Log in Search. Contact Nipping at Strangers or Children? Why Dogs Bite There is almost always a reason why your dog nips or bites. Reduce Stress Boredom and frustration can also lead to anxiety. Train Firmly and Consistently Physical punishment will tend to make them fearful and more anxious. Follow Precautions Some dogs are aggressive by nature, or may bond excessively with a single person. Facebook Twitter Pinterest Instagram.
Newer Post. Share on social media. People Are Talking About Us. Close esc Popup. Dogs with fear aggression will sometimes lash out at strangers because these situations scare him; the idea is to get him to associate strangers with something positive, such as a food reward or play. Place a canine head halter on your dog when you walk him. This will give you increased control over him and prevent him from nipping strangers while you are outside. Get him used to the halter by having him wear it for a few minutes at a time, praising him and treating him with it on until he can wear it for a longer period with no signs of discomfort.
Negative attention and abuse in the form of yelling, attempting to hit or hitting your dog as a reaction to his nipping not only reinforces this behavior, but will also increase your dog's level of aggression, possibly causing him to bite rather than nip.
At a young age, starting at 7 weeks old, expose your dog to a variety of strangers and other dogs to prevent nipping later in life. Training a dog not to nip at a younger age is potentially less dangerous because of the dog's small size; he is unable to inflict severe injury during this time.
A dog raised with littermates and a mother dog will be taught polite behaviors and learn that nipping feels unpleasant by his interactions.
Encourage playful interactions in puppies under 8 weeks of age by providing the litter with toys to engage their attention and drive to play. Think about it: If you were punished for being afraid of a snake, would the punishment make you less afraid?
The way to modify this behavior is to convince the dog that you are keeping him safe. You can only do this by showing him. You might put him in a room or kennel when people arrive, then allow him to visit when they are calm and seated. He might then be put away again before the guests leave, so the increased activity doesn't put him into a state of high anxiety, causing the nipping behavior to resume.
You might also begin what's called a counter-conditioning program to associate good things like food or play with guests. Gioia bit her just hard enough to make her jump there was no damage to her hand and for all my life I think Gioia smiled and laughed. She was relaxed and happy through the entire incident and after it was done she play bowed, bounced, and then laid back down at my feet.
This pattern would have repeated if we had not changed how we handled Gioia. This was not difficult and we continued to compete with her, train her at two dog clubs, and show her. In the moment of her aggressive behavior her facial expressions were not mixed, she had a very hard eye, forward ears, and an offensive pucker.
I could not detect any ambivalent or fearful signals like hackles, snarling or showing any teeth, whale eye, or pulled back mouth. After each incident her expressions were also not ambivalent she was relaxed, loose with a soft eye, ears and mouth.
For all the world it seemed as if this was a really fun game for her. I had many people tell me this was a fear behavior but nothing in her affect seemed at all fearful. It seemed the most like how she would get a reticent or challenging sheep or goat to move.
But again, we were careful with her and so in grand total there were only a very small number of incidents, none of which ever resulted in any contact excluding the first one or injury. Only 1 time did Gioia injure someone and that story follows.
The only other aggressive behavior we had with Gioia was at our agility club. This took me and Gioia by surprise and while I froze Gioia did not, she spun around in mid air it seemed and bit him hard, very hard, and shook him a little and then let go. No barking, growling, or any warning at all. He grabbed her, she bit him, and she let go. It took like 1 second. He flushed out his hand and continued teaching and we working. Gioia worked happily and as she always did in agility and she showed no signs of being traumatized.
She really did not care for my coach after that and while she never showed any aggressive behavior towards him again and he never grabbed her again it was obvious to me that she really found him aversive if he wanted to interact with her.
She would go hard and still. I am not sure how this was related to her previous behavior. Gioia lived a long live, earned many titles, and aside from this behavior she seemed a normal and well adjusted dog. She traveled extensively, worked hard, and enjoyed a long and full life. We loved her and her us and I think having her taught me much about behavior but I have not yet been able to come to any better idea as to her motivation than she found scaring people to be reinforcing.
I would love to hear other people thoughts. Thank you for your story. I recently adopted an American Eskimo puppy who is showing tendencies similar to what you have described. I have been feeling conflicted on whether to keep her and if she would be able to fit into our lifestyle. Your story gives me hope that it is possible to have a dog who has been aggressive but is still able to be involved in an active lifestyle. She actually tried to nip the instructor multiple times on the last class when the instructor was walking her on lead.
She seems to take after Gioia. I have a GSD pup that is 11 months. I have done a lot of socializing. He was recently fixed and I thought we might see a little improvement.
My pup is great with my husband and me, and only a small handful of people. I have gone through 3 top trainers. The last one told me to use the shock collar. I am fearful that this is going to make it worse. He already nipped and 2 people. I feel like a terrible parent. The last trainer was pretty rough around the edges and had me in tears. Told me he is fearful and to not let him around other people. More or less, forget entertaining. Any advice would be appreciated.
