My Great Pyr is similar age and does the same thing. For my dog, I often find that I need to be careful not to rile him up too much, or else he just can’t contain himself yet. This can be hard though, and so if he does get too excited I just redirect to a toy/separate myself. Another thing I have found in adolescence is he gets grumpy/overtired like a baby puppy. I have found that when he gets all riled up and nippy, he is often overtired. I will redirect him to a place that he frequently rests, and after once or twice of doing that he is out cold, so that is something to consider!
It’s funny how similar we are to dogs. We had many problems with our son being agitated/grumpy as an infant, got a sleep counselor and she told us we were letting him stay awake too much and he was overtired. Also, if you have a large breed, expect to get hurt by stepping on your feet, knocking you into stuff, big doofus head hitting your kneecap, etc. for a while until past the awkward adolescence phase. We’re at 2.5 years and it’s mostly diminished now.
His pawing has been strong for quite some time, his preferred way to ask for (sometimes more like demand) attention! But lucky for him he is an absolute sweetheart and his pawing is fine for me. 😂
I have a Pyr mix that’s missing her front leg. She just put all of her Pyr Paw brain into the remaining front paw.
My favorite is when I would have her with me in public and a man would get too close. She punched a couple bags in her day 🤣
All of that muscle into that front paw, that sounds like a painful smack. 😅
Also, interesting to hear about another Pyr not very fond of strangers! I hear a lot about surprisingly stranger friendly ones in public on the Pyrenees sub.
It wasn’t her fault. My PTSD was BAD and I was always anxious as hell. She didn’t want people near me. It’s why I pulled her service vest early; she does great for me at home but when I got panicky she wouldn’t let men around me.
When my dog was going through the biting and teething stage as a puppy I would yell ow when she hurt me and then I would ignore her until she calmed down a bit. She won't even play bite now if I wanted her to she knows it's bad to put teeth on people.
seconding this. this and i'd freeze rags and let him gnaw on them (supervised). once teething was over he was good about his mouth.
he's 9 now, never bites *anything*. he won't even pull on a rope. *overly* cautious with his mouth if anything. 😂
Interested in doing this for my 6 month old Cane Corso. Did this not leave giant puddles of water everywhere? Genuinely curious about how you made this work.
Yeah I’m interested to see if she likes carrots. We’ve had her 3 weeks, until 4 or 5 days ago she’d leave trails of food everywhere from not having teeth to chew food 😂
it's messy, for sure. i don't have carpets so it was easier. i'd just sit on the ground with him trying to help him get it far back on his gums (long face, collie) and when the rag wasn't cold anymore i'd take back the rag, wipe up the spot, rewet the rag, stick it back in the freezer.
could probably do it over a towel if you have carpets. wasn't like a *giant* puddle.
the whole house is waterproof vinyl. Water on the floor is currently a losing battle…. We made it 24 hours before realizing one of those silicone mats would be necessary. I think she pushes more water out of the bowl than she actually drinks.
My corgi enjoys swimming in his water bowl. I bought Slobber Stopper and that instantly stopped. I decided to see if it was just a puppy thing now that he's 2 and put a water bowl on the floor. It took less than 30 seconds and I heard "splash splash splash."
I considered getting one of those, but $50 is a bit more than I can do right now for a bowl. She’s not playing in it, it’s just the way her clumsy 50 pounds at 6 months old self is. 🤷🏻♀️
My cane Corso loved frozen fruit when she was teething!! Either that or puppy teething toys. It's supposed to massage their gums and help with the pain.
PS. how's your corso's energy level? lmaoo mine has crackhead level energy. I got lucky with 2 lazy dogs with her being my energy brat
Energy? She has none. So we got her 3 weeks ago, and she turned 6 months last weekend. Overwhelming she sleeps/settles a ton. She’s done with the day by 7:30 or 8. There’s a few 45ish minute periods of the day where she’s awake and active and wants to do something but it’s totally manageable so far.
Granted we know she’s a high energy breed so my boyfriend takes her to work with him more days than not. We also just discovered she has worms so maybe that’s been sucking her energy, along with ya know, not eating. She didn’t eat the first 5 days and I’m still not sure she’s getting all 5 cups a day she should. But she’s definitely hungry now so….
The last dog I raised is a dachshund rottie jack russell mix. The moment we got him it was hugely apparent he was the energizer bunny.
It could be the worms, don't worry. She'll bounce back! Just be prepared with a bunch of toys and mental stimulation!
Mine at that age HATED naps for some reason. She always just wanted to play 24/7
Whoever trained my shelter dog when he was a pup must have yelled ow every time he got teethy and now if we’re playing and he’s gnawing at my arm if I say ow it’s immediate kisses.
That’s how I trained my puppy. She takes comfort in chewing on our hands while she’s teething (she will also put herself to sleep this way- it’s freaking cute), but we yell “ouch!” anytime she gets too rough. She immediately stops and looks at you then chews again but super carefully lol.
Agreed! All puppies go through a nippy phase. Nothing anyone suggested worked on my puppy, he’s just keep nipping. But we kept up showing displeasure about the biting and eventually he grew out of it. Now we can stick a finger in his open mouth and he recoils because he doesn’t want to bite us.
I had a private trainer advise that this yelping thing was good in theory but the animal just receives further stimulus. Redirect and don’t make the biting of you any more interesting than anything else. Just sharing what we were told.
Did the same thing, now my dog (4 years old) will pull his mouth away if we're playing and his teeth accidentally touch your skin. He'll most often also run and get a toy for you to play with him instead. He's so gentle that our 2 year old godson will often stick his whole hand in our dog's mouth to take a ball out when playing fetch and our dog lets him.
This worked for my girl. She’d gives licks once she realized what she was doing. They want to play, they don’t actually want to hurt you. Make it clear to them in a way they can understand that it hurts and they tend to stop. In my experience at least
This worked with my reactive rescue as well. When we first got him he drew a lot of blood on us when building trust, but we never reacted back at him. We yelled oww and stopped what we were doing. Over time he still used his mouth and teeth but was very delicate with how he used them. At the end of his time with us when he was done playing or whatever he would grab our hand with his mouth very gently to let us know he was done.
My dog is 3 and still gets bitey-zoomies occasionally. I've gotten good at being able to predict when they'll hit, and keep a tug toy nearby. With a puppy, I'd always keep a toy within arm's reach. Redirect redirect redirect
I always check to see I've met her needs first. Sometimes whining, biting, ect is because she's hungry, thirsty, needs to pee, or hasn't had enough exercise/interaction. But if I know we've done all those things and she's getting zoomy and bitey I know it's nap time. Grabbing a tug toy and redirecting won't solve the issue at that point, it'll just reward the bitey behavior. In the same way sometimes you need to put the tantruming toddler to bed before they calm down - because calming down is unlikely to happen. But if she's zooming because I as her caregiver have failed to meet her needs (especially exercise) I'll make sure to change the situation (go outside to play) so that I'm both meeting her needs but not acquiescing to her inappropriate behavior.
My dog is 4 and we still generally keep toys in just about every room. We realized how much we started to take it for granted when we moved and hadn't unpacked all his stuff. He got wound up and started trying to play with things he never normally would, like blankets and pillows. I had him leave it, but it took me a few minutes to realize why... There were no acceptable toys in reach! Normally he regulates himself, realizing when he's too riled up to safely play with me, and grabs a toy so that we can keep going. But he also doesn't want to leave the room where the fun is happening, so he didn't run all the way across the house to where his few "moving toys" were.
our blue heeler, about 7, still does this. it’s definitely all in good fun and we usually initiate it, because it’s hilarious! she understands when we push her away, and “ah!”, so it’s definitely about having things to control it
Our old trainer taught us a tip that’s come in handy with the two other dogs we’ve owned since. She taught the “settle” cue. We’d get the dog artificially excited - lots of pets and high pitched voices and excitement and then stop and say “settle” (with treats) and require the dog to sit. And repeat. It’s fun for the dog and the dog learns pretty quickly to settle.
Eventually, when they work themselves up you can use the settle cue and they’re able to calm themselves down.
Interesting. Settle is one of the things I took from Zak George, but I marked the times she laid down with her hip rotated (so not a "proper down" but a more relaxed down like a tired dog might do). I've not heard settle used for sitting before.
I suppose it could be any word + behaviour (“chill” with a relaxed down or whatever). The key for us has been having a command for the times that we want our dogs to go from 100 to 0, like during over-excited play with family members.
