Dog jumping and mouthing when excited

[UhtredRagnarson]

Rescue dog has been with us 2 months. Age estimated to be around a year old. I’m spending a lot of time rewarding calm- treating when she is calm and relaxed, when she doesn’t leap up when the door bell goes, etc and She’s doing well with those things. The issue is when she gets excited, usually with DC, and wants to play, she starts mouthing hands which is painful. Advice to remove yourself doesnt work as she clamps down on your hands/wrist/clothing and won’t let go. She went to training classes and the trainer told me that when she does this to put her lead on and take her to the kitchen where her bed is and give her a few minutes to calm down. I have been doing this but she now gets even more hyped when she sees the lead and starts jumping at me, biting the lead and barks at me. She “boops” me with her nose and sometimes will try and do tiny nips on my legs or hands. She becomes very defiant for want of a better word and I end up nipped and scratched. I’m trying to prevent the excitement happening in the first place by treating calm when she sees the DC. It’s having mixed results. Sometimes she is calm and sometimes ignores me. When she starts to mouth or jump on them I say “on the mat” and throw treats on the mat, she will eat them and go straight back to DC. At which point I have to remove her so she turns her excitement into me. I’m at the point where I’m telling Dc just not to come in the room if I can sense she is in that zone.

Any proven tactics?

@MellowMelly

So she has a real thing for lurching up and grabbing hands? You might all have to resort to keeping your arms folded while walking around the house until this stage is over. Maybe even try getting the kids to walk a little slower if they are around the dog as the dog is seeing them as a moving target?

What is she like with a sharp firm assertive ‘no’ or ‘leave’ command?

My dog was (and still particularly is) a rambunctious dog. A very stubborn Staffordshire Bull Terrier. I had to get my daughter and partners son to walk slowly around her as she did go through this mouthing stage twice and developed a love for fast moving ankles at one point. Honestly I feel your woe!

Tucking in hands and walking slower- will try. She is a lurcher so movement focussed.

Respond to an “ahah” on walks etc but not when in mouthing mode.

@Nettleskeins

Also try and play tuggy games with a toy regularly, that you put away rest of time out of sight so you initiate play not the dog. Laundry and sweater are tuggy games to the dog, so make it something that you DO on YOUR terms, tuggy is our dogs favourite game but only with a braided piece of rope, which we drop rather than him fighting us for possession. Leave is quite a complex task, you have to start by making dog feel it is a resource he feels confident of before asking him to swap

Thank you will do thiazides

Thiazides?? this!

Have you tried offering treats as the first reaction before words or toys.

Yes, she will go eat the treats then come straight back for the hands so it’s a case of constantly throwing the treats. Older DC suggested she has worked out this game of how to get treats

Or run wildly in the opposite direction calling for them… & then reward with treats

She doesn’t come. Just holds on firmly to whatever is in her mouth.

@Nettleskeins

Ok so you need a "laundry" routine just like a prepare food routine.

Yes she’s coming along ok with the laundry. Progress is being made. It’s just the mouthing/ jumping on people and their clothes and how excited she gets that’s the issue.

Laundry is also very exciting our dog - especially socks!

Yep- socks are her thing too!

It sounds like you’re putting a lot of love and support into your pup. If this is the only thing left to sort, you’re doing a fab job. Good luck finding a solution that works. Our pup is only smallish spaniel size, even though he’s now fully grown, so if need be I pick them up! Couldn’t do that when we had Labrador/ retrievers!

I wish my dog had preferred socks. I found my dog outside in the garden one day running around with a pair of my freshly laundered knickers.

Your dog sounds clever. I think your older child may well be right. She’s worked out that some behaviours (with the hands) have resulted in treats sometimes

It reminds me of when I tried to train my dog to not just jump up on the sofa without permission. I kept rewarding her with treats when she got down…so she jumped up on the sofa more

Ah, the terrible twos! What worked for me was a very stern "what the fuck do you think you are doing?" (you can substitute another word!), very direct eye contact until they broke the stare and then ignore, ignore, ignore OR bundle the dog outside until it's calmed down. Thankfully this period doesn't usually last long.

Ha ha! Picturing the knickers flying like a flag.

In the situation you describe in the laundry I would imagine the situation is just too much for your dog.

The laundry area already seems to be a high arousal area and she was doing really well by being in a sit by the laundry. I would question whether it was calm if there was constant feeding of treats. But she was doing well.

Then in came no 2 high arousal your son
and no 3 arousal laundry moving around
then no 4 arousal a toy being used to distract.

If the laundry is high arousal so not have her in that area at all for the time being - that can come later.

In that situation if standing still and ignoring would not work, then calm treats on the floor was the only answer really.

Will she relax and be calm on her own with a chew toy or a kong?

If she is unable to do that you will not be able to have her calm when their is movement involved.

As a lurcher she obviously has sight hound in her and maybe even collie by some of her behaviour.

