dog mouthing/biting

[Bear2010]

Our 1yr. old germ. shep. has a BAD habit of mouthing/biting us. I spk to my breeder & she assured me @ this stage this should no longer be going on. I know he is not being aggressive (we have seen that side towards other people & dogs) He does it when he is in his playing mood, which seems like all the time! With his breed I know A LOT of excersise physically & mentally is needed. We provide him w/ a lot of this. If their is a day when we dont do as much it shows! He is out of control, jumping up on us & biting at our hands and arms if we are sitting. He will keep on chasing & biting while we try to get up, following us, biting. This is unpleasant as hes a big boy. My kids get upset, we start yelling no! no! we hold his muzzle while saying this, as soon as we let go he comes @ us for more, it gets so bad sometimes that we have to put him in his crate. I hate to do this, but sometimes I have no choice. When it comes to this behavior flaw he DOES NOT LISTEN!!!! We need some tips. he is a good, loving & smart dog, he just needs to get out of this stage & quick! HELP!! THX!

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

This should be easy to troubleshoot and fix but will take some patience.

Answer these questions first and we can start troubleshooting:

1. How much does the "pack structure" exercises found in the self-help section reflect what goes on in your home? If he is used to making initiatives etc in other parts of the family dynamics it will be difficult to make sense to him that he shoudn't initiate play behavior?

2. Does he have an appropriate outlet for his prey drive when it is time to play which doesn't involve mouthing? Walks don't count. Does anyone sometimes allow the mouthing when in the mood to play?

[Bear2010]

Hi Mike, I will give you the run down of our structure w/ him. He always sits & stays until we release him for food, treats, toys, to go out the door, most anything he does he works for. He is not allowed on any furniture. He is crated when we are not home. His fave thing to do to release a lot of his energy is to play fetch. He also sits, stays & releases for that. He always comes back to me listening to the drop it command. We play this everyday. He likes to chase everything, our cats, strange kids, this is obviously not good. With me throwing the ball I dont know if this is a good outlet for him, but he NEEDS to run. He also likes hanging from a rope we have on the kids playset & hanging from it, like playing tug w/ it. He does have chew toys which he uses mostly only in the evening. I fill kongs w/ peanut butter to keep him occupied for a little while. We never let him mouth us, ever. We always repromand him as soon as it starts. Just last night I had a 10 min. ongoing struggle w/ him, him biting me, play jumping, running around, coming back biting me. I must have grabbed his muzzle over 7 or 8 times w/ the no command, only for him to come right back @ me. It finally ended when I left the room for a min. came back in & he finally laided down w/ a chew toy for 10 min. then it started all over again. My kids will be on the couch minding their own buisness & he goes right up to them & starts biting @ their feet, hands, arms, whatever he can get. Please let me know if I'm doing something wrong, this bad habit needs to stop. Any other ideas for high energy outlets? Thanks, Wendi

[Mike D'Abruzzo]

Hi Wendy,
Sorry I am so picky for details but just need a little more insight to the pack structure stuff. Sitting for food, treats, toys, and going out the door isn't necessarily going to communicate pack structure.

Who owns the toys? Him or the humans?
Does he solicit and get affection on his terms?

Details will help to find anything loose that needs to be tightened. The behavior you are describing is usually associated with a dog that has learned to solicit and be rewarded in other areas of his life. It all ties together so we want to make sure we set the stage right to fix the training. For instance if he sits before you open the door, but he is the one who gave the signal for you to go to the door - then it is opposite of what you want to communicate. The pack structure will have nothing to do with obedience and everything about who is deciding when things happen. It can be a confusing concept that I just want to make sure you understand because it ties into so many seemingly unrelated behavior problems that a dog may develop and makes it very hard for the dog to accept direction from someone unless it makes sense to their nature you are communicating in all aspects of his life that you want that position.

Have you seen this video? This sort of explains the way they see leadership and structure and the way of living with us must ideally reflect this:



If we have that concept down than you should probably have something to satisfy that restless spirit on a schedule so he never has to ask for it. I think a good game of tug a couple times a day in the house is a good idea if you are following the proper rules of starting it and ending it. We need to get him used to structure and the fact that he never has to ask for anything in his life. Not only should he trust that we will provide it on our own terms, he also needs to know that anything he asks for will also never be rewarded and mostly ignored when possible.

Since mouthing is so hard to ignore - ultimately the behavior should be corrected, but corrections will be far less with far less protest and he will understand it better and be happier if we get all the foundation in place first. Hence why this is called "foundation style dog training".

A good phase 3 "leave it" command will knock the mouthing problem out of the ball park - but alternative problems may emerge like just barking in your face or grabbing your things to get attention if the underlying issues aren't addressed.

To get a head start on the obedience part of things and teaching him the concept of discipline that he will need before the "leave it". I would recommend starting on the "climb" command found in the phase 1 video section. That will teach him what "no" really means and give you a head start to sending him to something when it is time to calm down. You don't need to use a board like in the video. You can use a dog bed or even a folded up comforter.

Keep in touch!

Mike