Bite inhibtion help!

[Sweet72947]

Ok so I have been trying some suggestions from that thread I made about a landshark named Mori (who was adopted btw by previous adopters who wanted a friend for their dog. ) with a certain other dog who is on the line I do most of the time. Her name is Legacy, she is Middie-sized (about 35lbs), and has some terrier mixed in her someplace. Legacy mouths/jumps like crazy, and when I go to let her out I make sure to have a rubber tire toy with me, and I throw it so that she doesn't launch herself at me going 100mph. And we play tug with it. But what I REALLY want to teach her, is bite inhibition! With some dogs, I do this by playing bitey hands with them, but I can't do this with Legacy if I want to keep my fingers!

I have started keeping the gate to Legacy's run between herself and me, because if she gets herself worked up, she can get into a frenzy of growling and mouthing and grabbing my legs/arms/clothes and its PAINFUL. If I keep the gate between us, I can almost close myself against the run next to hers, and its a nice "fence" between me and the Little Black Landshark, and it makes her stop because I "go away". The other thing she does is, when we are playing tug with the tire toy, Legacy will work her mouth around the toy toward my hand, and sometimes gets my hand, and OUCH. I really want to find good ways to teach dogs that this behavior is NOT the right way to play, and make the time I can spend with Legacy less painful!

I love my Little Black Landshark to death (she's really very sweet and cuddly when she isn't sinking her teeth into you), but sometimes she can really be a pushy little bitch! lol

 

[Maxy24]

Does she startle if you yelp (really good yelp like you just stepped on a dog's tail or paw, when I yelped people looked over because they thought I did something to the poor dog, I had to tell them it was me lol)?

We had one dog that if you yelped she stopped, then I'd redirect her to a toy. she was the worst mouther we ever had. After three yelps and redirects she kept her mouth on the toy. If she didn't have the toy she started to go for your hands but quickly remembered to run and grab her toy (it was floppy frisbee). But make sure you do something after the yelp like ignore her for 20-30 seconds or leave the pen for that amount of time and then come back and offer a toy and play some tug. Otherwise she'll just get used to the yelp as one of those weird noises people make.

 

[ihartgonzo]

I wouldn't play too excitedly with a dog like you described, for now. You need to have better control of the situation, and not have to hide from her behind a gate, for fear of her going into a frenzy. Make her wait and sit before you take her out of room... even if you have close the gate 20 times before she sits still for a moment. Tasty treats, like string cheese, can help that process a lot! Stay consistent and post something on her gate asking others to do the same.

I would take her on lots of walks and work on lots of obedience, rather than getting her all riled up. Use treats that have length to them (again string cheese... maybe hotdogs) to help her clearly distinguish between treat and hand. Sit and practice bite inhibition with treats: hold treats in your closed hand, with only a bit sticking out, and force her to nibble on it without making contact with you. If she makes contact, sternly say no, and give her a few seconds of timeout before you give her another chance. Playing with rope toys and such can help, but make sure you keep a slip or something on her that you can grab to get her under control and prevent her from re-directing on you, and make sure that you set clear boundaries and rules in the game (make her wait to take it, teach her to release it, & end it when she makes any contact with you). With super excited dogs like that, giving them NO attention is better than a harsh correction. Calm her down, keep her from jumping at you, and do nothing to reinforce her behavior until she sits and chills out.

 

[Sweet72947]

Does she startle if you yelp (really good yelp like you just stepped on a dog's tail or paw, when I yelped people looked over because they thought I did something to the poor dog, I had to tell them it was me lol)?

Well, today when she had a hold of my pants (and my leg) I did a small yelp just to see what would happen, and she did let go. It wasn't a startle though, it was like "Oh, I guess maybe I shouldn't bite that *release*".

It can be difficult to keep dogs like this from getting riled up because she's already partially riled up from jumping around/barking in her run at the other dogs that have been let out before her, and when she's in the yard the other dogs are doing their barking/jumping stuff, which is kind of keeping her at this hightened state. I think I might start walking her instead of letting her in the yard, that way its a more controlled situation and we can actually work on some training without the distraction of the other dogs. And I can bring the tire toy, since its a good reward for her.

Thanks for the suggestions.

 

[Taqroy]

I've never seen this recommended on Chaz so it might be entirely stupid - someone please correct me if I'm wrong! Wouldn't it work to put the bitter apple stuff on the parts of you that she bites frequently? I *just* did this to Murphy's hindquarters so Mu would stop biting them, I don't know if it's a good idea when applied to humans but I thought I'd throw it out there.

 

[Doberluv]

Read this whole thing and you'll be well armed. (in more ways than one)

Bite Inhibition Article