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14 Week Old Australian Shepherd Female Nipping, Biting, Humping

I have a new Aussie pup who is displaying some challenging behaviors to me when she get overly excited. She is biting and nipping at my ankle and calves and starts to constantly hold on to my leg (like she is humping) as I try to walk her. She almost tries to corner me. It is a little disconcerting to say the least. We are concerned that we may have a serious issue on our hands.

We are familiar with the breed and the need to exercise and their idiosyncrasies as we had another Aussie who we had to put down in June of this year. Certainly she had a few behavior quirks but nothing like this! Our pup socially, is quite friendly with new people that she meets and we have been doing a good job at socializing her. She is not yet in a formal class as the vet recommended waiting until the second set of shots.

She is smart and does well with sit, stay and down and is very good with crate training… Her challenging, biting and nipping is very concerning. Any thoughts or suggestions would be appreciated. I am in the process of getting professional help with training as I feel ill equipped to handle her challenging, aggressive ways. I feel a little threatened and I feel that she may sense that vulnerability. It is hard to remain calm when your pup has her teeth sunk in your leg and is barking, nipping and cornering you!

She is not quite as challenging with my husband but does display a lot of the same behaviors. We have tried firm, verbal reprimand, mini time outs and removal of our attention. Nothing has worked. She is getting plenty of exercise.

Thanks,
Kathy

Comments for 14 Week Old Australian Shepherd Female Nipping, Biting, Humping

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14 wk old nipping & biting
by: Anne

Hi kathy,
This is "normal" aussie behavior. You need to be firmer with your correction to a particular behavior as you may not know how. That is where training comes in.
She should have had 3 sets of shots already and she gets a rabies around 16 weeks and then you are good to go to a training class.

Be firm! Be the "alpha" dog. YOu are the Boss not her. Don't be afraid to correct her and stick to it. She will challenge you repeatly and you follow through with your correction.
Treats are a great positive motivator. She does NOT get one when the desired behavior is not performed.
I hope this helps.
If you need more help e-mail me at goldringkennel@aol.com

Anne Calmes
Gold Ring Aussies
Hammond Obedience Training
http://hammonddogobedienceclasses.weebly.com
Louisiana, USA

nipping
by: Gayle Big Run Aussie

Your pups should already have most of her shots by now. My pups usually start puppy class at 9 or 10 weeks. You can start her training to heel by holding a treat in front of her face while she is on your left side. This can be done while off leash in the house. Make sure this is real food like little tiny bits of cheese or meat. Again, tricks training is the best. I use a clicker. You can find videos on You Tube on clicker training or check out shirleychong.com Kyra Sundance has a wonderful book on trick training for puppies that can easily be adapted to clicker training.

Thanks for your comments:)
by: Kathy

Thanks so much for your comments and suggestions! Anne, I thank you for the offer to email you! I am trying all of the suggestions and I do see some progress. She is the sweetest--- most of the time. I am trying to be more firm…. so we shall see. Obedience class will be next. Reading, reading reading and wow… lots of different approaches out there since my last dog! Trying the clicker training now.
Best you you and thanks again!

Nipping, biting
by: Anonymous

It's classic text book - "at 4 months an aussie will challenge you". Need to be firm - let her know who the "alpha" is. The mother's do it until the pups leave, then it is up to us to be the bad guys.

Nipping biting
by: Ann

As others stated this is pretty common. This forum saved my sanity as this was our first Aussie. Our female is very dominant and she would do the same thing to me not my husband. Whenever I had her on a leash she would nip at me, jump up behind me and has torn several shirts and pants. She gets tons of exercise but lots and lots of patience and following recommendations from this forum I can say she is past this and now loves the leash as it means walk! They are so smart I think they just need structure, training and lots of play.

14 week nipping
by: Stephanie

This is so familiar. This is our 3rd Aussie, first male. He is smart, of course, sits, shakes hands and willingly goes into a down. He walks quite nicely on the leash. It's the nipping. Yes it's better and he just started classes and he has longer periods of not nipping, but the teeth are razor blades. I give him an "OUT" correction on the leash (that he may be biting) and that works much of the time, but he manages to grab the leash and then me as I try to untangle him. I tried hitting him under the jaw, but he only thinks it's play and does it more. I think using the lead is probably the best way as he behaves better when he walks and I can grab the lead and give him a correction if he's biting. The thing is he may be doing at least 2 wrong things at once – jumping up, (OFF!), and biting. Aren't I confusing him if I correct more than one thing or does the "OUT" correction do both at once. And yes, there are the indulgent cats that I keep him from lunging at. They like dogs, but are wary. Any specific thoughts on this?

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