Biting and tugging my hair

Hi there.

Elsa is doing well at puppy classes and her training is coming on really well generally. Any issues that I do have, I'm managing to tackle using hints and tips from the forum.

However, sometimes, Elsa will become fixated with my hair. Most evenings I can calm her down from her mad moments with her chewstick and sit her on my lap, but sometimes she lunges at my hair, pulling my pony tail if she can get to it. As you can appreciate, when she latches on, it's very painful, and I have to literally pull her off (trying not to pull my hair out at the same time).

When I do detach her, I put her in the kitchen for a while to calm down, and then let her back into the living room and she comes in quite sheepish.

But, she loves my hair, and she still goes for it if she gets the opportunity..! is there anything else I should/could be doing?

Thanks
x

Preempt it. If she's going for the kill so to speak use your voice with a loud leave. If you're sitting, stand up too so she knows you mean business. After that ignore her for a bit until she's calmer.

Hi with a firm no stand up turn your back on her and fold your arms soon as she stops plenty calm praise through time she will realise this isnt acceptable. They seem to find trousers legs and and sometimes hair as a game depending on your reaction they will find this a game also.

I'd teach her 'leave it'. I'll try find a post I've explained how to teach it - there are a few around - to save me retyping it. But basically if you can teach Elsa the basic 'leave it' command, she should leave anything, including your hair.

I'd also think about just twisting your pony tail into a knot to make it less tempting when you're sitting in an Elsa-able zone!

Edit

Here you go, cut and pasted from another thread

'Set [Elsa] up in a place where there are no distractions. You have a fun toy in one hand and a high value treat in the other (a treat pouch is also a wise investment). Give her the toy and wait till she's got it properly in her mouth, then stick a treat under her nose and say 'leave it'. She should let go of the toy to get the treat, which you of course give her. Do that a few times and she'll get the hang of it. You can then move on to asking 'leave it' without showing her the treat first, and she should by then know that she has to leave her toy to get the treat.

Over several short sessions, build up so that you can do this with different things in different places, but keep it easy and in your control. The next step is to make it more exciting by playing with the toy first, then asking her to leave it. Keep it low key to start off with, then build it up. You should be able to get to having a tuggy game with her and her letting go when you ask. Always always give her praise and a treat.'

LizP wrote:I'd teach her 'leave it'. I'll try find a post I've explained how to teach it - there are a few around - to save me retyping it. But basically if you can teach Elsa the basic 'leave it' command, she should leave anything, including your hair.

I'd also think about just twisting your pony tail into a knot to make it less tempting when you're sitting in an Elsa-able zone!

Edit

Here you go, cut and pasted from another thread

'Set [Elsa] up in a place where there are no distractions. You have a fun toy in one hand and a high value treat in the other (a treat pouch is also a wise investment). Give her the toy and wait till she's got it properly in her mouth, then stick a treat under her nose and say 'leave it'. She should let go of the toy to get the treat, which you of course give her. Do that a few times and she'll get the hang of it. You can then move on to asking 'leave it' without showing her the treat first, and she should by then know that she has to leave her toy to get the treat.

Over several short sessions, build up so that you can do this with different things in different places, but keep it easy and in your control. The next step is to make it more exciting by playing with the toy first, then asking her to leave it. Keep it low key to start off with, then build it up. You should be able to get to having a tuggy game with her and her letting go when you ask. Always always give her praise and a treat.'

Agree and Lexii's advice is good as well. Suki will still go for the OH's hair on occasion but since I'm bald I am safe

JStaff wrote:Agree and Lexii's advice is good as well.  Suki will still go for the OH's hair on occasion but since I'm bald I am safe

every cloud!

lexii wrote:

JStaff wrote:Agree and Lexii's advice is good as well.  Suki will still go for the OH's hair on occasion but since I'm bald I am safe

every cloud!

Entirely my fault for wrestling with her when she was a pup

Thanks guys, I've started the 'leave it' training and I'll let you know how she gets on.  We've been going to puppy training classes for a couple of weeks now and they advise to do 'swapsies' with a treat when you want staffs to drop or give you anything but isn't this just rewarding the behaviour from the puppys viewpoint?  Will it encourage her to do it more?  Also, I don't always have a cocktail sausage to hand to swap..   As you all know, they're really clever and catch onto things pretty quickly that benefit them.  She's a little minx.

Swapping is a good technique and we still use it for Suki

Thanks Jstaff, I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right, she's my first pooch.

No problem, we're here to help

feefeemc wrote:Thanks guys, I've started the 'leave it' training and I'll let you know how she gets on.  We've been going to puppy training classes for a couple of weeks now and they advise to do 'swapsies' with a treat when you want staffs to drop or give you anything but isn't this just rewarding the behaviour from the puppys viewpoint?  Will it encourage her to do it more?  Also, I don't always have a cocktail sausage to hand to swap..   As you all know, they're really clever and catch onto things pretty quickly that benefit them.  She's a little minx.

It depends on how you do it. If you just give her a cocktail sausage as she's pulling at your hair then yes, it might encourage her. That's why I suggest 'leave it', as she then needs to do something different first so then you are rewarding her for not pulling.

Have a look at this piece I wrote on the general theory behind learning and you'll see how it applies in this situation

https://staffy-bull-terrier.niceboard.com/t63379-how-learning-works

At the moment, she's pulling your hair because it's exciting, she probably gets a good reaction from you, and because it fulfils her need to play and pull, so lots of reinforcement going on. But cocktail sausages (probably not my treat of choice, full of junk) are a really big reward for most dogs so you can trump those other things by asking her to do something else, then giving her that big reward.

It's worth trying to get a handle on those training basics as you can then apply them to everything, both understanding why she does something and also in your training of her.

Great to hear you're going to classes, I wish more people did.

I wouldnt recommend cocktail sausages for a training treat http://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/merch-groups/nm-lp-chews/natures-menu-dog-treats-with-chicken-60gm you get these in lamb chicken and beef