I'm a first time corgi owner and my puppy has started biting my pants and leg when we go for walks. It is funny and sad because other people at the park where I walk her think that it is just so cute, but she is just not getting the physical activity that she needs when she does to me. I know that this behavior is "in their genes" because they are herding dogs, but I'm no cow! haha. Any advice would be great! Thanks! :)

Views: 3107

Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

That's how Finn is. he grabs it when he thinks we're heading home and drop it when I tell him but I have to tell him several times before he stops picking it back up.

On our walk last night he was doing this on our way home. He grabbed the leash and pulled the opposite direction and when I turned to scold him he took off running the other way. Somehow his leash caught my thumb nail and bent it back, breaking it way too low. I was so mad. I had to walk the rest of the way home with an aching, bloody thumb. I ignored him the rest of the night.
You may not want to hear what I'm about to tell you, BUT -- (now here it comes) -- my Beloved Ladygirl did that clear up until the day she passed on. I still have a couple of faint scars where she drew blood to the surface -- and they are both up close to my gluteus maximus -- LOL -- yes, she could/would jump that high to nip at me. However, I used a squirt gun and sprayed her directly in the face when she would wind up for the herding routine. This time of year, a squirt gun is hard to find, but if you go to the pharmacy section at Walmart, they have travel-sized spray bottles in that area, and that would work just as well. Just make sure it's got an adjustable stream to it -- you need to be able to get a stream of water sprayed out at least 3 feet to make it work. She'll get the hint after a while. Better to "nip" it now, because it hurts like heck when they continue to do it as an adult! Good luck!
its a good thing to get your pup to stop this. When Pooka was still young, I was walking quickly and she grabbed my jeans and I ended up breaking off one of her baby canines. I was really worried it would get infected, but it turned out ok. Still, scary!
I'm not bashing everyone else's advice, I'm jusy going to post what we did with Eddy as an individual to fix this problem...
Eddy hung out with a lot of tiny kids when he was a puppy and no one wants their dog to latch onto a kid (or strangers' in general) pant legs and cause a tumble or fear, even in the name of playfulness. So we addressed this problem in probably 5 days before he was 11 weeks old by scarily growling "NO" like a fearless papa wolf every time he began latching onto our shoelaces and pant legs.
By scaring him stiff, he began to avoid feet in motion, in general. It did not make him afraid of idle feet or afraid of us. We could really tell, on walks, that he was literally trying to not even look at our feet. We just are not at all believers in teaching subtle cues/commands to dogs when it comes to things that can jeopardize strangers' safety. Not everyone in the world, especially kids, know your commands, so it's better if your dog knows that you NEVER tolerate that behavior, or even attempts at those behaviors. We're now working on not jumping up as a greeting to strangers, by scaring him with a scary "NO" and now when he runs up to strangers, he stops himself in mid-hop, almost like he heard "NO" inside his head.
Jack was one of those puppies that if you gave him a stern verbal correction, he'd go into a frenzy and jump and bark, and if you tried to physically stop him, forget it! He got even worse.

Not disagreeing with you, as your method would work with many dogs. We did not have Madison as a puppy, but she is more submissive and a "no" or "ah-ah" usually makes her stop in her tracks and put her ears back. Not so much with Jack.

Jack did both the herding behavior and the pants-leg-grabbing that is typical of many puppies. The herding behavior I corrected in maybe 3 days using the "game over" method, when he was still maybe 3 months old. I have never seen him chase a person or nip at them since. He has been loose playing and had joggers go right by, and he does not even glance at them unless they stop to talk to him.

The shoelace and pants grabbing took longer to stop, but he got over that as well.
I feel that my Winnie has Jack's personality because it seems like the more I try to correct her, the more worked up and hard to control she gets. I tend to use a lot more positive reinforcement with my animals than punishment, but sometimes I don't have a treat or toy at hand to reinforce certain behaviors. I'm actually the only person that Winnie bites at, and I really find it odd because I'm her main care-taker.

Thank you everyone for your advice! You guys are wonderful! I'll keep working with Winnie to try to correct this behavior, and now I know where to go if I have any questions in the future!
Finnigan and Jack sound like they came from the same mold. We tried the "growling" method before as well as the "make a loud noise" method and it only made him worse. When I'd growl "no" he would get this up to no good look on his face and start snapping at the air and making little yip noises. He was literally talking back! If you tried a physical correction he'd mouth us and growl.

Squirt bottles worked for a while then he got used to them and didn't care. I guess you'll just have to try a few different methods and see what will work for your puppy.
Since we've had him we have encouraged Caleb to NOT chew on our feet or clothing (socks, pants and so on). He argues with us but obeys. With lots of kids in the family and a kid on the way I'm not about to let him get away with such a potentially nasty habit.
He will chase the kitties and he'll also happily chase my husband or I but he won't bite at us, on the off chance he does it results in an immediate deep 'NO' and a stare. It's only rare these days that he gets carried away and puts his mouth on us.

Though give him half a chance at kissies and you'll drown. :)
I wish that "no" would work with Winnie, but I'll go "no" and she'll stop, bark at me, and then try to bite me again. Sometimes I feel like "no" is all that I say to her. She's also really bad about trying to pull on my house coat belt when I'm getting ready in the mornings. She has all kinds of chew toys, and I'll give her some to play with before she starts attacking me, but in the end I'm still trying to get her off of me. She doesn't bite my husband, or any man, but now thinking about it, she also attacks my mother in the same way she attacks me. She actually licks my husband and falls asleep on him all the time...I'm so jealous.
Baby gates.

:-)

They are the cure for what ails you! LOL. Seriously, I don't know how I could have survived Jack's puppyhood without baby gates. If he would get too crazy with me I'd just step over the gate, detach him from my leg, and leave for a minute or two and then come back when he calmed down. If he got absolutely wild, I'd put him in his pen for a nap. No yelling, no scolding, just very quietly plopped in his pen and ignored.

I also played tug with him a lot with a rope toy, and then used it to teach "leave it" so he would not think he was winning the game. It's quite easy, actually: when she is in full-out tug mode and totally engaged, wave a treat in front of the nose and when she catches sight of it and releases the tug toy, say "Leave it!" then "good girl!" and give the treat. After a few tries, you can then say "Leave it" as you are presenting the treat, then move to "Leave it" and don't get the treat out til she drops the toy. That way you can safely play tug without making your pup dominant, AND have a painless way to teach leave it.
I've been putting her in her cage when she gets really out of control on me, and it seems to be helping some. I've been teaching her a number of commands, mostly the basics, but I think that "leave it" would be the most important command for her to learn. She knows what "no" means, it's not a learning issue, she's just head strong and wants to do what she wants to do.
What tone of voice are you using? It definatly needs to be the "leader" saying "no". I try to tell my husband this when he's going no,no,no in this happy cute voice instead of the low wolf voice as he sounds like he's playing with them. Also the ignore works well for me...If I say "owe" or "no" and turn away I am not giving attention to them if they continue but if I sat no...no...no.... they are getting attention. In basic obedience we were taught say it once (but they do have to know what you're asking) such as sit...it takes Livvy about 30 sec BUT once she knows I will stand motionless until she sits...she does it! Again kind of the "nothing in life is free" as she is going to have to do what I ask for her to get attention for the correct behavior! Hope that made sense!

RSS

Rescue Store

Stay Connected

 

FDA Recall

Canadian Food Inspection Agency Recall

We support...

Badge

Loading…

© 2024   Created by Sam Tsang.   Powered by

Badges  |  Report a boo boo  |  Terms of Service