached to her flat collar. There's a whole thread about it in the training logs. No talking, no playing until she stopped. The idea of giving her something else to do just didn't work for us because the attention was almost like a reward. You have to be consistent, and the behaviour can get worse before it gets better. And wear clothes that won't matter if they get torn. Try to remember that it's like you are their best playmate
I'd like to suggest that you stop going for walks as such and instead go out to play. Take a bag of toys (thick plaited rope, soft toy, squeaky toy, ball) , go to a recreation ground/ park/ woodland /moor/beach, let your pup off the lead and engage him in play. He's very young and is almost certainly trying to get you to play. Ask for the briefest sit, then play tug for 1/2 a minute, then swap the toy for a treat, ask for another really brief sit and play tug again. Eventually you won't need the treat as the pup will understand that releasing the toy means you start to play again. After a few goes you can release him to sniff for a bit and then start again with a different toy. I feel this approach will give your pup the play he wants but with you instigating it -and it will reinforce you as the centre of all good things. I don't think a firm voice is what's needed but you do need to be in control and play is a great way to achieve this.
Barking is a way of communicating with you - you have to try to understand what he's saying. It can be a demand for attention, which you obviously don't want to reward with attention, but if you're already interacting with him, doing some training and he's barking at you, it is more likely either over-excitement, in which case you have to work on calmer behaviours, or, very often, frustration. This generally means you're confusing him, or asking too much. So, lowering your criteria and going back a few steps can make a massive impact.
