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Senior Member
Join Date: Mar 2000
Location: West Warrwick, RI
Posts: 7,687
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The dog at the same time every evening about 19:30 starts getting very playful jumping up and biting (nipping). I would never hit him to stop (thats the road to no where), he does get the water from from a water pistol in the face, to get him to stop or dragged outside. However this seems the wrong way to go about things hence my interest in "dog psycology".
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Jumping up and biting what? This type of behavior in general has two factors at work on is jumping up and nipping tend to be attention seeking behaviors. Now the standard answer to attention seeking behaviors is to ignore the behavior and not reward it with attention, keep in mind Negative attention i.e. punishment is attention and often actually a reward for the dog. While in theory it will work from a practical stand point it does not because most attention seeking behavior work in the first place by being obnoxious enough that they can be ingnored. And even if the human is diligent in attempting to ignore the behavior a phenonenom known as an extinction burst that occurs when a previously reinforces behavior ceases to be reinforced in which the behavior becomes more incistent and stronger, before eventual becomeing extinct, problem is the makes the behavior supper obnoxious and even more difficult to ignore and the impressing the cure is making things worse not better.
What does work is teaching an incompatible behavior that is more effective. To stop a dog from jumping up, reward the dog for keeping for feet on the ground in those situations it normal jumps etc. see; Stopping Negative Behavior Positively
You note the behavior is predictable. For many dog that are on a schedual with food, sleep and general routine they also like a schedule for other normal activities as well and this includes play/attention. You can stop the negative behavior by being proactive by offering what the dog is seeking before the dog has to ask. That is if the dog starts jumping up and nipping at 19:30 schedual to plau/walk/exercise the dog at 19:00 and the incidents of problems at 19:30 general will disappear.
Most attention seeking behavior can also be classified as a lack of impulse control as well. Most dogs today have verey low natural threshold of impulse control but it is something that can be taught, and one of the few area I find dogs better able to generalize the behavior. Impluse control is the most important trait for making a dog easy or dificult to live with.
Any Dog Can Live Calmly in a House - Even Yours!
Impulse Control
Lowering Arousal: How to Train Impulse Control
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We used to say a trained dog is a free dog, a dog that could go with us anywhere on or off lead. They knew how to “behave” in the human-controlled world. But what we should have said is: A dog with self-control is a free dog. Freedom for dogs has everything to do with impulse control and little to do with whether they can heel or shake their paw.
In my experience, a few dogs are born with low arousal levels and they have a natural sense of self-control. But I find that there seem to be less and less of these dogs. This may be because of breeding priorities that don’t include low arousal, or it may just mean that most dogs don’t live in rural environments and therefore they don’t come with very good natural programming to live in a mainly human-controlled world. I think dogs living in a busy household or environment never learn self control because they are constantly being stimulated and conditioned to be up and active, particularly ones who might be crated for long periods of time. When these dogs are then let out of the crate, owners often allow them to pace and be continually active in the home environment. Dogs like this can lose their ability to control themselves, similar to what can happen to dogs in a shelter environment. Dogs that are continually aroused can have higher cortisol levelsą
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Guidelines for Teaching Self Control Teaching your dog self control as the foundation for all other learning
I find the follow exercise particular useful with food motivated dogs
Most people veiw time out, shaker can (bottle can with pennies) Squirt bottle, say no as punishment, but that is not the case for most dogs. By definition in behaviorism Punishment must reduce the occurance of a behavior , if it does not it is not punishment. Most times the above do not reduce the occurance of a behavior, they may stop the behavior once it has occured but they do not reduce the likelihood the behavior will occur again. So as such at best the are disruptive stimuli that is something that stops the behavior. Which is not bad provided one then takes the opportunity to train a more appropriate behavior. This is a better long term solution anyway. Studies have shown that training an appropriate alternate behavior is less likely to fail long term than simply punishing a behavior. in which regression after 3 month is often 97% or higher.
Also keep in mind you are dealing with an adolescent 8 mnth puppy and like all adolescents they are constrantly testing boundries and trying to figure out how the world works and how they fit in, It can be and often is very trying time and the reason for high relinquish rates to shelters and rescues in this age group
Puppy Adolscence - or Demon Spawn
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The absolute first thing a person must do is understand what adolescence is.
(I posted part of this about a week ago. Forgive the repeat.)
Every puppy of every breed -- and every adolescent of every species that raises its young -- goes through the same thing at adolescence. Adolescence is an important, necessary transition period between childhood and adulthood. As infants, these creatures were completely helpless, completely dependent upon their mothers for everything -- food, comfort, safety. In childhood, the creatures begin practicing the skills they'll need later.
However, they do it right there with mom in sight, so mom can protect or help as necessary. They instinctively know they aren't able to take care of themselves, so they stick close.
The eventual goal is, of course, adulthood. Complete independence. Mom won't be there to make decisions -- or to alleviate them of responsibility for their mistakes. The real world will be applying consequences, and those can be harsh (even fatal). The animal will, perhaps, become a parent herself, and must have all the knowledge and skills to raise the next generation. Adolescence is the transition between the safe practice of childhood and the
independent, butt-on-the-line reality of adulthood. Adolescence is the time when "Because I said so" simply isn't good enough anymore -- Nature *demands* that they test boundaries and consequences and decide for themselves what decisions they want to make. It's not dominance or rebellion. It's growing up.
Yes, even pet dogs *have* to go through this period. "But he won't be making decisions -- I will," you protest. Actually, I doubt it. Unless you're planning to be there, directing his every move 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, you need your dog to know how to make decisions. More importantly, you want him to make the decision *you* want. And you want him to make this decision even when you're not there to back up the decision.
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The second thing to do is make sure the dog is well-exercised physically and mentally. They're going through a growth spurt, in addition to massive mental development. They need to exercise ALL of those muscles. Get that up out to a safe place where it can truly run. Play games like fetch and retrieve that really work the dog. If you've got a doggy daycare, put the
dog in daycare once a week and let him play himself silly (as well as learn to speak dog fluently!).
It's imperative to continue dog-dog socialization through adolescence. They are going through massive changes, and they need to learn to relate to their species on a different level. Lots of dog-dog aggression shows up in adolescence not because the dogs are innately aggressive, but because they are changing mentally and physically and haven't learned to communicate effectively as a teenager
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