Behavior question - new 3-month old female JA
My wife and I recently brought home a female JA pup, about 3 months old. She is very playful and sweet, but when she gets excited, she gets very nippy and will continue to do so, even after we say a loud 'no' and move away. What's the appropriate way to deal with this situation.
Also, we've been making an effort to socialize her a lot (because we've read how important it is for JA's), but she has a tendency to back away and growl/bark when approached by a stranger (with our permission). How should we increase her tolerance and acceptance of strangers?
Thank you for any info/help!
Alex
Also, we've been making an effort to socialize her a lot (because we've read how important it is for JA's), but she has a tendency to back away and growl/bark when approached by a stranger (with our permission). How should we increase her tolerance and acceptance of strangers?
Thank you for any info/help!
Alex
Comments
First it's going to take time. Sometimes JA are just stubborn. With Kaeda, I found that wrapping my hand around her muzzle and closing it while saying no, worked wonders. I really didn't have to do it hard at all... I just had to be consistant.
"but she has a tendency to back away and growl/bark when approached by a stranger (with our permission)"
Personally, I never really worked this out of Kaeda. It just improved by being around people and to a certain degree, I like the aloof nature of these dogs. The growling needs to be corrected. I would just find a reward for the pup when she is nice to people.
I have rarely seen a JA that is not nippy. The best course of action for us was to stop playing with the dog and turn our backs to the dog until he/she calms down. You have to be consistant, though. They learn real quick.
Strangers have to be bearers of goodies. Give her time, she's probably not been around people much. Loads of positive experiences, ask people not to be too much in her face, let her approach them and ask them to give her treats.
As for the fear of strangers, there needs to be a ton of socialization! My Akita, Oskar, was great with people as a pup, but started getting scared of strangers on walks at about 5 months. Since he was already pretty big by then, I knew it was intimidating for people to see this large barking dog, so I got him distracted by letting him have something he really liked when he did NOT bark at people. In his case, it was a tiny little squeaky toy, but whatever your dog values works. If she won't take the toy/treat, she may be too close to her threshold, so see if you can back up a bit to where she feels safe. Eventually, she'll be able to get closer and closer to people, and yes, if they have great treats, that will help a lot.
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I have a 2.5 month old JA as well and we are going through the same issues exact same issue too. I am so glad I am not the only one!
It is very refreshing to know that other's are saying that JAs are rather mouthy. My little guy will sometimes just carry things around in his mouth. Several times he has carried in leaves from outside, lol
This is what we're currently doing with Toki and having very, very...very mild success, but the occasional success nevertheless. He is still rather bites a lot. When he starts to bite me, I tell him no, I stop the play, ignoring him. Sometimes I will even walk out of the room... Dogs hate to be ignored. This seems to work a little bit with him. Also, random loud noises that distract him work pretty well too. With Toki, we've tried the "holding of the muzzle and telling no", but he seems to think this is play, and then bites us more. Perhaps we could improve and be more consistent though. Since different disciplines differ from dog to dog, and this has obviously worked with Jack Burton's akita, I would def give it a try
Yesterday I have started putting peanut butter on my hand and telling him "kisses, good kisses", so it will teach him to lick and not bite. I have no idea if this will work, but I figured I would give it a try and at the very least, he can lick my hand on command. With the PB, it forces him to lick, as he cannot bite PB off my hand. I am hoping this logic is good logic that will replace the biting with licking. Though, it helps that Toki is very food motivated.
As for the socialization issue, I wish I could help out. Toki is aloof around strangers, but he doesn't growl. He holds his ground and watches very closely, assessing the situation, so I'm pretty useless on giving advice. Though, you should read this article that someone else on this forum suggested I read, and why growling is a GOOD thing. Just a different take on the dog psyche and I found it very helpful being a new Akita owner
http://www.shibainuforum.org/forum/discussion/8309/thank-you-for-growling/p1
I'm not really sure how "qualified" I am to give advice, seeing has how I have only had Toki for about 2-3 weeks, but I certainly want to help out and say what has been working for me, trial and error wise. I'll be following this post!
For the mouthing the puppy is to young and dosnt have a understanding of corrections, so any you give are just going to cause un nessecary anxity. Simply make randomly when you are playing or petting and he is not mouthing you, and if he does get mouthy then remove him from you and give him something that you would rather him chew on and mark that behavior when he does. It is important that just as a tottler experiences the world by touching and feeling it, a puppy experieces it though smell and mouthing.
For the fear of strangers, start by teaching the puppy to look at you, then keep attention on you. Once you puppy can start to keep attention on you, then machine gun mark (a steady stream of mark/feed) the puppy for keeping attention on you as you approch strangers, pause by them and them move on. At first dont worry about the strangers touching him in any way, once he is stable with this then slowly increese the amount of time between marks for keeping attention on you in close proximity to strangers. As your puppy becomes comfortable with keeping attention on you next to strangers with out being touched then go back to machine gunning and have the stranger lightly brush the puppy under the chin, make sure the person is sitting or crouched down not bending over at the waist looming over the puppy. If you have trouble getting the puppy to keep attention on you while getting touched them move back and get a stronger base to build off of.
Please rember that these are just vague outlines of how I would approch the issues, and I have not ever met your puppy to see if there are any underlyeing issues, which would cause me to come at it a diffrent way.
I was thinking about the mouthing thing yesterday because my boy's gotten to the point he's not mouthing anymore, or so I thought, but then yesterday a friend came over, and he mouthed her. No teeth--he's soft mouthed--but it's still not pleasant to have a wet Akita mouth on you, you know? So we need to work on it more, still.
And with strangers, give puppy time and space. Do not force her to go to see people. Let her go there when she wants to go. You can try that people give here treats when they are sitting down. Main thing is that you go with puppy's speed and it might be slow. And everytime she goes to stranger give her treats and make her feel good about it. Positive training is the key word here.