She was really sweet at the SPCA and she got the highest scores on their
personality tests but now that she's becoming comfortable with us (been
about 10 days) she starting to nip at the kids and myself. First some
background... she's about ten months old and according to the SPCA her
owner's house burnt down and the owner gave her up, she was adopted to a
household but the woman brought her back because her boyfriend was being
abusive towards the dog. The dog was transferred to our town and we
adopted her.

She loves to wrestle with other dogs and I know she wants to wrestle with
us but we don't want to encourage the behavior, especially with the kids.
But the dog will come up and nip, if you turn away she'll nip you again,
if you deflect her nip she bites harder. You can't simply ignore her. It's
getting worse, she has broken the skin with me and tonight she lunged at
my groin, actually got her teeth on the jewels but my reflexes were quick
enough prevent a bite. I no longer trust her and I'm at odds on what to
do. I am very tempted to take her back to the SPCA and I'm wondering about
that 'abusive boyfriend', maybe he wasn't abusive, maybe he was protecting
himself from the dog. My wife has already fallen hopelessly in love with
the dog. The dog is very smart, we've already taught her to sit, lay down,
stay and of course she fetches since she's lab. Tomorrow she starts basic
obedience. I need advice. I've had dogs most of my life, some that liked
to play rough but none that broke the skin or lunged at my testicles. Can
she be salvaged or should we cut our losses before we become any more
attached?

Mac Cool spoke these words of wisdom in
:

Tomorrow she starts basic
obedience. I need advice. I've had dogs most of my life, some that liked
to play rough but none that broke the skin or lunged at my testicles. Can
she be salvaged or should we cut our losses before we become any more
attached?


Take her to obedience, and don't be bashful about addressing the reason you
are there. A competent trainer will help you fix it. If they don't..... go
find a keyword COMPETENT /keyword trainer. [petsmart or petco will
probably not get it done]

Diddy is correct you need a trainer that knows what they are doing. For now
when she gets rough I would give her a good strong NO and put her in her
kennel till she settles down and keep at it every time it happens.

--
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"diddy" none wrote in message
. ..
Mac Cool spoke these words of wisdom in
:

Tomorrow she starts basic
obedience. I need advice. I've had dogs most of my life, some that liked
to play rough but none that broke the skin or lunged at my testicles. Can
she be salvaged or should we cut our losses before we become any more
attached?


Take her to obedience, and don't be bashful about addressing the reason
you
are there. A competent trainer will help you fix it. If they don't.....
go
find a keyword COMPETENT /keyword trainer. [petsmart or petco will
probably not get it done]

"Spot" wrote in message
...
Diddy is correct you need a trainer that knows what they are doing. For
now when she gets rough I would give her a good strong NO and put her in
her kennel till she settles down and keep at it every time it happens.

I agree that you need to find a *good* trainer or behaviorist, but unless
you or someone in your household are doing something terribly wrong, I am
afraid that this might be an innate hard-wired behavior, or a sign of a
medical problem, such as a brain tumor. I suggest an evaluation by your
vet, and also possibly a muzzle to reduce chances of further injury until
you get this resolved.

You might have success with Jerry's methods, so there is little risk in
reading his "manual" and trying the exercises. But be advised that he is
the resident loon, and I tried his methods with my dog Muttley and was
unable to get past the first exercise. But I did not have any problems with
aggression, and all dogs are different.

Please keep us informed of your progress. Good luck!

Paul and Muttley

Paul E. Schoen wrote:


"Spot" wrote in message
...
Diddy is correct you need a trainer that knows what they are doing. For
now when she gets rough I would give her a good strong NO and put her in
her kennel till she settles down and keep at it every time it happens.

I agree that you need to find a *good* trainer or behaviorist,

Good Advice...

but unless
you or someone in your household are doing something terribly wrong, I am
afraid that this might be an innate hard-wired behavior, or a sign of a
medical problem, such as a brain tumor. I suggest an evaluation by your
vet, and also possibly a muzzle to reduce chances of further injury until
you get this resolved.

Bad advice...

A 10 month old lab biting is... not uncommon. It is unlikely it is
hard-wired or a medical problem. They are a mouthy breed and they
frequently go through a biting phase, if it wasn't corrected earlier
then some still do it at 10 months. Is it a problem? Yes. Is it a
major problem? Not if it is handled correctly. A competent trainer can
help with that. Muzzles should only be used in dire situations because
they present their own list of potential problems. Quit handing out
advice.


You might have success with Jerry's methods, so there is little risk in
reading his "manual" and trying the exercises. But be advised that he is
the resident loon, and I tried his methods with my dog Muttley and was
unable to get past the first exercise. But I did not have any problems with
aggression, and all dogs are different.


Worse advice...

What posesses you to tell someone to use methods that DID NOT work for
you.

Nick

"Paul E. Schoen" spoke these words of wisdom in
:


I agree that you need to find a *good* trainer or behaviorist, but
unless you or someone in your household are doing something terribly
wrong, I am afraid that this might be an innate hard-wired behavior, or
a sign of a medical problem, such as a brain tumor. I suggest an
evaluation by your vet, and also possibly a muzzle to reduce chances of
further injury until you get this resolved.



