# jumping and biting



## Joeydog (Sep 26, 2017)

Hello all,


My Male GSD is not 14 months old. I really want to get into some good training with him now. The problem is he still jumps and bites alot. The biggest issue is the dirt and mess it causes when he jumps. The back garden is very mucky at the moment so once he jumps my clothes are destroyed. He still mouths and bites. Its not painful but its an annoyance. I have tried pinching the paws, grabbing the scruff of the neck, telling him no, turning my back on him & smacking him on the snout. All of these adverse methods just seem to excite him more as if its a great game for him.


If I open the back door with a tennis ball in my hand he will sit and wait until I throw it or if I have some food in my hand he will do the same. But this is not practical all the time especially if I just need to pop down to the garden shed to get something. What can you guys suggest?


----------



## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

This is one of those situations that is difficult to make recommendations without actually seeing the behavior. Maturity and consistency will likely help. When he reaches 18 months, I'd consider getting a Bike Tow, which is a brand piece of equipment that allows you to tether your dog to your bike safely and ride while he jogs beside you. I don't know if you have a bike or are physically able to ride one, but this can go a long way toward getting some of that pent up energy and drive out of your dog. The Bike Tow is one of the more pricier products, but I think it is also one of the safer and better made products. Definitely wait until the dog is 18 months old so you don't risk orthopedic problems likes flattening of the patella or other issues. Also build up the time jogging gradually and make sure your dog is hydrated and not overexposed to the heat. Swimming is also great, but it is kind of cold in certain areas now and you need to have good control on your dog as in a reliable recall, unless you have access to water on private property that is enclosed with a fence that has a pond or a pool. Some dogs are just less biddable and are more into what they can get for themselves rather than trying to please their handler. Negative reinforcement or removal of yourself from the situation when he is biting and jumping paired with catching your dog behaving correctly and offering praise, food and petting will also help, but often the exuberance overrides those approaches, which is why burning up some of that energy is important. If you are a jogger, you can do the same thing without the expense of a bike and a Bike Tow, but I would invest in a proper pair of jogging shoes. Also, consider waiting until the end of the day when your dog is more tired to try to "catch" him behaving correctly.
As for obedience, what have you worked on and what has been your approach? The obedience can help establish some respect and manners from your dog and be an adjunct to the other things I mentioned. If he has no obedience and has decent food drive, I would stat to shape basic behaviors with food when he is very hungry. Always mark the behavior and have a release command.


----------



## Joeydog (Sep 26, 2017)

Thanks Chip,


Biking with the dog is something on the list already. Trouble is teaching him to stay calm before a run and putting the leash on. But I suppose getting the basic obedience is the first thing to master. Like most things in life nothing goes to plan. He has very little obedience. I have a trainer come out to the house and we did some leash and walking work. This went very well but it was only the one session as the trainer was leaving the country for a few months. Im nearly sure he is back now so ill try and contact him again.


As for the jumping and biting. He will snuggle into my legs and sit relatively calmly and allow me to pet him but within 20 seconds he becomes a land shark again. I will check out that bike tow brand but im in Europe so a similar brand might be needed.


----------



## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

I know what you are dealing with, as I am going through the same thing with my dog who is 11.5 months old. When I initially go out to see him, he is very happy and enthusiastic to see me and it doesn't take long for things to shift into biting and tearing skin and jumping. Positive punishment just fuels the behavior. At times when I'm walking him in the yard off leash, he will just charge me and smash into me center mass. He has a lot of obedience on him and his responses are very quick and precise. My take is that he has a lot of pent up energy and frustration and is trying to engage me in playing. He is also in the sexual development stage, so hormones are also an issue. He is a large dog at about 110 pounds and he throws his weight around. I don't see his behavior as dominance but immaturity and prey related frustration. When it was warmer, swimming helped, but the pond is too cold right now. At training, he is well behaved. Because of his age and size, I don't want to pound his joints until he is physically mature. I think he will mature into a very nice dog. He has done very well in the little bite work we have done. I am training him in PSA, so control is vital. Here is a link to his pedigree, so you might get some idea where his drive and energy is coming from.
http://www.pedigreedatabase.com/german_shepherd_dog/breeding.result?father=2057861&mother=2559026


----------



## Malibu (Jul 27, 2017)

The very WORST part of these questions are that they all seem to be asked WAY LATE...... These are issues that need to be stopped at a much earlier age.... The bottom line is that you must be stern enough and know how to correct it without making it worse. More times than not you are just not FIRM enough. I know you think you are but that also is what becomes the problem.


