Rough play!

First topic message reminder :

I posted a few days ago about alfies biting getting worse when he gets excited and playful, but its getting worse! To the point where its really hurting and hes making me bleed. Im black and blue! Ive tried saying no, turning my back, walking away and even giving him a toy to chew but all these seem to encourage him. Hes even started this ear piercing bark when i try and correct him. Ive started putting him outside when he gets like this for a few minutes to cool off but he just starts again. Is this the right thing to do? He has started nipping my face now and i dont want that to get worse

EllieSmith wrote:

Jason wrote:

EllieSmith wrote:I must admit my opinion of you has changed. For the better though!

I'm hurt that you once thought less of me tbh

Have I offended you? I hope not!!

no don't worry

:-<

You cant stay mad at me

EllieSmith wrote:You cant stay mad at me

I ain't mad at you

Hey Ellie, as promised, the method is pretty much the same as youve been told already but it says to think of the biting on a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being a tickle and 10 being a full on crunch, decide where he is currently and teach him to limit the strength of his bite, lure him into biting by getting him excited and when you feel the current level of bite shout loudly and sharply then stop all interaction, eye contact, leave the room if you need to, wait till he is calm then start again, over a period of time reduce the level of bite you are willing to accept down one level at a time. Worth a try!

Hey sazzle thank you! Hes done it again tonight when i was on the sofa, started off quite little then started hurting so i said no really sternly and got up to wall away but when i did walk away he started biting at my legs

Hes just got me a goodun on the side of my head too

Hi Ellie only just tuned into this one, Vinnie still does it now and again and I just completely ignore him for 5 mins or so they hate being ignored. Down to nitty gritty though, I think Alfie is reading all these banters with Jason and wants his mummy back!!! We know Alfie is sooooooooooooo clever!!

I know how much it hurts!! Daisy cut my eyebrow once!! Were at the point where she has stopped with me but still does it with other people, have to work on that one!!

Haha inez!! He has his toys out all the time and when he plays with them he gets all wound up, weve put most of them away now and hes calmed down a bit, should i do that or not?

EllieSmith wrote:Haha inez!! He has his toys out all the time and when he plays with them he gets all wound up, weve put most of them away now and hes calmed down a bit, should i do that or not?

I only get a certain few out for Vinnie at night and certain ones in the day I tell Vinnie what and when he plays with. Sounds a bit hard but you do have to let them know whos boss. He will keep trying to challenge you on this but you must stay firm. Vinnie still trys it now at times especially with my OH not so much me as he knows I am "TOP Rank"

Oh thats good then i didnt know if i was being too harsh? Hes got one out at the monent and hes calmed down...a bit lol

I only let Logan have toys when I want him to. I have a big box and he gets them when he's been good or when I'm having visitors. God, that sounds very strict!

He has a stagbar that sits around the house, but his good toys are always put away.

But he gets a lot of exercise and sleeps most of the day apart from that anyway.

Yeah I'm the same.. Toys are away until I want him to have a little play.. Mainly because he needs his rest after our runs plus he makes alot of noise with all his new kong toy prizes lol. Stag bar is always around though.

So this isnt getting any better, if anything worse. His bite is getting harder and harder and hes now started barking with it. He lunged at my face the other day, which scared me a but, not because he was being aggresive, but because i know how carried away he can get. Ive still been ignoring and turning my back but he will just jump and bite any part of me he can get to and pull at my clothes. Ive trued putting him in another room but hes figured this out and will tear around the house so i cant catch him. I only have to it and stroke him and it escalates from there. He only does it with me, he wont go as far with anyone else. I dont know what else to try with him because hea gunna go too far soon and cause me a serious injury!

Poor you, it's quite stressful. Logan did that but more barking than biting, but it's really the same sort of thing, over excited behaviour.

He too tries to hide knowing he will be put into the room on his own. When he does this it will become a game of chase and he will enjoy it. So what I'd do is, if he does try to hide leave the room yourself and he will most likely follow you, then you can deal with it. I tend to get up and walk into the kitchen, he will then follow me in and continue to misbehave, then I can take him right away to be put in the bedroom for a few minutes. In those cases I don't even say a word, I just get up and go. Sometimes trying to correct him with "no" can excite them further.

The reason he only does it on you is because at his age he is going through the rebellious stage of being a teenager and will choose to rebel against you and see how far he can push his limits because you are the one that looks after him.

Its really getting to me now im covered in cuts, bruises and bite marks. Im getting worried now about even stroking him because i know where it will lead. He just doesnt seem to get the message when hes put in another room

It's a nightmare and can be quite embarrassing, when I used to bring friends around when he was a bit younger he'd misbehave and make me look like a total idiot in front of everyone. Sadly, consistency is they key. I've seen times where I've had to put him into the room maybe 5-10 times in a row before he'd get the message. If he really isn't getting the point you can increase the time he's left in by a few minutes.

Have you ever used something else to distract his attention from doing it? Logan still to this day will bite and jump all over my Dad because he let him as a pup. But when he comes over I hand my Dad one of his chews, or toys so when he starts mouthing he can intercept him with the toy. Mightent be the typical way to deal with this behaviour, but it works in this case.

Yeah I have tried that Mat, but he will get bored very quickly with it and come back to me - apparantly biting me is more fun!

So do you suggest I keep putting him in another room? The thing is he will do it when we are at the park and then I really am at a loss at what to do with him! Last night he was particularly bad, I turned my back on him and he literally would not stop biting at my back and arms and biting my coat.

Yea for me the only way to do it is just repeat putting him in the room. It seems like it takes hours of repeating because it can be quite stressful, but in reality it's maybe only 10-15 mins in a really bad case. Which is much better than putting up with bad behaviour for a lot longer. Some behaviour is best ignored, but in these cases I feel it's best dealt with promptly.

As for the biting and over excited-ness outside, the way I do that is, stop walking completely and wait until he calms down, then start walking again on a very short amount of lead. Then as he starts to behave you can give him more freedom. I have to do this too especially after one of his little episodes with bigger dogs. He hates being restricted to a short lead and has sort of worked out that by being good he earns more freedom.

One thing I'll tell you is until maybe a month ago Logan was an absolute terror too at times. Then one day it literally just clicked and he has been so much better. I remember being told by a dog owner when he was bad as a teeny tiny pup "just wait until he's about a year old then you'll really know what bad behaviour is!". I remember feeling I was the worst dog owner ever at times because he was so bad. But, and I know I say it a lot, the only way to deal with it is persist until it stops.

It seems to be the age when they totally rebel. Sure we were all rebellious teenagers ourselves at a time haha!

Ok Ill carry on with it.

When we are out though he can either do it when he is on or off the lead. When he starts I do stop but he will jump up and bite for ages and shows no signs of stopping or calming down?

I know what yu mean - i feel like the worst dog owner right now lol

EllieSmith wrote:i feel like the worst dog owner right now lol

Don't annoy yourself, I felt exactly the same, and I'd guarrantee you everyone has at some point

See when he's out and being bad, it might be an idea of holding his collar, not tight or aggressively or anything. But then just wait until he calms down. A lot of it has to do with waiting, which is very frustrating.

Don't fixate on doing wrong though. If you are consistent I know it'll just click with him eventually

Thanks Mat

Poor you Ellie! it really is so frustrating cause when they are good for a few days you think Great! its clicked then it goes back to normal you feel like its one step foward and two steps back! but it will get better as long as you keep what your doing. I cant add anything more than whats been said, only hang on in there. I will only say I never shout at Vinnie as I find he takes no notice at all so I tell him in a calm but firm way and always treat in erything he responds too.

Failing all this invest in some body armour!

Thanks Inez! I feel so down today hes been awful all morning! The first time ive actually looked forward to going to work

EllieSmith wrote:Thanks Inez! I feel so down today hes been awful all morning! The first time ive actually looked forward to going to work

Must be bad then! If you dont mind me asking do you pick him up a lot and cuddle him?

No i never pick him up - unless its to put him in another room (or for that pic lol) but apart from that no

EllieSmith wrote:No i never pick him up - unless its to put him in another room (or for that pic lol) but apart from that no

I just wondered if you did maybe he only felt secure when next to you, but if you dont thats obviously not it Well done for not though, I felt so bad not picking Vinnie up too much as a pup but I didnt want him relying on me too much. Dont get me wrong I did fuss him and cuddle but only when I chose to.God I must sound really harsh! Anyway hope Alfie is better for you when you get home from work!

No thats what I thought as well, I dont want him getting used to being picked up. No you dont sound harsh because I do too!

Thank you - so do i lol!

I know what you mean Inez. Logan comes to me like a child looking picked up to this day. He likes being up high so he can see all around him. Not easy now that he's big haha!

MatLogan wrote:I know what you mean Inez. Logan comes to me like a child looking picked up to this day. He likes being up high so he can see all around him. Not easy now that he's big haha!

I know Vinnie is to huge to be picked up even my OH has trouble! I looked at him playing outside this morning and thought gosh you dont realise when you are with them all the time.

Come to think of it... alfie is a lot worse when Erika is at home?

Just blame Erika then!

Only joking. It could be he is misbehaving for your attention as in competition wise. Same rules of dealing with it applies though.

MatLogan wrote:Just blame Erika then!

Only joking. It could be he is misbehaving for your attention as in competition wise. Same rules of dealing with it applies though.

I was thinking about trying that one!

Hmmm... hes a little b****!!

Haha I feel your frustration. It's not nice at all. I can assure you that you will see a big difference in the next few months as he is maturing. Also the consistency of putting him out will kick in.

I hope so - or ill be going grey very soon lol

I'm getting the odd grey these days so it might happen to you too haha

I hope not - I cant dye my hair if i do

Hes a lot calmer tonight...hallelujah! (Erikas not here haha)

Def her fault see!

That's good to hear. Keep positive and things will work out. You are doing all the right things

I've not read the whole topic, but are you still having problems? I find that instead of 'No', a calm, firm 'Hey' works better.
What I tend to do when I'm working with dogs that get a bit carried away is as soon as they start getting over the top, stand straight, say 'Hey' in a tone of voice that makes them focus on me, then I'll make them do some 'brain work' until they're back in a more calm state (sit, lie down etc.). Doesn't work with all dogs, some need to be distracted with treats, for example. But I find that for the most part, stopping the play before the teeth come out and making them do some training is a good way to redirect them.

Hiya, yeah still having problems. Ive tried standing still etc and he just carries on jumping and biting. Ive also tried sit that works for about a second lol!

Hi Ellie hope Alfie stays calm for you tonight,as Erika is out do you think he picked up on the hassle that has happened and when she is around maybe he senses you a bit tense. I should just get rid of her!

Haha inez!! I dont know cuz things are a lot better between us now. He shouldnt be biting me im the one who saved him

EllieSmith wrote:Haha inez!! I dont know cuz things are a lot better between us now. He shouldnt be biting me im the one who saved him

He may have picked up on things when they were not so good between you both and they dont forget in a hurry. Just a thought thats all I hope he continues to improve of course it may be that Gin bottle!!

Haha!! Well you never know! Speaking of gin....

EllieSmith wrote: Speaking of gin....

On a Tuesday! Even I don't do that haha.