calliecritturs
Posted : 6/26/2010 9:50:58 AM
He's a "teenager" who never had *proper* discipline so listening isn't a skill he's acquired. In addition to the good stuff you've been told above, I would also put him on "Nothing In Life Is Free" -- mostly it's a real eye opener to how much WE humans do to "cope" and how we inadvertently reinforce exactly what we don't want to. Essentially he has to "do" something to get ANYTHING he wants. He has to "sit" (nicely) for every kibble, for every bit of affection, etc.
Also - watch your body language. He's a pup -- most of this is inate (and you don't know probably how well socialized he even was with dogs when a baby pup -- if he bites too hard, he may never have learned good bite inhibition).
But for example, when he's about to jump up, as she said above step on his leash. But ALSO when you turn your back -- it's not about just turning around. Not at all.
What your'e trying to do is immitate dog body language -- when a dog does NOT want to play with another dog, not only do they turn around, but they also "stiffen" -- and their body language becomes rigid.
YOU Must do that. So while your foot is on that leash, pivot and put your feet slightly apart, fold your arms and TENSE YOUR BODY. Literally STIFFEN HARD ... look straight ahead with your body rigid and say "No."
He's a dog -- the body means MORE than words to just now. He's probably never learned to take appropriate verbal commands from a person -- he's probably learned to avoid hits, smacks and that sort of thing but he's never learned to respond to your "tone" and to your instructions.
One of my favorite books ever is not new -- Dr. Stanley Coren's "How to Speak Dog" -- it's thick but it's a darned good primer on learning to "listen" to your dog's body posture to evaluate what he's really saying, and it also will give YOU pointers on how to get across to the dog what YOU want to "say".
At 7 months he's beginning that over-confident "teenage" phase -- He's too 'cool' to listen, too self-absorbed to focus on anything but what HE wants. So ... you back off and make your owrds count.
Even investing a few days (and this is SOOOOOOOO time-consuming but it is SO worth it) -- literally feeding him kibble by kibble. "Nope ... 'sit'. And he has to learn to STAY in that 'sit' to get piece after piece. But even spending several minutes at the beginning of a 'meal' to engage him in simple calm down and sit exercise ... it's a good thing.
You can withhold some of his food and dole it out to family members in little carry-with-you baggies so everyone makes sure he 'sit's' and is calm in order to get ANYTHING from you.
Never let him 'play' bite. As far as I'm concerned it is NEVER 'ok' for a dog to put their teeth on my skin.
If he's an attention junkie you don't even have to 'crate' him -- just loop that leash over a doorknob or antyhing so he's not "with" you but several feet away.
It's tough to be consistent with stuff like that because we humans tend to have an agenda. I can't deal with this right now because I gotta do ______________________. So we may just shove the dog away or move him aside while he's biting at you. But you actually have to do something to take his "toy" (you) away from him.
Training takes time -- and often by the time you've had a pain-in-the-butt pup for a couple of months you feel tired and overwhelmed. And trying to figure out how to take a step back and get him to focus ON you, rather that on play-biting you ... it's a big deal and it takes some concerted effort and time.
Good luck!