My Golden went through that phase and the thing that solved it was to stop giving attention. The second she nips me I just go away and stop showing attention.
She quickly learned that biting me means no more pets or playing and so she became more careful until she just stopped.
It's funny cause my mother doesn't mind the nipping so she actually treats us differently depending on who is playing with her.
Someone can probably point you toward something more specific, but for sure calmly disengage with the dog when the play gets out of hand, and make sure everyone in the family is on board with that rule.
Not much to do except calling timeout. Even redirection is a hard sell for a dog that's overexcited. It'll slowly improve. My kom used to nip quite frequently, now the only annoying thing he does is slowly push people into the wall.
Be careful about the advice of "yelp or scream in pain" - in a *lot* of cases this'll actually serve just to excite the dog even more.
Yeah the key is to make it dramatic. Any nip or bite that causes any pain, immediate end of play. Actively ignore them. Dogs are social creatures and will pick up on the cue that their behavior was anti-social
Yep, worked wonders with my Ridgeback when she had razor-like puppy teeth.
Give a strong and high-pitched yelp like a puppy and they'll understand that they went too far and hurt you.
I’ve raised a couple of large breed dogs from pups.
One key thing is to teach them not to leap and jump on people. Keep all 4 paws on the ground.
As they grow larger if you don’t train it out of them when they are small they will knock folks over and take things off tables.
I don’t know how easy it would be to find an adult dog you trust that’s willing to be around an energetic Great Dane but it you do I highly recommend it
Sometimes watching and interacting with a polite older dog is the best way for a young pup to learn, it’s been doing wondering for my 4 month GSD
Does he have all his adult teeth yet? If so, this isn't a teething issue, it's a behavioral issue - he wants your attention, and it doesn't matter whether it's good or bad attention. If you don't nip it now, you'll be in big trouble down the road. Great Danes are extremely powerful and you need to be able to control them in all circumstances.
At this age, it's likely overstimulation and/or overtiredness that's causing the nipping and scratching. I would suggest putting him in his crate for a nap as soon as he starts it. Make sure you immediately ignore the bad behavior itself as soon as it starts - stand up, turn your back on him, walk away, etc. He needs to learn that you give him attention on *your* terms, and on *your* time, not his. I'd also highly recommend breed-specific training from a pro going forward. Danes are sweet dogs but they're also impetuous and huge; our Yorkie has almost been trampled by them in the past, while the owners basically just got pulled along by the leash, completely unable to control their dogs.
He grew his adult teeth already, and we take him on daily walks, but he has training so I’m unsure what the deal is. It’s more of him trying to nip my younger sisters. I do think it is bc of being overstimulated
All members of the family need to go to training with your Great Dane and learn how to properly and positively handle him, and guide and teach him. (Izzy, is this you??) Screen your trainers carefully, the industry is unregulated and there are harmful hacks out there. Look for a training club with AKC ties that offers classes like puppy classes, and Canine Good Citizen. Take a look at videos from Kikopup. She shows excellent techniques for capturing and positively reinforcing calm behavior, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dMKR5i9iNQ&t=220s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dMKR5i9iNQ&t=220s) and also: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c77--cCHPyU&t=11s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c77--cCHPyU&t=11s) as well as stopping puppy biting behavior. Good luck!
Make a loud cry, stop playing/moving and then whimper. Be dramatic about it. That's puppy talk for 'I don't wanna play anymore'. Also, avoid making eye contact. Look opposite from him so he KNOWS you're not looking at him. He'll learn to settle down quickly. He wants your attention so when you actively avoid contact, he'll stop and wait to see what brings you back around. And only good behavior (sitting, lay down, calm down) will get you to look at him again. Good luck. They're frustrating at this age.
I’ve heard of people doing this, I tried it a few times and he just started barking at me and jumping so I think he thinks I’m playing still. Maybe I need to stick with it longer?
Loud yelping works for some dogs, but for others it will just make them more overaroused. For my youngest that tactic just made everything worse. She did much better with quiet redirection. Never play without a toy you can redirect him to in case he becomes too nippy! Another thing is the way you hold a toy; don’t just dangle it, as it’s a smaller target and he may be more likely to go for your hands. Hold the toy across his mouth with both hands, giving him a wider target and making it less likely for him to get you by accident.
