Please help.. Young pup HIGH drive... - Page 1

I have a 10 wk old shepherd puppy... kerschantal bloodlines.. extremely high drive pup..  we work on our obedience and after i reward her with a tug toy... we play til she shows no more interest in the rag.... I then go to love on her and all she wants to do is bite... I dont want to fuss her by tapping her on the nose so I tell her no bite and gently open her mouth and take it off my arm.. she goes after it... she doesnt give up.. I dont know how to correct her without breaking her spirit I dont want to raise my voice to high  or use my hands or anything to correct her ( hit her or slap her )... any suggestions? please help me out...

Kirschental...lol! What did you expect?  And 10 weeks is the piranah age for most pups, even the ones without so much drive.

I'll let the more experienced posters answer this, though I've heard them say disciplining the pup for biting you will NOT break its spirit. Redirecting it to bite a toy instead is another good way of dealing with this.

Just wait until teething gets into full swing...    You think you have problems now!

What are your plans for this puppy? Companion? Schutzhund? Obedience? Herding?

How about changing your routine to practice obedience separately? Do your tug and drive and focus work without any obedience work and separate them by some period of time.. Pups at 10 weeks usually find food (string cheese, dried liver) to be a very excellent reward for obedience. Don't play with the rag or tug until she is tired of it; always stop with her wanting just a little more.  Let your pup rest a bit after tug play; she will be very stimulated as you've found, so don't try to make her shift gears so quickly.

Are you working with a trainer?

Its krystal from nonacona60... see this is the thing with Cinka, this is not my first rodeo trust me... I was raised round shepherds my mom bred and raised some of the best show dogs ( which yes I know a show dog and german bred dog is completely diffrent I dont care for show dogs I love an want working dogs ) i have trained quite a few dogs when I was younger obedience agility all that.. its just with her she leaves us speechless... i keep a rag or toy handy at all times when she bites i take it and try using it to distract her and play with her... its like she has a one track mind.. she is set on one thing she is concerned with nothing else.... she wants that and that only... whether it be my arm or leg rag or toy.. what ever has her attention is it....

I feel for you.  I have 2, 5 month old german showline girls here.  total bite monsters.  you move, and they are on you.  I have suffered bloody hands, ripped clothes, bruises ect.  they are CRAZY at the moment.  if they miss the rag, or even if your clothes are blowing in the wind, they have you. 

I've tried some correction, but have stopped being that it didn't do a thing to stop them.  just try to ride it out.  keep up with the rag and tug toys.

sounds like a bad dog.   send her to me and i will try to do something with it.   i will give you 50 bucks for it.  lol

john

You're not going to break her spirit by not letting her use you as a chew toy. If she bites you, just gently remove her mouth, say no bite and re-direct her to an appropriate toy.  I'd use a toy for this rather than a tug or rag, but some people use tugs. Praise her when she bites the toy instead of you.

The reason I don't use tugs is that all tugs and bitework type items belong to me, not the dog. He only gets to play with them when I want him to. When he was a puppy, he had chew toys (small kong type toys) and that is what I used to distract him when he bit me.

If your pup is Kirschental lines, then you have a German showline pup (who was born in the U.S. right?). Zwinger Kirschental is a herding kennel and their dogs can be very prey driven. As you've found out.

John, you're bad!   LOL.