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Aggressive behavior, need some help


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First of all hello :) , this is my first post on this site and here is a quick intro. I have a 5 month old husky named Sasha and she is a bit of a hand full to say the least. I love her to death but at time when I am trying to play with her or simply scratch and pet her she gets very aggressive and start nipping and biting my hands. It has gotten to the point where I am losing interest in playing with her because she almost always bites. I am not going to give up on her but I feel like I cannot let my kids run around with her outside because she might nip and bite at them also. Any tips on what I can do to stop this? Thanks in avance.

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Hi Welcome to the site :)

Quite a few do this as pups but seem to tame themselves after a while, you do need to be able to control it though/

When she has your hand in her mouth "yelp" and move your hand away - stop playing for 5 mins and go back to her, make lots of fuss but f she does it again, repeat the yelp and give her a gentle tap on the nose and a firm NO. If she continues to do it, leave her alone again and repeat later.

It won't happen in a day like all training it requires work but stick with it if you do it every time and are consistent she will learn very quickly that that sort of behaviour doesn't get her anywhere :)

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Isis - our 7 month old pup used to do this when she was younger! We used to gently (and i stress gently) hold her mouth closed for a few seconds and said no in a firm voice - took a while but we eventually got the point where we could spot what she was about to do, say no, and for her to stop before it happened!

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It doesn't sound like aggression - it sounds like she just hasn't learnt bite inhibition. However, it is still a behaviour you need to put a stop to or it will continue as she gets bigger and stronger.

The suggestions you have so far are good, I also find redirecting the biting/nipping helpful so they know what they can and can't bite. Get a tug toy and play tug with him, teach that's ok to bite and redirect him to the tug when he nips you. When he nips say 'ah' or 'no' and when he stops, play tug with him as reward.

ETA: Bite inhibition is not really about the dog dominating you, it's just that the dog has not been taught any better, we see this behaviour in young puppies and it will continue right up until adult hood unless you teach them the appropriate behaviour.

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we had this ALOT with Eika...directing her to a toy worked quite well (as long as you have a toy to hand!!) as well as firmly saying no, and getting up and moving away from her.

the other thing we found was if your hand was in her mouth, push down on her toungue so she feels discomfort, not pain, and she used to HATE that, so that worked quite well, as did tickling the roof of her mouth...all about discomfort!

Oh and welcome to the site! Look forward to seeing pics of your fur baby!

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the other thing we found was if your hand was in her mouth, push down on her toungue so she feels discomfort, not pain, and she used to HATE that, so that worked quite well, as did tickling the roof of her mouth...all about discomfort!

Good advice. It sounds counter-intuitive, but what we do when a pup nips is to push the hand into the mouth, not hard or violently but with enough pressure that the dog has to make the decision to move its head back from your hand. After a few repetitions of this, they tend to stop the nipping and find something less animate to chew on.

Mick

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Good advice. It sounds counter-intuitive, but what we do when a pup nips is to push the hand into the mouth, not hard or violently but with enough pressure that the dog has to make the decision to move its head back from your hand. After a few repetitions of this, they tend to stop the nipping and find something less animate to chew on.

Mick

good advice mick rep added not tried this one with suka will give this ago and see how we get on

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Hey, welcome to the pack :)

Gizmo used to nip a bit when he was put, never in an aggressive way but would play bite and with those puppy teeth was rather painful! We found saying a firm no worked a few times but had more success by gently (and I mean gently) holding onto his bottom jaw which stopped him from biting us but he would still continue to bit/chew his own toys.

Now gizmo is complete opposite. He will hold our hands, he doesnt put any pressure their just a gentle hold which I found out means he is wanting us to trust him that he isnt going to bite us and by letting him do this is us saying we trust him (also a great bonding stragegy if they do this) :)

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