Anyone have experience with jumping and mouthing?

Kaiya gets bored on her walks and starts jumping and mouthing for a short period. I’ve tried the sit, tried the knee up, tried to have her on a short leash and ignore her to continue walking...I’m not sure if anything worked. Anyone else had this before or any tips/suggestions on how to stop it?

Thanks,

Helen

Comments

  • It's probably a combination of boredom, youth, and a bit of the Shikoku "poke it until it responds!" mentality. If it's not stress related, it sounds like she wants more stimulation. Can you make walks more exciting? Add in some play (tug or fetch), obedience or rally commands, doggy parkour, vary up the route, etc.

    Here's a similar topic -
    http://www.nihonken.org/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/8912/understanding-and-dealing-with-wild-child-behavior-in-my-shikoku/p1
  • Thanks. Yes, I’ve tried to add in some training which helps but right after, she goes right back to it. I did use to bring a toy and occupy her as a pup, until which, I hoped she’d grew out of it but I’m afraid that it will or may have encouraged her to do it more, if it’s seen as a reward for the bad behaviour. I’ve tried going on different routes but I’m running out of routes lol. It may be a keep at it and hopefully she’ll get out of it thing maybe?

    I’ve begun to not allow her on the furniture incase it was a dominant or challenging thing. It hurts my heart, but I think it’s a good option for now, at least until she stops challenging us in general. She didn’t do it today but she may have been miserable due to the rain.

    Helen
  • I think you're conflating a bunch of things towards what definitely sounds like a boredom or stress behaviour. Not letting her onto the furniture isn't, in her mind, going to make her think she's not allowed to jump and mouth while on walks (never mind how dominance theory has been debunked!).

    I'm wondering how much mental stimulation Kaiya is getting? Work on a few tricks before going on walks, feed her out of a puzzle feeder, etc. if you're trying for a calmer dog on walks. Working the brain is as important as working the body! Let her sniff around too - I've seen people with very high strung dogs because the dogs are expected to have perfect focus and consistently be in a heel position while on walks and aren't allowed to sniff, and the dogs end up stressed. In my opinion, walks are for the dog so why not make it something that they enjoy? I'm certainly not out at 6 am in -20C for me, for example haha.

    Or as mentioned, make the walks more exciting - we take Koharu around and have her jump on rocks, run around in sand pits (when children aren't around haha), engage in personal play, and now that she's sometimes taking treats outside, we'll play the "get it" game in the grass. From what I remember, Kaiya has always taken treats outside so it might be a good option! When I get to a grassy area that is boring enough that Koharu may take a treat, I'll toss one into the grass and tell her to get it. She then has to find the treat in the grass, which works her brain too, since she has to sniff for it! Keep it simple at first, maybe just toss the treat onto pavement so she gets the game, but it's also been helping Koharu build some focus outside.
  • How old is she? Judging from your other posts, she might just be in a frustrating teen phase you'll have to wait out (alongside trying the other options). Keep in mind that it's normal for a teen of any species to be challenging (aka: annoying) and test their limits, it's not necessarily a dog trying to be "dominant".

    Also, if you like having her on furniture, keep letting her on. Don't see it as a challenge - being at odds with your dog and seeing her as an adversary will only sour a relationship.
  • edited September 2018
    Kaiya is about 1.5 years now.

    We do let her on rocks and in sand pits too. She just seems to go from 1 to 100. Sometimes she’s ok and goes crazy on her own while on walks. Sometimes If I engage with her outside she’s fine but other times even just petting while she’s walking, she will come and jump up and mouth for a few minutes.

    It seems like she does it when she’s either bored or too excited. I can try the tossing of the treat on the floor, that may distract her. It may also be due to my father who had previously stayed with her since puppyhood and he did not attempt to discourage any of her bad behaviour which doesn’t help... I will keep at the training and giving her commands while walking to see if that curbs anything.

    When I stated the challenging/testing/dominant phase it was more in reference to the teenage phase where they are still testing limits and pushing their boundaries.

    She has been better though, by not allowing her on the furniture. Unsure if it is a direct cause or not. I was going to try it for a week and see if there’s a positive change.
  • I agree it sounds like boredom or playfulness - she could be really eager to get wrestling and playing and that's just her way of getting energy out!

    You could try bringing the toy out and pausing on walks to tug and play, as a reward for when she's walking nicely (i.e. Don't give it when she mouthes, at least ask for a sit) - to teach her appropriate times to play.

    Changing your route helps, but changing how you walk the route also helps. Slow down, speed up, sprint some sections, weave around trees, walk back/recall, add in some training sits or other commands to practice. Switch it up a bit :)
  • I’ll try and see how it goes. She started doing it again today. The treats seem to make her even more hyper though :/. But I’ll keep at it and see if it changes eventually...

    Thanks everyone!
  • I tend to reward my dogs for jumping. I know it sounds crazy, but I reward them by acknowledging their frenetic behavior, and giving them attention -- and it seems to calm my dogs down sooner. Particularly my Shikoku.

    I think @thewalrus actually made a post about this on his blog...
  • Well I’ve started petting her more on the walks and that stops her from jumping after petting but she still does it after training and when bored. I’ve been trying to train more during walking to get her over the excitement of it and ive been trying to take her to more park walks during the week, instead of sidewalk walks....not sure if that is helping but I’m sure it doesn’t hurt. When she jumps I’ve been stopping, looking into the sky and ignoring her until she settles, then tell her to sit, then continue and if she jumps again I repeat. It seems to be helping but it’s too soon to tell. Where is the blog?
  • my kai likes to greet people by leaping into their arms as best as he can manage, he also jumps up and will stand on his back legs when he sees other dogs, not as a sign or aggression but because he wants to greet and play with them, unfortunately he's a big boy and dogs smaller than him tend to be intimidated by his behavior. I would pull him down by leading his leash into his shoulders and redirect but recently I've started to grab him and hold him up when he jumps until he wiggles to get down again. I noticed he caught on and got a little more hesitant about jumping up, but managing this type of behavior is exhausting. If anything people are much less intimidated when they see me hugging him and holding him up than when he stands up to jump on them or their dog.
  • edited November 2018
    She’s finally learning and almost never doing this now thankfully! The stop like a tree, then waiting till she calms, make her sit then stay there for a long time until that phase has passed and then move on has worked. Thanks for everyone’s help!
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