Hi folks

I'm really upset & very concerned.
I was playing with Poppy on Saturday as normal, she's grown big so quick (shes a collie x alsation) and she loves to play. She jumped up at me from behind & grabbed my wrist & I felt her tooth sink in & rip my skin. I beld a lot. I've got an open wound & a scratch & bruise from another of her front teeth and if it were half an inch below, this would have been an arterial bleed I'm kidding you not.

She knows to not bite, I am sure this was an accident but if it was a child or anyone else she did this to, I would have to have her put down.

She's good, she plays well but although she's a pup she's a bg girl. Is there anything I can do to make her not bite? She seems to like doing it even though she knows not to. She's only 5 months old but like 2.5 stone in weight & quite tall!!! When I walk her, she stops dead in her tracks & barks & growls at anyone close by.

I love her so much but I don't want her to kill me or anyone else!

Any suggestions would be gratefully received :-)

I have no real advice to offer but i do think it it as age thing. Entering adolescence and pushing the boundaries.

My cocker is 6 months and he is a little monster at the moment. Keeps guarding and grumbling at the kids, we are trying to train through it but i understand what you say. It's about trying to work through it before they do something stupid and get themselves in trouble.

I would stop any sort of "physical" wresting tug of war that sort of thing and concentrate on training.

Is she going to training classes? A good trainer should be able to give you some sound advice based on actually seeing what the dog is like.

Hopefully someone with a behavioural qualification can come along and give you some helpful advice on here.

I had a collie/gsd cross once Wow what a live wire

Firstly, id get a doctor to have a look. You may have to go on a course of antibiotics. My dog caught my hand when we were playing one (it was a true accident, and entirely my fault), and ripped it open down to the bone.
I ended up in A&E for 9 hours, had an x-ray, was on intravenous antibiotics, and had an extended course of penicillin. I had to have my arm in an elevated sling, and even now, about 7 years later, i still have nerve damage. Not to mention a fancy scar.

I think you need to be very careful what sort of games you play with a young dog, as they can easily become over excited and forget their boundaries.

I dont really have any great advice, and im sure somemore experienced people will be along. What i will say is that its certainly something you need to dealwith now, as a youngster, rather than as a fully grown adult. You may need some professional help, especially with her behaviour towards strangers, as IMO, thats unacceptable.

What sort of training and socialisation has she had?

we play with toys & treats. When she's good she gets rewarded, when she's bad she gets ignored & told off, just a one word command of "bad" & she knows (she scuffles off in shame!). Sometimes we play & dance together where she comes up when I sing & she gives me her front paws & we dance together. My fault I guess that I waved my bum at her & sang "lets dance" & she came at me with full force of jaws open then clamp shut!!! LOL.

But it's not funny when I think anyone else could do this with her & she bites.

She doesn't have a pro trainer, just me & my OH. I think we've done a great job so far, I'm proud of her & what she can do, she can do high 5 etc but when she gets excited, she's too hard. I posted before about her excited weeing, that's almost stopped, her poops have stopped too...

She has this puppy biting (she's shed almost all her pup teeth now) & she'll lye on the sofa with us & play & bite, softly, but still bite. I tell her "Don't bite Mummy" & she stops & licks. But when too ecxited, she can't control herself & we can't control her either. We ignore her & that partially works. My OH said today (which I didn't think of before) that when I take her out & she barks & growls at people, she might be just protecting me. That's a nice thought but she also shakes when she growls & barks like she's petrified....

Sounds like she needs a lot more socialisation with people. The more shes out and about in busy situations, meeting lots of people, the less wary she will be.

What do you do when she acts like that?

Are you sure she has a bite inhibition? From what you say if she was just playing- you may need to work on it with her?
How were you playing with her out of interest? With a toy? How old is she?

Edited to say sorry just re-read your post and read she's five months.
Was it in play? I agree with those who say socialisation in busy situations would be a good idea. With my dog I would sit outside tescos or B & Q and wait for the others whilst they were in the shop and click and treat him for sitting calmly and good behaviour etc. Some people would ask to come and stroke him and I would encourage him to sit nicely and not jump up. I still do this from time to just keep up his socialisation.

http://www.deesdogs.com/documents/te...inhibition.pdf
You may find the above article helpful. If not you could contact a behaviourist for advice. I would advice APDT or APBC trainers as they only use positive training methods which is really important with nervy/fearful types

Best of luck x

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my dog does it styll she growls and barks when i take her for a walk i styll am trying to work on mine it happened that my dog was a rescue pup and she was on a walk and someone went to stroke her but grabbed her and tryed to put a bin bag over her head :O

most dogs hate muzzels so maybe next time she does this go straight for the muzzel instead of the plasters (immediately) and leave her in it until her protests have stopped which will probably be a while. I think she'll probably get the message very quickly as they are two intelligent breeds.
Ive never used one but its a thought of how to handle her?

That's a really good idea, I think I will try that with my dogs on a one to one basis as they all suffer with nervousness of people, from mild to pretty bad. Thanks for that x

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Lilly, Max, Henry and Sammy. The joys of my life!

www.rescueremedies.co.uk
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Sounds to me like your dog could do with a bit more leadership, to know her place better maybe.
If she is "protecting" you on walks that means that in effect she is the boss and feels that this is her role. Thats not a good thing and can turn dangerous.
The fact that she is fearful as well as aggressive shows that she doesnt like the role so much but feels somebody has to be the leader to some extent.
That or/and she needs more socialisation - have you considered going to puppy classes? it does a world of good with socialisation with people and dogs and you can pick up useful obedience tips!

Since it is a big dog you need to be quite firm with bite inhibition and not let her bite at all even softly. For instance if she "munches" on your hand when on the sofa you should firmly say NO and get her down the sofa and ignore her for a bit then allow her back on. With such a big dog it is important that they learn early on that teeth are not allowed on people's skin...

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