# aggresive or playful?



## kathryn111288 (Nov 1, 2012)

help! my golden is a year old and attacks my husband every evening. she has been doing this since she was 4 months old. She bites him repeatedly until he either pins her down to settle her or he leaves the room. He has tried turning his back to her, growling a "no" at her, sweet talking her, offering another type of play with her ect... this followed by what i call the "Crazies". (she starts doing laps in the house when she is done). is she playing or wanting to hurt him. she draws blood almost every time!:doh:


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

How did you get my Tayla? She is so much worse with him.


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## My Big Kahuna (Dec 14, 2011)

It's playful... Is it annoying? (must be or else why would you be posting) Have you done any obedience classes with her?


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## Selli-Belle (Jan 28, 2009)

Play, play, play, play!!!!!! If you want it to stop, find her another dog to wrestle with.


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## GinnyinPA (Oct 31, 2010)

It's play but it can do some real damage. Work on not letting her get so excited. Men especially seem to love to be wrestle with their dogs, and sometimes it backfires. When she starts ramping up the energy, back off and let her calm down. Play another time when she isn't as excited. One thing I found helped was to hold myself perfectly still. I don't jerk my arm away, I just let Ben hold it in his mouth. He usually spits it out, or licks it instead. I reward licks with a treat. I don't reward bites by giving him the excitement he is looking for.


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## Tayla's Mom (Apr 20, 2012)

Tayla is ramped just by seeing my husband. I know I've worked with her much more about jumping on me when I'm sitting, but Rick not so much so he is the recipient of her "attacks".


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

I'll call it playful but pushy. My last dog (granted a collie) would not have dreamed of engaging in such a game if he even got the slightest bit of resistance from me. This current dog, it's game on!

I've found it's easier to train Casper to do something specific in a specific situation, rather than trying to teach him not to do something. So, for example, I've trained Casper to Back and Down when I put my shoes and socks on. I don't have to teach him "stop grabbing my socks and shoelaces". Works pretty well, but I can see the wheels spinning. "Do I want to grab socks or get a treat? Treat. Socks. Treat. Socks. Hmm."


Some other ideas:

Stuff a toy in her mouth every time she starts to act up. She might eventually figure out to do this herself. Casper did.
Reward her every time she picks up a toy. Better a toy than your arm. Praise could be pets, verbal praise, wiggling the toy a bit. Treats work, too, but then she'll drop the toy.
Move the crazies outside. Just open the back door and point!
Train the crazies. My dog will start up his crazies with the command "run, run, run." When he's got "that look" and I know he's due for some exercise, out the back door and run, run, run!
Change the schedule/situation. Whatever it is that starts the attack, stop doing it. If it's a particular door you walk through, if it's a particular toy you pick up, etc. The behavior might disappear through lack of reinforcement. OK, I know that sounds magical. But for some cases, it does work. For example, Casper would get all excited walking through a particular patch of grass. No more visiting that patch! He still looks lovingly at the patch as we pass by sometimes, but eventually he'll forget that it was even interesting.


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## azzure (Dec 10, 2011)

Gus and my husband like to play rough. He growls, shows big fierce teeth, then grabs his stuffed toy and gives it a big shake. He never bites, though. I think I would try to tone down the rough play if that were to happen.


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

88 cents at Walmart. It's in the produce section.










Squirt it in her mouth when she does that, and say "no bite, no bite, no bite." Squirt a lot, or she may actually like the taste. After a few times, you may only need to show her the bottle to get her to stop. Mine used to do that too, up until recently. I'm not talking about the little bitey stuff they all do to your hands (although we nipped that one in the bud too). I'm talking about the jumping up, growling, and play biting that you're talking about. I weigh 190 lbs. I had a hard enough time fending her off. She also did it to my 8 year old daughter who weighs 50 lbs. Unacceptable.


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

Nairb said:


> 88 cents at Walmart. It's in the produce section.


Binaca will work, too. Smaller, cleaner, but costs a couple of dollars more.


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## Karen519 (Aug 21, 2006)

*Have you*

Have you two checked that lemon and binaca are safe for a dog?


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## baumgartml16 (Jun 19, 2011)

This is just like Koda and my husband too! Sometimes me...but not as often. I agree with what someone else said, when the excitement starts to escalate bring her back down to a calmer state and resume the controlled play. Try not to let her get to that point. Also work on training while playing. Keep her focused on other things. Sometimes they just get bored with their toy and start trying to get your attention and play with them so that is their way of telling you (not acceptable but they dont know that). So have treats on hand and pick up training if they start getting to the bitey/jumpy point. It has worked so far with Koda, you need to keep at it until it is a complete habit. So once it starts working - keep doing what you are doing, dont become lax about it, they will revert back - we learned from experience LOL. We will keep it going much longer this time!


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

quilter said:


> Binaca will work, too. Smaller, cleaner, but costs a couple of dollars more.


We used it. It was effective, sometimes it's hard to get the spray mechanism to work right away. Our experience is that the lemon juice works better. 


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

Karen519 said:


> Have you two checked that lemon and binaca are safe for a dog?


Just about everyone who goes to our obedience school have used it. Both my teacher and the owner have very accomplished obedience dogs. They know what they are doing. I understand a lot of people disagree here. Been down that road before. I notice that many post about their biting dogs who are nearly a year old, and have had little success with other methods. 


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

A biting 50 lb dog, and small children is a dangerous mix. Our choice was to nip it in the bud. If It hurt her feelings to spray lemon juice in her mouth....well, that's just too bad. The safety of our kids is more important. 


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## SeaMonster (Jul 4, 2011)

I agree it's just play, but puppy needs to learn how to play with humans. I suggest firm, loving, but persistent correction......it will stop as she gets older.


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

I have checked the safety of binaca and it's safe for my dog. (It probably causes cancer in California, though.) I haven't checked the lemon juice. (But you buy it at the grocery store for human consumption, so...) 

But seriously, I'm very nice to my dog.


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## Nairb (Feb 25, 2012)

I realize there are many points of view on how to handle puppy biting, but so far, I've had two experienced vets, two trainers, my breeder (who is also a very experienced obedience judge) tell me "no teeth on the skin." No exceptions. This came as a surprise to me, because I had read an Ian Dunbar book prior to picking up the puppy, and tried his methods for a while. Needless to say, my hands looked like hamburger after a while. In addition, my kids were afraid to be in the same room with her. Everyone I have spoken to about this, other than people on this forum, has said Dunbar's advice on this is outdated. 


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## quilter (Sep 12, 2011)

I saw this on mysmartpuppy.com a couple of days ago: Is this Mouthing or Aggression? | mysmartpuppy.com


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