My 7 mos female Malinois has an annoying habit that I'm not 100% sure how to correct.

While I'm doing sits, downs, stand commands she sometimes doesn't comply with the command and has a funny impish grin showing teeth on her face while doing so. It's not a aggression thing and doesn't seem like a dominant thing as her ears are sorta flat and her tail is down mostly wagging and she isn't threatening in any other way from what I read from her body language.

I'll go "Sasha Stand" while drawing her off the floor with a sweep motion towards me and she may rub her teeth and mouth over my hand. Or she'll ignore and scratch her collar until I repeat the command if it is a down or sit command and then comply.

I have been fading out treats and more utilizing tugs and balls as rewards along with praise. Is she going through puppy teenage rebellion or just bored?

Sound like a displacement behavior. She is either nervous or doesn't want to do the command. So she does something to relieve the stress like ignoring you and itching her self, like you say she doesn't listen and then scratches her collar or nipping out of frustration.
To stop it, I would raise the motivation and keep the sessions of training short and positive. Prevent her from doing the habit by avoiding the times you know she is more inclined to do it for awhile and also by not allowing her to scratch or refuse obedience. Remember to only correct if she knows the command and is just refusing. A quick verbal correction usually snaps them out of it and then reward when she does the command. Don't let her annoying habit keep you from being persistent. She may do it more if she learns that it works. It should extinguish when she learns she cannot get away with it.

Sometimes dogs will do this if they do not know what their handler wants from them. Make sure you are being consistent and clear in your training so she is not confused.

Hope this helps you get her to stop it. I had a gsd who did this when learning long stays and it drove me nuts!

Alison Voore

 Quote: Alison Voore

To stop it, I would raise the motivation and keep the sessions of training short and positive. Prevent her from doing the habit by avoiding the times you know she is more inclined to do it for awhile and also by not allowing her to scratch or refuse obedience. Remember to only correct if she knows the command and is just refusing. A quick verbal correction usually snaps them out of it and then reward when she does the command. Don't let her annoying habit keep you from being persistent. She may do it more if she learns that it works. It should extinguish when she learns she cannot get away with it.

Sometimes dogs will do this if they do not know what their handler wants from them. Make sure you are being consistent and clear in your training so she is not confused.

Thanks Alison,

How do you know when your dog actually knows the command? We practice for weeks and some days she does this funny behaviour some days not. With distractions around it is worse as you would predict. She hasn't gotten any real 'hard' corrections.

As for raising motivation, how so? We are using tugs, balls while trying to cut down on treats. I know every dog is different but is it more increasing her focus what I should be trying to do? She seems kind of indifferent some of the time so to me it is a focus thing. Any thoughts?

Is the nipping on a prong correction or just for the hell of it? Dogs who bite the leash n act whiney n frustrated at 7 months old tend to be the dogs who'll bite their handler at 2 or 3 years old because they don't like the correction. Especially malinois. But generally that's only displayed when the dog is corrected on a prong and reacting to pain and frustration.

Nah.. This is not on a prong. She is very soft on the prong it doesn't take much for her to react and comply. I haven't had to correct more than say a 3. Once the prong goes on her neck she calms right down it is like she knows not to mess with it.

This behaviour I'm describing is while in the house or at OB class. Where I'll be putting her through her paces running through the basic commands ie doing short recalls, puppy pushups etc. She loves the recall but sometime struggles with the stand for examination, down and sit as I describe.

Plus my nipping description may be wrong as she doesn't lunge or go 'in' for the nip, so its not like that at all. It is like a control thing where she can rub her teeth in passing and as any Malinois owner knows there is not such a thing with those chompers.

I think a dog knows the command when she will do it 80% of the time in a familiar environment.

I would raise her motivation (to increase her focus on you and less on the distractions) by choosing the yummiest treats, really exciting her for the game of tug and withholding the tug until compliance, or anything she really wants and usually doesn't get.

I lower the rewards when they know something 80%, so that way when I start the distraction work, they want those treats again and then we fade when they get 80% +/- again. (look up VSR or variable ratio of reinforcement) Ed has an article.

If she is too distracted then try to desensitize her before expecting obedience. Make sure she is not just "acting" distracted. That's displacement too. She should be old enough to start getting some corrections on things you've practiced and she's good at at home, but is trying to refuse to do.

She doesn't need a hard correction for the displacement behavior, just enough to regain her focus and get compliance. Jackpots for a short period of time after can help if she is resistant to stopping.