Correcting Biting

[LoveMyKees]

So as some of you know, we recently rescued a 1 1/2 year old Keeshond named Ari. We don't know much about his background, except that he came into the rescue as a stray.

Overall he's pretty well behaved. We had to teach him about going to the bathroom outside, and overall he caught on fairly quickly. He's a very smart dog, he listens to our commands and corrections and is always waiting for our cues.

However he does have one problem that I need advice on how to correct. He has a ton of energy, and whenever he gets really wound up he begins to growl at you and gets snippy. We remember this happening when Max was about that age, but it wasn't this bad. I'm not sure if its aggressive behavior or just playing. I'll try to get a video of it if it would help.

Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Maxy24]

Well if it's play the easiest and most practical thing to do would be to stop playing (if you were playing with him) and do a complete ignore (turn back, cross arms, avoid looking at, talking to or touching him, you can also calmly walk away) or if he was playing with himself or Max or if when you ignore him he does zoomies or something else fun, isolate him for a few minutes instead. But you need to try and do it quickly so he knows what caused the loss of fun. Make sure no matter which one you do that you do it at the very first sign of an inappropriate behavior so there is no guess work as to how far he can go with the behavior. You can also try and call him over for some rest when he starts to get riled up but before he starts to show the bad behavior, that way you can try and prevent him from being over stimulated in the first place.

You could also try body language, when he goes to nip put your arms up (just so he can't grab them), clench your mouth shut and make a pucker face (lips come forward so they are small) and lean forward on your toes while looking at his face. It's important that the MOMENT he steps away, gives a calming signal (licks lips, turns face away from you, yawns, play bows, lies down, turns around etc) or gets himself under control you completely change your body, let your mouth open into a smile with your teeth parted, have gentle eyes, let your muscles loosen, lean back on your heels or even kneel down, cock your head and just go loose.

Make the happy dog face: http://static.squidoo.com/resize/sq...996module9169181photo_1208536768dog_smile.jpg

I'd start with the first method, if you are not good at ready body language then don't do the third method because removing the intimidating body language at the right time is very important.

Try to give him more exercise if you can, it might help him to stay calmer.

If it's aggression things get more complicated, so I'll wait for the video to see what I think it is. It's probably just play and over stimulation.