This is a repost from my Reddit account.
I have a 9 month old Germans shepherd mix (we got her at 3 months). Right now the biggest problems behavior are excited biting and resource guarding.
Her first sign of resource guarding was the day we got her. I poured her food and petted her and she growled for a brief moment. Thankfully this behavior went away and I can pet her while she eats (Not sure what changed). Sometimes I literally have to touch her food to get her to eat it on the rare occasion. However as puppies do sometimes they like to grab the most random things and so mistakenly I would just take it out of her mouth which I recognized contributed to this behavior. So then I tried trading with reward treats and practicing her leave it. So far both have 50/50 success rate. Sometimes she will take the treat and sometimes she will leave it (which I reward with a treat). Sometimes she does still chew on things no matter my efforts and so I have to pick and choose my battles. I also try to keep a tidy house to prevent this. I throw/put away anything on the counter or table that doesn’t need to be there such as food or trash (my dad literally leave trash on the table and counter). However despite me best efforts to keep a tidy house someone manages to leave something for her to drab and so she gets a hand on it when we happen to not be paying attention. It’s almost what’s something belonging to my dad or sister (they leave their stuff out the most, especially when it comes to my sister socks). I try to rather trade or tell them to leave it and when it doesn’t work I tell them their object is a lost cause. She has already bitten my twice in resources guarding incidents where I needed to take it out because it was dangerous. There have been several close calls but only 2 that have results in blood. She doesn’t really growl as a warning if I were to take something. She just goes immediately for the bite once my hand has touched the object. Sometimes she has let me grab it without problem but because she doesn’t growl until contact I’m not sure when she’s particularly decisive about the object. She has also bitten my sister once (that’s resulted in blood) trying to get something back. My mom and dad won’t even try. My mom is basically scared of the dog just because her size (like 57 pounds) and she always approached the dog with visible caution and mostly spends time in her room.
As for the excited biting that is a problem that occurs mainly with my family and guests. It happened with me too but it stopped a while ago. Essentially I would stand still or walk as if nothing was in front of me and completely ignore her. I would ‘tolerate the bite/nibble’ and act unbothered until she settled. She would occasionally bark when she wouldn’t get a reaction but again just ignore her. Eventually after repeating this she would just give up pretty quickly. She will try to do it occasionally but again gives up quickly cuz she knows I have the patience of a saint. Once she gives up I say good girl and pet her gently and try to engage with play with a toy or practice training commands. I don’t like super rough/excited petting with the baby voice. As for my family they get super irritated with this stuff. My mom and sister and dad in particular use their legs and arms to move her way which seems to only encourage it. My dad does this thing where he holds his arm up (I assume to avoid biting the arm) but she then tries to jump for it. And then when he tries to use his legs to move her and so she tries to bite the legs. He then raises his voice yellowing STOP which prompts her to bark, bite/nibble and jump. The way I see it is that she is sees it as engaging and play so that’s what continues it. I try to tell him that but he gets pissed off with her easily and doesn’t really like her near him. Even when she licks him he moves her way with his leg and yells stop which prompts up the behavior again (just the nibbling and barking). When I brought it up with the trainer she said to just cross arms, disengage and say no. I told her I will literally stand in a spot for as long as I needed to until she relaxed then I marked it with a “good girl” and gentle pet. The thing is my family (at least my dad) has little patience and often uses physical means to move her away and raises his voice. His movements and raising the voice seems to be what’s making the behavior especially apparent with him. Those are the things that usually cause her to bark and nibble (she seems really reactive with that).
Other than that she is a pretty decently behaved dog (at least with me). I’m currently injured (knee fracture/dislocation) and so right now it’s my dad and sister take her to her trainings. I think these can be solved but I’m not sure how. So far my method has worked for me individually, but I know it’s not working for everyone else which to me is because it requires you to be patient and calm (don’t show frustration since that just seems to agitate the behavior) but these are traits that don’t really come easy for my family especially my dad who snap pretty easily.
I know at least with the mouthing stuff in the second paragraph it is quite common but it really frustrates my dad and since he snaps pretty easily and she seems to respond badly to that which makes me worry that she might hurt him. My corrections don’t seem to work, redirecting doesn’t work, and while she hasn’t violently bitten them (mostly dad) because they raised their voice or moved them her reactions make me think she could get to that point in the future. Right now it’s just barking, some growling, and laying her teeth on you (doesn’t sink them in).
Any advice on how improve these behaviors? What am I doing right and what am I doing wrong?
LITTLE UPDATE: She tried bitting me just now again. I went to the restroom quickly and she had my mother’s personal chopsticks in her mouth (not sure how). Tried trading with some meat and toys but she was adamant on chewing on the chopsticks. Tried commanding her leave it but nothing. She let me put my hand near her face but the moment I touched the harness she bit my hand which allowed me to grab the chopsticks. Thankfully it’s was only a REALLY TINY nip with the tiniest amount of blood becasue I moved my hand fast enough. Not my worst injury but still concerning
. Once again rare but when it happens it makes me worry it may happen to my parents.
