My 14 week old GSD puppy will jump up and bite our butts if we're running!

Any suggestions on how to correct him of this? He's clearly playing, but I'm thinking it won't be fun for too much longer for us! He's not really that mouthy anymore to people, and he doesn't seem to be dominant, but what do i know?

Send a picture of your butt and we'll figure out how to solve the problem. JOKIN, HONEST!
Sorry Ed! Just couldn't resist that. My bad!
Seriously, when the pup starts biting, stop running, and firmly give a NO/PHOOEY/whatever. He'll get the message. after a bit.
You can also redirect. When you start running, show a toy or other distraction. The game will continue if he focuses on the toy. Just make sure the dog doesn't look at the toy as a reward for chasing your butt.
It's not dominance, it's prey drive.
In my younger, less motivational days I broke a neighbors dog from doing this by running across his yard with a wiffle ball bat on my shoulder. When the dog started nipping at my ankles I just swung the bat and gave him a swat on th a$$. I then let his teenage son do the same. The dog never again bit at anyone runing in the yard. No verbal correction, just the swat.
I wanted the dog to think this just came out of the blue when he chased anyone.
I might add that a dog can be ruined with this method if your timing isn't really good. You don't want to smack it in the head.

Sara,

Too funny . My GSD did exactly this same thing. The first time he did it, well, I'm sure you can agree, it was very unexpected shall I say?

He even bit the e-fence company representative. She came out to do one training session with him and during the portion of the lesson where she pulls him away from the property boundary/sound emitted from the collar, she was running him w/the leash on of course and he bit her in the ass. I laughed so hard because he had done the same thing to me too. She was a very good sport about it.

My dog, however, was very particular...he only bit women on the ass!

In the beginning it really was hard for us to NOT laugh the first couple of times. After that, it got old and we gave him a firm NO and a little tug on the leash and he never did it again.

Thanks though for assisting me in reliving those funny memories !

 Quote: Judy Troiano

My dog, however, was very particular...he only bit women on the ass!

Ahhh, a discerning butt biter! That is TOO funny!!

We used a well-timed e-collar correction to nip it in the bud. Our Dobe only did it when playing, and it was funny at first especially when he did it to someone else, but it did get old real fast! I kind of wish I had a few of the incidents on video before we trained him to no longer do it.

This is interesting...I was just thinking about this.

My father doesn't like German Shepherds because he was bitten...on the butt...when he was a kid. I've heard PLENTY of other stories about GSDs doing the same thing, coming from behind and biting the butt or back of the legs.

My father thinks these dogs did this "from behind" biting because they were cowardly. Now, maybe (they couldn't ALL be American line dogs, right ) but my hypothesis is this: Maybe they do this because they were originally herders. That's what herders do...they certainly don't go to the front because that's where the horns are.

I know my Corgis did the same thing with ankles...and they were bred to nip at the heels of cattle so it makes sense.

I'm not sure what the herding style of GSDs originally was, I know they didn't have the "eye" like Border Collies. So could this be an explaination of why these dogs seem to wait until your back is turned?

Hope this isn't off topic...but for me, when the Corgi's were nipping, I wasn't worried about aggression, I knew it was just their breeding. I would certainly like to dispell the myth that GSDs are cowardly biters because of the way they bite.

Amber, look up Shelley J.A. Fritzke posts on this forum. She uses GSDs for herding, besides her many other qualifications. She has remarked on the herding style of the GSD. There are some websites that also remark on the GSD herding style. I don't happen to have any on hand, but have seen them in the past.

And no, GSDs are not cowardly biters because of the nipping from behind.

 Quote: amber morgan

My father thinks these dogs did this "from behind" biting because they were cowardly. Now, maybe (they couldn't ALL be American line dogs, right ) but my hypothesis is this: Maybe they do this because they were originally herders. That's what herders do...they certainly don't go to the front because that's where the horns are.

Well, that makes sense. I didn't think of that. The biting is less ominous if you look at it from that point of view. I have to admit, I was kind of afraid that it was something that could escalate into aggression, mostly because he did it when we weren't looking. It's hard to run AND look at your butt at the same time!

Old Earth Dog: I'd love to send you a picture of my butt, but I lost my wide-angle lens!!



Mike: Mikah isn't going to be a Personal Protection Dog, so I think we're okay on that end.

I did let him know that it wasn't a Sara-sanctioned behavior, but he just started barking at me when I told him no. I'll try the long line trick, but the ecollar thing wouldn't work because he's too young for one, right?

I would not use the e-collar right now , no way , too many other methods you can use that are far better.I like Mikes' advise on the long line that's what I would go with.IMO

I got bit in the butt by a shih tzu...needless to say, not a great fan of the shih tzus anymore.

I've never had any butt-biters, but I did have an ankle-biter. I don't remember how we got her to stop!