Biting when removed from exciting situations

[Uncertain111]

My 4.5month mini poodle seemed to have toned down mouthiness but this last couple days has really pressed down hard when biting my hand when removing her from

• under the sofa where she was biting a hole in the sofa (after saying no twice or 3 times)
• picking up when she managed to get hold of daughter’s blazer and thought it would be her new bite toy
• picking up for going to bed (in open crate in closed play pen) last night - she’s crate trained and loves her crate

she is walked in exciting woods at least once a day off lead, is friendly with people and dogs, well socialised and fed and we do brain games (sniffy games) and tug daily. She is left once a day at one or two intervals never more than 3h in one day.

Just concerned this biting hard on me in protest is a bad sign for the future. Never broken skin or bruised but still a bit out of order!

Advice/perspectives sought please

Thank you

Positive interrupter
Run away from the dog with high pitched excited noise (most will follow)
good old fashioned recall
run off and ask for a hand touch

If you train your positive interrupter and response to recall as classical conditioned response you will not have an issue with most situations. Just as easy peasy describes.

However it does take time so in the meantime puppy proof an area as much as possible or restrict to safe area.

So prevent the jumping up to washing. This could be done by using a puppy pen or fence in the washing or just have the door shut. This phase will pass.

Re digging encourage an area where it is ok to dig and let them dig.

So, for now, if she won't reliably come away from things, don't let her loose in the garden to get to those things to begin with - manage the environment so she's set up for success - keep her on a lead, or put a fence up around the parts of the garden where she could get herself into trouble.

And in the meantime, work on the best way to get your dog to come away. It might not be a treat, it might be a high pitched, excited squeal. It might be a ball, or a tug toy, or a squeaky ball etc. Practise inside with no distractions, then in the garden, then outside on a lead, then on a long-line, then a secure field, then eventually you should be able to let her loose and recall her back to you.

Yes, sometimes all your best efforts will fail and you'll have no choice but to tug the lead or pick her up, but the point people are trying to make is that it should not be the first thing you try - it should be an absolute last resort when she'd otherwise be in danger.

Thank you so much. Totally get it now. We have a positive interrupter but it’s not been as reliable recently. So I guess it’s necessary to use lead in garden as described. Until better trained. Thank you, will persevere

For a dead bird, that’s usually very difficult to distract from if they’ve already got to it. You need to teach them drop, which may not be foolproof to start with but will get better. Every time you exchange for a treat say drop, and have practice sessions of dropping things that don’t matter. Then practise with things the dog usually doesn’t get but loves to steal (have great treats for this). You can also train them to be grabbed without biting - we did it at puppy class - you throw treats away and restrain the pup by holding them back, saying stay/wait, treat for good responses. Move up to having them unrestrained but catching them as they start to move towards treat. Also, always grab a dog by back of collar or harness in an emergency, don’t pick them up - picking up allows them more room to bite you. It’s hard for a dog to twist to bite your hand if it’s on the back of its neck.