I totally lost it with my 8 month old rottie today. I got her from a rescue and she has some bite issues (fear/dominance I have no idea). When I first got her she was biting quite bad and my hand was black and blue with bruises. I instituted tethering and NILIF and we have been in obedience for beginners. The biting is better but every once in a while when she gets overly excited she starts just jumping and biting at my hands,arm,legs. I have tried the turning and yelping but she just keeps coming at me as I'm trying to walk into the house.
Today she was biting and lunging after a play session and she wouldn't stop. I got so angry with her that when I finally was able to get hold of her collar I dragged her into the house and threw her in the kennel (with her fighting all the way). I feel so bad about losing my temper with her that I'm almost in tears.
How should I handle this when it happens again because I know it will. I will keep working with her on her obedience training and she is now back on tether ( I had taken her off after about 6 weeks of this) but I'm at my wits end as to how to handle this 75 pound dog when she goes bonkers like that.

increase the excercise and use a prong collar or E Collar. Get Ed's training DVDs. In my limited experience NILIF only works when the dog understands that you are the HMFIC.

That dog still needs to be tethered at all time still. keep a drag line on her (no loop so she won't get stuck.) It sounds like the dog has tons of prey drive and without any rules established about when start and stop.

Prey drive is an exhaustive drive, which means it rises and drops in correlation with the dogs over all energy level. Exercise is your best friend. Keep all toys in your possession except when in play and the game ends if she acts inappropriately even if you just crate her and try again in 15min.

You can play two ball if you have a yard or safe area to play. two ball if you don't know is fetch with two ideally identical balls and you tease the dog with the ball your holding and get them to bring the other and when they drop it you throw the other.

I would avoid tugging until the dog respects your rules of play or if your not experienced with doing it in a structured way.

if your capable run with her before your play session to drain some energy (if she tries to nip when you run start at a slow pace leash pop when she nips and add your negative marker no or fooey.)Carry low cal treats like freeze dried beef liver to reward good behavior.

My Rottie when i got her from a rescue was really wild and now she is model dog citizen that could walk with me with out a leash (i still use one.) Keep at it and stay on this forum and you'll be able to make her the stable happy dog that she deserves to be... rescues can take some time but you are doing a great thing by taking her in.

P.S if you want, i can PM you with info for a great trainer in our area that i feel could really help.

good luck

Rob

And the dog is old enough for an e-collar and prong which are great tools... but i would try to establish a good relationship with the dog based on trust, before introducing corrections. however if she is that wild you may need to correct the behavior before. I would get her to a skilled trainer to learn the proper way and timing to administer the correction and as Dennis mentioned the dvd's here are great sources of info as well.

Hi and thanks for the replys. I use a prong with her and have from the beginning and she responds well to it I don't however have it on her all the time. Should I keep the prong on her at all times?
I am going to speak to my obedience instructor to get some guidance as to handling this behaviour as she is involved in Shuntzhund training as well.
I will keep checking back and as soon as I can figure out how to post pictures I will.

Lori

The prong collar does not stay on all the time, if the dog is in her kennel/crate or otherwise unsupervised(which at this point she shouldn't) she should not be wearing a training collar (except an e-collar in some cases.) Keep some treats (high value) near the crate and get her to sit and wait for you to put the collar on with lots of calm praise and a treat for complying...

let's see what the other people on the board think... but i would be tempted to say that you should have a flat collar with the drag line attached and the prong on a pull tab so she does not correct herself a lot. if your hands are a pull tabs distance away while your correcting your not at a safe distance if she turns handler aggressive... so you have to know your dog. If this is the case i would get a dominant dog collar and get the dealing with aggressive and dominant dog DVD that will show you how to use it and keep yourself safe. good luck and let me know what your trainer suggests.

P.s make a photobucket account and take the IMG code in the corner and paste that in your signature in your profile settings to add a picture of your pup to your posts.

Rob

Lori,
Well you've found out how good yelping and the back turn is, now it's time for some training.
Okay.

First, how long have you had the dog?

Secondly, we all do it, but with practice you'll find yourself losing your temper less and less. Practice that exercise.

Lastly, for now at least, what kind of play are you engaging in? Is there a purpose to it? Or is it just mindless play?

If my dog isn't learning, I'm doing something wrong.
Randy

Hi Lori,
As you've figured out (and as Randy pointed out), the yelping thing doesn't work with a dog who has any amount of prey drive. (so eliminate that from your repertoire as a viable training tool). Plus, she's too old to use that technique with, anyway.

Keep a drag line on her at all times. When you are playing with/training/ exercising her, keep her in a prong on the dead ring. Unless you are really beefy, there's no way you're gonna win a physical battle with an 8 month old rott. The prong collar is a great tool to help maintain control. (I'm not talking about corrections here, either)

When she gets too mouthy and excited, put her in a sit and keep her firmly next to you. Step on the long line or hold it very close to you to keep her from jumping/ mouthing.

If you are doing marker training, move into a quick obedience session. This will help to put you back in control, and bring her drive down a little.

Give a few more details about what you are doing with her and you will get some great advice here as to how to proceed.

PS, are you sure she has 'biting' issues? Is it just that she mouths when she gets excited? This is prey drive, and you can utilize this to your advantage in training.

I just use the prong for walks and when we are at obedience otherwise I have her on the flat coller. As far as what we're doing when she starts to bite it's usually when we're out in the yard and I'm playing fetch with her and my other dog. I do use 2 toys and switch out when she brings the toy she has back to me,or I'll use food rewards and a marker(I must admit I'm not as consistent with the clicker as I should be). She is very well behaved on walks and in most other situations. Re the biting I don't know how to tell if it's biting or mouthing all I know is it hurts like hell and she leaves bruises so I feel it's more like biting.
I must say that so far I like this forum much better than the other one I tried. No one has made me feel like an inept pet owner which is what happened at the other site. Thank you all for that.

 Quote: lori anne mcalpin

or I'll use food rewards and a marker(I must admit I'm not as consistent with the clicker as I should be).

Just a quick note: the clicker is an excellent tool for marker training (especially when just learning), but it's not the only tool available - using your voice to mark behavior will definitely do the trick (and you'll never leave your voice in the pocket of your other coat ). The trick with using your voice is to choose a distinct word as your "mark" and try to be as consistent as possible when you use it. An enthusiastic "YES!" works great - you'll also need to "charge" that voice mark just like you charged the clicker, so the dog 100% understands the association before you begin using it to train.

And now back to the excellent advice on the persistent mouthing...

~Natalya