[Laura24]

Hi all, I posted recently regarding my 6 month old Doberman puppy being very bitey.
We took peoples advice and have been sticking to putting her in her area when she bites first time and it is sinking in really well with her, she doesn't bite that much anymore but we are still sticking with it.

But today, I had an awful day with her. I took her on 2 walks, the first one was fine and we were out for about an hour, the second walk... As soon as we got into the park she flipped out.

She seems to do this when we get onto grass, weirdly, she has done it before where she bites our shoes and tries to bite her lead, she starts jumping at us and biting us, we usually stand still and she stops. But today was unbelievable and prompted me to write this post as we wait for a response from a trainer.

Shewas trying her best to bite me, and not softly, she actually wanted to hurt me, to the point where she shook her head with my hand in her mouth.

She was jumping up at my arms and back and front relentlessly, mouth open biting me hard. I tried to restrain her with her lead by holding it close to her collar but she would wrap her legs round my leg and chomp down on me.

I tried sitting her down between my legs, stroking her and talking calmly to her, she relaxes but as soon as I let her go she started again.

I was completely stuck and couldn't walk home because everytime I thought she had stopped, I started walking and she would go for me again.

It starts with her running in circles as fast as she can all around me, her bum close to the floor (my parents dog used to do this too as a puppy but no biting)
Then if she gets close t you that's when the biting starts.
I tried my best to trn my back or walk away but she didn't care she just carried on biting, and hard.

We've been in touch with a behaviourist and we're trying to arrange them coming on a walk with us to see this, because it could be something we are doing wrong.
We don't want her off her lead yet until her recall is better and also in case of her going into heat.

I'm really scared this is aggression though i have been reading Lot of people have very similar problems, and they would not say it was necessarily aggression but aggression display, or a battle for dominance, I find her hard enough to handle now never mind when she's a 35kg dog.

Like I said I tried to ignore her, she carried on biting, even my backside, my arms, she just did not care.

We need some serious help and advice. I don't want it to get much worse.
Any advice would be great.

 

[wvasko]

It's not aggression, your pup is just being a wild woolly pup. Let us know what the behaviorist says.

 

[Greater Swiss]

I largely agree with wvasko. It does remind me of my walk with Caeda yesterday. She has been fantastic for not biting or jumping at us for a LONG time now, and when teeth do touch skin her inhibition is fantastic. Yesterday on the way home we got to a particular spot, a seismic line and a pipeline crossing, open area, grass, shrubs etc, surrounded by trees. She suddenly went WHACKO! Running full tilt to the end of the line, zooming back and forth, no recall, no sit, nothing. Finally reeled her in, held her really close to the collar and held her until she calmed a little. Told her to sit, then down (both of which she did in a very "huffy" way). The rest of the walk had been fantastic...I talked to my DH, and apparently she does that to him at a particular spot, and it often continued the rest of the way home (maybe 5 mins). We are going to take our next walk and try avoiding that spot, to see if it might be something at that location (smell...or something) that is setting her right off.
So....that's my story, which is my round about way of saying: Consider what else might be going on at that location where your dog is doing this. What is overstimulating to her that could be contributing to this issue, it sounds like she's frustrated (or fearful, or aggressive, or hyper) and is taking it out on you. It does sound like wild wooly puppy to me, but there could be an underlying reason for her to be acting that way if she is usually better than that. Heck, Caeda is wonderful at home, fantastically behaved, decent on leash usually....every time I take her to social she's over her threshold and goes hyper and you'd never be able to tell she is so good at home, its the environment setting her off (at least at social I know what it is!)

 

[Amaryllis]

Kabota is 3 years old, but there are definitely places that overstimulate him- he starts pulling on the leash, won't respond to any command, won't even recognize his name. Anywhere else, we're loose leash and sitting on command.

I don't think your puppy is violent, I think that place overstimulates her the point of crazy. Let us know what the behaviorist says.

 

[hargyle]

Loki does this EVERY morning ... I take the same route in the morning before work and we get to one spot and he starts jumping, barking, pulling anything ... just goes wild! and I have no idea why ...its on the sidewalk between a grassy hill and a lamp pole ... I would have to agree not aggressive. I just ignore him, turn around, head home and then hes fine No clue what it is ... but I would ALSO like to know what the behaviorist says about it! Good luck!