I need help! Peyton has food agression I think!

[Moni]

The thing about dog training is that there are so many different methods to "fix" the same situations.  The best thing to for someone to do is learn EVERYTHING then apply what works best for you and your dog, store the rest in the back of your head though since you may need it at a later date. 

My personal training mantra, especially for puppies is "Interrupt, Redirect & Praise".  I use this to fix just about every naughty puppy behavior.  lol  If the puppy is doing something wrong, I 'interrupt' with a loud "AHT!" or "uh uh!", figure out what I'd rather the puppy be doing instead(redirect), and then praise it once it is doing the better behavior.  Though I do have to modify it somewhat when training my deaf dogs, instead of the sound interruption, I sign "stop".. then go on to redirect them in appropriate behavior.  I cut and edited the following from another similar post about Guarding Behavior.


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If a dog is growling about something, he/she is telling you that they are uncomfortable in the situation.  You need to make them more comfortable.  If they're growling and guarding that means that they're scared their "prize" is going to be stolen from them.  You end up reinforcing their fear, if you take it away by force or tease them by sticking your hands in their face or dish.

Here's the best method that I've found to work with guarding behavior.  Starting with her kibble.  Stand by her dish with a handful of the tastiest treats.  Then while she's eating, randomly drop one in every couple of seconds.  Her behavior will tell you how often you will need to do this; ie days, weeks or months.  When she starts getting happy with you being around her kibble and waiting for a treat then you can move to the next step.

Place only a couple pieces of kibble in her dish, when she eats them all and looks up, then you pick up her dish and treat her(YUMMY treats!).. make sure to do both at the same time.  Repeat as neccessary.  After she gets comfortable with this step you can add more kibble, but pick up the dish before she's done.  REMEMBER TO TREAT at the same time.  You want her to learn that she gets GOOD things when she gives up her "prizes".

Then during day to day things, you should keep kibble or treats in your pocket or in an easy to reach place.  If the puppy has something she shouldn't, call her over, offer the treat as you say "drop" or "give"(whatever you want).  Pretty soon she'll realise that she'll get something tastier or more fun in exchange. 

You can also work on this with toys & bones once she is at this point.  Call her or walk over to her for her treat, tell her "drop", give her her treat.. then give her the toy/bone back!  She learns that "drop" doesn't always mean she never gets it back. 
(This method works great for recalls too!  Call dog, treat, then release her back for playtime.  They learn that "come" doesn't always mean the end of fun.)
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As far as puppy nipping, I personally do allow my dogs to mouth my hands in order to learn bite inhibition.  I teach them from the beginning that we are big wussies and can't handle the same mouthing as another dog would.  Its quite comical, especially with my deaf dogs since they can't hear the "YELP!"(training deaf dogs makes you realise how much a dog relies and responds to just body language!  lol). 

So I'll have my hand in their mouth and as soon as I feel teeth then I jump up, yelp and ignore them for 30 seconds to a minute or so.  Totally keeping my back and head turned away in dramatic body language, they learn pretty quick that they can't play with me if they're going to be too rough.

The reason that I do this is because Mojo was taught not to mouth at all and learned horrible bite inhibition.  So when I get grabbed by accident by him, it HURTS!!!  The others are all more gentle and careful since I taught them bite inhibition as puppies.  Again, to each their own, this is just my personal experience.

Good luck and have fun in the puppy classes, they are great!  I still bring my dogs to obedience classes occasionally for the much needed distractions and socialization even though I can train them myself at home.

[patrick]

You are doing a commendable job with your puppy and I am amazed that you can get a 6 minute stay out of a 9 week old puppy! There are top obedience dogs that the owner wouldn't expect multiple 6 minute stays from!  This is asking an awful lot of a baby-they need lots of time to be silly, exuberant and yes misbehave too!  Keep up the good work but remember she is just a baby and she needs to be a puppy too. 

[peytons mama]

of course she is a puppy! after the training on the leash she gets to run like crazy and do summersaults and just be a puppy! it is so funny to watch her just goof around. she barks at the dandilions (i know i need to weed!) and then she smells them and comes running to me and hides between my legs! it is hilarious! but when we are on the leash, she knows that she needs to sit in order for us to be able to begin. the first time, we were out there for almost a half hour until she sat, truely sat...instead, she laid down and went to sleep! ugh! but i stayed out there and waited til something woke her up and she started to run, i just stayed where i was and when she sat, i praised like heck! and told her "you sit, we go." and 5 steps later pretty much the same thing...laid down, noise, ran, stopped. "sit, we go" sat, praised, "sit, we go" and a few more steps. it took us over an hour to go around the house, but with lots of praise and some play in between we made it back to the back door!
but now, when she has to go potty, she sits and waits for her leash (she stands as the leash gets put on - i can't seem to get that part right! - and she sits again and she knows we can "go" then.
it is hard. very hard to have patience sometimes. most of the time. but like babies, they feel our feelings and feed off of it, so i am learning to calm down before i do anything with her or tell her to do an action.
we are working on stay right now.