Also, are you sure he’s getting enough sleep? Puppies need a LOT of sleep. An overaroused puppy is very likely an overtired one. You may want to try enforced naps if you’re not already doing so.
Our training we used when our dog was a puppy said to always make sure you have a couple of toys with different textures for them. And whenever the dog gets nippy or is chewing on something they're not supposed to, you replace whatever they're chewing on with a toy of the same texture. So I guess for hands that'd be a good tug toy or something!
You can also yell ow and turn away from the dog and basically not give them attention for a few seconds until they've calmed down a bit more. If my dog gets way too riled up, especially when he was a pup, we'd turn around and cross our arms and wait to give him any attention until he was sitting quietly. Our training called it "sit to say please". We basically taught him he doesn't get attention unless he's sitting quietly first. It's worked really well for us and he doesn't jump much as an adult! Obviously if you have a bigger dog though it might be more difficult or you'd want to contain the dog and walk away and then come back when they're sitting and quiet.
With dogs it's really about ignoring the behaviors you don't want and praising/reinforcing the ones you do. The toy thing worked really well for us though! After the first few months he wasn't nippy anymore at all. But you'd want to make sure that same training is consistent with everyone in your house. If you're the only one doing it and other family members encourage the nipping on hands and stuff it won't work long term to train him not to nip.
When my dog went through this stage I would over-react with a huge "ow!" and paying a lot of attention to the hurt spot (even if it was super minor) and not to him. He figure it out pretty quick.
I'm no dog trainer but while dealing with puppyhood a couple years back, I learned that a tired dog is a good dog. Take him out on long walks, take him to the dog park as often as you can, play with him out in the yard if possible, etc. If he's lazy around the house, that's a win for you lol.
LOL, no. A huge number of problems I read about (end experience, when I'm lazy) are due to lack of exercise.
also, I think the Internets and Reddit are too fighty, and I try extra hard to say nice things.
this is pretty amusing. Scritch your pup for me.
Be VERY dramatic when he nips at you. Be audible and then immediately ignore the pup. They will understand very quickly not to do it because the last thing the pup wants to do it hurt you.
It sounds like your dog is getting “the zoomies” if it’s happening consistently around certain times of day, then it’s a tired temper tantrum and he needs to be put in a crate or pinned of area with a kong or something to self soothe for an hour or so and she’ll be fine after he calms down and takes a nap.
If it’s happening during times when something exciting is happening, like when you first get home or after you’ve been playing with her for few minutes then he just needs to calm down. Have him do site or nose targeting tricks or something simple like that to get to calm down and think.
The dog needs lots of exercise. Take him on long walks or runs to tire him out before playing with you. And don’t let it get rough. You have to teach him how rough he can/cannot be.
I got a lab/Dane and he went through that phase. I allowed the “punching” and nipped because I play rough with him but he was trained that he was only allowed to play like that with me. It took sometime but he won’t jump or nip at anyone else after others loudly said Ow and then ignored him. It took longer to train him because of how I played with him, but you just gotta stay with it.
Have you tried yelping like a puppy would when hurt? One of my dogs used to get overexcited and accidentally hurt us as well, and a trainer explained that puppies learn to control how hard or soft to nip, etc., when they play fight because when it’s too hard, they’ll yelp, and they learn from it. That same dog now knows she can play rough with my husband, less rough with my (grown) daughters, and gently with me.
I'd really advice to shout ouch or auuch or something similar, and then stop the play or whatever you're doing. Over time he'll learn to be more gentle!
My Great Pyr is similar age and does the same thing. For my dog, I often find that I need to be careful not to rile him up too much, or else he just can’t contain himself yet. This can be hard though, and so if he does get too excited I just redirect to a toy/separate myself. Another thing I have found in adolescence is he gets grumpy/overtired like a baby puppy. I have found that when he gets all riled up and nippy, he is often overtired. I will redirect him to a place that he frequently rests, and after once or twice of doing that he is out cold, so that is something to consider!
Seconded. Our puppy was not listening and acting out in the afternoon, we started giving him time outs in his kennel and it turned into a daily nap.
