Mouthing/ nippinh when excited

So we've just got back from a walk, it got darker as we were on the walk which doesn't help Rio as he gets more freaked out, and he's always more excited when it's the 2 of us walking him. But he was off the lead in the field running between us and we were using excited voices so that he'd sprint.

As he sprinted to me he ended up jumping and mouthing onto my forearm i instinctively shouted Oi! and gave a quick tap to his hind to snap him out of his little frenzy as he was frothing and doing his chompy jaw thing. I made him sit to calm him down and said no biting, he calmed down and was perfectly happy and we let him run around again, same thing happened but he jumped and got my under arm, he didn't properly bite but it was certainly harder than mouthing, we made him sit again, no biting and put him on his lead now as we figured that was enough as he was clearly getting far too excited which was causing this.

Any advice to stop him mouthing/ nipping when overly excited? The worry is if he ever plays with kids or other people in the future, obviously we wouldn't leave them unsupervised but it's not nice if he does it again.

A few ideas for you, Kerry. Firstly, it's probably best to not over-stimulate Rio. They do go into a zone sometimes, and instinct takes over from learned manners. Some dogs can cope with really high energy playing but many staffies can't, it just pops them over the edge.

I'd be very, very careful about any sort of hitting, even 'a quick tap'. Striking an animal in any way is a very slippery slope - once you've crossed the line it can be incredibly easy to make a tap a little harder, and use it again, and then a bit more... I've seen it so, so many times with horse owners. The other problem with it is that it can make animals resentful and a resentful wound up dog isn't really what you want!

As always, instead of focussing on trying to tell him what not to do, it would be much more effective to show him what he should do instead, and make that thing incompatible with what you don't want him to do. In this case, you don't want him to jump when he comes to you, so instead you'd teach recall with sit, in other words as you would with obedience training. There are loads of examples on YouTube if you don't know what I mean.

You'd teach it on a long line to start off with, and do really short distances so it's clear it's work and not a mad hooley. Hold a treat in your hand and call him from just a couple of feet, then as he comes to you, you hold the treat up and close to you, which should encourage his head up and his bum down.

The other thing that might be useful to train, again in nice calm situations, is dropping energy levels. I haven't done it for a while but did with Bobbert and Chaos, using a tuggy game, 'leave it' solidly in place, and alternating structured training with woohoo tuggy playing, and then back down to quiet. In other words, you're working on teaching an off switch.

Until you've got those in well place, I'd be inclined to keep everything much lower key. Let him loose in the field and let him bumble and run, but in situations where he will keep as calm as possible. I know it's great to see him have a burn but until (and if) he gets to the point that he can cope with it, it has to stop for everyone's safety.

I agree that a tap, however innocently used, is not advisable for dogs. Dogs don't have hands, they can't slap. They have teeth and they bite!

Just don't get him so worked up that he gets to that stage. Once was enough for you to have ended the play then and there.

Mia was a chronic nibbler i made the treats as small as possible getting them sitting calm and focused helped mia i done the mouthing trainig as found out my sister was pregnant at the time and knew at some point i would get a visit . Started with my hands and moved to my mouth imo thats what i did

I appreciate the advice Liz! I realised before posting about tapping his hind that'd it may not be popular amongst people or taken in a way that suggests abuse, I just want to make clear he isn't beaten or abused in any way and is very well looked after but I appreciate and understand what you're saying. I realise there's varying opinions around the topic but i'd rather not start a debate with anyone as I know it can become a sensitive topic.

I think our mistake was not taking his kong ball as this seems to focus him a lot and perhaps that focus was turned to us with all the energy? It's a shame he's not food orientated outside to help his training, but I'm guessing his toy can be used to help instead? Would he just not do it though if the ball wasn't present?

I'll definitely youtube some of the techniques you've mentioned though

And Lexii, i think it'd be unfair to end his play time straight away when we'd just started, without giving him a chance to calm down and start again first, obviously i realise now us fueling his excitement didn't help the situation.

Mia05 wrote:Mia was a chronic nibbler i made the treats as small as possible getting them sitting calm and focused helped mia  i done the mouthing trainig as found out my sister was pregnant at the time and knew at some point i would get a visit . Started with my hands and moved to my mouth imo thats what i did

I think this would work with Rio in the house, but outside he's just not interested in food

Toys are preferable to food for training purposes

Don't worry, Kerry, I don't think you're abusing Rio! It's just that for me there is a line thou shalt not cross with animals (dogs, horses, any) the wrong side of the line is any kind of hitting. Even a little tap can be very worrying to them.

Food vs toys - it depends on the dog. I use both. Nola doesn't give a monkeys about toys, whereas Chaos gets over-excited. But, if I need something really high value for Chaos, the chuckit will do it every time. The important thing is to see what is a reward for that dog in that situation. Otherwise it's like trying to reward me with a glass of wine when I don't drink at all, or taking me to Lakeside for the day ( ). Many people would think them great rewards but I'd much rather be given some old wire to make things with. Everyone likes different things.

Rio is SUPER Kong orientated so it'd be a case of having that with us the whole time to try and reward him with it. To be honest that's how we distract him with other dogs about so i'm sure, with practice, we can tweak it to train his play behaviour maybe.

We've had him with us less than a year so I guess it's still a learning game for both him and us, which is why this forum is so good for me!

Ps I hate to say it but I kind of miss Lakeside since leaving Essex, would be awful this time of year though