Correcting a puppy
Discussion
Evening All,
I have a 12 week old Staffy who is coming along nicely with training and has settled in fine thankfully.
I have a question regarding correcting him. Is it advisable not to use his name when correcting him and just say "No". I've heard the name should just be used when praising and during obdience training.
The correcting in question refers to biting/chewing things he shouldn't!
Just done a quick bit of research and couldn't really find anything.
Cheers
I have a 12 week old Staffy who is coming along nicely with training and has settled in fine thankfully.
I have a question regarding correcting him. Is it advisable not to use his name when correcting him and just say "No". I've heard the name should just be used when praising and during obdience training.
The correcting in question refers to biting/chewing things he shouldn't!
Just done a quick bit of research and couldn't really find anything.
Cheers
The approach that I went through with my two completely avoided using the word 'no' because the word doesn't actually tell the dog what to do, it's not a command and it's used for too many things that the dog doesn't understand.... for example if you want the dog to stop chewing something, teach it an instruction such as 'leave', for toilet training, teach 'wee wee' or whatever and then reward when they do it in the right place and if jumping up, teach it to 'sit' or 'down'..... I'd been saying 'no' a lot but stopped when this was pointed out as it kinda makes quite a lot of sense and is more positive and clear to the dog.
NoVetec said:
Evening All,
The correcting in question refers to biting/chewing things he shouldn't!
We generally teach guide dog puppies by just taking what he is chewing and replacing it with a toy, whether that be an item he shouldnt have or your hand! shove the toy in his mouth instead and let him chew on that and then praise him for chewing his own things instead of you/yours! The correcting in question refers to biting/chewing things he shouldn't!
saying that I boarded a particularly bitey puppy this weekend and this only worked for a second with him, so a short sharp "leave" and a pointing finger and stern face at him worked well!!
parakitaMol. said:
avoided using the word 'no' because the word doesn't actually tell the dog what to do, it's not a command and it's used for too many things that the dog doesn't understand....
agree! although its very hard not to say as its the first thing that comes into your head!! Thanks for all the replies, up until now I've been saying no firmly yet not madly and giving him one of his toys, then praising him.
I'll stick to just swapping for a toy and praise from now on.
Either way he has been a bit more of a bugger than usual ( got him at 7 weeks ), maybe he's due his big teeth soon?
I'll stick to just swapping for a toy and praise from now on.
Either way he has been a bit more of a bugger than usual ( got him at 7 weeks ), maybe he's due his big teeth soon?
SGirl said:
Our puppy loves chewing toes and legs, so usually the first thing that comes into my head is "ow". 
This is definitely a thread I'll be watching!
Actually that's not so bad to say 'ow'! when puppies are playing rough and tumble, they learn the difference between real bites and play bites, if they bite too hard, the other will yelp, they will both pause for a second to recover, and continue..... it can work well with human playmates too. This is definitely a thread I'll be watching!
I'm with Parakitamol on this one: "no" doesn't tell them anything, really.
The way we work it; if pup is chewing things that he ought not to be, a command is given (we use "leave it" in this case), and this is emphasised by gently moving the chewed item away. Then, an appropriate chew toy is put in front of the pup, and he is praised when he starts to chew on it.
RE biting ankles/legs; wierdly, the "acting hurt" didn't seem to really work with our english bull terrier pup. She'd just come back at you, repeatedly!
I've cracked it (not sure how, really!), in that she won't really bite/mouth me anymore, unless she's particularly over-excited/tired, but she still bites/mouths my OH far more frequently than he'd like! Not sure why...
I use(d) a mish-mash of techniques for the biting/mouthing - acting hurt, turning away, dis-engaging with her (putting her down if she's on my lap), yelping... probably others, too. Seems to have worked, though, in that she knows I don't like it/it's not allowed, and it means I won't play with her anymore.
Actually, maybe that's it! My OH just tells her "no", but will continue to hold her/play with her! D'oh!!
The way we work it; if pup is chewing things that he ought not to be, a command is given (we use "leave it" in this case), and this is emphasised by gently moving the chewed item away. Then, an appropriate chew toy is put in front of the pup, and he is praised when he starts to chew on it.
RE biting ankles/legs; wierdly, the "acting hurt" didn't seem to really work with our english bull terrier pup. She'd just come back at you, repeatedly!