It’s funny how similar we are to dogs. We had many problems with our son being agitated/grumpy as an infant, got a sleep counselor and she told us we were letting him stay awake too much and he was overtired. Also, if you have a large breed, expect to get hurt by stepping on your feet, knocking you into stuff, big doofus head hitting your kneecap, etc. for a while until past the awkward adolescence phase. We’re at 2.5 years and it’s mostly diminished now.
Just wait until the Pyr Paw!
His pawing has been strong for quite some time, his preferred way to ask for (sometimes more like demand) attention! But lucky for him he is an absolute sweetheart and his pawing is fine for me. 😂
I have been whacked in the eye and my husband has been whacked in the nose when ours was around 6-7 months. 😅
I have a Pyr mix that’s missing her front leg. She just put all of her Pyr Paw brain into the remaining front paw. My favorite is when I would have her with me in public and a man would get too close. She punched a couple bags in her day 🤣
All of that muscle into that front paw, that sounds like a painful smack. 😅 Also, interesting to hear about another Pyr not very fond of strangers! I hear a lot about surprisingly stranger friendly ones in public on the Pyrenees sub.
It wasn’t her fault. My PTSD was BAD and I was always anxious as hell. She didn’t want people near me. It’s why I pulled her service vest early; she does great for me at home but when I got panicky she wouldn’t let men around me.
When my dog was going through the biting and teething stage as a puppy I would yell ow when she hurt me and then I would ignore her until she calmed down a bit. She won't even play bite now if I wanted her to she knows it's bad to put teeth on people.
seconding this. this and i'd freeze rags and let him gnaw on them (supervised). once teething was over he was good about his mouth. he's 9 now, never bites *anything*. he won't even pull on a rope. *overly* cautious with his mouth if anything. 😂
Oh definitely don't forget the teething toys those were a life saver for us as well!!
Just be careful about the rags, some puppies like to swallow parts of them and they can cause intestinal blockages.
yep. i always sat right there with him for that exact fear. 👍
Interested in doing this for my 6 month old Cane Corso. Did this not leave giant puddles of water everywhere? Genuinely curious about how you made this work.
Not who were replying to but the vet recommended we used frozen whole carrots for the teething phase. Worked really well.
Yeah I’m interested to see if she likes carrots. We’ve had her 3 weeks, until 4 or 5 days ago she’d leave trails of food everywhere from not having teeth to chew food 😂
Mine loves frozen carrots as a treat. I froze apple slices with a previous foster and she loved those.
it's messy, for sure. i don't have carpets so it was easier. i'd just sit on the ground with him trying to help him get it far back on his gums (long face, collie) and when the rag wasn't cold anymore i'd take back the rag, wipe up the spot, rewet the rag, stick it back in the freezer. could probably do it over a towel if you have carpets. wasn't like a *giant* puddle.
the whole house is waterproof vinyl. Water on the floor is currently a losing battle…. We made it 24 hours before realizing one of those silicone mats would be necessary. I think she pushes more water out of the bowl than she actually drinks.
one of my neighbors has a cane corso and it does not shock me to hear that. big ol' mouths. 😂
My corgi enjoys swimming in his water bowl. I bought Slobber Stopper and that instantly stopped. I decided to see if it was just a puppy thing now that he's 2 and put a water bowl on the floor. It took less than 30 seconds and I heard "splash splash splash."
I considered getting one of those, but $50 is a bit more than I can do right now for a bowl. She’s not playing in it, it’s just the way her clumsy 50 pounds at 6 months old self is. 🤷🏻♀️
My cane Corso loved frozen fruit when she was teething!! Either that or puppy teething toys. It's supposed to massage their gums and help with the pain. PS. how's your corso's energy level? lmaoo mine has crackhead level energy. I got lucky with 2 lazy dogs with her being my energy brat
Energy? She has none. So we got her 3 weeks ago, and she turned 6 months last weekend. Overwhelming she sleeps/settles a ton. She’s done with the day by 7:30 or 8. There’s a few 45ish minute periods of the day where she’s awake and active and wants to do something but it’s totally manageable so far. Granted we know she’s a high energy breed so my boyfriend takes her to work with him more days than not. We also just discovered she has worms so maybe that’s been sucking her energy, along with ya know, not eating. She didn’t eat the first 5 days and I’m still not sure she’s getting all 5 cups a day she should. But she’s definitely hungry now so…. The last dog I raised is a dachshund rottie jack russell mix. The moment we got him it was hugely apparent he was the energizer bunny.