[mama23+pyrs2]

I'd say she's coming along wonderfully after hearing all of that. I won't even try to teach stay to mine, haha. I know it needs to be learned but that's gonna take some work. Mine haven't been to obedience yet either but I plan to get them into one when they are a bit older. So, I've slacked off on the training new things for awhile but I'm pleased at their behavior thus far. They know they have to be polite for things and they are. I'm always amazed they are just puppies, because they are truly the best. It helps that they never had that exuberant puppy energy like you speak of with yours though hahahahah. They're just big lazy fluffballs.

Keep up the good work!

[peytons mama]

Oh don't get me wrong, I am TRYING to teach her stay. but...for the last couple of days...it has not worked. ugh! sometimes I think that it just isn't meant to be with that word! hehe!

lighter note, I just walked into my kitchen and I guess she is hungry now (instead of in a half hour) cuz she was laying in her food bowl! (her bum was in it and her front paws were out of it and she was sleeping!)

anyway, thanks for being supportive of all my posts! i know that the books all said that if this is your first dog, then rotts AND mastiffs probably are not the best pick for you. but i am learning so much on here! BPO is great! 

[Mojo1269]

Early training is key to success with any dog but rember to keep your expectations in check as to whatPeyton will be able to do at such a young age.

[M-Borzaya]

OK- take a deep breath and a step back. She is a BABY. While it is vitally important that training starts early, it is also necessary to remember that she is learning and trying out new things like every baby would. Most, if not all, trainers will take a puppy before 12 weeks; look around for one that will. In the meantime, it is important that she associates your presence with something postive. If you sit by her when she's eating, give her a little, tiny piece of high value treat or cheese, something she doesn't normally get, so that you being next to her while eating is good for her. Just make sure NEVER give her a treat after she has growled, that simply reinforces it. Wait a minute or two and then try.
With the biting- that cannot continue. Unfortunately, even the "gentle" biting is bad- say she takes somebody's hand that she likes- it would be very traumatizing to an unaware person. It is especially important that she not bite hard- for obvious reasons- and the solution is simple. Every single time, no matter what, you stop all contact with her- put her down, walk away, and go into the other room- or put her in a safe place. Not for long, only a minute at most- because little puppies forget quickly- but she needs to learn that what she likes the most (you) goes away when she bites. It may take a week or so, but if you do that every time, she'll catch on fast. Though it is hard, avoid telling her to stop/yelling/etc. because dogs thrive on attention, even negative attention, and she'll do it again just to get your reaction. Good luck....

[peytons mama]

thanks M-Borzaya! She has been a good girl lately when eating. I hand feed some of the food and then give the rest in the bowl. She has been wolfing it down too fast to get full so she eats and eats and eats and then she just upchucks it back up. So the vet said to help with the food non-aggression agression to hand feed and to also help slow her down. She no longer growls when I do it.
 
But... she has getting harder with the biting. And it truly is JUST me that she bites. She starts to bite my boyfriend and then she changes her mind before we even say anything (giving her a chance to think about it first) but me, it almost seems like she attacks me.

AND...I think I figured it ALL out this morning... she humped me. So...that means that she thinks she is more dominant than me right? What do I do to stop that? I try to be more Alpha, but I don't think I pull it off well. When she was doing it I took her cheeks and rolled her over on her back and gently growled at her. She stopped after that. But about 10 mins later she started biting me again. When she does bite me and I can't get away quick enough or get her jaws off of me I notice she is almost sawing at my arm or my leg...that's the chewing part right???

She keeps peeing all over her rope toy so I had to throw that out...that's the only thing she will actually chew on. I tried the KONGs and the tennis "cigar" KONG and she doesn't like them. She likes socks! and a little stuffed easter bunny we got her...but the actual made to be chewed on chew toys she doesn't like. What else can we get to help her be able to chew. I know she needs to be able to...but I don't know what to get her that she will like! Those things are kinda expensive to keep buying if she isn't gonna like them.

So...three questions...Ho w do I become more Alpha? What toys do I get to help her chew when she needs to chew? and WHEN I become more alpha the biting and the humping will stop right? (as long as I continue with the no bite now!)