I trained the restrained recall with my puppy. My wife held it by the collar and I ran away calling his name.
After the keyword ‘come’ my wife let him go and he came straight to me. When he was about 15 feet away from me I marked it with ‘yes’ and rewarded him with food.
So far so good.
After I gave him a treat I made it a little bit a mini event.

This apparently was too much because he overreacted by barking and biting me.
He was jumping around me barking and nipping at my pants. He almost ripped a piece off.

I noticed this behavior also after other exercises when my praise is too much.

I bit rough playing also lets him respond like this.
He then plays so rough that I have to stop the play before I get hurt.
His teeth are still very sharp.

Are my mini events too much for him?
Does he get over stimulated by too much praise?
Maybe I should tell him only ‘good boy’?
Sometimes I cannot help myself to show my excitement about a good exercise.
What would be the proper response to this?

Sounds like that's just to much for that particular pup.
My two GSDs are completely different on how I can praise and reward them. The younger one Trooper, can't handle anything more then a quiet "good boy" or he turns into a Golden Retriever made out of silly putty.
My older GSD Thunder can turn his excitement off and on like a light switch. He's a very solid, high drive, thinking dog.
Train/reward at the level that works for you and that particular dog.

Thanks Tracy
The little malinois shark mouth is 15 weeks old.
I will try to use a tug next time to direct the enery to it.

Quote;
"Just a head's up, Roland. This will eventually get you a dog who thinks that "come" means "get 15 feet away from Dad". You mark the moment of the behavior you WANT. In this exercise, that means reaching you....all the way."

Tracy, not trying to stir your pot but I disagree with that.
"Randomly" rewarding when the dog is first released, different points as the dog is coming in and and when the dog gets there all indicate to the dog that any part of a behavior is worthy of reward.
In heeling for instance! To many people forget to "randomly" mark and reward that first step or the first 5-10 steps because the dog "knows how to do it." That can create a dog who's first or 5 or 10 steps loose their "energy" because the dog has been programed for reward after 10 steps.
Those first 9 become unimportant other then to get to 10.
"Randomly doesn't just mean reward the whole exercise randomly but every behavior of that exercise can be worthy of reward. Even the excitement shown when the other person is holding the dog can get a mark and reward. If the dog is showing no excitement and is just standing there, would you let it go? No! The excitement can be a behavior worthy of a reward.
Make sense?

 Quote: bob scott

Tracy, not trying to stir your pot but I disagree with that.
"Randomly" rewarding when the dog is first released, different points as the dog is coming in and and when the dog gets there all indicate to the dog that any part of a behavior is worthy of reward.

I don't disagree, Bob...no pot stirring at all... as long as it is truly random. If he consistently marks "yes" at 15 feet away, that's when a problem is likely to occur.

I was thinking "Basic Restrained Recall 101", and you leapfrogged past me to "Random Reinforcement for Behavior Persistence 401"...ha ha ha ha

Next up: "Variable Interval Reinforcement Schedules 403".

Best,
Tracy