Looking for input. I have an almost 13 wk old pup that I am planning on doing Sch work with. He has great food drive and his obedience and tracking for food is progressing nicely. He shows good prey drive for the ball and the burlap tug, but is far more interested in latching on to my pant legs, or arms, etc. I've tried to ignore this behavior and try to entice him to voluntarily let go of me and go for the tug. That had very limited success (he quickly leaves the tug and latches back on to me). I then started correcting him for biting me and then immediately getting him to chase the tug or ball. That was working fairly well, but a new unwanted behavior has cropped up. He has now started to try and "hump" my leg after he is corrected for biting me. He then has very little interest in the tug. When I correct him for the humping he tries to bite, when I correct him for trying to bite me he humps my leg.

After all that here is my question: Is this dominance behavior and should I be correcting him more forcefully? I didn't think that I would see this type of dominance behavior in a young pup, and I am scared that if I over-correct him now it may do some serious damage to his future training. Any imput would be greatly appreciated.

Sorry chad. But I was with you thinking that the humping was a form of dominace until my old TD said that was silly. He said the pup doesn't even know why he is doing this. It is just a natural act. Who knows? Any thoughts people?

Chad,

IMO your puppy's behavior just shows you how much he is attracted to you -- biting and humping <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> . You don't want to punish those feelings.

When you try to divert the puppy, do you have the tug or toy on a string so you can keep it "alive"? Or, do you toss the tug and when the puppy gets to it, it's "dead"? If it's "dead" figure out a way to keep it "alive" and interactive for your puppy like attaching it to the string, and, maybe that way you can make it more attactive than your leg <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> .

You have to be very careful with your corrections -- you have to make sure you are correcting what you want to correct. You want to change the behavior, not the feelings. The puppy's behaviors (biting & humping) are direct expressions of the puppy's feelings for you (attraction). The puppy can't separate them. So, if you think you are correcting the behavior, the puppy will feel it as a correction for its attraction to you. IMO you DON'T want to do that -- unless of course you plan to train using compulsive training methods later in which case it won't matter how you correct him now.

Figure out how to play with him in a way that brings out behaviors you find acceptable, or end the session. I'm sure you are smarter than he is.

Thanks Ellen,
I've got to try and remember not to allow frustration to motivate my actions with the puppy. I'm not always sure that he isn't the smarter one.

My money's on you, Chad <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" /> .

IMO with puppies it's always safer to get into the "feelings" behind what they are doing and respond to that -- behaviors usually haven't had a chance to be shaped yet in young pups.

As far as frustration levels go -- that's why females have the babies <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> -- we can handle it better -- HA!

Chad:

Remember that statement everytime you feel like grabbing your pup and shaking the snot out of him and you and your puppy will be just fine.