# Mouthing/biting behavior in Aussie, and refusal to go outside



## TripMom (Aug 8, 2008)

We adopted a male 10 month old Australian Shepherd about 5-6 weeks ago. We don't know much about Magic other than we are his 3rd home, and by adopting him we prevented his going to the animal shelter. He is now neutered.

We are having some problems and need input. I have spent time reading about Aussie's and understand their high energy and the need to find them a job. We are working on the job part, and are making sure that Magic gets a lot of exercise. However, I think we are having to undo damage that has already been done by previous owners.

Our first issue is that Magic wants to mouth/chew on our hands and feet. His bite is very strong and painful, and currently my children are fearful due to this behavior. We tried for several weeks loudly saying "ouch", and discontinuing play, but this had minimal impact. We have tried a stern "no", but no success. Any suggestions? Once he starts it is difficult to get hims\ stopped. I have done some clicker work with him, but not on this behavior. He has plenty of chew toys--kongs, nylabones, bully sticks, etc.

Another issue is that Magic doesn't want to go outside alone. If he goes out alone he is jumping at the door handle (he will open the door if it isn't locked) within 1-2 minutes. He has fun outside if we are with him, but aggressively tries to get back in outside when alone. If we get him away from the door he has hit at the windows. This is problematic. I have done some clicker work with him by rewarding when he doesn't jump at the door.

When we have company Magic barks non-stop while crated. Putting him outside isn't an option since he will be aggressively trying to get in. Currently it is pretty miserable when we have company due to Magic's behavior. 

We have more issues than these, but if I can get some help it will help immensely. We have worked on basic obedience and he has caught on quickly. We are starting a clicker class in a couple of weeks. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. We believe Magic will make a great dog at some point, but we need help with this hard headed dog.

Thanks,

Lisa


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## Pepper (Jan 27, 2008)

Try a spray bottle when he nips, or immediatly leave the room, or stand up and turn your back on him.

Have you crate trained him?

And a lot of dogs do not enjoy being outside alone, they want to be with you, especially since this is his 3rd home.

Why crate him when company is over, he should be allowed to socialize.


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## klip (Jul 22, 2008)

Its tough to deal with a mouthy puppy, especially if you have kids. Pepper's suggestion for using spray is good, but it can be difficult to always have a spray bottle at the ready!

Puppies have a very strong urge to bite - its not necessarily an aggressive thing, its the way they would interact with their own litter mates. It gives them intense pleasure to mouth you so its a big thing to get over.

It sounds as though you are on the right track though.

My Anna was the same when she was a pup, and "ouch" and ignoring did not help much. Its still very important to do that though, but there are other things you can do as well.

You may want to try this - 

Be careful of the kinds of games you and the kids play with him. No rough-housing and wrestling or anything that will encourage biting. But you want to give him a way to learn not to bite, and also an outlet for all that mouthing energy. I found that playing tug helped, because it give the dog the same pleasure so it fulfills the need to chew, but in an acceptable context. Dont let it get too rough though. Also, use the game to teach the dog to "let go". 

Here is an excellent article on how to use tug games to train your dog and help with bite inhibition.  The summary is:



> 1) Dog Must "Out" On Command: out-on-command is motivated initially with food rewards and later maintained with re-initiation of the game when the dog outs and a time-penalty or game-misconduct for failures to out
> 2) Designated Toy and Compound Start Command: the game is only played with one specific toy and never with anything else, and there is a specific initiation command
> 3) No Uninvited Takes or Re-Takes: dog must not grab before the initiation command or else face a time-penalty or game-misconduct
> 4) Frequent "Obedience Breaks" in the Action: these are "outs" followed by a bit of obedience (sit-down-tricks) followed by re-initiation as reward
> 5) Jaw Prudence: dog must never knick you or he faces a game-misconduct. Even if you deliberately"feed” a dog your hand, he must go out of his way to avoid it.




I gave her the tug toy, tugged a bit, and then held a treat next to her mouth and said "let go". Once she has let go, give her the tug toy again and play some more. Pretty soon she learnt that its fun to let go, because the game goes on. 

Also it gave her an acceptable way to interact with me using her mouth. Of course, following the usual rules of play which are - you always initiate play, dont let the dog start the game and - the minute teeth touch skin, the game stops. Even if it was an accident. Also dont let the game get too rough. 

