Nipping - Page 2

(1) Providing you have a lead on the dog, and providing your one finger is really a strong one (he is seven months old). My opinion is that a submissive rollover action is not going to make a dog pee on itself, unless the dog has psycological problems, or poorly bred, in the first place. Of course, most on this site know more than I do, so go with their advice. Either way, good luck with him. (2) A neck "shrug" or "jerk", works well also. There is more than one way to skin a cat (bad metaphor:), to train a dog. (3) How true, how true.

I use the Barney Fife method by "Nipping it in the Bud" when it happens. Worse thing you can do is respond with a timid correction. If you have a strong nerved good tempered male he will not be harmed by a quick sharp correction. Plus if you are doing bite work then by this age he should be getting fairly aggressive towards the helper so he should not have any trouble understanding that he can bite the bad guy bit not the master. And if this continues much longer you could end up with a major challenge over who's the boss..

Hello, I have an 8 month old Cattle Dog named Sara, when she was 10 weeks it was all about nipping, that's what ACD's do. So, I decided to redirect her nipping to something usefull. It took a good week for her to understand not to nip me, my son or anyone else she meets.. (the hard part was rose) instead of her nipping, everytime she did this I grabbed her muzzel tight quickly for a second or two and said "rose" and at the same time I placed her right foot on mine. Now everytime I say "rose" she puts her right foot on my left foot. I teach rose for my own reasons, as Sara is a permenant family member. Long story short, she's 8 months now and with all I tought her "rose" is now a silent warning to me for Narcotics present in the air where ever we are. Then it's a game of seek.

BabyEagle: I must be missing something. I don't get it. Sounds like you could teach her to dance, but drug detection, comes in where?

Sara is a project dog and a family pet for a child. ACD are hard dogs regardless when it comes to social issues/pack order and "nipping". "nipping" will only become a serious problem in her breed if not working cattle or livestock all the time. I have race horses that I don't need scared up on the heels and a dog I don't want kicked around by a TB. Sara will be a Narcotics Dog when aged and I figured I train in sequence of events. Like I said in the post above, she is 8 months now and great on SIGMA PSEUDO for her age yet controlled off leash in a city of drugs. When she gets excited on a scent she tells me with her foot on mine. She's only allowed to seek on leash. This might sound silly to you, but when we travel to our city home and walk the streets (my son or I) this was a simple remedy to keep her in check. She's not a "nipper" now (which was my goal) and now is also a warning she's excited about a search. Time for the leash to go on. The reason I had this in mind to begin with is I have a Narcotics GSD that everytime we go to our city house and he catches wind of scent off he goes..over a fence, out a window, what have you. I cannot have this with two dogs. I figured this time I'd change a few things with Sara.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I am doing most of what all of you have suggested. There's no way I could do an "Alpha" roll on him as he weighs 70 lbs. I don't want to get bit in the face either I'm only 5'3" BabyEagle-ACD's are one of our breeds here in the ranch. They are a wonderful dog! Great dogs for Schutzhund too. My dad scans the pounds for this breed and brings them home works with them and then they are placed on other farms. Thanks again to everyone for your suggestions. Arrakis

Arrakis: My bust. I keep forgetting that there are 5'3" people training German Shepherds. I guess a submissive rollover won't work in your case. Take care and good luck.

LOL You sound like my husband who is 6'6" and forgets that his 5'3-1/2 inch wife can't see/reach/do the things he can. LOL Sorry to butt in on your message, but you gave me a little chuckle. :)

Arrakis, Without seeing your dog, knowing the dogs temperment, hard/soft dog, playfull, nasty, bossy, etc.etc. it is impossible to give you advise. There is way to little information given to tell you how you should deal with this pup. If he were my dog the first thing would be to know what his intentions are, how much of a correction he needs. Point being that YOU need to know your dog first. Once you know your dog the rest is easy. My only caution would be that you do not use any of the harsher corrections you hear. Better to under correct if you have a soft dog then to ruin him. If he is a gangster dog then a firmer correction will be needed obviously, but you must know the dog before you can decide what type of correction to use. Hold off a little while if you can so you can find a good trainer. Shop around.

olskoolgsds is right. There is an art to corrections. If you can give just enough to correct the problem, but still have the dog maintain a healthy attitude, you have a winning formula.