Puppy Nipping At Fingers While Trying To Teach Walking On Lead?

[auir]

Hi All

My BC pup (6 months old) walks fine on lead ie doesnt pull etc, BUT during class they have to walk by your left side (which is fair enough he should be working not just wandering around like he does on walks), to do this they get us to hold there reward in our left hand so they see / smell it to keep them interested in walking next to you, this is also fine. Here is my question - my BC nips at my fingers or hand in effort to get the treat, if i have my hand higher he basically hops instead of walking since he is trying to get the treat.

Anyone got any suggestions to stop this, only reason i ask is his little teeth are starting to hurt a little and i can only see this getting worse as he gets older. Same with when he tries to deflea my leg or arm it is cute and all but damn its starting to hurt LOL

Cheers

[Staranais]

Are you using markers? Sounds to me like he's not 100% sure what's earning the treat. If you mark the correct behaviour (walking without nipping), and ignore or mark the wrong one (nipping) he'll probably figure out what you want much more easily.

If you use a marker you can also move the food off your body more quickly and into your pocket - which means you'll be rewarding, not bribing, the dog.

[auir]

Are you using markers? Sounds to me like he's not 100% sure what's earning the treat. If you mark the correct behaviour (walking without nipping), and ignore or mark the wrong one (nipping) he'll probably figure out what you want much more easily.

If you use a marker you can also move the food off your body more quickly and into your pocket - which means you'll be rewarding, not bribing, the dog.

hmm dumb question here, what do you mean by marker??

this is what i do generally ...

when he does what i want i give him praise and release the treat, i try to wait till the nipping stops but sometimes he doesnt stop and eventually gets the treat via slowlying nipping and licking until he has managed to release it himself

so basically show him the treat, and get his attention, start the behaviour i want then put the treat away until he done the correct behaviour for a decent period of time???

am i getting this or just muddled it all up? its tuesday and im brain dead already

thanks for you help :D

[Primedogs]

hmm dumb question here, what do you mean by marker??

a marker is a sound to praise, like a click from a clicker or the word good boy??

[auir]

hmm dumb question here, what do you mean by marker??

a marker is a sound to praise, like a click from a clicker or the word good boy??

yeah that sounds like what im doing, ie i tell him he is a good boy and then release the treat

is what i saying about showing the treat getting his attention starting the behaviour of walking, and removing the treat from site, is that an affective way?? he seems to loose interest once he cant see the treat or smell it and goes back to exploring.

[Staranais]

hmm dumb question here, what do you mean by marker??

a marker is a sound to praise, like a click from a clicker or the word good boy??

Almost.

A marker is a short, consistent, neutral sound that means the dog has done the right thing and will get a reward, or sometimes that he has done the wrong thing and will get no reward. It's different to praise or telling a dog off, as it's not supposed to be rewarding or punishing in itself. It just signals to the dog that he's done something correct (or incorrect).

You may have heard of clicker training? A clicker is a type of reward marker that means the dog just earned a reward, by doing what he was doing exactly when he heard the clicker sound. There is lots of good information about clicker training on the internet if you google.

The advantage of using markers is that you don't need to carry the reward around all the time - the marker buys you time to go get the reward. So in training you can mark your dog for a good behaviour, then run and get the reward from the sidelines, and he'll still understand exactly what is being rewarded.

Using markers also means you can stop luring the dog with food more easily. Once you have marked the heel position several times, your dog should go there even when you are holding the food in the other hand.

One of the first things I've taught my new puppy is that even when I'm holding a treat in my closed fist in front of her nose, she needs to make eye contact with me to earn it. I did this by holding a treat in my closed fist and just waiting (while she knawed and licked!) until she happened to look up into my eyes. I then marked this and gave her the treat. Wasn't long before she started offering eye contact instead of attacking my fist, when I was holding a treat. Now when we train, she's looking for ways to earn the treat by pleasing me, not by attacking my hands (well, she's not perfect yet, but she's getting better daily!)

Hope that makes sense.