Over Excited Questions

Hello.. Got a dogue de Bordeaux, called neeka, she is 5 months old.
shes an amazing dog until she gets into these snappy moods, I think its when she gets excited or when shes doing something naughty and we tell her no.
She can start running up and down bombing about everywhere and then she jumps up and snaps at you, bites your hands, feet, anything she can really. She had a habit of doing it with my feet and she has calmed down a lot not, she doesn't do it as frequent, but I have two nephews who are, 4 and 2. Shes such a big dog that when she acts like this there is no control over her she just bombs everywhere and jumps up and snaps. I think shes being playful but when you tell her no she can growl and run away. some times can we quite frightening. We have literally tried everything, water sprays, yelping, turning our back and folding our arms (she then just bites anything she can get hold of) we also was putting her in the utility room for time out but its hard to do this as we were having to drag her to the room.
Please can someone help us!!
Thanks Megan! x

Okay Megan, first things first...very Important...you want to find a puppy training class ASAP. Even if it costs a bit...if you're in the US Petco and PetSmart have pretty reasonable prices. A Dogue is a very powerful dog as an adult...this is coming from a pit bull owner...you need to get a grip on this behavior right now.

Puppies all go through "mouthy" stages. But a Maltese pup being nippy is quite different than say a Mastiff. You need a training class with an experienced instructor. The good thing with the right instructor is that they give you confidence. That's something very important with the strong breeds.

As an owner you have to ultimately know in your heart "Look pup, I love you and respect you, but I am also the almighty food giver person and you will obey ME without question". no brutality but you can't be a milquetoast either. If you're afraid of your own dog you need to take action immediately. Other posters will have good advice too I'm sure.

If you puppy is biting/nipping, then try the following. This behavior can sometimes take a lot of patience and consistency in training.

They bite and growl because that is how they played with their siblings.
When they bite, tell them “OW” in a high-pitched voice and “NO” in a stern, calm voice. NEVER HIT OR YELL AT A MASTIFF. Hitting can lead to fear aggression and yelling causes the pup to shut down on you and ignore you.

When the pup stops biting, tell them to sit and re-direct to one of the chew toys, i.e. ice cubes with treats, freeze small bowls of water, freeze large hand towels (large enough they will not swallow), cardboard boxes, deer antlers, ropes or nylabones.

Teach the pup “leave it” is another option. When the pup “leaves it” meaning your body part that he is biting, then bring to a sit and reward with motivational reward.

Just an example of successful bite inhibition is with Callie. I don't know by what means his past humans accomplished it but he is completely reserved especially in relation to food. If you offer him a tidbit in your hand you all but have to open his mouth and put it in. Someone taught him you never beg, you never consider stealing food from a human, you only take food if directly offered. However with his aggression towards men I'm guessing he wasn't taught very kindly.

we have tried yelping and re directing onto toys etc but shes not interested she gets bored and then comes back again.. we have just been putting her in time out (a room on her own) for a few minutes to calm down which is tending to work, I think we will just carry on trying this. she is going to puppy classes soon as we rang up as soon as we got her but they are only on at certain times and we had just missed the first slot as she hadn't had her second infections. there is another class end of feb which we will be taking her to, No we are in the UK

As you can't take her to obedience classes until the end of the month, I'd start her on basic leash training at home, either walking round your garden or home. It'll keep her mentally occupied, help to teach her discipline and prepare her for when she goes to "school".

My two puppies were 5 months old in the worst winter we've ever had since I've been living here. Three feet of snow and only a narrow path outside to walk them along, so to keep them occupied and give them exercise, I moved furniture out of the way to make as much space as possible in the house, put them both on leads and walked them round the house. Its quite surprising how much you can do and achieve in a limited space and how much they learnt in a relatively short time.

