Hello, first post here, my name is Mark and my pup is Ozzy and I may have a problem.

I take him to training classes once a week and work with him at home every day for 10 minutes or so during his daily hour long walk. His/our problem is that when we are working on heeling he will either jump up and grab my arm or grab my pants leg. It's not an aggressive growly bite, he's silent and very determined to get his mouth around a limb but he's getting big (97 Ibs) now and when he catches a bone it hurts.

Mostly he does this when we attend training classes and I'm wondering if the format of the training could be a factor, the training class is an hour long, (way too long?) up and down a field with 10 or more other dogs, it's repetitious and more like a drill. Does he get bored? He will sometimes do this from the very start of the lesson and then often when we do heeling. When my pup does his bitey grabby thing the instructors just says to get in his face with a shake of his flat collar (chokes/prongs disliked in this club) with a NO!!!!, this does not work!

Another thing he does is sometimes when either my wife or I come in from work etc he will give is a little nip with his front teeth as if it's way of greeting us!, he also gets a bit mouthy when he's tired.

Somebody mentioned it could be prey drive another says it could be dominance or just a 'teenage' phase he's going through as it's only these last 4 weeks or so that's he's been like this but whatever it is I'd like to get to the bottom of it and sort it out!

Any advice will be greatly appreciated

Holy crap! A 6 month old dobie that weighs in at 97 lbs is huge, any chance of video?

deleted question .... I missed the age in the title

Edited by Connie Sutherland (01/16/2012 07:49 PM)
Edit reason: delete

 Quote: Al Curbow

Holy crap! A 6 month old dobie that weighs in at 97 lbs is huge, any chance of video?

Here's one I took a couple of days ago. You cant really see how tall he is as there is no-one to compare him to but that is a full sized football he has in his mouth

http://youtu.be/rKlY4DwygmU

Ozzy is big for his age he's already 27 inches high.

Anyone any advice on my question?

Hi Mark,
An hour of training in a formal setting is probably too long for a 6 month old pup, especially if you are doing the same thing (ie heeling) for any length of time.
Pups will do better with short, upbeat training sessions.

Are you using a reward-based training method?
Are you familiar with marker training? (ie clicker training without the clicker) There are many free streaming videos here that pertain to marker training that you might find useful.

re the mouthiness, this is not unusual in a 6 month old pup. Boredom and lack of exercise will contribute to mouthiness. How much exercise is the pup getting, and how do you and your wife react to it when he is mouthy?

So there's no break in the repetition of it all Mark? My guess would be frustration. Maybe you havent really spent enough time showing him appropriate ways of playing with you, so he's doing it his way. Does he have a lot more drive in general then the other dogs you've owned and trained?

Thanks Lynne and Steve for your replies

It is an hour, an hour of non-stop drills, sit, heel, stay, sit, down, sit, stand, heel etc. I've had the feeling that an hour is too long for a while but it's only these last few weeks that he's started this behaviour. He has been going to these classes from 16 weeks with no complaints. I think I will give this class a miss for now and concentrate on small lessons of a few minutes at a time spread throughout the day.

Ozzy is my 5th Dobe and yes he does seem to have more drive than any of my past Dobes. Ozzy is a one man dog (like my others), he loves us all but follows me everywhere and will do his utmost to get to me if he's restricted in some way. He loves games with a tug or a ball and he gets plenty of exercise and companionship. I walk him for an hour a day most of it off lead on safe mixed terrain. He's always on the go, loads of energy and needs lots of human interaction. He likes other dogs and people, is wary of our big nasty tomcat but will try to chase other cats...

I do use a reward based training methods mostly with treats and today I used a small tug when we did a few minutes worth of training. Today he had a total approx 10 minutes worth of training over 3 occasions with treats and the tug. I had him sit then heel for a few yards, sit with a verbal 'YES' when his butt hit the floor immediately followed by a treat. Over the few minutes we trained he sort of clicked, when I said 'YES' his eyes would open wider and I could see the expectation in his stance before he got his treat. No bitey bitey today

later after his dinner (and mine) the tug came out and we just played tug letting him win occasionally, what's changed now is that he will come back to me after a few seconds and give me the tug so we can go at it again

When he is mouthy he gets pushed away with a loud 'NO' when he nips my wife she will squeal and shout at him, I try to remain calm even though it does hurt, push him away and ignore him for a while.

This is entirely meant to be constructive and not a shot but he looks heavy and more then a bit soft for a 6 month old pup. It shows in his gait also. A Dobe in particular.
Keep a pup a bit on the lean side. His adult size will be what it will be. I think you'll be amazed at how smooth that dog can move with a bit of weight loss.

See, you knew that wasnt the right place for your dog Mark. Go with your instinct and train with more play. Use his drive instead of fighting against it.

 Quote:

When he is mouthy he gets pushed away with a loud 'NO' when he nips my wife she will squeal and shout at him, I try to remain calm even though it does hurt, push him away and ignore him for a while.

Mark, your pup may be interpreting both of these reactions as a game, which is likely to encourage him to keep mouthing.

Instead of pushing him away (or yelping)when he does this, move into a quick, upbeat obedience session. If he persists in mouthing you have a couple of options. Take him out for some exercise or put him in his crate, if he's crate trained, for a short breather. Another thing you can do is have him drag a short lead in the house, and when he's mouthy redirect him with the lead so that he's not in a position to mouth you. This works much better than pushing him away with your hands...

If you are sitting down when he does this, redirect with the drag line, put him in a sit or a down, and put a strategic foot on the lead so that he can't reach around to mouth you.

He will outgrow this!