training questions

[seashel]

hi and welcome to the forums

Barking and mouthing/biting are common and normal puppy behaviours. A combination of excitement and learning about the world.

Here are a couple of videos that may help with both. I can thoroughly recommend this trainer, she has a world wide reputation and it is all positive reinforcement based training. Although she uses a clicker, it is perfectly fine to substitute the click for a marker word such as yes if you prefer.

I would suggest watching the intro videos first, just to get a feel for what is being explained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wv1uvvqaSw&list=PLXtcKXk-QWoiH-suCukjGsNiOntiFW4YK

Barking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp_l9C1yT1g&index=4&list=PLE345355EA335F575

Mouthing/biting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c77--cCHPyU&list=PLF26FD559887E7EA4&index=9


Do have a browse through all her videos. The majority are less than 5 minutes long and even if you can't get to a training class at the moment, they should give you some guidance on things to train. What I would definitely recommend though is that you find safe opportunities for socialisation with other dogs. Obedience/puppy classes normally help with this in a secure environment so you will need to find alternative ways of doing it. Dog parks are not great places for this as some people have little or no control over their dogs and a small puppy can easily be frightened by large dogs. Maybe your vet runs puppy socialisation classes/puppy classes? If so, they can also sometimes help with some of the basic behaviour skills.

What is your pup's name BTW? We do love puppy pictures here so feel free to share

 

[Chloepup]

hi and welcome to the forums

Barking and mouthing/biting are common and normal puppy behaviours. A combination of excitement and learning about the world.

Here are a couple of videos that may help with both. I can thoroughly recommend this trainer, she has a world wide reputation and it is all positive reinforcement based training. Although she uses a clicker, it is perfectly fine to substitute the click for a marker word such as yes if you prefer.

I would suggest watching the intro videos first, just to get a feel for what is being explained:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wv1uvvqaSw&list=PLXtcKXk-QWoiH-suCukjGsNiOntiFW4YK

Barking
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jp_l9C1yT1g&index=4&list=PLE345355EA335F575

Mouthing/biting
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c77--cCHPyU&list=PLF26FD559887E7EA4&index=9


Do have a browse through all her videos. The majority are less than 5 minutes long and even if you can't get to a training class at the moment, they should give you some guidance on things to train. What I would definitely recommend though is that you find safe opportunities for socialisation with other dogs. Obedience/puppy classes normally help with this in a secure environment so you will need to find alternative ways of doing it. Dog parks are not great places for this as some people have little or no control over their dogs and a small puppy can easily be frightened by large dogs. Maybe your vet runs puppy socialisation classes/puppy classes? If so, they can also sometimes help with some of the basic behaviour skills.

What is your pup's name BTW? We do love puppy pictures here so feel free to share

Thank you, I will watch the videos. Our puppy's name is Chloe. She is a white factored sable merle. I do not know how to post pictures on here In our search for a puppy who also adopted a retired mommy dog (different breeder). She is so well behaved but we had take no credit for that. We have no idea what we are doing! Her name is Stacy. She came with that name of course.

 

[trini]

Our puppy's name is Chloe. She is a white factored sable merle. I do not know how to post pictures on here In our search for a puppy who also adopted a retired mommy dog (different breeder). She is so well behaved but we had take no credit for that. We have no idea what we are doing! Her name is Stacy. She came with that name of course.

There are different ways you can post pics. You can link to any picture sharing web site or if you decide to become a premium member of SN you can embed pictures directly into your posts. Either way works fine.

Trini

 

[Chloepup]

There are different ways you can post pics. You can link to any picture sharing web site or if you decide to become a premium member of SN you can embed pictures directly into your posts. Either way works fine.

Trini

Thank you, I just noticed you are in upstate NY, me too!

 

[Chloepup]

physical praise

I just read today that shelties do not typically like physical praise. Do any of you find this to me true or does it vary with each dog. I do find that Chloe puts her ears back sometimes when she gets physical praise so I am guessing that means that she is not a fan

 

[Caro]

Cara Sandler, yes we do say NO! to her with the biting of the ankles and sometimes she is just so wound up that that does not work. It's a hit or miss thing. Wil will keep at it though because she needs to know that that is not okay. We say NO! and leave the room or "no bite". we should probably say the same thing every time though huh?

Nipping at the ankles is usually an instinctive behaviour in a sheepdog, as it's how many herding breeds move the sheep. Some dogs have a very high herding instinct. Stopping is a must - because you'll just encourage more nipping if you keep moving. If you have to move, walk slowly. But don't give attention because you'll be giving her what she wants - even bad attention is worthwhile to a pup. With this behaviour try redirecting the mouth onto something else. Teach her if she really must nip then put her mouth onto something else. One of my dogs has a really high herding instinct and is a shocking nipper, if I hadn't trained him to redirect his mouth onto anything else (toy or stick) I'd have no ankles left. When he was young I carried a toy in my pocket at home and a stick on walks ready for when it was needed.

As for physical praise - that's the only reward I use with my dogs nowadays and they love it. Shelties are very people focused dogs so pats and cuddles and butt rubs are jackpot rewards.