Another thing that helped:

I also knelt down next to her, and gently put a knee under her chest and my arms around her in such a way that she cannot move away from me, but its not easy for her to reach me with her mouth. I keep completely silent while hugging her gently but firmly. I dont react to her struggles in any way, not even to praise or stroke. If she managed to bit me, sometimes I would do a firm verbal "NO", but not react in any other way. And only once she has calmed down and allowed me to hold her for a short while - then I let her go, and give a treat. I did this a lot, all the time. This worked very well for me.


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## TripMom (Aug 8, 2008)

Thanks for the reply. We have tried a spray bottle, but it doesn't seem to phase him. Magic loves water so he is happy to have some on him.

Magic is crate trained. He sleeps in his crate at night and he is crated when he can't be supervised. He is crated no more than 3 hours during the day and overnight.

Generally when we have company it is young children or my parents who are elderly. Initially he ignored visitors, but now he is more territorial and will bark. At this point I don't trust him enough to let him play freely in the house when we have company. He would knock over my parents, and his size is threatening to young children. We are working on this.



Pepper said:


> Try a spray bottle when he nips, or immediatly leave the room, or stand up and turn your back on him.
> 
> Have you crate trained him?
> 
> ...


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## Kathyy (Jun 15, 2008)

Agree, tug is a good idea. ONLY adults play though. To train the release hold the collar so the dog cannot continue tugging. Hold the toy still, pushing it slighty into the mouth rather than trying to pull it out. Patience here, don't push it in so the dog gags, you are just not allowing any more tugging. It is a hard thing for a pushy dog to learn but he is giving it up to get it again so a few repetitions and he will be spitting it out to get it again in a few play/training sessions.

Lots of chew toys. Lots of treat puzzles to use up some of that pent up energy on things rather than humans. Stuffed kongs. Milk jugs and water bottles with some kibble inside are fun as well. These are a quieter version of the cube food dispensing toys. If he is that physical you need to watch him with any chew of any kind. My dogs like chewies that are eaten like bully sticks, ears and tracheas. Dried bones are a bad idea, I have had bad experiences with man made chews like Greenies. My dogs haven't ever had antlers, those are a newer type of chew. 

I love the way Victoria Stilwell reacts if a dog mouths her. She is SO disapproving. No whiny ow, that hurts. Rather, THAT is NOT acceptable, I CANNOT believe you are DOING THAT. This isn't a friend playfully cheating at a game of fish tone of voice. This is a child running across the street voice. In fact you probably wouldn't use that tone with another person. Very severe and cold and still. 

You can tether him when you have company. To a large enough human who will be responsible for giving him cookies when he behaves or to a heavy piece of furniture where he can lay down on a bed and get cookies for being quiet. 

My dogs aren't ouside without me except after baths while I go clean up. I had noisy neighbor dogs and I don't want to bother my neighbors that way ever. So rude. If I were to train outside I would work short periods of time. Give him a good puzzle to work out and leave him outside happy. Go back to him in less time than it takes for him to realize you are gone and tell him he is a good puppy, pick up the toy and take him inside. Repeat several times a day and lengthen the time outside as he allows. This is training outside the same way you train the crate! Hard as it is, scratching whiny barky dogs do not come inside. Wait until he stops and sits to let him inside.

Work on doggy zen and NILIF, stickies at the top of this sub forum. Read the rest of them, there are great nuggets that apply to your little rascal in every one I am sure. Once he understands zen have everybody in the family do this. Putting the cookie under a sturdy shoe may be easier for kids worried about losing skin on hands.

The gold standard for puppy training is Ian Dunbar's system. I imagine this will be more work with your older adolescent but great stuff anyway.
http://www.siriuspup.com/behavior_problems.html#

Good luck, this is going to be a lot of intense work for a while. A good dog is worth it!


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## klip (Jul 22, 2008)

Kathyy said:


> I love the way Victoria Stilwell reacts if a dog mouths her. She is SO disapproving. No whiny ow, that hurts. Rather, THAT is NOT acceptable, I CANNOT believe you are DOING THAT. This isn't a friend playfully cheating at a game of fish tone of voice. This is a child running across the street voice. In fact you probably wouldn't use that tone with another person. Very severe and cold and still.


