Puppy Training

We adopted a 2 month old female Lab/German Shepherd from the humane society. He came from a good family, healthy they just could not have the puppies.

I'd like some opinions if you have any on the best way to combat her biting/nipping. She's got me a couple times already breaking the skin once.

Also how is the best way to handle separation anxiety? Just let her cry it out?


Thanks peeps. I've never raised a puppy from this young of an age before so it's a learning experience for me

 

what we did with our lab (almost a year old) is when he would nip/ bite, we would grab and hold his muzzle, and say "browning, no bite".
it works pretty well, he only nips when he gets really excited.

 

Grab muzzle and push down and say no bite, this will show your dominant and that biting is bad

 

Tsch!! like cesar millan! yeahh

 

Huh?

I agree with grabbing the muzzle. I've been told not to do it by Petco trainers but I used to have a golden retriever that I got when she was about 4 months old and would grab by muzzle, stare into her eyes and firmly say 'no'. Worked.

 

The Dog Whisperer is kind of a unique show to watch, although most of it is the same story different dance. I am sure everyone can pick something up from it.

Are you crate training?

 

She sleeps in it at night with no issues. But its in our bedroom. Last night we decides to try it out in the living room. Worked till the first potty break. Then we moved it into the bedroom and boom were out like a light.

Over the next couple of days I'll be home with her and she'll be spending more and more time during the day in her create to get more use to it

 

If you want to crate train, we use a Kong and it helped out with the training. We give our guy a Kong filled with his dry food and peanut butter on the top (we freeze it over night). He only gets that treat when he goes into his crate when we leave in the morning. Now, when we're getting ready to go in the morning, he stays downstairs in his crate, waiting for the Kong and to be locked in. You can also get him used to a crate by feeding him in it. Leave the door open at first but put his food and water inside. Let him go in, eat and come back out. Then, close the door behind him while he eats, then let him out when he's done. He'll start to associate the crate with good things. Don't put him in his crate as punishment, it's counter-productive to crate training.

As far as the nipping, I agree with holding the muzzle but, if you're down playing with him and he gets excited and starts nipping, tell him no, stand up, turn around and let him calm down before going back to playing again. He'll start to put 2 and 2 together and realize when he bites, people stop paying attention to him.

 

I have two labs, and my vet taught me a little trick that worked in less than a week.
As soon as your pup puts his teeth on you, you say no forcefully, then you put your thumb inside her mouth and pinch down on the nose with your pointer finger while pushing up with your thumb. You don't have to do it very hard, just till she whines. Repeat every time she touches her teeth to something you don't want her to.
My dogs learned real quick, one day they were pretty good, after one week they never did it again, and they have never touched any person with their teeth in eight years.

 

The best thing to do is to train your dog with positive actions, they respond better to praise than punishment.

The best thing to do is when they bite you (or anything you dont want them to) give them a toy that they are aloud to chew on.

Dont under estimate the German Shepherd they are a very smart breed arguably the best dog for training, they catch on pretty fast.

Also say owwww really loud and over dramatically make it look like you are hurt. Dogs respond to emotion surprisingly.

These are methods i learned from studying up on the German Shepherd breed. I have a nearly 2 year old GSD and she has never chewed anything she wasnt suppose to and the little nipping she did when she was a puppy no longer happens.

 

I've started to have her chew rope in my possession at all times around her to distract her from my hands. That seems to work.

What is your guys opinion on where to crate train. Bedroom or family room where we all hang out? I like the family room idea but at night she just cries if she's not around us. If the crate is in the bedroom then she sleeps. But I want her to be comfortable in her crate during the day.

Is moving it confusing for her?

 

Careful with ropes, some of them fray into small pieces and can clog their digestive track.

We always had 2 crates, one downstairs in the family room, where he spends his days and one in the bedroom to sleep in at night. Now we just have the one downstairs where he spends his days and he sleeps in his bed at night without the crate.

 

Post a pic of your puppy.

I crate trained my german Shepard mix. You know you succeeded when you go looking for your puppy and you unexpectedly find him sleeping in the crate with the door open. Then you know he considers it his own den.

 

I keep her crate in a separate room, it is annoying to have her wine all night for the first few weeks. they eventually get the hint. She sleeps with us in the bed every night now but sometimes she will go in her crate and she is fine.

Put her in an area where you think it wont get into anything. I had to zip tie her cage together cause she would collapse one of the sides somehow and get out. also a d ring on the door of the cage so they dont manage to get the door open.

The only reason I have her in another room than ours is the fact that she jumps and gets real excited when we come home so we have her as close to the back door as possible to she can go potty then when shes calm she can come inside.

 

I kept the crate in my room all day but had dog beds through out the house. Keep the door to your room open though in case he wants to get to the crate at anytime. If you're out of your room all day and he knows your close by, he may start to cure himself of the separation anxiety by leaving you to go to his crate.

Just make sure it's comfy for him.

 

THIS^ Mine will do that occasionally as well.

 

Bam Bam went from this..





To this...

 

Luckily she isn't pulling the rope apart yet. Just nawwing on it. I think I might just keep her crate in the family room. We spend all our time there since the rooms are on the other side of the house.

Here she is.







Definitely more lab that I can tell. She's got web feet which I don't believe Germans have.

We've only had her for 3 days now. And she really likes her bed. I want her to be comfortable with her crate other then night sleeping.

Good call. The cries are annoying. But I believe she will learn I'm not leaving her...for a long time.

We have closed half the house off to her for now so she can get use to us and the non carpeted part of the house

 

Good lookin puppy