 

[Chloepup]

Nipping at the ankles is usually an instinctive behaviour in a sheepdog, as it's how many herding breeds move the sheep. Some dogs have a very high herding instinct. Stopping is a must - because you'll just encourage more nipping if you keep moving. If you have to move, walk slowly. But don't give attention because you'll be giving her what she wants - even bad attention is worthwhile to a pup. With this behaviour try redirecting the mouth onto something else. Teach her if she really must nip then put her mouth onto something else. One of my dogs has a really high herding instinct and is a shocking nipper, if I hadn't trained him to redirect his mouth onto anything else (toy or stick) I'd have no ankles left. When he was young I carried a toy in my pocket at home and a stick on walks ready for when it was needed.

As for physical praise - that's the only reward I use with my dogs nowadays and they love it. Shelties are very people focused dogs so pats and cuddles and butt rubs are jackpot rewards.

what she does now is she keeps coming at us with the toy in her mouth so instead of nipping at us she comes at us with the toy and kind of rams into our ankles so we just end up leaving the area and she cannot follow because she is kept in the kitchen with a baby gate until she is fully potty trained. She also goes crazy with the barking every time she sees our adult dog (we aquired her when we were searching for a puppy). The adult dog is so well behaved but wants nothing to do with the crazy puppy! I hope we can teach Chloe to be as well mannered as Stacy(adult dog) but like I said she came to us that way. She is not interested in teaching the puppy anything other than "get away from me"

Thanks again for your tips, we will try the walking away slowly. so do you recommend that we do not even say "no" to her when she is herding us because it is attention?

 

[Chloepup]

Biting!

Oh my goodness, now Chloe is growling and biting us in the ear if we pick her up My breeder said she has never even had a Sheltie growl....why is our puppy so mean? We hold her at arms length and say no but she has done this more than once. Has anyone else dealt with this or do I have an unusual case?

We do warn her first that we are going to pick her up as I read to do in a training book. We say "pick up" before picking her up. Some times she is fine but if she is tired or in the middle of something and doesn't want to be picked up she growls and bites us!

 

[trini]

Couple of questions: How much physical exercise is Chloe getting everyday? And how old was Chloe when you got her from the breeder?

Shelties are, for the most part, a very active breed and some of the descriptions you have given make me suspect she may be acting out simply due to pent up energy and boredom. I am not getting the impression you have a "mean puppy", more that you have a frustrated puppy.

Physical praise and love are very important to shelties...but if Chloe is in a playful, active mood being picked up to be hugged and cuddled will seem like an unwelcome "restraint" rather than loving. Many pups are not remotely cuddle bugs when young, there is simply too much to explore and learn about to stop and cuddle...for most that will come later once they have matured. It is not unlike a small child who is intent on something and doesn't want to be stopped from playing to cuddle...if you pick him/her up you will most likely get rewarded with angry cries and attempts to get out of your arms and back to what they were engrossed in doing.

If you watch a group of puppies playing you will hear growling and see ear nipping going on...that is very typical puppy play. However, this behavior is obviously not acceptable when directed at humans, and substitute items need to be always available to use to teach Chloe that she can "puppy attack" toys...just not humans.

Try to limit "NO" to only the most critical times...otherwise the word loses it's effectiveness. Substitution/redirection work best with smart breeds..."no" only leaves them with a negative and no alternative. And remember to praise when she is behaving...we so often forget to praise the good times and it is just as important to quietly praise good behavior as it is to respond to negative behavior.

Trini

 

[Chloepup]

Couple of questions: How much physical exercise is Chloe getting everyday? And how old was Chloe when you got her from the breeder?

Shelties are, for the most part, a very active breed and some of the descriptions you have given make me suspect she may be acting out simply due to pent up energy and boredom. I am not getting the impression you have a "mean puppy", more that you have a frustrated puppy.

Physical praise and love are very important to shelties...but if Chloe is in a playful, active mood being picked up to be hugged and cuddled will seem like an unwelcome "restraint" rather than loving. Many pups are not remotely cuddle bugs when young, there is simply too much to explore and learn about to stop and cuddle...for most that will come later once they have matured. It is not unlike a small child who is intent on something and doesn't want to be stopped from playing to cuddle...if you pick him/her up you will most likely get rewarded with angry cries and attempts to get out of your arms and back to what they were engrossed in doing.

If you watch a group of puppies playing you will hear growling and see ear nipping going on...that is very typical puppy play. However, this behavior is obviously not acceptable when directed at humans, and substitute items need to be always available to use to teach Chloe that she can "puppy attack" toys...just not humans.

Try to limit "NO" to only the most critical times...otherwise the word loses it's effectiveness. Substitution/redirection work best with smart breeds..."no" only leaves them with a negative and no alternative. And remember to praise when she is behaving...we so often forget to praise the good times and it is just as important to quietly praise good behavior as it is to respond to negative behavior.

Trini

Thank you for your tips! We only use no for biting so we do not use it too much. Do you feel that that will work okay? Chloe was a few days over 8 weeks when we got her. We have had the same thought about exercise. We are trying to get her more. It is difficult because we do not have a fenced yard so her running is being done on the leash and she is not really good on the leash yet so sometimes that is a struggle.

We do let her run in the house and she runs around like a crazy little thing...so funny! I do think more exercise will help. She has not completed her shot series yet so we do not take her on walks (also not loose leash trained). We were advised not to take her for walks in public until she had all of her shots because of the fear of contracting parvo.