# The Famous Land Shark



## Feathers (May 30, 2017)

Hi,

So after about a month+ of having our puppy chomp at our fingers while training and treating, I decided to try teaching her to be more gentle... I just finished having my fingers almost torn to shreds, the 2 bags of treats I prepared pretty much empty (like, maybe 5 pieces left...) and a puppy who is now just... I don't even know what other word to use, retarded. She's just completely shut us out now. It's like she went deaf or something. I am honestly tempted to visit the nearest police station to ask them how they deal with their land sharks...

I've tried almost every trick Youtube had to offer, if there are other ways, I couldn't find it. Pushing the treat into her mouth meant my whole HAND got chomped at. Letting her nibble my fingers and only releasing the treat when she's softer didn't work because the moment I let go of the treat, she chomps at my fingers to grab at that treat I just released (not to mention the fact that it hurt like ****). Using a metal spoon was a bust too, she either chomped at the spoon as if it meant nothing, or she would shove her chin into the spoon to make it drop away from the treat (and my fingers) and go back to trying to tear my fingers apart. 

Of course, putting the treat in my palm and giving it to her that way didn't harm me, but how the heck can I use lure training without being able to hold the treat in my fingers? Thankfully, she didn't break skin though I have a feeling the tiny red dot I see above my nail is a blood clot under the skin... If I didn't know better, I'd say my hand was gonna be a balloon tomorrow...


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## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

Feathers said:


> I am honestly tempted to visit the nearest police station to ask them how they deal with their land sharks...


Give it a try......or find the place that's training the police and their dogs.......they may blow you off or help you....and they might be very honest to you about what/who the problem is as well.

SuperG


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## KaiserAus (Dec 16, 2016)

We started with the "no reward marker" so hold a treat out - puppy lunges for treat - I say "uh-uh" and quickly pull treat away. Keep doing this until puppy pauses then say "good/yes" and give the treat. They start to realise that they have to wait and not lunge before taking the treat.

Then once puppy realised this I started to say "gentle" and if puppy tried to take the food too roughly then he'd get an "uh-uh" 

Now when we start our training session I usually start with some reminders of the "no reward marker" and the "gentle" then I move onto easy "sits" and "downs" and after I've marked the correct action with a "good" I will then also add a "gentle" before giving the treat. I don't always need to say "gentle" mostly he remembers, but sometimes he will forget again and its just a simple "gentle" and he'll be careful again.


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## Feathers (May 30, 2017)

KaiserAus said:


> We started with the "no reward marker" so hold a treat out - puppy lunges for treat - I say "uh-uh" and quickly pull treat away. Keep doing this until puppy pauses then say "good/yes" and give the treat. They start to realise that they have to wait and not lunge before taking the treat.
> 
> Then once puppy realised this I started to say "gentle" and if puppy tried to take the food too roughly then he'd get an "uh-uh"


Roughly how long did it take for your puppy to learn "gentle"? I'm hoping it might be better the next time I try again...


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## KaiserAus (Dec 16, 2016)

Feathers said:


> Roughly how long did it take for your puppy to learn "gentle"? I'm hoping it might be better the next time I try again...


He got the idea of "gentle" within 10 minutes, and then it was constant reminders every time before giving a treat, now a few months down the line its just an occasional reminder of "gentle" when I see he is super excited or its a very delicious treat that he is eager to have, now he is mostly very good at taking treats without hurting me.


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## BlitzRomman (May 24, 2017)

Mine was a HUGE landshark. I'd go to class with my hands all cut up having people ask me what is going on hahah one thing i can tell you...give it time. It's one phase of many that require time and patience. It's just something they need to do for now.


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## Coleen (Sep 18, 2015)

Hang in there, it will get better! To me that is the worst stage, but once you get past it, it's great! Usually stops when their done teething right around the 4.5, 5 month marker. Try some frozen cloths for the pup to chew on.


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## Feathers (May 30, 2017)

So this is simply the stage that people would call "the terrible twos"? She is 14 weeks old now, so by end of next month, it should be better?

She has plenty of toys to chew on, as well as a giant rawhide, though I think maybe she's starting to get frustrated with the rawhide... I'm just worried that she will continue to be a land shark her whole life, because I have met dogs that way. My previous golden was one too and we got him at 4yo. He couldn't understand gentle either (he's too lazy to use his brain), so we gave up on him and just dropped treats into his open mouth instead of giving it to him...

Perhaps I went a bit too fast, skipping the no lunging part, so I'll try to see if going slower will help. Right now, she's having a bout of diarrhea, so I'll wait before giving her more treats


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## cloudpump (Oct 20, 2015)

Luring and keeping your fingers intact is easy. 
Hold the treat in your palm. Thumb holding the treat so it's slightly exposed. Then they can nibble it.


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## Feathers (May 30, 2017)

cloudpump said:


> Luring and keeping your fingers intact is easy.
> Hold the treat in your palm. Thumb holding the treat so it's slightly exposed. Then they can nibble it.


I'm not sure I'm flexible enough to twist my wrist in weird ways...


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## thegooseman90 (Feb 24, 2017)

Just withhold the treat for lunging and give a verbal cue "no, uh-uh" whatever you choose. They're pretty smart and really easy to train at this age. Part of the problem is you're giving a marker to her lunging. Even if it's just the treat. 

Another thing you can do - which I like to do to get a little space for recalls - is mark the good behavior then just drop the treat. The marker is what tells them they did a good thing and the treat reinforces it. So it doesn't have to come from your hand all the time.


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