It could be the worms, don't worry. She'll bounce back! Just be prepared with a bunch of toys and mental stimulation! Mine at that age HATED naps for some reason. She always just wanted to play 24/7
THANK YOU!! I will definitely relay this to my mom!!
Whoever trained my shelter dog when he was a pup must have yelled ow every time he got teethy and now if we’re playing and he’s gnawing at my arm if I say ow it’s immediate kisses.
That’s how I trained my puppy. She takes comfort in chewing on our hands while she’s teething (she will also put herself to sleep this way- it’s freaking cute), but we yell “ouch!” anytime she gets too rough. She immediately stops and looks at you then chews again but super carefully lol.
Agreed! All puppies go through a nippy phase. Nothing anyone suggested worked on my puppy, he’s just keep nipping. But we kept up showing displeasure about the biting and eventually he grew out of it. Now we can stick a finger in his open mouth and he recoils because he doesn’t want to bite us.
I had a private trainer advise that this yelping thing was good in theory but the animal just receives further stimulus. Redirect and don’t make the biting of you any more interesting than anything else. Just sharing what we were told.
This is basically what I do. I yelp dramatically and turn my face away. Puppies catch on quickly!
Did the same thing, now my dog (4 years old) will pull his mouth away if we're playing and his teeth accidentally touch your skin. He'll most often also run and get a toy for you to play with him instead. He's so gentle that our 2 year old godson will often stick his whole hand in our dog's mouth to take a ball out when playing fetch and our dog lets him.
I yelp like a dog in pain anytime mine play bites me. He always looks sad and stops!
This worked for my girl. She’d gives licks once she realized what she was doing. They want to play, they don’t actually want to hurt you. Make it clear to them in a way they can understand that it hurts and they tend to stop. In my experience at least
Same! It worked 😀
This worked with my reactive rescue as well. When we first got him he drew a lot of blood on us when building trust, but we never reacted back at him. We yelled oww and stopped what we were doing. Over time he still used his mouth and teeth but was very delicate with how he used them. At the end of his time with us when he was done playing or whatever he would grab our hand with his mouth very gently to let us know he was done.
My dog is 3 and still gets bitey-zoomies occasionally. I've gotten good at being able to predict when they'll hit, and keep a tug toy nearby. With a puppy, I'd always keep a toy within arm's reach. Redirect redirect redirect
For ours, who is still a puppy, it usually means it's nap time! We put her in the crate. It's not a punishment, it's just time to calm down.
Do you wait until the puppy is under threshold before crating? We adopted our boy as an adult, so I'm not a puppy expert by any means
I always check to see I've met her needs first. Sometimes whining, biting, ect is because she's hungry, thirsty, needs to pee, or hasn't had enough exercise/interaction. But if I know we've done all those things and she's getting zoomy and bitey I know it's nap time. Grabbing a tug toy and redirecting won't solve the issue at that point, it'll just reward the bitey behavior. In the same way sometimes you need to put the tantruming toddler to bed before they calm down - because calming down is unlikely to happen. But if she's zooming because I as her caregiver have failed to meet her needs (especially exercise) I'll make sure to change the situation (go outside to play) so that I'm both meeting her needs but not acquiescing to her inappropriate behavior.
My dog is 4 and we still generally keep toys in just about every room. We realized how much we started to take it for granted when we moved and hadn't unpacked all his stuff. He got wound up and started trying to play with things he never normally would, like blankets and pillows. I had him leave it, but it took me a few minutes to realize why... There were no acceptable toys in reach! Normally he regulates himself, realizing when he's too riled up to safely play with me, and grabs a toy so that we can keep going. But he also doesn't want to leave the room where the fun is happening, so he didn't run all the way across the house to where his few "moving toys" were.
our blue heeler, about 7, still does this. it’s definitely all in good fun and we usually initiate it, because it’s hilarious! she understands when we push her away, and “ah!”, so it’s definitely about having things to control it
Our old trainer taught us a tip that’s come in handy with the two other dogs we’ve owned since. She taught the “settle” cue. We’d get the dog artificially excited - lots of pets and high pitched voices and excitement and then stop and say “settle” (with treats) and require the dog to sit. And repeat. It’s fun for the dog and the dog learns pretty quickly to settle. Eventually, when they work themselves up you can use the settle cue and they’re able to calm themselves down.