----------



## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Leash him and get his brain to work. the leash also is a direct connection to you. Hormones immature brains they can get ungrounded. Max when going through adolescence would go through these occasional sporadic zany periods he would be a Buffoon. These were rare but did happen -I called it zoomies,lights out or a scrambling of the the brain where all impulses or over righted. I have a photo of his eyes they looked scrambled during these moments Lol. One time I had a real heavy bag I was flogging him with as he jumped and grabbed my arm and he loved it. If someone saw it looked like owner was getting mauled by dog. The only thing was redirecting a ball, calmness is so important as it is contagious, body language is incredibly important as they are looking for an invite and obedience exercises to help them switch gears. Max would play chicken like he would run me down. He sounds awful. As they mature I promise you will marvel at them but going back is healthy to see how they have grown. Max is a late bloomer to so I’m really enjoying his mind. He had plenty of physical, mental outlets, training galore as I was home during these times the dots connect it just takes time, patience and diligence. My female a young lady with manners from the start. They are all different. 

Photo of max 8 and 10-11 months or so Going through his zanies just getting over stimulated. I was able to leash up and redirect with some sits and downs and he would become max again. -last photo was the invite. I like the sit in the leash videos on YouTube. It sounds odd but works. I did this often when max wanted to go out and play with kids and I did not want to go out with them when a big pup and adolescent. 
https://youtu.be/W2WgOZUebnY


----------



## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

You would not be able to stop these behaviors in this type of pup without damaging the relationship with your pup because it would take significant abuse. Also, these behaviors were not present until after he matured some after his drive and hormones increased. It is a balancing act. I agree that often handlers let their young pups get away with too much and that approach creates problems later. That was not the case with my pup. He is well behaved in public. I can take him to work with me and to box stores without any problems. He is not reactive or dog aggressive. No problems walking on a leash. He has learned a very nice service finish. Downs and sits are very fast. In the bite work, he comes into drive without any prey movement by the decoy and has good protection obedience considering the limited bite work he has done. He targets the bicep very correctly with a nice grip and out. I consider this behavior a good problem to have that will resolve with the correct approach and maturity.


----------



## Joeydog (Sep 26, 2017)

Malibu said:


> The very WORST part of these questions are that they all seem to be asked WAY LATE...... These are issues that need to be stopped at a much earlier age.... The bottom line is that you must be stern enough and know how to correct it without making it worse. More times than not you are just not FIRM enough. I know you think you are but that also is what becomes the problem.



Hello Malibu,


I have no problem been stern. In what way though? anything physical seems to get him more excited. I have the mini educator to use at a later date but I want him to understand the basics first.


----------



## Chip Blasiole (May 3, 2013)

I think the way to go with an e-collar is to teach the behaviors using food with a ton of repetitions. Then, if you decide to go with an e-collar, use it on the lowest stim/negative reinforcement to get a result. You want the dog to learn how to turn the stim off with the correct behavior. He has to be able to think to do that. High stim or positive punishment will interfere with your dog figuring out what you want him to do.


----------



## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

I also found having them carrying around a ball or toy also they can transfer any excited energy to that toy or ball.


----------



## Joeydog (Sep 26, 2017)

Jenny720 said:


> I also found having them carrying around a ball or toy also they can transfer any excited energy to that toy or ball.



yes this does work. ball play etc is great when I want to or have time to but if I just had to pop into the back garden to get something he will jump and bite unless distracted. I dont want to throw him a treat or ball each time I need to use the garden.


