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Originally Posted by kyancer  First of all I am working with a trainer already...but I'm still feeling a little down. But, the big one that tends to really make me sad is that when I tell Sebastian "no" and try to enforce any sort of rules (like not jumping up at me, getting off the couch, etc.) his immediate reaction when I reach toward him is to which his head back toward my hand and nip at me. He has never bitten down, but he puts his teeth on me, and it's not in a playful way. It really is affecting my relationship with him. He is so sweet 90% of the time, but if he feels like I'm trying to prevent him from doing something he wants to do he gets really nippy. I know this can only get worse. I've been working so hard to show that I'm the leader. But, maybe I'm just not feeling it enough inside for him to get the message. I could really use some encouragement and any advice you may have. Thanks! |
I saw happened to see this and wanted to give you a few words of encouragement with Sebastian. We had the same problem here with Pebbles except that she actually BIT ME! It has been a long, long road~almost a year but she has really come a long way. What really hits home is 90% of the time he's sweet~yeap same thing here with Pebbles. I think now we are at about 98% of the time she is a sweetheart and we are still working on that elusive 2%. I too hired a trainer/behaviorist and thought at the time she was great. When I look back now~she probably only made things
worse.
This is what I did that REALLY helped after I spent over $500 trying to fix her
I thougth that because she was a "rescue" that all of my love would be rewarded with good behavior.
Nope~just the opposite. Treats and praise worked miracles.
Keep a really good treat in your pocket. Cheerios worked great, learned it here from another YTer, I doubted it but WOW
you would think I was handing out steak.
If she was on the couch and I wanted her down:
Pebbles down
If she growled or nipped I would do AHAH (not sure how to spell that one)
Pebbles down again until she finally got down
Treat and praise like he's the very best dog in the world.
This really has worked for us. She no longer jumps on people, when I tell her to get down she does, she will even come when I call her now.