I have a 9 month old Germans shepherd mix (we got her at 3 months). Right now the biggest problems behavior are excited biting and resource guarding.
Her first sign of resource guarding was the day we got her. I poured her food and petted her and she growled for a brief moment. Thankfully this behavior went away and I can pet her while she eats (Not sure what changed). Sometimes I literally have to touch her food to get her to eat it on the rare occasion. However as puppies do sometimes they like to grab the most random things and so mistakenly I would just take it out of her mouth which I recognized contributed to this behavior. So then I tried trading with reward treats and practicing her leave it. So far both have 50/50 success rate. Sometimes she will take the treat and sometimes she will leave it (which I reward with a treat). Sometimes she does still chew on things no matter my efforts and so I have to pick and choose my battles. I also try to keep a tidy house to prevent this. I throw/put away anything on the counter or table that doesn’t need to be there such as food or trash (my dad literally leave trash on the table and counter). However despite me best efforts to keep a tidy house someone manages to leave something for her to drab and so she gets a hand on it when we happen to not be paying attention. It’s almost what’s something belonging to my dad or sister (they leave their stuff out the most, especially when it comes to my sister socks). I try to rather trade or tell them to leave it and when it doesn’t work I tell them their object is a lost cause. She has already bitten my twice in resources guarding incidents where I needed to take it out because it was dangerous. There have been several close calls but only 2 that have results in blood. She doesn’t really growl as a warning if I were to take something. She just goes immediately for the bite once my hand has touched the object. Sometimes she has let me grab it without problem but because she doesn’t growl until contact I’m not sure when she’s particularly decisive about the object. She has also bitten my sister once (that’s resulted in blood) trying to get something back. My mom and dad won’t even try. My mom is basically scared of the dog just because her size (like 57 pounds) and she always approached the dog with visible caution and mostly spends time in her room.
As for the excited biting that is a problem that occurs mainly with my family and guests. It happened with me too but it stopped a while ago. Essentially I would stand still or walk as if nothing was in front of me and completely ignore her. I would ‘tolerate the bite/nibble’ and act unbothered until she settled. She would occasionally bark when she wouldn’t get a reaction but again just ignore her. Eventually after repeating this she would just give up pretty quickly. She will try to do it occasionally but again gives up quickly cuz she knows I have the patience of a saint. Once she gives up I say good girl and pet her gently and try to engage with play with a toy or practice training commands. I don’t like super rough/excited petting with the baby voice. As for my family they get super irritated with this stuff. My mom and sister and dad in particular use their legs and arms to move her way which seems to only encourage it. My dad does this thing where he holds his arm up (I assume to avoid biting the arm) but she then tries to jump for it. And then when he tries to use his legs to move her and so she tries to bite the legs. He then raises his voice yellowing STOP which prompts her to bark, bite/nibble and jump. The way I see it is that she is sees it as engaging and play so that’s what continues it. I try to tell him that but he gets pissed off with her easily and doesn’t really like her near him. Even when she licks him he moves her way with his leg and yells stop which prompts up the behavior again (just the nibbling and barking). When I brought it up with the trainer she said to just cross arms, disengage and say no. I told her I will literally stand in a spot for as long as I needed to until she relaxed then I marked it with a “good girl” and gentle pet. The thing is my family (at least my dad) has little patience and often uses physical means to move her away and raises his voice. His movements and raising the voice seems to be what’s making the behavior especially apparent with him. Those are the things that usually cause her to bark and nibble (she seems really reactive with that).
Other than that she is a pretty decently behaved dog (at least with me). I’m currently injured (knee fracture/dislocation) and so right now it’s my dad and sister take her to her trainings. I think these can be solved but I’m not sure how. So far my method has worked for me individually, but I know it’s not working for everyone else which to me is because it requires you to be patient and calm (don’t show frustration since that just seems to agitate the behavior) but these are traits that don’t really come easy for my family especially my dad who snap pretty easily.
I know at least with the mouthing stuff in the second paragraph it is quite common but it really frustrates my dad and since he snaps pretty easily and she seems to respond badly to that which makes me worry that she might hurt him. My corrections don’t seem to work, redirecting doesn’t work, and while she hasn’t violently bitten them (mostly dad) because they raised their voice or moved them her reactions make me think she could get to that point in the future. Right now it’s just barking, some growling, and laying her teeth on you (doesn’t sink them in).
Any advice on how improve these behaviors? What am I doing right and what am I doing wrong?
LITTLE UPDATE: She tried bitting me just now again. I went to the restroom quickly and she had my mother’s personal chopsticks in her mouth (not sure how). Tried trading with some meat and toys but she was adamant on chewing on the chopsticks. Tried commanding her leave it but nothing. She let me put my hand near her face but the moment I touched the harness she bit my hand which allowed me to grab the chopsticks. Thankfully it’s was only a REALLY TINY nip with the tiniest amount of blood becasue I moved my hand fast enough. Not my worst injury but still concerning
. Once again rare but when it happens it makes me worry it may happen to my parents.
