# Biting clothing and jumping



## mm03gn (Sep 24, 2008)

That's a toughie...I know that the typical advice would tell you to just walk away and ignore the biting behaviour...but that leads to holes in your clothing...lord knows I have enough of those from when Bay was a pup! I was horrible with this particular part of training...so hopefully others have some tips for you!


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

I would use the same techniques for skin biting as clothing biting. A loud "NO" then turn your back or cross your arms over your chest and look at the ceiling.


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## Nana-chan (Apr 28, 2009)

Its kind of hard to move our body when she's biting and tugging the clothe we are wearing...


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## Ljilly28 (Jan 22, 2008)

Freeze like freeze-tag, then lean into her space a little, and say No Bite is a serious but not angry tone. When she stops, you go back to normal& fun.

Or ask her for an alternative behavior, and make it fun& worth her while. Like ask her for her best "Down", and reward her with a clicker click and a nice treat. Rechannel that energy into a behavior you do want.

Lastly, stuff a tennis ball or fun toy it that bitey mouth.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Ljilly's got the whole gambit of advice right there, and it's all stuff I completely agree with. If you try to yell at her while she's biting your clothes, you run the risk of energizing her and confusing her.

I think I'd wear clothes I didn't care about for the training session and teach her that biting your clothes makes you freeze. That way you can sacrifice some old stuff to teach the lesson quickly and effectively. Pair that with an alternative behavior (you get chicken if you sit when you're excited), and you'll hopefully see it stop.


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## Nana-chan (Apr 28, 2009)

What do you mean by freezing? Freeze-tag? Sorry I dont know what this means.


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## magiclover (Apr 22, 2008)

When Jazz tries to do this I just cross my arms and stand still. I ignore her until she sits nicely and then I will pet her. I do notice with my kids she bites at their clothes and jumps on them more because they are not consistent in their responses to her. Sometimes they get her all excited and then expect her to obey their commands. It confuses the puppy. Pick what works for your puppy and be consistent. Your pup will pick up on it in no time.


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## tippykayak (Oct 27, 2008)

Nana-chan said:


> What do you mean by freezing? Freeze-tag? Sorry I dont know what this means.


When the dog makes undesired contact (like grabbing clothes), you suddenly turn into a statue. When she offers up desirable behavior (like sitting or standing on all four paws), you come back to life and play with her. It's one of the most effective ways of dealing with unwanted behaviors that come from excitement.


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## 00accord4cyl (Jun 2, 2009)

tippykayak said:


> When the dog makes undesired contact (like grabbing clothes), you suddenly turn into a statue. When she offers up desirable behavior (like sitting or standing on all four paws), you come back to life and play with her. It's one of the most effective ways of dealing with unwanted behaviors that come from excitement.


great thread..i am having a horrible time with this issue...i have tried just turning around but that does not work..i guess i will have to start freezing


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## Oaklys Dad (Dec 28, 2005)

Add staring at the ceiling and you will have it licked. Goldens do everything for attention. The hard part is training your guests to do the same. :


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## Golden Mingus (Aug 14, 2009)

Hi Nana-Chan and other forum members,
We have a four month old. He has become more aggressive with his biting when he wants to play or when he doesn't get his way. We are very frustrated and we feel that we may have welcomed into our family a very aggressive puppy(got him at 6 1/2 weeks) with fears that with the rate that he is growing that soon it was be a deep bite. We have tried to stand like a statue and ignore him..he continues to nip at our clothing and ankles/hands/face...we then try to turn around and he gets more excited and nips with his front teeth. We can pretend like it doesn't hurt for so long before we are quickly putting him in his kennel. We have two small children 4 and 6. He goes after them with attempts to trip and jump on to dominate. Any suggestions or encouragement is appreciated. On the positive note we have trained him to sit, down, stay, heal, he is house broken and we love him dearly but we are on pins and needles with concern of his active mouth.


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## goldengirl09 (Jul 23, 2009)

I found something that worked wonders with Harvey and that was time-outs. If you ignore him and he doesn't stop, put him in another room for a short time out (about 1 minute). He's really good about not jumping/nipping at us anymore.

Unfortunately, now that he's 6 months, he has started doing this to strangers at the dog park and that is a little harder to manage since it's hard to do time outs there.

Another thing that might help is distracting him with other commands. Have him practice sit stays and reward him for doing that instead of jumping on you.

Good luck and if anyone has advice for jumping/nipping at the dog park, I would be SO grateful. He's such a great dog in most other ways and he means well but the jumping/nipping with strangers is driving me crazy! Especially kids.


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## goldengirl09 (Jul 23, 2009)

Almost forgot- I used a small bathroom as his time out place. It's better not to use the crate b/c you don't want them to think of that as a punishment.


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## oktay (Feb 14, 2009)

I try to work against this tendency by pulling my long sleeves back and generally hiding fabric that tends to hang, like belts, bathrobe ties etc. Puf seems to find things dangling very interesting including fabric and long hair. I don't have a problem with it anymore using the method above. Guest etc, is another matter. Then I have to offer him something else, maybe a snack, till he lets go.

As for jumping on people on the street etc. If he's jumped, it's too late. I try to give him a stern and loud "NO!" before he makes a move. He'll usually run towards the person but change direction at the last second.


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## Minnesota Rosie (Jul 28, 2009)

Our 4 month old still does the jumping and biting on clothes, too. She mainly does it when she's excited...like when we're getting ready for a walk, or someone new walks into the room. Turning our back to her is very effective. She immediately sits down and waits for me to give her attention. Sometimes, when I reach out to pet her, she'll start the jumping behavior again, so I turn into a statue again. Sometimes it takes a few times to get her to calm down. I'm hoping that she'll eventually stop doing it altogether. I don't know when that happens, though...maybe when she 10 years old??? lol!


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