I do not know what to do. Reward based training to promote required behaviors is always the best way. We have a 3yo Yellow Lab who is severely fear aggressive. He has bitten both my husband and myself on several occasions. Once he gets stressed, he completely and totally short circuits and will bite anything and anyone in his way. We obviously keep him leashed at all times…he is now in a prong collar which has helped us control him quite a bit. We leave the leash dragging behind him now so when someone comes to the door completely freaks when this happens we can at least get his leash from the safety behind him.
I was bitten most recently and it was actually interesting. I heard a crash outside and looked to see one of our horses had gotten in with my 2 blind horses and one of those is my 36yo first horse whom I am very protective of. We both jumped up and grabbed shoes to get outside.
I ran out the door first and left it open so Rio trotted out behind me. I hooked him up to a tie out line which was handy. I am watching hooves flying all around my ole timer and in that split second decide it would safer for the dog in the house so I just went to unhook the line all the while watching my horses and he bit my hand VERY badly…my whole hand was in his mouth and he bit down hard!!!
Rio had not been barking or doing anything audible to me to indicate he was picking up on our anxiety and adrenalin rush so I was paying him no attention at all.
His stressors are other dogs on leash being walked he does GREAT at a local day care- they took the time to start him off slowly but he now plays well with the whole pack , sometimes people coming near the car and people coming to the house. I can get him in a down and not barking from a distance…if we get too close to the strangers, he freaks.
At times there is no quieting him and I have to completely remove him from the stressor. We had his thyroid tested by Dr Dodds and at that time he was fine — will retest yearly tho because his mother has thyroid issues. Any advice will be appreciated.
But none of my family have ever given her any cause to fear us I use no painful or aversive tools or techniques on her.
I think you should stop with the prong collar and all aversive training techniques as these contribute to fear. Imagine every time you got scared of something and reacted someone yanked on your neck or pinched you. How would this make you feel? More scared of whatever it was that scared you surely, not less. You may, over time, also come to resent the person that administered these punishments and react towards them too.
Try a positive approach and try to heal the broken relationship between you and your dog — he needs to know he can trust you fully to take care of every situation and keep him safe. He was an adolescent at the time and we had moved from Maine to Georgia.
They must have some mean dogs down there as several people would see us coming and before I had time to move my dog off the sidewalk literally jumped out of the way and crossed the road.
Linus the poodle apparently thought This was a game and actively started to look for people. Fortunately preventing rehearsals and a little CC did the trick. I have a very loving, playful and intelligent black lab.
With people he is a nightmare. He had a very bad start in life, having been quarantined at birth due to a Parvo outbreak and then , at eight weeks old was attacked while sleeping.
Another dog tried to kill him. He hid for a week and would only come out if held. I could write pages about his behavior although through years he has come a long way.. He is now six can go out and play and will still bark at people. He used to get hysterical running in circles, barking, air biting and he would then hide behind me. In the beginning he would just freeze and look at the ground.
I have an Australian Lab who is great with me in house but completely unpredictable with strangers. Any advice? We adopted her at 5 years old 5 months ago.
I am employing some of her recommendations but fear it is going to be a long arduous process to achieve significant lasting results. I hope my dog Molly is in big trouble by me and I am thinking to spank molly and put her i timeout in her pin or house.
I have the same problem. My dog is 17 months. Bite my friends daughter on the nose. The daughter stepped on him and tripped all an accident and he bit her.
He also can be fearful of strangers. What did you do to help change these behaviors? I have a problem with my pup roughly taking her treats. It was partially my fault. She used to be very gentle but during the rush in obedience class sessions, I started letting her snatch them. When rewarding her the treat, I hold it directly in front of her face. That means no sniffing, licking, trying to bite or snatch it, pawing, etc.
She will finally figure it out and by that time she will also be a bit less excited and take the treat more gently. Do not reward pawing. She is aggressive around strangers and mostly males. Which was working out great she was making friends. Always become friends quickly with females. My next door neighbors granddaughter teases Mickie a lot. I have told her many times that dogs not understand and that you are scaring her.
She will not stop. Her grandmother and mother will not teach her to stop. The other day I was out of town and my husband let them out to potty and Maggie my yellow lab went to the fence to greet my neighbor out of no where Mickie jumped up and bit the grandmother that was trying to pet Maggie. It was a good bit 3 puncture wounds. I am concerned that this has happened. Mickie has known my neighbor for years. Why would she bit her.
Was she protecting Maggie, treated by her being to close to the yard. Not sure now if I should keep Mic away or try and she if I can have her make friends. What do you all think. Unfortunately, we cannot diagnose behavior problems over the internet.
We do recommend that if you are having these issues, you see a certified Animal Behaviorist. Since this has escalated to biting another person, you should try to speak to someone as soon. My toy Fox terrier has come to start biting us for a multitude of reasons. His aggressive behavior have always been there but lately it has increased. He has been diagnosed with IBD and is on a special diet. His aggression has increased since my wife went in for surgery and his IBD issue about 3 months later.
Any advise which direction we should go to correct this situation. He is a good dog most of the time.
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