It's highly unlikely that this is a physical or hard wired behavior. This
is common to a lot of dogs. You simply need to teach the dog that bighting
is not allowed, and learn to handle your behaviors differently around the
dog to send that message. A LOT of people do things that actually encourage
biting without knowing it, by the interactions they have with their own
dogs.

You need to be seen by a good trainer so they can see what you are doing
wrong so you can conscientiously correct it.


As far as Paul's advice. He's got ONE dog that he acquired as a young
adult. He has not participated in the training of a dog or breaking one of
bad habits. He has no clue what appropriate owner/dog handling skills are,
and thinks John Grogan and family in "Marley and ME" tried "EVERYTHING" to
make MArley a good dog, and the dog was just a bad egg. sigh

Tells you NOT to go to Paul for advice yikes

On Jan 9, 1:24*pm, "Paul E. Schoen" wrote:
"Spot" wrote in message

...

Diddy is correct you need a trainer that knows what they are doing. *For
now when she gets rough I would give her a good strong NO and put her in
her kennel till she settles down and keep at it every time it happens.

I agree that you need to find a *good* trainer or behaviorist, but unless
you or someone in your household are doing something terribly wrong, I am
afraid that this might be an innate hard-wired behavior, or a sign of a

they've had the dog TEN DAYS....
it's not a teeny puppy and it could have not been taught proper mouth
manners before they got it.

dogs bite.
dogs are mouthy
they have to be taught NOT to be mouthy.


medical problem, such as a brain tumor. I suggest an evaluation by your
vet, and also possibly a muzzle to reduce chances of further injury until
you get this resolved.

I would hope since they just adopted the dog that they had a vet eval
with it within 48 hours of bringing it home

and also possibly a muzzle to reduce chances of further injury until
you get this resolved.


really? why is that?

how can you teach a behavior is wrong when the dog can't perform the
behavior?


You might have success with Jerry's methods, so there is little risk in
reading his "manual" and trying the exercises. But be advised that he is
the resident loon, and I tried his methods with my dog Muttley and was
unable to get past the first exercise. But I did not have any problems with
aggression, and all dogs are different.


and recommending something that did not work for you is a good idea
because????

Well done for adopting an unwanted dog
I'm sure your lab can be "salvaged" if you get the right help. Do the SPCA
have a behaviourist or trainer that can help you?
She is a young dog and has been through a lot of upheaval. She could be
attention seeking or getting hyper and over- excited through stress.
Perhaps you could praise her for being calm , make sure she has enough
things to chew and give her opportunities to play with toys so she doesn't
try to initiate inapropriate play until you get the help you need.
I would have a word with your obedience trainer before you start the
classes. She or he might feel it's best for her to have one to one lessons
until she is more
settled . She might find a busy class too stressful and find it hard to
concentrate or cope with it.
What is she crossed with by the way?
Alison

"Mac Cool" wrote in message
...
She was really sweet at the SPCA and she got the highest scores on their
personality tests but now that she's becoming comfortable with us (been
about 10 days) she starting to nip at the kids and myself. First some
background... she's about ten months old and according to the SPCA her
owner's house burnt down and the owner gave her up, she was adopted to a
household but the woman brought her back because her boyfriend was being
abusive towards the dog. The dog was transferred to our town and we
adopted her.

She loves to wrestle with other dogs and I know she wants to wrestle with
us but we don't want to encourage the behavior, especially with the kids.
But the dog will come up and nip, if you turn away she'll nip you again,
if you deflect her nip she bites harder. You can't simply ignore her.
It's
getting worse, she has broken the skin with me and tonight she lunged at
my groin, actually got her teeth on the jewels but my reflexes were quick
enough prevent a bite. I no longer trust her and I'm at odds on what to
do. I am very tempted to take her back to the SPCA and I'm wondering
about
that 'abusive boyfriend', maybe he wasn't abusive, maybe he was
protecting
himself from the dog. My wife has already fallen hopelessly in love with
the dog. The dog is very smart, we've already taught her to sit, lay
down,
stay and of course she fetches since she's lab. Tomorrow she starts basic
obedience. I need advice. I've had dogs most of my life, some that liked
to play rough but none that broke the skin or lunged at my testicles. Can
she be salvaged or should we cut our losses before we become any more
attached?

Alison:

What is she crossed with by the way?

I would love to know. She looks very labish, but she has some white, with
a little black on her muzzle and tail. The black has darkened since this
picture. Her tail curls over her back.

http://img34.picoodle.com/img/img34/...ym_ac887a7.jpg

The vet believes she is lab/border collie and the markings do resemble a
border collie but I don't remember collie's tails curling over their
backs. Her hair is very short and bristly; and I haven't seen any herding
instinct at all. Her activity level is low-med, characterized by short
bursts of energy followed by long naps. Her behavior is very lab-like.

Spot:

For now when she gets rough I would give her a good strong NO and put
her in her kennel till she settles down and keep at it every time it
happens.


I'm getting mixed advice on this. Some people say not to put her in her
crate for a time out because she may associate the crate with punishment
while others recommend doing it. I'm a bit confused. This is the first dog
with which I've used a crate.