Thats brilliant. I always have a problem with that "whine as though you are a puppy" thing. I understand where it comes from, but jeez! It did not work for me


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## melgrj7 (Sep 21, 2007)

Aussies can be nippy and it can be hard to get them to stop. I would keep the dog dragging a leash around so you can have control of him. When he goes to nip, tell him to sit instead, if he does, reward him. If he nips you, tell him no and grab the leash to prevent him from nipping you again. Tell him to sit and reward the sit. Avoid running and rough housing around him until you have a very solid sit or down. Aussies are a herding breed, if things move fast and chaotic they have a very strong urge to make it stop being fast and chaotic, they often find nipping works so they use it. They also tend to be "velcro" dogs, meaning they like to be with their people all the time. He will probably never be happy outside without you. You can teach him to be polite at the door though. Never let him in for jumping at the door. When he sits or lays down nicely, then let him in. 

Guests
When people come over, teach him a default behavior, like laying in a bed or certain spot in the same room. You will need a helper for this. Have your dog on a leash, have his favorite treat. It needs to be really good, try hot dog or boiled chicken. Have your helper open the door slightly (just cracking it barely open, or maybe even just turning the knob depending on the dog, don't open the door more than a crack at this point), as the door is opening stick the treat in the dogs face and lure him to the spot (have him on leash). Put him in a down, praise and treat. Do this many, many times with the door only opening a tiny bit. The next step would be to open the door a little bit more, again put the treat in his nose and bring him over to the spot and down him. Continue on with opening the door a little more each time, do this slowly over several days and keep sessions short, a few minutes and do them several times through out the day. 

Once you are at the point where the door can open all the way and the dog will go to his spot reliably you can go on to the person stepping inside the door. At this point the helper should be someone who does not live in the house. Do the same thing, keep it short. If he barks have the person stand still, when he stops barking they can walk back out the door. If he barks while they are walking out they should go back to where they were standing inside and wait until he stops before walking out again. Continue doing this with more steps into the house, one step through the door, then move onto 2 or 3 steps into the door and so on. When the dog will go to his spot when the person is coming in the door move onto the person sitting down on a couch or chair very breifly and do the same (lure the dog to his spot as they come in and then keep him there in a down, giving lots of treats for staying down and quiet). The helper should always ignore the dog, not look at him or talk to him at all. This step progresses by having the helper sit longer. You should be giving the dog treats and attention for ignoring the helper and laying in his spot. If you go slow enough he shouldn't bark, but if he does bark at this point in any time, withdraw your attention. The second he stops making noise mark and reward it. When you start getting to longer spans of time (like 5-10 minutes) of the helper sitting in the room, you can give him something special like a bully stick that he only gets when someone is over and he is being good in his spot, rather than standing there and handing him treats. If he gets up from his spot, take him back to it and remind him to lay down and stay there. If he gets up more than once, back up a few steps (less time) for a little while before increasing the time again. To generalize the behavior do this with as many different people as you can get to help you at many times of the day.

Never reward for barking, even if he is in his spot. He must be laying in his spot not making noise. If he barks, you withdraw attention completely. The second he stops, even if its just to catch a breath, mark and reward it. 

Once done with this, when the door opens, your dog will run to his spot and lay down quietly until released to get up. When he does this you can do more if you want. This would be having the helper get up from the couch/chair walking past your dog, but not looking at him or saying anything to him and simply dropping a treat to him as they walk by (again only if he is being quiet and laying in his spot). Once the helper can walk by him without any issues, ideally with the dog looking forward to it, you can move on to allowing him to greet the helper if you want.

Give greeting a command, like "magic say hi". Once he is very reliable about being quiet and staying in his spot even if your helpers are walking around you can start this. Have your helper sitting or standing quietly, not looking at or talking to the dog. Your dog should be on a leash, you should have a treat and so should the helper. Walk your dog over to your helper in a curve (don't walk straight at them), luring your dog with a treat to stay walking slowly and calmly. If he starts getting overly excited/running/getting rough or noisy, immediately turn around and walk back to his spot and start over. When you can walk up quietly and nicely to the person with him, tell him to sit. Then have your helper (who is still not looking at or speaking to the dog) hold out their hand for your dog to sniff. When your dog sniffs their hand, mark it and reward it. Then, as long as your dog is sitting politely and quietly your helper can randomly drop treats for the dog. After your dog starts doing all of this really good (walking calmly to them, then sitting quietly, sniffing a hand if it is held out). You can start to say your command ("say hi" or whatever) as you begin the routine. To progress more in this you can have your helper start to look at the dog, then speak to the dog, then pet the dog under the chin and on the chest. Remember to only reward what you want, which is the dog walking calmly up to the person and sitting, with no barking. Once he has greeted you can let him walk around or do what ever, as long as it is not barking or being hyper. If he does that you can have him go back to the spot.

