Our young Malinois is really biting us when he gets excited and when we try to physically restrain him it seems to make him worse. Any suggestions?

Question

Cindy,

    We just got an 8.5 week male Malinois a week ago from a reputable breeder after months of reading and watching DVDs.  We are specifically following instructions from the DVDs 'Pack Structure', 'Your Puppy 8 weeks to 8 months' and 'Raising your Working Puppy' (although we have many others).

    He is a happy, energetic pup that is responding well to most pack structure exercises (doors, gates, sitting for food, etc.). However we are having difficulty in reducing/ eliminating his biting on us (nearly always brought on by excitement but sometimes just petting him with loose clothing on). We try to redirect with a toy but that rarely works. 

    We've tried consistently holding him by the collar (supporting both sides of the head) and firmly but calmly saying 'NO' (similar to what was demonstrated in the 'Your Puppy..' DVD). This approach seems to be adding energy into the dog. A tantrum could take 5 or 6 successive thirty second bouts before he finally decides the contest is over.

    Recently we switched over to a slightly different approach:  put him in a down (with our hand very high/close on the lead to the flat collar) taking out all leash slack to control him while saying 'No' (again firm but calm). When he relaxes a little, we relax a little until it is over. The challenge is that it is taking what seems to be an extraordinarily number of reps (each of which might be 20-30 seconds long) to get through any particular episode.

    As an aside, he is getting exercise and mental stimulation (several short marker training sessions daily as well as some ?pack structure? training walks to drain energy).

    As a team, we have not yet mastered the walk, he will pull ahead unless I always circle clockwise (to always keep ahead of him).  Again, we are using a flat collar and no heavy correction since he is so young (I feel however that this is pushing me more towards nagging type corrections).

    Is this simply a case of staying the course (consistent and fair) and recognizing that he is just a baby having tantrums that he will eventually stop when he realizes that they get him nowhere?  This is our first Mal.

    We would appreciate any suggestions.

    You and Rush are and inspiration.

    Thanks again,
Jim

Accepted Answer

Hi Jim,

Thanks for the kind words about Rush and thank you for your business. We really appreciate it.

A young Malinois is challenging at best and biting is part of who they are. At only 8.5 weeks old he’s still trying to figure out how to relate to his new human family in terms that make sense to him. I have had great luck by either finding a toy that the dog really loves, and using that (at this young age) to redirect or teaching some simple behaviors with markers that I can use to redirect his energy. I’d quit trying to physically manipulate him for the biting because for some dogs it does add energy, as you’ve noticed.

I’d keep some really high value food handy and work on sit or down when you see him starting to amp up (ie as shown in The Power of Training Dogs with Food).

Hang in there, odds are it’s going to get “worse” before it gets better. You can always add some corrections later, but for now see if you can get him engaging with you in a positive manner before going to aversive methods.