TheCheekyMonster Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 When I see Gus in the morning, when I come home, or any time of the day in general he is SUPER excited to see me... as are most dogs when they see their owners... but Gus ALWAYS aims for my face with snappy/jittery jaws and its super hard to just pat him without your feet being stepped on, and him constantly turning in circles prctically on you and him jumping up to eat your face.... even when he is calm and I am sitting on the ground its straight for my face!! any suggestions on how I can stop this behaviour, I have never enabled him to think its acceptable behaviour, as soon as he does it I will walk away, shut down ignore him, but when I do that he will grab the nearest toy and go to town on it.... I just want to enjoy a nice cuddle without teeth in my face... any suggestions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 can you buy some little toys..or even bits of folded towel.. and offer him one for a few seconds of calm NOT preceded by bouncing.? I would also immediately start on N I L I F , and totally ignore..like not even glance at him unless all four feet are on the ground. if he gets his toes stepped on , that's his problem ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCheekyMonster Posted December 5, 2012 Author Share Posted December 5, 2012 can you buy some little toys..or even bits of folded towel.. and offer him one for a few seconds of calm NOT preceded by bouncing.? I would also immediately start on N I L I F , and totally ignore..like not even glance at him unless all four feet are on the ground. if he gets his toes stepped on , that's his problem ;) I have tug toys, he loves them and when he is calm that is the only time I will play with him.... I will take a video when I get home so you see what I mean, he tried to get as close as possible to me to the point where he is stepping all over me and thats not close enough so he will jump up, but I will start on NILIF, I have been meaning too for a while now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 Naughty Gus! :laugh: Agree with perse N I L I F is a good program which might help teach him boundaries. I would be making him sit/drop and stay before he received any contact from me at all, every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sas Posted December 5, 2012 Share Posted December 5, 2012 (edited) Try your best not to reinforce this mental state by giving affection. Ignoring is usually one of the most common and successful methods (i.e. come home, don't look at the dog, don't touch it etc, for 15 minutes + - until it is completely calm). At all other times apply NILIF principals so your dog knows who the leader in the house is and therefore lessens sepration related behaviours (over excitment on return which is not actually a good thing). Edited December 5, 2012 by sas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
persephone Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 ..and 'ignore ' means just that !! NO looking (yes, you may well bump him ) NO talking ( not even "get down/off!") No touching ..even to push him away . he will be so used to you dancing around and giving him space ..this new tactic will not impress him! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kima Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I feel your pain cheekymonster, I am having similar issues with my boy. Except he goes for the hands mostly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCheekyMonster Posted December 6, 2012 Author Share Posted December 6, 2012 Thanks for the replys guys!.. hahah its just so frustrating because I want to give him a huge cuddle im just as excited to see him half the time but i know any vocal expression will get him more excited so I am so calm... I do ignore him, but once he sees he wont get attendtion he will take it out on a toy or run around the yard? do I still just keep ignoring him until he is not interested in me? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Agree with all the advice. Only other thing is - teach him to sit - when he has settled a bit - and eventually, he will greet you and sit - and then you have him in your power. I bend down to mine - it they try to nip, I can hold them. If they aren't jumping all over you you can put your face down to them to speak to them ... which is what they want anyhow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
minimax Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 When I see Gus in the morning, when I come home, or any time of the day in general he is SUPER excited to see me... as are most dogs when they see their owners... but Gus ALWAYS aims for my face with snappy/jittery jaws and its super hard to just pat him without your feet being stepped on, and him constantly turning in circles prctically on you and him jumping up to eat your face.... even when he is calm and I am sitting on the ground its straight for my face!! any suggestions on how I can stop this behaviour, I have never enabled him to think its acceptable behaviour, as soon as he does it I will walk away, shut down ignore him, but when I do that he will grab the nearest toy and go to town on it.... I just want to enjoy a nice cuddle without teeth in my face... any suggestions? I wouldn't be sitting on the ground when hes playful to start with, because of course he's going to try and play bitey face with you - bitey face is the best game in the world :laugh: My dogs play bitey face with each other and sometimes try and involve me too, becuse they love the game and think I must want to play too, but I have to remind them that it's their game, and if they want to play with me we play other ways. But if he's not in the mood for cuddles and wants to play - maybe leave the cuddles idea until he's more settled? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Thanks for the replys guys!.. hahah its just so frustrating because I want to give him a huge cuddle im just as excited to see him half the time but i know any vocal expression will get him more excited so I am so calm... I do ignore him, but once he sees he wont get attendtion he will take it out on a toy or run around the yard? do I still just keep ignoring him until he is not interested in me? Yeah I would. If he runs off just let him go and expend his energy that way, no harm in him going to town on a toy, and then when he next approaches you, make him sit/drop and only pat him when is being good and calm. Lili used to get like this when she was really excited , she would just start launching at my face and trying to squirm all over me. She was put down and told "No", and then ignroed until she was calm. She rarely does it now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 (edited) Stella was the absolute worst with the bitey face thing. Countless times I have had the skin removed from my nose/blood noses etc from her as a puppy. It was a big game to her at my expense. She would literally run at me & leap in the air straight at my face with her mouth open if I had been out for 5 mins. She was that excitable So what I did was give the "sit" command with a treat reward is she complied & I wouldn't say anything else to her but I would stroke her quite firmly with both hands. More of a calming pat if that makes sense. I did this every single time I greeted her. You MUST be consistant & firm.I never sat on the floor, you must keep upright. Sitting on their level IMO is an open invite to the bitey face game. As Stella also used to jump up, the sitting position soon fixed that problem as well. Over time this method worked a treat for us.I found that Stel at first used resist me but gradually she began to respond by sitting automatically. I had to also learn that until she got the message I wasn't to do my usual greeting, "Hi honey" blah, blah in my excited voice. Only getting her more excited. Just very little conversation until we got the message that all this snappy face thing is not on. Make sure everyone that interacts with him does the exact same. Stella seldom does bitey face now & if she does it is more of an air snap not directed at me & she rarely jumps either. She is still very excited when she greets us no matter how long we have been 'gone' & she is still very 'talkative' but those other 2 very annoying habits are pretty much a thing of the past. I am wrapped as I was sick of people asking me what happened to my face :laugh: Edited December 6, 2012 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 . She would literally run at me & leap in the air straight at my face with her mouth open if I had been out for 5 mins. She was that excitable Yes! that was Lili, I remember one time when I was sitting on the ground in the lounge she ran all the way from the other side of the house just to leap up and bite my face O-O Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 (edited) It's terrible isn't it Aussie3? I have never had a dog do that like Stella used to. She would even do it if I was out in the yard if doing something with my back to her & she spotted me she would run at me flat out & launch herself on my back to get to my face & snap, snap, snap. Little bugger :laugh: I soon learnt never to turn my back on her till I got this under control. Edited December 6, 2012 by BC Crazy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simply Grand Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 These stories are making me feel a bit better about Quinn! She too loves jumping at people's face to 'kiss' them She's not too bad with going for my face now and she doesn't jump on me just randomly but she's still all over me when I get home or when I get up. I end up with claw scratches bruises all over me but luckily not on my face too much. Actually I've just remembered I do currently have a bruise over my eyebrow from an open mouth that hit me above and below my eye So maybe I'm just used to it and don't notice so much, sigh... I will try to follow everyone's advice too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Diva Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I taught a greeting behaviour incompatible with jumping to my excitable girl. She knows now has to greet me in a sit position, shaking with excitement and joy that I am home, but determinedly holding the sit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RubyBlue Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I found with my feral that extended eyecontact seems to trigger a face leap. If I don't move quick enough I get slag all over me. I try to break the eyecontact by either looking away or allowing him to break or distracting him with a treat or toy. We're working on building up time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BC Crazy Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 Oh yes, very limited eye / verbal contact while correcting this snappy faced behaviour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiesha09 Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 I totally understand the theory of ignoring the behaviour until they are calm - and I mean totally ignoring, no eye contact, body contact, verbal contact etc. But I did that for over a year and still got jumped on and bounced on as I walked down the hall. Even if I just walked in, stood still, faced the corner they would still do it for a minute or two before calming down. For me I needed to teach an incompatible behaviour for them to do the second I walked through that door. For me it was to sit on carpet in the lounge (quivering with excitement mind you) until I went to pat them and then release them (about 5 to 10 minutes later when calm). Gradually they have become calm more quickly to get their pat and release but still go to the carpet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted December 6, 2012 Share Posted December 6, 2012 (edited) These stories are making me feel a bit better about Quinn! She too loves jumping at people's face to 'kiss' them She's not too bad with going for my face now and she doesn't jump on me just randomly but she's still all over me when I get home or when I get up. I end up with claw scratches bruises all over me but luckily not on my face too much. Actually I've just remembered I do currently have a bruise over my eyebrow from an open mouth that hit me above and below my eye So maybe I'm just used to it and don't notice so much, sigh... I will try to follow everyone's advice too! I currently have a scratch on my chin I don't even notice until days later and think "Oh when did that happen" :laugh: I don't know how this one happened. It was either Lili being too affectionate or Mosley hitting at me with his monster paws. Edited December 6, 2012 by Aussie3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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