Hi,
The title kind of says it all really! When we go out to places, Truffle is inclined to bite other people - he bit a lady at our puppy class last week and this evening nipped one of the kids in the park. I know he's still a puppy (20 weeks) but to other people he is a big dog, and obviously I want to put an end to this asap. He tends to do it when he is over excited, and the kids in the park think it is fun to run round calling him to them, and then he runs around and gets excited and nips. I keep him on his lead until we are well past them (they tend to congregate at the entrance to the park), but then they cycle across the park and he starts to chase them (he likes to chase bikes and joggers at the moment). I've asked them not to call him, but they don't see the consequences of them encouraging him in bad behaviour and just see it as fun - until they get bitten. Equally I don't see why Truffle shouldn't have off lead time just because the kids (7+ years old) can't behave around him (after all, Truffle has to learn to ignore them). I think Truffle finds children hard to deal with because my 3 year old is inclined to wind him up at home, and likes to be chased by Truffle, so to Truffle all kids should like this. What is the best thing to do? I want to stop this from escalating into anything where anyone gets hurts.
I am trying to make him sit and get a treat when he sees other people in the street (rather than jumping up on them), and when he's on his lead this is usually possible (not always with a bike) but his recall at the moment is quite poor - he seems to have hit a teenage stage and is ignoring me but will go to anyone else who calls him. Would putting him on a long line help here? Or maybe just up the ante with the reward he gets for coming back?
Thanks
Cat and Truffle
The title kind of says it all really! When we go out to places, Truffle is inclined to bite other people - he bit a lady at our puppy class last week and this evening nipped one of the kids in the park. I know he's still a puppy (20 weeks) but to other people he is a big dog, and obviously I want to put an end to this asap. He tends to do it when he is over excited, and the kids in the park think it is fun to run round calling him to them, and then he runs around and gets excited and nips. I keep him on his lead until we are well past them (they tend to congregate at the entrance to the park), but then they cycle across the park and he starts to chase them (he likes to chase bikes and joggers at the moment). I've asked them not to call him, but they don't see the consequences of them encouraging him in bad behaviour and just see it as fun - until they get bitten. Equally I don't see why Truffle shouldn't have off lead time just because the kids (7+ years old) can't behave around him (after all, Truffle has to learn to ignore them). I think Truffle finds children hard to deal with because my 3 year old is inclined to wind him up at home, and likes to be chased by Truffle, so to Truffle all kids should like this. What is the best thing to do? I want to stop this from escalating into anything where anyone gets hurts.
I am trying to make him sit and get a treat when he sees other people in the street (rather than jumping up on them), and when he's on his lead this is usually possible (not always with a bike) but his recall at the moment is quite poor - he seems to have hit a teenage stage and is ignoring me but will go to anyone else who calls him. Would putting him on a long line help here? Or maybe just up the ante with the reward he gets for coming back?
Thanks
Cat and Truffle