Depending on your dog this may all take a week or it may take months to get to the last part. Aussies are very smart dogs though (usually) so it probably won't take to long if you can work on it daily in short sessions. 

Basically what you would be teaching your dog is:
door opens=me laying in my spot, quietly
person coming in=me laying in my spot, quietly
person walking around=me laying in my spot, quietly
mom telling me to say hi=i can go greet the guest and walk around now calmly and quietly
people coming over=awesome, I get a special treat

This allows your dog to be out and able to watch what is going on, and your guests not having to be bothered by him if they don't like dogs.


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## TripMom (Aug 8, 2008)

Thank you for all of your suggestions. My children had a friend over to visit today. The entire visit was miserable. We tried leaving Magic on his leash, but he was acting very aggressive. We tried crating him and we barked non-stop. I am just in a quandry over how my kids can have friends over without the threat of a big dog. 

Lisa

[/QUOTE]You can tether him when you have company. To a large enough human who will be responsible for giving him cookies when he behaves or to a heavy piece of furniture where he can lay down on a bed and get cookies for being quiet. 



Good luck, this is going to be a lot of intense work for a while. A good dog is worth it![/QUOTE]

I appreciate all of your advice. It is great getting input from an Aussie owner. It seems this is a longer term problem so I am going to utilize the suggestions you have given.

Today my children had a friend over. Magic was acting aggressively which I don't know if it was fear or protectiveness. Over the two hour period he never settled down. Since I have younger children (6 yrs), Magic can be very intimidating. I am going to work on a spot for Magic and go from there.

We tried the bully stick during company while my parents were here. It didn't work. Magic was on his bed, and was unhappy anytime anyone got up. He is extremely possessive with bully sticks and kongs.

Thanks again,

Lisa



melgrj7 said:


> Aussies can be nippy and it can be hard to get them to stop. I would keep the dog dragging a leash around so you can have control of him. When he goes to nip, tell him to sit instead, if he does, reward him. If he nips you, tell him no and grab the leash to prevent him from nipping you again. Tell him to sit and reward the sit. Avoid running and rough housing around him until you have a very solid sit or down. Aussies are a herding breed, if things move fast and chaotic they have a very strong urge to make it stop being fast and chaotic, they often find nipping works so they use it. They also tend to be "velcro" dogs, meaning they like to be with their people all the time. He will probably never be happy outside without you. You can teach him to be polite at the door though. Never let him in for jumping at the door. When he sits or lays down nicely, then let him in.
> 
> Guests
> When people come over, teach him a default behavior, like laying in a bed or certain spot in the same room. You will need a helper for this. Have your dog on a leash, have his favorite treat. It needs to be really good, try hot dog or boiled chicken. Have your helper open the door slightly (just cracking it barely open, or maybe even just turning the knob depending on the dog, don't open the door more than a crack at this point), as the door is opening stick the treat in the dogs face and lure him to the spot (have him on leash). Put him in a down, praise and treat. Do this many, many times with the door only opening a tiny bit. The next step would be to open the door a little bit more, again put the treat in his nose and bring him over to the spot and down him. Continue on with opening the door a little more each time, do this slowly over several days and keep sessions short, a few minutes and do them several times through out the day.
> ...


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## klip (Jul 22, 2008)

You said you are starting on clicker classes soon? This sounds like a situation where you need external help, so whether you can get that from your clicker classes or from getting another trainer to come and look at your situation - having an experienced person give you insight for your particular situation will be invaluable.


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## Lorina (Jul 1, 2006)

Another suggestion could be to contact an Aussie Rescue, such as ARPH. *Not* to give him up, but I know RPH also works with owners who are having issues to help them keep their aussies.


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## TripMom (Aug 8, 2008)

Thanks for the input. I spoke with a behaviorist today, and have an appointment in two weeks. We are going to do a consult and then have some private sessions. In the mean time, I read the NILF article, and have started to work.

Thanks again,

Lisa



klip said:


> You said you are starting on clicker classes soon? This sounds like a situation where you need external help, so whether you can get that from your clicker classes or from getting another trainer to come and look at your situation - having an experienced person give you insight for your particular situation will be invaluable.


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