Dog Training & Health

[guest]

Hi everyone.

i have a great 6 month old goldendoodle. She's great, but after 2 training classes, she still refuses to stop her mini "attacks" on me and my husband. She is full of energy, as a puppy usually is, but it is so difficult to get her to settle down. In the evenings she will jump on us, and start mouthing. Then when we ignore the behavior she gets even more adamant about it and growls. Then when we get up and walk away, she goes after us even harder. She grabs clothes,pulls, and rips them. She bites hands, legs, wrists, elbows, butts, anything she can get her teeth on.. The only way we get her to stop is by leaving the room. We let her settle down, and when she finds something else to do, we come back in. About 75% of the time she goes right back after us. Leave the room again and repeat. That's basically the pattern we are in at the moment.

We are not doing anything to antagonize her either. Sometimes we'll just be sitting on the couch watching TV and she'll race into the room, jump on the couch, jump on our backs, and start mouthing our heads (pulling hair with her teeth, etc). We don't play tug of war or other agressive games.

She gets PLENTY of exercise. She goes to doggy day care 2-3 times a week, she has doggie play groups with her dog walker and 3 other dogs as well, and she still comes home wanting to eat us. On weekends my husband takes her to the park, lets her run around, chase tennis balls, and she still wants MORE. Everyone from the groomer, vet, dog walker, etc. all say this dog DOES NOT TIRE OUT. They are stunned that she can go all day like that. They LOVE her, and say she is the best dog, and plays so well with other dogs (including getting dogs to play that have not played in YEARS), that it's hard to believe she's such a nightmare to us. She does not mouth, snap, or growl at ANYONE ELSE. Just my husband and I (the primary caregivers). She's so good with all other people, including kids and strangers.

Even while she's doing this to us, she seems to have a smile on her face, and her tail is wagging, so I'm fairly certain it's not a true "agression" problem, but it's annoying and painful nonetheless. I have a new bruise or red mark daily. We've tried replacing our body parts with appropriate toys and praising her when she takes them, but she immediately drops the toy and prefers an arm or a leg. We've tried yelling, growling back, whining like a littermate, holding her mouth shut, and all that serves as attention, so a trainer told us to ignore her when she behaves like that. Or we were told to shake a can of pennies. She is immune to the pennies and just growls even more when we shake the can. Ignoring her just frustrates her and seems to entice her to come after us harder as well. Like its a challenge that she wants to overcome. So nothing has worked. At least not for the past 4 months.

Is this just a normal 6 month old puppy testing us, trying to become pack leader, making her way to the top of the pecking order? She has lost all her baby teeth, but her adult teeth are still growing so I know she has the urge to chew, but she's definitely regressed. We got her at 10 weeks old, she had been with the breeder and her mother up until that point. She eats a high quality food, no crappy fillers, she gets a lot of love and attention. she has been spayed.

Does anyone have this problem, or had this problem that they were able to solve?

[uptowndogs]

WOW! It sounds like you have your hands full! I would begin rigidly and persistently training her. Everytime she startes acting out, have her "sit" and "laydown" and "stay". At that point give her a toy to play with. If she gets up, command her to return to that position. When she is lying still and quiet at your command give her pets and praise, but again, if she tries to get up she should be commanded back to that position. The commands don't have to be "sit" or "laydown" but she should be commanded to do something other than act like a wild crazy dog. Try googling NILIF, it could probably help with your problems. A dog like this needs to be in "training mode" at all times. When you are present she should be following a command given by you and your husband.

Good luck!

[bearlasmommy]

hey sweety,
start NILIF TRAINING RIGHT AWAY.
it works wonders on dogs with problems like this.