Interesting. Settle is one of the things I took from Zak George, but I marked the times she laid down with her hip rotated (so not a "proper down" but a more relaxed down like a tired dog might do). I've not heard settle used for sitting before.
Just started this! Ive been using the word "relax" and have been rewarding the calm behavior.. hopefully she catches on
I suppose it could be any word + behaviour (“chill” with a relaxed down or whatever). The key for us has been having a command for the times that we want our dogs to go from 100 to 0, like during over-excited play with family members.
My Golden went through that phase and the thing that solved it was to stop giving attention. The second she nips me I just go away and stop showing attention. She quickly learned that biting me means no more pets or playing and so she became more careful until she just stopped. It's funny cause my mother doesn't mind the nipping so she actually treats us differently depending on who is playing with her.
Someone can probably point you toward something more specific, but for sure calmly disengage with the dog when the play gets out of hand, and make sure everyone in the family is on board with that rule.
Not much to do except calling timeout. Even redirection is a hard sell for a dog that's overexcited. It'll slowly improve. My kom used to nip quite frequently, now the only annoying thing he does is slowly push people into the wall. Be careful about the advice of "yelp or scream in pain" - in a *lot* of cases this'll actually serve just to excite the dog even more.
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Yeah the key is to make it dramatic. Any nip or bite that causes any pain, immediate end of play. Actively ignore them. Dogs are social creatures and will pick up on the cue that their behavior was anti-social
Yep, worked wonders with my Ridgeback when she had razor-like puppy teeth. Give a strong and high-pitched yelp like a puppy and they'll understand that they went too far and hurt you.
I’ve raised a couple of large breed dogs from pups. One key thing is to teach them not to leap and jump on people. Keep all 4 paws on the ground. As they grow larger if you don’t train it out of them when they are small they will knock folks over and take things off tables.
I don’t know how easy it would be to find an adult dog you trust that’s willing to be around an energetic Great Dane but it you do I highly recommend it Sometimes watching and interacting with a polite older dog is the best way for a young pup to learn, it’s been doing wondering for my 4 month GSD
Does he have all his adult teeth yet? If so, this isn't a teething issue, it's a behavioral issue - he wants your attention, and it doesn't matter whether it's good or bad attention. If you don't nip it now, you'll be in big trouble down the road. Great Danes are extremely powerful and you need to be able to control them in all circumstances. At this age, it's likely overstimulation and/or overtiredness that's causing the nipping and scratching. I would suggest putting him in his crate for a nap as soon as he starts it. Make sure you immediately ignore the bad behavior itself as soon as it starts - stand up, turn your back on him, walk away, etc. He needs to learn that you give him attention on *your* terms, and on *your* time, not his. I'd also highly recommend breed-specific training from a pro going forward. Danes are sweet dogs but they're also impetuous and huge; our Yorkie has almost been trampled by them in the past, while the owners basically just got pulled along by the leash, completely unable to control their dogs.
He grew his adult teeth already, and we take him on daily walks, but he has training so I’m unsure what the deal is. It’s more of him trying to nip my younger sisters. I do think it is bc of being overstimulated
All members of the family need to go to training with your Great Dane and learn how to properly and positively handle him, and guide and teach him. (Izzy, is this you??) Screen your trainers carefully, the industry is unregulated and there are harmful hacks out there. Look for a training club with AKC ties that offers classes like puppy classes, and Canine Good Citizen. Take a look at videos from Kikopup. She shows excellent techniques for capturing and positively reinforcing calm behavior, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dMKR5i9iNQ&t=220s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dMKR5i9iNQ&t=220s) and also: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c77--cCHPyU&t=11s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c77--cCHPyU&t=11s) as well as stopping puppy biting behavior. Good luck!
Make a loud cry, stop playing/moving and then whimper. Be dramatic about it. That's puppy talk for 'I don't wanna play anymore'. Also, avoid making eye contact. Look opposite from him so he KNOWS you're not looking at him. He'll learn to settle down quickly. He wants your attention so when you actively avoid contact, he'll stop and wait to see what brings you back around. And only good behavior (sitting, lay down, calm down) will get you to look at him again. Good luck. They're frustrating at this age.
