Esky Attacks

[Esky the husky]

So the other night Esky, bf and I were out at the park. Esky was on a loooooooooooong leash and we were letting her enjoy herself and working on recalls at the same time.

Anyway when we had had enough and decided to go home, I thought I'd take her for one last run to the path and back to get rid of her zoomies. As i started to run, she got wound up, growled and launched at my leg teeth bared. She bit me. I didn't yelp or react. I diverted her attention to a toy. Then made her heel all the way home.

Anyway today she struck again. My boyfriend let her outside in the yard to go to the toilet. Then he noticed the gate didn't look shut. So he went up to investigate. He tells me there was hardly any warning, Esky came at him from behind bit him on the back of the leg, and proceeded to keep biting and trying to latch on.

He says he had to tie her up with the leash to restrain her because she would not let up.. (I only found out about this just now that I'm home at work)

Two attacks in two days is just not acceptable.She's drawn blood both times I've done everything right by Esky. Clicker trained her, never laid a hand on her in discipline. I need advice, what should I do now? Gah I've never had a dog show any aggression before. I feel like such a bad pawrent

[Fit for a King]

How old is the dog and what breed? what training have you done to date? Puppy school etc?

[persephone]

I strongly suggest put a post up in training.. asking for recommendations for a trainer in your area.

I think one-on one professional help is the way to go here. ASAP.

This is much better handled with someone alongside you - who can see the body language of all parties :rolleyes:

[CareyJ]

Isnt he only 12 or so weeks? Is it true agression or over excitement? We had GSP baby teeth marks in the back of our legs and nipping every time Leila got really excited until about 16 + weeks from memory. We had to control her excitment levels to reduce the yapping, nipping and blood. I have quite a few nice jumpers with small holes in them....and had to come home from the park with a big rip in the back of my trackies after a spac-attack!

[Nekhbet]

Clicker trained her, never laid a hand on her in discipline.

chuck that idea. At 12 weeks she sounds like she has no bite inhibition and she's getting away with murder now she's settled in. If she goes for you grab her by the scruff and hold her until she stops. Say nothing, just hold her there until she realises it is NOT acceptable to do what she did then walk off on her. No matter what manner of banshee screaming comes out of that dog you're not hurting her, she's throwing a toddler tantrum. Seeing you have children I'm sure you've seen the award winning performances thrown by children for mild discipline. Dogs do the same.

I didn't yelp or react. I diverted her attention to a toy.

If that was me I would have really shocked the dog out of the behavior. A big loud ARRGGHH NO, scruff and remove her from your leg. You didnt show her it was wrong, you just sort of glossed over it and even rewarded her. The next day she tried it again and obviously again didnt get punished. You dont need to beat or smack just deal a swift surprise to the dog and you're doing the right thing not making a huge deal out of it. I would though add some really loud noise just as an extra hint to the pup it REALLY crossed the uncrossable line.

[luffy4688]

Clicker trained her, never laid a hand on her in discipline.

chuck that idea. At 12 weeks she sounds like she has no bite inhibition and she's getting away with murder now she's settled in. If she goes for you grab her by the scruff and hold her until she stops. Say nothing, just hold her there until she realises it is NOT acceptable to do what she did then walk off on her. No matter what manner of banshee screaming comes out of that dog you're not hurting her, she's throwing a toddler tantrum. Seeing you have children I'm sure you've seen the award winning performances thrown by children for mild discipline. Dogs do the same.

This worked a treat for me.

[all that glitters]

Yep even at a year old Shyla knows I mean business if I grab the scruff of her neck fur (not painful at all). I think that coupled with the fact I am tense and she can tell I am genuinely angry has taught her over time that means mum is REAL mad. She will stop what she is doing and look at me and then look down and will then watch as I walk off and then go and sulk lol

[corvus]

I think that if a puppy is breaking the skin all bets are off and you are justified in doing whatever you need to do to protect yourself. Erik only broke the skin a couple of times, and no blood although we got the odd bruise. He certainly knew about it when he had bitten that hard. Kivi did it once only. I howled in pain and he never did it again.

I know someone who battled for many months with a very bitey Flat-coated Retriever that would routinely leave bruises. She ended up getting a trainer in to help. She found that quiet voices and commands worked best, as her dog got very excited by loud, sharp noises. She also taught the dog the names of her toys as a redirection technique. When the dog got fresh she'd tell her to find one of her toys and reward with some rough play with it. Another thing that seemed to help was rewarding the dog for trying methods to get attention that did not involve biting. We went this way with Erik and his barking and it worked like a charm. One day he tried gazing up at me for attention instead of just barking at me and I rewarded the hell out of it. Didn't take him long to start doing that instead of barking.

Erik was a dreadful biter as a puppy. I found boring, slow walking combined with redirecting to a toy and using rock solid sits to all be very helpful. I still train just about exclusively with a clicker and don't use punishments. If it doesn't work, often people like to change to punishments. I've found that it is generally not necessary. Often if it is not working it's because of inconsistencies or mis-judgements in what is the rewarding aspect of an undesirable behaviour. For example, I spent a long time freezing whenever Kivi tried to bite my legs when I was running when he was younger. I eventually realised that me stopping hit all the right buttons for him as a herding dog. I started carrying a toy and when I ran he would run with me and hold onto the toy. Problem solved. I just hadn't realised that I was rewarding the behaviour instead of interrupting it.

Edited February 20, 2010 by corvus

[Esky the husky]

Thanks everyone

I guess I over reacted a little

I've taken some of the advice and started to hold her mouth shut or hold her by the scruff of her neck (whatever is easiest to grab)

Here's hoping that works