How to get 6mo old mal to stop "attacking" us? - Page 2

'Redirection' can inadvertently reinforce the very behavior you are trying to eliminate. My gsd puppies will draw blood, anywhere they can connect on a human body. I learned from a gsd working dog man in the breed decades longer than me, is to pinch their nose and saying no. Some pups need stronger than others, and pups with strong character need very strong correction to learn what 'no' means. At six months your pup has learned to run the show, therefore, you would do well to put a collar and lead on him, lift his front feet off the floor telling him no. Soon as he is neutral, set feet on the floor again. Be consistent, don't give him the opportunity to ignore the 'no' command.
The more flirt pole and bite work with a pup like yours, that has more drive than control, the worse he'll get. He doesn't NEED bite work until he has learned control, and what NO means.

Bring in a professional trainer to help you to solve this problem NOW.  Good luck  Nan

If they want to do bite work with this pup, most 'professional trainers' will shut the dog down.

I can't speak to Mals but I raised a GSD with that similar set of tools.  My dog outgrew the puppy stuff but it took until 5-6 months for him to learn that play biting me was not allowed.  I redirected him onto chasing and retrieving a ball and then to tugs.  He just had a lot of energy and needed an outlet for it.  He started as a biter from the get go and would bite your hand when you rolled a ball for him.  He was just into biting anything that moved.  He just thought biting was fun and it became self reinforcing.  I don't think the pup is attacking you .. he is engaging with you in what he considers fun and enjoyable activities.  I would crate him every time he starts chewing on you and after a few minutes get him out and play tug with him.  If he starts chewing then one stern no and back in the crate or kennel and repeat.  Your dog wants something to do and somehow he has the idea that play biting you is fun and enjoyable.  He needs to learn that play biting you is not allowed and he will get kenneled every time he does it after you say no.  If your dog has been raised in a house with humans as his only outlet that may be part of the problem.  Pups raised with older dogs as teachers are quickly taught by their senior dog mentors that biting has consequences.  I can't be sure as I don't know your dog but some like him have a lot of competitive drive which means they push back harder the harder you or the target pushes.  My experience with these type dogs is to stay on the positive side as much as possible because some of these type dogs will never give in to negative training methods and they can take all that you can dish out.  This can turn into a dark downward spiral and you can turn these type dogs into hand grenade dogs that will go off when the pin is pulled and they don't care who is within their kill radius.  These competitive type dogs tend to do much better in a social dog family of their kind environment rather than be raised by humans alone.  The older dogs do a much better job of teaching proper etiquette than humans do and this allows the humans some relief from keeping these hyper active dogs exercised and mentally stimulated entirely without help.  Some things only a dog can teach a dog.

To the OP--have you spoken with the breeder of your puppy about what's going on with him? If not, you should...your breeder should always be one of your go-to resources for problem solving.

I agree, every responsible breeder should be able to offer help when there is trouble.

However, i have seen far to many powerfull breeds that eventually end up in a shelter. The most common mistake people make while raising any powerfull breed is they fail to set the foundation properly, to be able to guide the dog through every stage of development. At 6mo a dog should have learned to respect your space and invade only when invited. There is no leadership without respect, especially for these kind of dogs. I am not talking about submission, but a structure of rule, boundary and limitation that are taught through positive training leaving the dog open to do whatever you like in the future.

Without this basic frame you are bound to get into trouble somewhere along the line. At 6mo there is still time to go back and correct what went wrong.

Every dog and situation is different so there is no prediction possible, yet i am afraid that by teaching the dog no at this point by any means even with the aid of a professional will lead to another problem later. This because of the lack of foundation you need to further build upon.

I agree with Joanro most professionals will shut the dog down.

AAWWWWWWWWWW; for us laymen what does SHUT THE DOG DOWN really mean??

The opposite of building drive, most 'professional trainers' shut the drive down in a dog. As in the montra, 'calm submissive'. I never want my dogs acting 'submissive'. You know, like the TV dog trainer who does the 'Alfa roll'...do that to a good gsd and he'll be in your face.

Internet advice will only take you so far because we are not there to see it.

I agree with the previous posts. I was fortunate to have Rob Dunn in Austin, TX help me with my first mal. One of his techniques is to teach "house rules" with one of them being no rough housing inside the house, no active playing in the house, no play retrieving in the house, etc. You need to definitely provide lots of interactive play OUTSIDE of the house. Make sure you play tug and Michael Ellis has a wonderful video for that The Power of Playing Tug with Your Dog http://leerburg.com/221.htm.

So with that - sounds like your pup is normal. Sounds like you also don't have the personality to define your personal space with this breed. So I will offer some solutions that may be a better fit. Training is all about finding a method that matches and that works for BOTH the handler AND the dog.

So sounds that you inadvertently taught your pup to play when you sit down. And his play has gotten rougher as he has matured. So now you have to reteach proper behavior in the house - or where ever you sit down - you could be at a picnic or dog training club and he could start this behavior when you sit down in your folding chair.

One idea is to teach him a "place" command associated to whatever object you want him to lay on. Correct him for breaking the place command and redirect him to a positive execution of the place command. The second idea is to put him on a leash and tie it to the sofa. You can use a "down" command with this or just let him naturally learn self control and lay down on his own. With both ideas make the training sessions start out short and then slowly build up duration. Use continuos food rewards too - you can even toss them to him. Since he is a puppy, this is really an active training exercise.

And the BIG piece of advice - working pups stay in the crate inside the house unless you are actively working with them. It may take 1.5 to 2 years, before you can leave him loose. Remember, they are NOT pet dogs.

Hope that helps. Good luck!

Trying out the new features, didn't have anything to add.