I've cracked it (not sure how, really!), in that she won't really bite/mouth me anymore, unless she's particularly over-excited/tired, but she still bites/mouths my OH far more frequently than he'd like! Not sure why...
I use(d) a mish-mash of techniques for the biting/mouthing - acting hurt, turning away, dis-engaging with her (putting her down if she's on my lap), yelping... probably others, too. Seems to have worked, though, in that she knows I don't like it/it's not allowed, and it means I won't play with her anymore.
Actually, maybe that's it! My OH just tells her "no", but will continue to hold her/play with her! D'oh!!
Karyn said:
Actually, maybe that's it! My OH just tells her "no", but will continue to hold her/play with her! D'oh!!
Ahhh yes, consistency.... I have more problems training my husband than the dogs, he undermines the rules and it means I have to work twice as hard to overcome each thing, it's just confusing.I think you've got a good approach, with jumping/excited greeting it is very hard though, one of mine barks and the other jumps and nips, they have to go to the kitchen, settle down and sit for a special treat. I try to avoid making a fuss of them at all until they have settled down.
Staffies are very clever dogs, when Nellie does something I tell her exactly what she's done and she knows exactly what I'm saying!!
Worth noting too that Staffies read facial expressions, so I tended to exaggerate them. More than any other dog I feel she really looks at you to see what your expression is. If she's sitting on the sofa on the other side of the room and I smile at her she smiles back
ped
Worth noting too that Staffies read facial expressions, so I tended to exaggerate them. More than any other dog I feel she really looks at you to see what your expression is. If she's sitting on the sofa on the other side of the room and I smile at her she smiles back
ped
hiscocks said:
Staffies are very clever dogs
This made me 
Clearly, no-one told our staff that he's clever
Parakitamol - it is difficult getting consistency with both puppy and OH, isn't it!
There are reasons why our pup licks my chin, but bites my OH's, but I'm damned if I can tell him that! He huffs at me; "I know, I know. Alright! Stop going on!"
And hopefully she won't learn our older dog's bad door-greeting habits...
-Me? A dreamer? Never.
hiscocks said:
I think he's bluffing you! See, clever!
I doubt it.Unless running straight into a wall ( -I'll be kind to him here, and leave out the word "repeatedly") when chasing a toy is somehow part of his plan for world domination?
I can't see it, though.
parakitaMol. said:
The only thing my husband is consistent in, inconsistency!
Has he met my OH? I think they've been trading tips with each other.corrections don't work unless the dog knows any different... (as in you've taught him any different).
Puppies are pretty much a blank canvas but they need positive reinforcement to teach them what is ok and what isn't. In the biting case, simply replace the item he's not supposed to chew with a toy and praise him lots even reward him for biting the toy. It'll take a little bit, but we made sure we never left our dog unsupervised as to avoid him chewing stuff he wasn't supposed to and it worked, he now doesn't destroy anything.
Puppies are pretty much a blank canvas but they need positive reinforcement to teach them what is ok and what isn't. In the biting case, simply replace the item he's not supposed to chew with a toy and praise him lots even reward him for biting the toy. It'll take a little bit, but we made sure we never left our dog unsupervised as to avoid him chewing stuff he wasn't supposed to and it worked, he now doesn't destroy anything.
Minel said:
Puppies are pretty much a blank canvas but they need positive reinforcement to teach them what is ok and what isn't. In the biting case, simply replace the item he's not supposed to chew with a toy and praise him lots even reward him for biting the toy.
That's exactly it, that's why 'no' doesn't work, it is used for too many different scenarios as well, instead you need to give them a thing to do such as sit, stay, settle down, bed etc... and reward as you say.Also what you say about leaving them with toys unsupervised is right, my friend is a vet nurse and often has to remove items, not nice and can (mostly) be avoided, you'd be surprised what our dark destroyer could consume! ours ended up having a plain plastic bed and tough bed pad, bowl of water and a couple of indestructable extra large Kong balls that they can play with (but cannot get their small jaws around, so therefore can't bite into).... as long as they have a good walk before leaving them they will just sleep.
) wasted on the puppy kong-size biscuits, as well; never mind the kong.Gassing Station | All Creatures Great & Small | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff