yes it is me AGAIN!!!! need advise.....

[Tamz]

so shiloh striked again!!! seems like im always on here at the mo- why cant he jst be normal???

so he has started to behave like a baby again now...when out on walks he now tries and eats anything in sight, paper, stones, rotten fruit peel- you name it he goes for it, jst like when he was a pup!! he's only started doing it this week :mad:

lastnight he somehow found a used teabag in the road and picked it up in his mouth before i even realised what he had done, when i opened his mouth to take it out he growled and bit my finger in the process breaking the skin- it didnt bleed jst graved it :mad:

he usually doesnt bother when i open his mouth to remove whatever it is in there but lastnight he seeemed really angry..the growl he did wasnt a growl i have ever heard before and then he bit me??? something he has NEVER done to anyonre before

im so confused...jst as i thought we were getting somewhere with him he now does this....im now paranoid bigtime he doing it again but to one of the kids or chloe

what do you recommend??? any tips would be greatly received xxx

[mydiamond]

His growling doesn't mean he's being mean to you. I think it's just because he's trying to discipline you. Have you ever read about being an Alpha? Well you might want to start reading about that now... Because from the growling you described it sounds like he believes HE is YOUR boss.

Now about the chewing. That's not abnormal, really! Huskies are just curious all the time and you only need to make him understand what does the word "no!" means. Once he understands already, say a loud and firm "no!" whenever he start to bite something. Or if it doesn't work, make him understand the word "drop it".

[SarahNukka&Shadow]

Whats he like with the drop it/leave it commands? I would up your training on this.. start with toys, get a rope toy or something give him a game of tug then tell him drop or give praaaaise like mad and reward with more tug then put it on the ground and tell him to leave it and when he gets this again praaaaise and reward with more play. When he has this do it with treats put one on the floor and have one in your hand tell him to leave the one on the floor and use the one in your hand as the reward for a good leave. This should get those words in his head so when he starts picking stuff up off the street you can get him to drop it without having to dive in his mouth after it! Other than that just keep scanning the street up ahead to look for things he might pick up and get his attention on you to go by the thing!

Good luck hon I feel you pain on this one I have two street hoovers and I walk a bunch of others that are just as bad you think its tricky stopping one.. try three!?

[Tamz]

he knows all that hun...he has been through 2 lots of puppy training when he was a pup..he is now 17months old

he also knows his place in the house...he knows who is in charge of who.......we have had him since he was 8wks old and he has never done anything like this before..it worries me what he did what he did lastnight..he lies around the house allday and what if one of the kids dropped a toy infront him and went to pick it up and he did the same to them??

its really got me down...ive been stressing about it all night

[snowpups]

I would give him a firm no drop it and if he doesn't try not to put your hand in his mouth but open him jaw and tip it forward so it falls out. When he growls at you hold his mouth shut and say no growl or bit if he bits you and then ignore him and if you have too put him out of the room. He might be trying to push boundrys if he has got away with more lately. I have it with jasper if he see something on the floor he will try to get it I put a bit of pressure on him lead and say no leave it and if he leaves it I give him a treat if not I pull him bk and repeat the word leave it and he does manage to grab it I just give a firm drop it and he will drop it. Good luck try working on it in the house give him something he really wants tell him to leave it or drop it and then rewards with ever a high value treat like chicken, cheese or something like that or a toy keep doin it until he learns.

[Tamz]

Whats he like with the drop it/leave it commands? I would up your training on this.. start with toys, get a rope toy or something give him a game of tug then tell him drop or give praaaaise like mad and reward with more tug then put it on the ground and tell him to leave it and when he gets this again praaaaise and reward with more play. When he has this do it with treats put one on the floor and have one in your hand tell him to leave the one on the floor and use the one in your hand as the reward for a good leave. This should get those words in his head so when he starts picking stuff up off the street you can get him to drop it without having to dive in his mouth after it! Other than that just keep scanning the street up ahead to look for things he might pick up and get his attention on you to go by the thing!

Good luck hon I feel you pain on this one I have two street hoovers and I walk a bunch of others that are just as bad you think its tricky stopping one.. try three!?

he is fine with the commands hun...we do it all the time with him...make him sit and leave his food until he looks as us then we say take it and off he goes- weve done that with him since he was 8wks old

he usually does walk past stuff in the street when i say leave it but for some reason this week he has gone all babymode on me...and then he did that lastnight

[Tamz]

I would give him a firm no drop it and if he doesn't try not to put your hand in his mouth but open him jaw and tip it forward so it falls out. When he growls at you hold his mouth shut and say no growl or bit if he bits you and then ignore him and if you have too put him out of the room. He might be trying to push boundrys if he has got away with more lately. I have it with jasper if he see something on the floor he will try to get it I put a bit of pressure on him lead and say no leave it and if he leaves it I give him a treat if not I pull him bk and repeat the word leave it and he does manage to grab it I just give a firm drop it and he will drop it. Good luck try working on it in the house give him something he really wants tell him to leave it or drop it and then rewards with ever a high value treat like chicken, cheese or something like that or a toy keep doin it until he learns.

yeh thats what i did...our trainer said if you put your hands underneath his lower mouth and gently push your fingers inwards it makes them automaticallly open their mouth...it was when i tipped his mouth forward he bit me

[Tamz]

sorry..i dont wanna keep sounding ungreatful for all your saying coz im not at all...its jst that everything you have said i already do lol xx

[mydiamond]

@Tami: A dog can jump back and forth from the "submissive" category and the "stubborn" category. When he's back to his stubborn old self, you only need to remind him who's in charge and he will turn back into the submissive dog you love =)

[snowpups]

I would try giving a high value sweet on walks in exchange for the rubbish he picked up he will soon learn that if he leave the thing on the floor he will get something much nicer do u use a headcollar on him if so if you see something on the floor give a quick tug on the headcollar to move his head away from it and distract him with a high pitch noise and then say leave it and on by which I say to my guys to carry on walking which they do if not I just go in the opperisite direction and they follow me

[Storm Angel n Auroras Mum]

Hun if he has something in his mouth someone told me to hold my hand over their nose and then they have to open their mouth!!! cruel I know but it doesnt hurt them as much as prising their jaw open. (not that im suggesting you did).

Also, I reckon from what you describe to him the teabag seemed like a "high end treat" which makes them behave differently. Storm cannot ever have a bone around the kids as he growls and snaps at them. ALso when he has his dinner he has to be left alone and the kids cannot go near him, just in case.

yesterday Angel growled at Alex coz she had her new ball and did NOT want to give it up. She needs a lot of training when I get her home.

hope this helps u understand him a bit better. xxx

[jayt]

At 1.5 years, he IS still a baby. Jon is right about the same age. We don't expect him to be great all the time. He is on his way to becoming a very well behaved boy, but he has is off days, and walks are a crapshoot.

Hell, I still act like a kid and my wife has to deal with that! haha

[Austinville]

Ryn also likes to smell and 'taste' things on her walks. She is definitely a curious girl who uses her nose and taste buds a lot! I use the 'on-by' command as well as 'leave it' on our walks. Often the 'on-by' is enough, but occasionally we need a firm 'leave it!' in order to pass. I will also speed up the walk if she begins to dally along, following her nose instead of following the commands. She used to be awful at picking things up and tasting them. Now, she doesn't seem to mind.

She would get upset (in a similar manner as Shiloh with nipping) if I would take things from her on walks. She now understands that I can and WILL put my hand down her throat to get something she's picked up. There's no question. If I want it, I will take it. She knows that and will often roll whatever it is to the end of her tongue and put it in my hand. And if this happens, she knows the walk is over. No second chances.

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

what i do - is hold their nostrils shut - they HAVE 2 open their mouth then

[Arooroomom]

Sometimes mine have bad days or bad weeks. They're dogs, they aren't robots. Can't be perfect all the time. Sounds like he was making the teabag out to be a higher value item. Sometimes Odin behaves that way when I need to take something from him. But I don't tolerate that and I jack open their mouths and take what I need. I'm sure it's just a little phase. Although, before taking anything I do always ask for a "drop it" so I give them a chance to give it up before I rip it out of their mouths.

[shadow01]

At about the same age Aslan tried pushing his luck, even though he was well behaved before, and is well umm well behaved now in a husky kind of way He got to that funny age where I think he wanted to say whats your is m,ine and whats mine is mine so pee off lol. Soon straightened him out though and now he is back to normal. Grabbing whatever he can but does give it to us without biting lol.

[Storm Angel n Auroras Mum]

what i do - is hold their nostrils shut - they HAVE 2 open their mouth then

ahah it was you!!

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

ahah it was you!!

will teach me not to read replies wont it lol - yup it was me

[Staceybob]

I wouldn't panic at this stage, dogs growl for all sorts of reasons. Aleu is an absolute sweetheart, and even she's growled at me before.

Now obviously the nip is what's upset you the most and you don't want that to happen again so there are some options you can take.

I know you said that Shiloh went on 2 puppy training courses, but there are more intense adult dog training classes available that work strongly on things like the "leave" command and generally help you to build better obedience with your dog. I know you've tried hard with Shiloh, but I think that from this occurance and previous troubles that you may just need that extra push along side a professional. It's easy to slip out of training habbits or to even start developing our own that may not be the most effective, so I think it would be beneficial for you to either speak to a local class or start attending one on a weekly basis. There are some good and cheap courses available. Aleu used to be on one that cost me £5 a week for an hour long session.

Or you can go with options like what Sarah and Nix have described.

Hope things look better soon!

Stacey xxx

[kyle_2011]

mine some times have bad days like this, sound mean but i give them a tap on ass and then everything goes back to normal, we usually have this problem when weather starts warming up again and there a bit ratty, hope everythink is ok with you both and you get it sorted

[sutsibe]

They do sometimes go through phases where they try to see if maybe now you'll let them get away with things - even if you never have before! Is it possible that he was trying to snatch at the teabag, rather than trying to bite? Best wishes!

[Jay Jones]

They do sometimes go through phases where they try to see if maybe now you'll let them get away with things - even if you never have before! Is it possible that he was trying to snatch at the teabag, rather than trying to bite? Best wishes!

That sounds about right, I know Bolt loves tea and has stolen the odd packet of teabags i swear he thinks he's human!

If you think trying to get the teabag off your boy was bad, we stopped at a services on the M5 and took bolt for a walk when

found a rolled up nappy on the floor! (Some people are just dirty!) well he had that in his mouth and really didnt want to

let go, but did in the end.

If he feels he can push his luck he WILL after all Husky house rules?? Can't remember what number it is but its

IF IT'S ON THE FLOOR IT MINE! ;-)

He really didnt mean to bite you

[Tamz]

thanks guys.......everything was okay yestd although i was really paranoid about him being around the kids Ian took him out lastnight and didnt say anything different had happened so i can only assume the walk was as normal

my turn tonight so we shall see

[Zach27911]

Kinda funny my frost used to do the same thing i tried to teach him no and everything but he just wouldn't pick up on it. So one day he was actin up trying to eat random stuff I just yelled no in german by accident and he listened, so i kept trying german commands and he listens its weird but some dogs take different languages better lol

[Bec]

he knows all that hun...he has been through 2 lots of puppy training when he was a pup..he is now 17months old

A common mistake that people make is that they think if they take their puppy to puppy classes, then that's all they need for the rest of their lives. Training is an ongoing process that will go on for the life of your dog. I always recommend people continue training classes after puppy school for this reason.

How much mental exercise does he get? How much training does he get on a regular basis i.e. weekly, daily etc? Another common mistake people make is thinking that if their dog can do x, y or z command at home, they can do it anywhere at anytime - unfortunately it doesn't work this way and if we want our dogs to be reliable with a command (i.e. give) then we need to train it in a variety of places, levels of distraction, with various valuable items etc etc. In training we call it proofing.

On top of all of that - he's a young adolescent male, pushing the boundaries would not be uncommon at this age. I'd be making sure I was being very consistent with NILIF etc.