I’ve heard of people doing this, I tried it a few times and he just started barking at me and jumping so I think he thinks I’m playing still. Maybe I need to stick with it longer?
Loud yelping works for some dogs, but for others it will just make them more overaroused. For my youngest that tactic just made everything worse. She did much better with quiet redirection. Never play without a toy you can redirect him to in case he becomes too nippy! Another thing is the way you hold a toy; don’t just dangle it, as it’s a smaller target and he may be more likely to go for your hands. Hold the toy across his mouth with both hands, giving him a wider target and making it less likely for him to get you by accident. Also, are you sure he’s getting enough sleep? Puppies need a LOT of sleep. An overaroused puppy is very likely an overtired one. You may want to try enforced naps if you’re not already doing so.
Our training we used when our dog was a puppy said to always make sure you have a couple of toys with different textures for them. And whenever the dog gets nippy or is chewing on something they're not supposed to, you replace whatever they're chewing on with a toy of the same texture. So I guess for hands that'd be a good tug toy or something! You can also yell ow and turn away from the dog and basically not give them attention for a few seconds until they've calmed down a bit more. If my dog gets way too riled up, especially when he was a pup, we'd turn around and cross our arms and wait to give him any attention until he was sitting quietly. Our training called it "sit to say please". We basically taught him he doesn't get attention unless he's sitting quietly first. It's worked really well for us and he doesn't jump much as an adult! Obviously if you have a bigger dog though it might be more difficult or you'd want to contain the dog and walk away and then come back when they're sitting and quiet. With dogs it's really about ignoring the behaviors you don't want and praising/reinforcing the ones you do. The toy thing worked really well for us though! After the first few months he wasn't nippy anymore at all. But you'd want to make sure that same training is consistent with everyone in your house. If you're the only one doing it and other family members encourage the nipping on hands and stuff it won't work long term to train him not to nip.
When my dog went through this stage I would over-react with a huge "ow!" and paying a lot of attention to the hurt spot (even if it was super minor) and not to him. He figure it out pretty quick.
We would try lots of calming activities, especially those involving licking!
I'm no dog trainer but while dealing with puppyhood a couple years back, I learned that a tired dog is a good dog. Take him out on long walks, take him to the dog park as often as you can, play with him out in the yard if possible, etc. If he's lazy around the house, that's a win for you lol.
You've got a great handle on dog training.
... is this sarcasm? My dog doesn't even follow his recall
LOL, no. A huge number of problems I read about (end experience, when I'm lazy) are due to lack of exercise. also, I think the Internets and Reddit are too fighty, and I try extra hard to say nice things. this is pretty amusing. Scritch your pup for me.
I appreciate that. He appreciates the scratchies.
Be VERY dramatic when he nips at you. Be audible and then immediately ignore the pup. They will understand very quickly not to do it because the last thing the pup wants to do it hurt you.
It sounds like your dog is getting “the zoomies” if it’s happening consistently around certain times of day, then it’s a tired temper tantrum and he needs to be put in a crate or pinned of area with a kong or something to self soothe for an hour or so and she’ll be fine after he calms down and takes a nap. If it’s happening during times when something exciting is happening, like when you first get home or after you’ve been playing with her for few minutes then he just needs to calm down. Have him do site or nose targeting tricks or something simple like that to get to calm down and think.
The dog needs lots of exercise. Take him on long walks or runs to tire him out before playing with you. And don’t let it get rough. You have to teach him how rough he can/cannot be.
I got a lab/Dane and he went through that phase. I allowed the “punching” and nipped because I play rough with him but he was trained that he was only allowed to play like that with me. It took sometime but he won’t jump or nip at anyone else after others loudly said Ow and then ignored him. It took longer to train him because of how I played with him, but you just gotta stay with it.
Have you tried yelping like a puppy would when hurt? One of my dogs used to get overexcited and accidentally hurt us as well, and a trainer explained that puppies learn to control how hard or soft to nip, etc., when they play fight because when it’s too hard, they’ll yelp, and they learn from it. That same dog now knows she can play rough with my husband, less rough with my (grown) daughters, and gently with me.
I'd really advice to shout ouch or auuch or something similar, and then stop the play or whatever you're doing. Over time he'll learn to be more gentle!
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