I would look at creating a calm area where she can relax in. This is something she will need to be taught.

Also rather than removing her, remove yourself and your children.

Oh we’ve had knickers and bras being paraded around the garden too! Wonderful game of chase

@UpHillandDownAle And they were bright red!

@UhtredRagnarson Good luck! Hopefully with all these helpful responses you might just crack the case of the lurching lurcher

Then in came no 2 high arousal your son
and no 3 arousal laundry moving around
then no 4 arousal a toy being used to distract.

If the laundry is high arousal so not have her in that area at all for the time being - that can come later

That’s a good point @PollyRoulson, I’ll keep her away from the laundry for now. It’s difficult as the laundry is in the kitchen which is open plan to the dining room where her bed is. I can try and train her into bed for laundry time.

Will she relax and be calm on her own with a chew toy or a kong?

She will but she will leave it if she hears activity elsewhere. She seems less interested in food than she is by activity/people.

She has her bed in the corner of the dining room as her quiet space and if I’m pottering around the house she happily takes herself off to it.

[quote MellowMelly]@UpHillandDownAle And they were bright red!

@UhtredRagnarson Good luck! Hopefully with all these helpful responses you might just crack the case of the lurching lurcher [/quote]
Thank you!

Will she relax and be calm on her own with a chew toy or a kong?

She will but she will leave it if she hears activity elsewhere. She seems less interested in food than she is by activity/people.

That is probably where I would start. Gradually build up very small distractions when she is in her bed and reward her for staying put. So maybe just start with your children talking in another room with the door shut, build up to having the door open, build up to them coming into the room and going out again and her staying in her bed etc. Eventually getting to the stage that she will stay in her bed whilst your DC are throwing socks around!

Thanks @PollyRoulson that all makes sense.

Apologies that I don’t have any advice, but has to post to tell you that it sounds like my 6 month old Setter is a copy + paste of your dog! All the way down to socks, knickers, biting and preferring noise/people over food!

Using positive training methods does not mean you never tell a dog off. Just as positive parenting doesn't mean you never tell a child off when they do wrong.

A cross voice, used rarely and appropriately, can work wonders. Young dogs getting over excited and engaging in dangerous behaviour, need to be stopped in their tracks. The minute you have her attention because she's shocked at the cross voice (I use a deep "WHAT are you doing?" with no smile) you can VERY quickly praise and switch to positive distraction techniques.

@UphillandDownAle I love your advice. Are you available for training?! 😄

OP in your example above, my first reaction is to grab a handful of treats and scatter them. I know you did this, but it was after you'd tried the toy - with DPup if you get in there quickly with treats it calms things down before he gets too het up. Once he's eaten the treats off the floor, I do a succession of sit/down /paw untill DC have left the room.

@Doje - I could definitely rustle up a “100 training tips we tried that didn’t quite work as planned” Guide

@MellowMelly - still chuckling at the flying red knickers

Aaah, @UpHillandDownAle that would sell nicely alongside my puppy guide '100 things we meant to get around to, but haven't yet'.

I think I’d be tempted to try telling her off when she does it. I’m wondering if by throwing treats at her every time she’s naughty, you’ve inadvertently reinforced the behaviour? You’ve rewarded her every time she’s bitten? Probably hard to say without seeing your exact timing.

We used rewards for good behaviour in training but it has to be marked at the exact second that the dog performs correctly. I use a ‘Yes!’ and then throw a treat. The ‘yes’ is his marker. Perhaps a negative noise and firm removal to bed as soon as she misbehaves? Or have you tried that already? It might just be that she thinks she’s being rewarded for biting?

“Young dogs getting over excited and engaging in dangerous behaviour, need to be stopped in their tracks. The minute you have her attention because she's shocked at the cross voice (I use a deep "WHAT are you doing?" with no smile) you can VERY quickly praise and switch to positive distraction techniques.”

That relies on you having a voice that’ll go deep, I do not - shrill fishwife over here, lol... and a dog that will be shocked and not just go, yay... noises, she’s joining in the excitement!!!

Op - as well as working on her staying calm with stuff going on, I’d be working on her play style as well... well in fact I am working on it with my rescue, he’s about 9 months and very easily overaroused and mouthy.

I’ll initiate play with a toy, get him a bit excited playing tug (cause he loves it) then stop dead, put it behind my back and get him to sit... then reward the sit with more play, gradually I make the sit longer or add in a wait and get him to drop so I can make him sit...what you’re trying to eventually get is a dog that asks to play by bringing a toy and sitting, but also you’re teaching that even in an exciting game, if you stop, they stop.

You’ll get a fair bit of jumping and mouthing for the toy to start with, which is why it goes behind my back, but when they start to get the hang of it you can just stop with it and do it.... and if you want add in an actual stop command and signal. The game is the reward when you’re doing it, so no need for treats.

Flirt poles are quite good for that sort of game.