Bite Inhibition

[corbinam]

Enzo's behaviour seems to be slightly different - it sounds as if he is snatching for the toy and getting hands instead? I had the same issue with my friend's BC and there is definitely capacity for some damage there! It's difficult because I only get to work with him once a week and at agility but my friend and I worked on teaching him a 'get it' cue. This is something I taught Epic (for slightly different reasons). The theory is that any toy we are playing with is mine, until he has permission to have it - when I say 'get it'. It stops the jumping up and snatching because he knows it is out of bounds until that cue comes. With Epic and Jacob we just built the cue in with play but I'm sure it could be taught as an impulse control game?

The thing that's weird is that he knows not to snatch it without permission. So he doesn't do it uninvited. We'll be holding a toy in training/play and say "get it!" or "OK!" if we're releasing him to it, but he grabs it and doesn't pay attention where the toy is vs. where our hands are.

The same is true when we're rewarding in agility. If, for example, I'm rewarding by tugging with him, he may clamp down on the hand, not the toy, without even thinking.

Surprisingly he has really great impulse control. It's something we worked really hard on. It's just as soon as we say OK, he gets WAY too excited!

 

[seashel]

Ah I get where you're coming from now. It's difficult with a performance dog because we want the enthusiasm but just carefully and this is why I'm struggling to sort Angus too. I'm wondering whether you could use the clicker to mark for a correct take? That should maintain or even increase the keenness but hopefully eliminate inappropriate takes?