My new pup is 17 weeks old and I just got him 3 days ago. He's more than I could have ever hoped for, truly amazing. I have read posts here both for and against correcting for anything at this point and up to 6 or even 10 months. My pup is very drivey and amps up after (whichever comes first): he sees a toy, he sees a rag, he sees a quick movement (or a slow movement) or he has been sniffing or exploring or hanging out for more than 3 minutes without doing anything.

When he starts to go nutters if there is nothing for him to bite he clamps down on my leg or arm (not nips, clamps down with all of his little spiky teeth) or hand or jumps up and hangs off anything he can reach (I have a lovely puncture on my waist from where he missed my purse and hung off me for a while on a walk). He whines and barks at me like he NEEDS to bite something and I am not really sure if I should be teaching him better manners or just continue redirecting (or even if he is just being bossy and ordering me to give him the toy). I don't back down or act apprehensive when he goes for me but I also don't think I want him thinking I am more fun to bite than a decoy in a year or two.

Redirecting does work but more often than not he goes straight back after me (and he is fast!). I realize we are still in the early stages of bonding and pack structure and he is well behaved at the door and on walks without pulling, eats in his crate, generally doesn't complain when left crated, it's just the minute he has a free second to think he turns into a demonic crocodile and anything (any flesh preferably moving that is) goes. After redirecting for a while I usually do some motivational OB or marker training for eye contact and fun running games before he tires out and I crate him also.

SO I guess my question is keep redirecting or try to get him to realize that my skin is not for eating using more force? He is a very hard and dominant puppy so I am not sure if I should focus more on rank stuff before any other foundation work or just wait for him to learn that there are much better prey items than me.

Also when he and I are playing and drive building (not sure he needs it, I can't find that elusive OFF switch either) and he does bark in frustration at a toy I am holding out of his reach I give him the bite on it is that the correct thing to do? I am moving on Monday and will be getting the bite training dvd's and focus and grip dvd but in the meantime I have never owned a dog like this and I want to be sure not to over correct for normal working pup behavior.

Thanks,

Magdalena

Let me see if i can give you any help here....

Disclaimer: I have never owned a pup and have been training my one MWD for the last 3 years. I would also start off by buying Ed's video of training a working puppy (don't rember the name but i am sure you can find it here)


Lets start with the fact he bites you. We can see he has a very high pray drive and loves to bite. What exactly do you do to redirect him? I would imagine a sharp verbal correction wouldn't hurt the dog as long as you can show him its ok to bite other things, just not you.

One problem i think i see is you are doing marker training after you redirect him after he bites you? So in his mind he might be thinking, after he bites you it will only be a short time before he gets a treat. After he bites you and you get him off (by what ever manner) i would ignore him, show him this is not the way to get your attention.

As far as what your focus should be it think the Pact Rank will fall right into training too. You just need to make sure he knows you are still the pact leader in the house too not just during training.

For him barking at the toy that completely depends on you (or the sport not sure what your training him for) If you like the fact he shows a aggressive response to get the toy then by all means let him bark. If not then when he barks tell him no and wait him out, after 2 seconds of no barking give him the toy (and incress the time after he understands the concept)

Now thats what i think of the situation, hopefully someone will come on by and give you a better response with more knowledge then i. And hopefully i am not to far off mark :-D

Hi Michael, thanks for your reply. I do have the working pup dvd and have watched it over and over in the past 2 or 3 years now so that has helped enormously unfortunately I packed it due to the move and am not sure if I am remembering the puppy hold from that dvd or the dominant dogs dvd now so that is why I asked the question as well.

When I redirect (after a non excited but firm EH!) and he doesn't latch onto the toy or towel or various items I have hidden all over myself for this what I do is get up and go into the kitchen and he follows (tethered but also velcro pup for the most part). He usually settles down, has some water and then we do a bit of marker stuff. You make a really good point about thinking if he associates the biting to the marker/treat if it is immediate though. Will definitely keep that in mind. Because our house is full of boxes at the moment I think it is a bit harder for me to redirect the way I'd like (throwing something for him to chase as opposed to holding something and also having 3 acres on which to play outside) so once we move this could be settled easier too.

I don't really mind the barking and biting (maybe I am weird but it's really exciting to have such a very focused and determined fireball) as long as I know in the future he will learn to differentiate between me and the really fun stuff to bite but at this point it seems I am the fun stuff! I'll keep rereading the pack leader articles and try to memorize the info in them so it becomes my first instinct to react those ways in case I am doing something wrong.

I think at this point it is still too early to be superboss in his mind since we just met but I don't feel that he disrespects me so much as thinks I may be the best chewy ever and just wanted to be sure this was normal.

I am hoping to do SchH with him in the future so thought the barking at an item to get a bite on it was ok for this.

Thanks again for the ideas!

Magdalena