----------



## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Can you give him a ball before you go outside or a bone to chomp on. How is your body language. Can you leash him to practice good behaviors in the backyard when you are out in the garden with him. Even calling him and crating him while you are outside until you get a handle on things. When max was a puppy he wanted to play and jump all over the kids outside destroyed some snow suits. For a long while I used a long lead or leash when out with kids in backyard and practiced behaviors I wanted let the good stuff become a habit. Focus exercises structured play became a habit of using the brain before they get to Zaney modes much much repetition and to be set up for success. I have used ecollar but to to proof off leash off leash recall around wild animals deer and such which I had trainer show me to use which I would strongly suggest you have a trainer show you how to use one. You can’t just smack on a ecollar and buZz away. It can really screw a dog up. The dog needs to know the correction comes from you.


----------



## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

You are going to have to show him what you expect from him. you will have to take the time to do so.


----------



## Nikka Khrystyne (May 14, 2018)

Is he mouthing or biting? My male is mouthy in a sense when we let him out the crate he will come by our side and gently put his mouth on you while “talking.” I always tell people in advance who ask to pet him or who come over that he communicates this way. They either don’t mind or they just say no and he stops. 

We taught him bite inhibition, so he knows gentle and knows how to be soft. He also will come up to us and mouth us and get us to follow him when he has to go the bathroom or if they ran out of water in their bowl. 

Now jumping is something we are working on now. Prong collar was our best friend. As soon as we got one their leash walking improved. Now for jumping we use it when people come over. 

We just make sure to have their prong and leash on when someone comes through the door. We keep it on them for about the first 10-15 minutes someone is over. Once they calm down we take it off and they do not even once jump after the fact. It’s just the intial exciment of having people over make them want to jump all over said person. Yet the prong makes them aware and helps us corrects them instantly. they usually dont even try to jump when they have it on because they know.


----------



## Malibu (Jul 27, 2017)

Joeydog said:


> Hello Malibu,
> 
> 
> I have no problem been stern. In what way though? anything physical seems to get him more excited. I have the mini educator to use at a later date but I want him to understand the basics first.


As mentioned.. LEASH him.He gets no freedom until you say so... Your patients MUST outlast over his outburst.. You talk about going outside with a tennis ball, well NO tennis ball for awhile. Do other things . Start going outside with no ball.. DO NOT ALLOW HIM to become over fixated on the ball...


----------



## Joeydog (Sep 26, 2017)

Im not sure of the difference. Like I said the biting does not hurt. Perhaps a child or someone not used to him might think different though. I managed to contact the trainer again. We are going to plan things over the next few weeks. Ill report back how things are going.


I also agree its an initial thing with him. If I was to spend half an our out the back garden he would quite down and potter about. Even today I was in and out of the shed and although he jumped and mouthed it was really for a pat or rub. This situation has boiled down to my laziness but that will change from now on. Thanks for the info all.


----------



## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Is he in the yard most of the time, or does this happen when you take him out with you? It sounds like he's already out there when you're going to get something in the shed.


----------



## Joeydog (Sep 26, 2017)

He is outside all the time unless it hits minus temperatures (which it has not really so far this winter). So I do understand that if he is alone for a few hours he would understandably be over excited to see me etc. It was suggested throwing him a bone or ball etc before I go outside but thats just not practical every time I need to go out the back yard.


----------



## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Joeydog said:


> He is outside all the time unless it hits minus temperatures (which it has not really so far this winter).


As long as that's the case, I doubt you're going to see a lot of improvement. My puppy, who will be a year old tomorrow, goes insane when I get home from work, and also when we come home and let her and our old guy out of the garage pen into the house with us. 

The biting is improving, especially if she grabs a toy to chomp on instead, but she zooms around like a maniac, jumping all over us. She settles down quickly, but at first she is very, very excited. If she stayed in the garage pen all the time (there's a dog door to an outside run), every time I had to go outside I'd expect her to go through the same frantic excitement. 

It's hard to train a dog not to be overly excited around you when they're not around you that much, just like it's hard to train a dog not to be overly excited in the house if they rarely or never get to spend time in the house.


----------



## Jenny720 (Nov 21, 2014)

Wow Great question Cassidy’s mom . This breed is a dog that wants to be with you all the time and needs to interact with it’s people on a regular basis. They are a dog bred to work together with their people- I can’t empahsize this enough. Why is the dog out by itself all the time? Does the dog sleep outside?


----------