There are many different methods it just finding the right one. With my puppies I used to sit on the floor with them several times through the day playing gently and getting their attention to my hands if they bit to hard I made a fist and used ‘gentle’ so that they learned to control the force of their bite I carried on doing this until I felt little or no pressure at all, praise was given gently and calmly, its important to teach her that gentle play is ok , but painful play stops. I also used grooming sessions to stop the mouthing, if they went for my hand or the brush again id say ‘gentle’ 'stop grooming until they stopped mouthing, calmly praise and repeat. Once they’d grasped ‘gentle’ I moved on to stop it altogether I would get titbit in my hand if they went to snatch id say ‘Leave’ once they did I would then give it to them using ‘ok’, even when adults I still use ‘gentle when giving them a titbit.

Most puppies even adults have their mad 5 mins,once you feel its time to stop her don’t speak but try putting her in the sit or down position until shes calmed down..
You can also Practise in the house sits, down, fetch, recalls in short sessions through-out the day

Vee .... I trained my puppies in much the same way. Even now if Georgina is playing too roughly with Gwylim, I only have to say "gently" to get her to stop.

if this is working than carry on , as has been said, there are many ways to redirect a pup out of a behaviour, you just have to find the one suited to you, saying no , or turning your back on them never worked for me, so I would do the same as you , either remove myself or the dog from the room, (it would all depend on the situation) , your puppy is normal, she is not showing aggression even when she growls while playing, its all part of the game, it fun for her to bite , jump , nip and growl when they are on one, just like children, when they get out of hand, you need to calm them down, be comforted to know it will pass, you might think it wont but it will as she gets older, as for the little people that come to call , it might be an idea to put her on a lead when they come, so she does not get over excited, you can them get the children to play with a tug toy or treat her, as long as she is calm.

Ask your vets if they do a puppy socializing classes, my vets holds them every week for puppies that are allowed out for the first time, the vets/nurses will help you with re-educating your puppy not to get to feisty during playtime.

Callie was rather mouthy when we first got him as an adult. Redirecting can be very effective if you can find a toy or chewy object that is a favorite. We discovered empty plastic soda bottles make him happy. So much so that if there was a steak on the floor and you threw a plastic bottle he would ignore the meat. That's when we stated stashing bottles in different parts of the house. When he gets too wound up or just for a treat he gets a bottle to crush.

Oh and I second what Jackie said about turning your back on them. With some dogs that might be a good idea. With other dogs you might end up getting your butt or back nipped.

Training is always the best way to goif you can't afford it, please look at forums here, facebook, twitter or on youtube. I have a BullMastiff, he is my baby but he needs guidance to get past this stage of barking and trying to be the boss. He is so sweet natured and knows when Mama (me) says no its NO. He's a todler testing his limits. Its winter & very cold. That makes outside play time short. He has energy and gets board. So we go wandering PetCo, just to work on obedience. He responds with good behavior brilliantly and gratefully. Good luck!!

Hi. I was wondering how things are going? I have a mastiff. He has the same crazy fits. Istarted walking him more distance and playing fetch more. This gets his positive energy going. He hasn't been in a crate or locked up. My fear is the confinement will make him wilder. I get him calm. I hold his jowls and tell him "no biting". He grumbles, like a bear cub (LOL) But he calms down, then we do training, walks, sit, come, lay down, tug of war is one of his fave things. He's learned to show me toys to get what he wants too. They are very intelligent. Sometimes I'm sure he's training me too. Thats ok, he behaves, the wild behavior is less and less. I hope you have a good amount of time to work with her.

Most of all what the trainer taught us...You can do this, you are in charge. That's it in a nutshell you have to learn that you are in charge. I have two pups that could disembowel me in two bites. Maybe one...I don't want to know...but by attitude and facial expression they will drop their heads and do what they are told to do. That's it, that is what you need to get to.

That's where I'm at with my pup. He's
learning and fast. He is agood boy. Just a bit rambunctious. He looks terrified when I yelp. He has a verysweet nature. I'm very lucky.
Thank you for the good and true advise. That and consistency are the 2 most important things.