shiba lunges at me
I have had my shiba koda since it was eight weeks and he has been great he is house broken and does sit, stay, speak, roll over, crawl, shake and a couple other tricks on command all at 3 months. however when we are playing he bites pretty hard and when i scruff him and tell him no or yelp and get up and walk away he lunges at me and bites at me still. Its like he doesnt get the message. Also he plays very rough with other dogs even big ones he goes at their face and I have socialized him with all sorts of other dogs. He especially plays rough with my moms westie. They fight for hours and its playful but sometimes it turs into too much biting how do I get him to stop biting me and other dogs? I just want my moms dog and him to sit peacefully.
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The biting a human thing can be twofold:
1. you can acknowledge the behavior as bad and yelp as another dog would, that should stop him from biting you, as it would with other dogs, then you can use a positive reinforcement of his reaction (that he stopped biting). Scruffing him might be sending a rough play OK signal.. i'm not sure on the scruff thing though..
2. by giving him a reaction to his action, he is getting attention from you, which shibas thrive from - good or bad attention, its all they really want. that might be making him more inclined to repeat the biting to get your attention.
with other dogs, if they are older, and are well socialized, they should be correcting the pup if what he does crosses the line of appropriate behavior. He may just be playing rough, as shibas do. Just keep socializing, dogs carry their own means of communication with one another and he can only become a successful dog-dog communicator with extended socialization.
Shibas tend to be very rough when they play, it's very common in the breed. All of what you have mentioned is normal, although not always appropriate behavior, for a Shiba. Scruffing your Shiba isn't going to help teach him anything. If the biting gets to be to much when you play, try replacing your hand with a toy that it is ok for him to bite on. If he goes for your hand, just keep sticking the toy in his face. If that doesn't work you could try rubbing mouth wash on your hands before playing as dogs don't like the taste. Yelping is a good thing to do, and so is walking away. If he lunges a bit when you walk away try to redirect him into a sit.
Shibas do not learn well from physical correction. I would suggest you enroll in a Puppy Socialization class, followed by obedience classes. Only sign up at places that have positive reinforcement training. Your trainers will be able to help you teach your Shiba how to properly play with other dogs and with people. The classes are worth every penny they may cost you.
Yeah the scuff thing doesn't do much other than give them the idea to push back when the opportunity strikes . At three months puppies are testing and taking the wide world in through their mouths. Go to a puppy class so he has others of his own age to play with. I would give a time out using a crate if he gets too out of control with you or the westies. As Brandon suggested divert the "bitie bites" with a toy stuffed in his mouth or face so he knows to play bite with that instead of your hand etc. Eventually he will learn to calm down when you ask. No puppy or dog hould be allowed to overly harass another. 10 or 15 minutes of monitored play at a time is about enough for young dogs. They have to learn to get their bodies in gear with their minds and that takes time to develop. Referee in the mean time.
Snf
If he is chewing on chair legs etc. you may want to invest in "Bitter apple" or "phooey" that tastes bitter. It is sprayed on the object the dog wants to chew. Note, test on a paper towel some dogs like the weird taste and will lick up the stuff. All taste buds are not created the same. (LOL)
Snf
shibas are the cutest puppies because if they weren't, you would realize how horrible they actually are!
when my tsuki was that young, we'd put her in her pen with chew toys if we couldn't monitor her, it saved much damage to the house, showed her what was appropriate to chew, and it was a bigger area than a crate. it forced us to really come up with an age appropriate exercise plan because she seemed to never run out of energy.. and we should have gotten stock in dog toys - she murdered way more than I could count trying to redirect her puppy teeth!
Brandon's idea to redirect your pup when he goes to lunge into a sit is a really good idea, you can reward for a sit instead of punish for the lunge. Positive reinforcement is the only thing that really gets through to a shiba.
Welcome to the board Bud, I concur with the advice you were given here. A three month old shiba is going to be mouthy, and a scruff shake is really just an invitation to more roughhousing. You’re going to have to teach bite subsidence and invest in a cheap pair of welding gloves in the interim. I’m sure you’ve done your research, but I really have to stress that conventional wisdom; even from well meaning and well informed “dog people”, doesn’t always apply to a pre-adolescent pseudo-dingo. You probably found this link already, but it is typically the first place I point folks:
http://www.shibainus.ca/ (Home of the Misanthropic Shiba)
Whatever you do, try not to get too discouraged. You’re doing great by exposing him to dogs, people, and formal training; socialization is huge and every effort you make now will be rewarded down the road in the years to come.
He weighs in at about 25-27lbs. 30lbs is big for a Shiba, and over standard, however a lot of people have 30lb Shibas these days. Males should be around 20-22lbs, I think.
- Under the Choose a category to the left, you can select Photo/Video Shiba and that will pull a fair number of us shiba owners up.
Here's a shot of my Jazz:
Nemo:
Size wise, I think my shibas fall into the standard, although compared to other shibas I have met, they (my dogs) seem so small! The females are 17lbs and 18.5 lbs while my male is creeping up on 20lbs. I think they go down like 1/2 lb or so when their coats are done blowing out - there is a LOT of hair that happens!! Tsuki blew her coat for the first time this past spring - when she turned a year old - even though we'd been furminating on a regular basis..
Its hard to get a good shot of all 3 - this is the best so far!
My cream looks almost bald during a full blow out. One can see the pink skin up through the remaining hairs. My red female stays in full coat almost year round. Both are fed and cared for in the same way. Our male rescue never seems to get the same thick lush coat as the girls, particularly his the pants and tail fullness.
Snf
I'm finding in rescue that there are more and more shibas that end up as strays in shelters - what I hear are "this one is a stray" (slipped collar and took off, or was unreliable off leash) or "I had a baby, don't have time, shiba doesn't like baby" - this happens far less than stray shiba.
Snf
If you are interested in doing off leash work with a dog, may I suggest getting a second dog that is more suited for off leash work.