Biting and Nipping Other Dogs
dominant dog and gets along well with Ellie, our submissive 10 month old Goldendoodle. Beckett will try to take a foot if you give him an inch- he constantly has to be reminded that he is not in charge. To do so I have him sit and stay on walks and make him obey my commands. We definitely have our work cut out for us- we start formal obedience training in a few weeks. Since adopting Beckett, we take him to the dog park five days a week. He barks a lot at other dogs and usually picks one to try and herd or just chases after the other dogs- but never wrestles or "plays" with the dogs other than Ellie. He has been barking so much lately at the dog park that I put a citronella collar on him. His barking can scare the other dogs, but mostly it is the owners that get worried. Just last week he started nipping the behinds of other dogs at the dog park and playing really rough. At first I thought it was just an accident, but he nipped three different dogs on two subsequent trips to the dogpark. Since recognizing this new behavior as not a fluke, I have not taken him back to the dog park since I am afraid that he could hurt the other dogs. His barking has gotten more aggressive, too. The foster mother said that Beckett never nipped anyone or any dog during the five months she had him. The starting of the nipping coincided with cooler weather, which someone suggested could have something to do with it. I would appreciate your advice on how to stop this behavior. I want to be able to take him to the dog park again, but I have to figure out how to stop the nipping. Thanks. Erin in Annapolis |
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| The barking/nipping etc at the other dogs is what I think of as displaced/frustrated herding instinct. That doesn't mean he'd know what to do if he saw sheep (hopefully, yes). It just means that he's hardwired to want to chase/control other critters, which is part of herding instinct.
I have one like that, but she works quietly and uses a lot of play enticing moves to lure her victims, eh, I mean other dogs into running so she can chase them (she's almost ten years old and she still does this). I can live with it since she doesn't bark. And she's not a nipper, she's a body-slammer. Other dogs may not be so thrilled and unfortunately one of her greatest thrills is pounding border collies (fast, exciting) into the ground. Because she's bigger than them, I have to be careful she doesn't bodyslam them hard enough to hurt. Less of a problem now that she's slowing down some. I have another one who is just very much into "crowd control". She doesn't care what dogs outside her "pack" do, and she doesn't body slam or nip, but when anyone else in her "pack" deigns to play, she must circle them and bark non-stop. She's enjoying herself while she's doing this, mind you. Grinning away. The other dogs don't care, but I do! Just a couple of other charming herding breed behavioral variants on the same theme. I think you're right in skipping the park for now. Too many opportunites to reinforce the rude behavior. But he's obviously begging for an outlet for that energy/drive. Since he can play nicely (I gather) with Ellie, can you leave his play opportunites to her, burn off some excess energy that way, and use your obedience training sessions to teach him not only manners, but also that he can be civil around other dogs? That in itself is not a cure and I know you'll probably want to be able to take him to the park eventually. You can't change basic hardwiring, but you can seek to control it. That's where the obedience training comes in. Once you have a good recall and a good "leave it", you can start going back at odd hours without too many dogs to tempt him to practice his recall and so on. And I mean it has to be an extraordinarly good recall. You'd be asking him to give up something he loves for...what? Better think that one through. You need to become more reinforcing to him than what he already loves doing. Hm...It's not easy, but it can be done. Just one way of approaching the issue. I'm sure there are others. Kristine |
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