[barrett]

Hi
I have a 5 month old Lhasa Apso puppy and having a small problem. I have been taking him to obedience training and things have been going well up until this point.

The instructor wants us to teach the puppy head control and by this she means that we sit in front of our dogs and have them sit and then we grab there mouth and clamp it shut (not hard and definitely not to hurt them) and then we are to stroke there face while holding on to their muzzle so that they calm down.

Well my puppy kept jumping away from me in class and I couldn’t do it and the teacher said that i may have a problem with this puppy if I don’t have control over him and I should practice this at home alot.

So I did it a couple of times at home and he did not like it at all, when I would release him after he had calmed down, he would come up and bite me and then for the rest of the evening I couldn’t even touch his face with out him trying to bite me or run away.

I guess I’m just wondering how to get my dog to do this and what I’m doing wrong.

[Labsnothers]

I would say attending that class. While I am a strong believer in leadership and pack rank, that sounds too negative to me.

[Marsh Muppet]

I always do this with a pup. It may teach the pup some valuable lesson about who's in charge (I dunno) but I do it because it's important to be able to hold/handle a dog by any part of his body. Like with nail trimming or ear cleaning, you just have to approach it as gradually as necessary for the pup to understand nothing bad is going to happen.

Some pups think you are initiating a game while others get tough about it. The more extreme the reaction to handling, the more important it is that you get him to surrender to it.

[Cracker]

There are much better techniques for calming a dog, Does you trainer not have another card or two up her sleeve as to how to adapt to a dog that is FEARFUL of this sort of handling?
Good trainers have multiple ways of teaching specific behaviours.
Either way, if I had a trainer that insisted I handle a pup a certain way or my dog would not "respect" me, I would be running in the other direction.

So, STOP handling his muzzle this way. Your groomer and vet will thank you for it. Remember also that this is a short muzzled breed and by handling him this way you are perilously close to his eyeballs...this in itself could be freaking him out. He needs to be conditioned to being handled in a positive manner. Using a good food item (an inch long of something, chicken maybe?) let him nibble on it while you stroke the face, look at his eyes, touch his ears etc. When you stop, the food goes away. Repeat. Eventually he will accept handling here without the food because he has associated it with something pleasant.

For a calming or settle: sit on the floor and put the pup in your lab, facing away from you. One hand on his belly, one under his chin (so he cannot mouth you). Hold him firmly but gently for several seconds, if he is calm, coo at him and massage his belly. If he struggles, continue to hold him firmly, not talking and not massaging until he settles, even if it's just for second. Say good boy and let him go. Doing this several times a day for short periods will help him learn his "off switch". When you get to the point where you pick him up and he settles right away, add a cue to it "settle" or whatever you like.

This is a much less frightening way to teach a dog to be handled.

I just thought of another point...for many dogs being right in front of them and reaching for their face or head and then staring at them is a lot of social pressure and is VERY intimidating. This is part of why the settle I described above is less stressful as the pup is facing AWAY from you.

[Labsnothers]

I meant to say QUIT attending the class.

The techniques Cracker suggest are very close to what is in the Puppy Manual we have from a dog guide school. Also similar to what our daughter was taught in 4-H in 1992.