Hi there,
My wife and I recently (3 weeks ago) adopted an approximately 2 year old bully mix from a rescue organization based in Houston. For the most part, our experience has been wonderful and our dog, Porkchop, is well behaved and has a good training base upon which we can build. Before I go any further I should let you all know that he is deaf (completely). He knows sit, down, stay, go to your crate, and go potty all in signs. We have begun training with a vibration (only) collar to be able to get his attention quickly and he has taken to it quite fast.
The one aspect of his behavior that we are not satisfied with is his play style. I gather that the foster family engaged in rough house play with him and was not entirely successful in teaching him to have a soft mouth. In our house it manifests itself everytime he is excited and wants to play by him either 1. rolling on his back and nipping at your hands (important to note, we are NOT initiating the rolling, he does this on his own) or 2. wanting to chase and be chased while nipping at feet or hands. It is clear that he is not being aggressive or "biting" (in the sense of attempting to do harm), however I think its safe to assume he does not understand that human skin requires much more gentle play. In the interest of honesty, he has produced 2 small scrapes (think papercut level small) on my hands which did bleed but in both instances the scrape was because I pulled my hand out (If I go limp his bite pressure diminishes until its really just slobber). He seems to understand no and disengagement but I don't want to inadvertently train him to think that I mean no play. It is hard to get him to engage with toys, but we can satisfy his need to chew through bones. Because he is full grown (2 years and 45 pounds) and deaf, I gather that training bite inhibition is going to be more difficult than a younger hearing dog.
I want nothing more than for him to be successful in our home and so I was hoping to gather some tips for training bite inhibition. So far from reading old posts I have collected these tips,
1. substitute a chew toy immediately after initiation of mouthiness, and praise when he engages.
2. disengage completely when the mouthing becomes too rough and ignore.
3. gently close his mouth after nipping and sign no (this one I know will not work, he just thinks you want to wrestle more.)
Any other tips or experiences y'all could share? I would appreciate anything. He is not human aggressive or dog aggressive (although his vocalizations can be crazy sounding but he obviously doesn't know that, his body language is all puppy style play). He allows complete strangers to handle his paws, jowels, tail, and ears without any concern. He just does not know that his owners do not like how hard he chews while playing! As an aside, we walk him 2 times daily and he comes home exhausted, so lack of exercise is not a concern.
Thanks for your time!
My wife and I recently (3 weeks ago) adopted an approximately 2 year old bully mix from a rescue organization based in Houston. For the most part, our experience has been wonderful and our dog, Porkchop, is well behaved and has a good training base upon which we can build. Before I go any further I should let you all know that he is deaf (completely). He knows sit, down, stay, go to your crate, and go potty all in signs. We have begun training with a vibration (only) collar to be able to get his attention quickly and he has taken to it quite fast.
The one aspect of his behavior that we are not satisfied with is his play style. I gather that the foster family engaged in rough house play with him and was not entirely successful in teaching him to have a soft mouth. In our house it manifests itself everytime he is excited and wants to play by him either 1. rolling on his back and nipping at your hands (important to note, we are NOT initiating the rolling, he does this on his own) or 2. wanting to chase and be chased while nipping at feet or hands. It is clear that he is not being aggressive or "biting" (in the sense of attempting to do harm), however I think its safe to assume he does not understand that human skin requires much more gentle play. In the interest of honesty, he has produced 2 small scrapes (think papercut level small) on my hands which did bleed but in both instances the scrape was because I pulled my hand out (If I go limp his bite pressure diminishes until its really just slobber). He seems to understand no and disengagement but I don't want to inadvertently train him to think that I mean no play. It is hard to get him to engage with toys, but we can satisfy his need to chew through bones. Because he is full grown (2 years and 45 pounds) and deaf, I gather that training bite inhibition is going to be more difficult than a younger hearing dog.
I want nothing more than for him to be successful in our home and so I was hoping to gather some tips for training bite inhibition. So far from reading old posts I have collected these tips,
1. substitute a chew toy immediately after initiation of mouthiness, and praise when he engages.
2. disengage completely when the mouthing becomes too rough and ignore.
3. gently close his mouth after nipping and sign no (this one I know will not work, he just thinks you want to wrestle more.)
Any other tips or experiences y'all could share? I would appreciate anything. He is not human aggressive or dog aggressive (although his vocalizations can be crazy sounding but he obviously doesn't know that, his body language is all puppy style play). He allows complete strangers to handle his paws, jowels, tail, and ears without any concern. He just does not know that his owners do not like how hard he chews while playing! As an aside, we walk him 2 times daily and he comes home exhausted, so lack of exercise is not a concern.
Thanks for your time!
