Dog People - ????

mckayleesmom wrote: Neela occassionally will snap at the kids...growl and acts like she is going to bite. She is only 12 weeks old. How do I correct this behavior now??

A&A'smommy replied: pop her lightly on the butt and tell her no bite that is what works for our 16wk old puppy and that is what we have been doing with him. She wont reconize what your saying at first but she will get the jist of it.. What kind of dog is she again?

puppy biting

mckayleesmom replied: She is australian sheppard mixed with Collie. That is the only downfall of her......I haven't had to potty train her or anything...just want to stop the snapping. I think part of it is because he was boarded with some other puppies and they rough housed together.

3xsthefun replied: I'd say she is nipping because of the herding breeds in her. I hear this is pretty common. I've heard they try herd kids up and by doing that they nip.

I would say try find you a book on how train your puppy or do a google search.

Sorry I'm not much help.

TANNER'S MOM replied: Oh yes.. that was the first thing I thought when I read what kind she is.. I said Oh out loud. That would be the perfect dog for my house. Those dogs are actually expensive around here.. Excellant cow dogs.

I have a friend who has an Australian Shepard..when you walk in his yard you think she is trying to bite you..but she is herding. And they heard by nipping the heels of cattle. It is really great to watch a true cow dog work. If you have a dog good enough you don't need a man. I have seen dogs bring in 1800lbs bulls and the dogs never miss a lick.

Now that being said.. it is breed into her. But I think she needs to learn that she can't do it to the kids. I think she will have alot of energy as she grows and you will need to keep her exercised to keep her from doing that once she is older. There is a 3 second rule when it comes to animals. When they do something wrong you have 3second to correct them or they don't know what they did. Just like a child when she does it..Get a piece of newspaper..and either hit your leg loudly or her butt..it won't hurt. The noise will startle her and she will associate it with being in trouble. Tell her no.. swat her and remove her from the kids..and don't love on her or give her attention for her bad behavior. We have a crate and when Daisy does something wrong..her time out is the crate. Which she actaully likes now..but back then it worked.

Good luck.. I love those dogs. Don't know if I would want one in the house. But I have met some that do awesome tricks. Very smart dogs and very trainable!

mckayleesmom replied: I think you guys are misunderstanding.....I know that they are nipping dogs, but that is not what she is doing. She doesn't do it all the time and sometimes she growls before she does it....Like she is warning them and then goes to snap....Its a little different then what I imagine the herding would be.

TANNER'S MOM replied: No honey that is how they work.. they growl and warn the cattle..and if they cattle don't do what they want..they then snap and nip. It is all apart of it. Does she do it when the kids are in her space?? That would be the same thing.


And the newspaper for sound and time out will still work.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: If she is GROWLING and then snapping I would say you may have a dog that is not child friendly...although they do bark and growl when they herd!

mckayleesmom replied:
Yes...that is what she does....Like if Mckaylee wants to keep giving her hugs.....after about 5 or 6 hugs....she snaps.....You are probably right...that must be what shes doing....I always just thought nipping would mean she nips at their ankles

jacobsmama replied: We have a minature dauschten (weiner dog) and he was doing that for a while and by no means does he herd cattle AHHAHAH Seems how he only weighs like 5-10 lbs hahha. But we had a little kennel thing in the house and when he did that we would spank him a little and say No that is a bad dog!! and then put him in there..It worked after about 3 weeks he stopped snapping and now they are best of friends. Jacob lays on him and everything and when he has had enough he just runs off, no snapping or growling.

I know somepeople think that dogs should have their own space but I want my dog to know that jacob may not be right by laying around him and things but he should tolerate it or go in another room. Just MO though.

and so far has worked great for us and our dog sammy!

TANNER'S MOM replied: Oh No.. I think the dog should never snap at a child. That is what I was saying.. spank her..and take her away. She needs to learn that people are the master no matter what size. I agree totally. I won't have a dog that snaps at child long. She is a puppy and Brianne can break her now and I think that is great.

Even if the child is in the dogs space..then the dog needs to hid or take it. But I think it is bred into some dogs different.

jacobsmama replied: Oh Mel I wasn't refering to you when I said "some people think" mainly my family b/c they thought I should teach Jacob to stay away from dog when he was getting mad and I didnt' agree..so sorry wasnt' meaning that to you if you took it that way.

Insanemomof3 replied: No advice...but I do know that herding type dogs will do that. We go to the beach with James dad and all the kids and their border collie would run circles around them, nipping if one strayed. LOL He never hurts them, just keeps them in line. Kinda like a babysitter with 4 legs.

mom21kid2dogs replied: Actually, I think she sees your children as her peers or equals which she needs to learn now that they are not. Dogs are pack animals and puppies in the pack nip as a form of both play and dominance. If you have a kennel, I would suggest removing her from the situation each and every time she does it and putting her in doggie time out. If it continues for more than a week after you've consistenatly delt with it, I would either get a gentle leader and put it on her if she nips or get a spray bottle with water and squirt her every time she does it. "Hydrotherapy" has to be very immediate so you'll have to wear this bottle on you if you choose this method. It took 7 weeks of squirting to break Bailey of this behavior when her was a puppy. He was a chronic nipper but he did finally get that he is not the king of the kid. I know exactally the kind of behavior you are talking about~IT IS NOT AGGRESSION. It's puppy behavior that needs to be delt with much as you would a biting child.

holley79 replied: Defiantly put a stop to it now. I used a rolled up sales paper on Gyp instead of my hand. Then all I had to do was show the paper and she knew what it was for.

aspenblue1 replied: I would try a squirt bottle but not all dogs are good with children. Aussie are notoris for not being patient with children. I know quite a few people who have them and they all have issues with nipping. The dog probably sees the children as lower in the pack.

I would also do the exact things your children are doing to the dog continously and everytime you get a reaction you need to keep correcting.


All of my pets are child proofed. I am constantly pulling, tugging, lawing, grabing anything that I can and they have learned to not react to anything. You have to keep on it but you may also want to seperate the dog for a while until you feel comfortable that he is not going to react because it may keep getting worse until he actually bites them.


I will ask around to see if anyone has any ideas that may work.

MamaJAM replied: I'd try a squirt bottle.....when you see the kids hanging around her - get the bottle and stand ready -- that way when she growls you can give her a little spary - hopefully stop her before she nips.
Also - try 'coins in a can' - take an empty soda can and pop a few pennies in it - then tape closed the top. When the dog is starting to act up - shake the can (it makes a loud noise that should stop the dog in his/her tracks).

Another way to train your dog to not growl/nip is when you are alone with the dog - gently tug at the ears/paws/tail...not hard - just enough that the dog can feel it. If she gets nippy - squirt her with a water bottle. Do this at least 2 times per day for a while and she should learn to be more tollerant of normal 'kid behavior'.


Since your dog is a pup....she'll likely grow out of this stage...and your kids will get older and better understand the signs that they need to back off a bit.

Good luck!

My3LilMonkeys replied: I agree with the squirt bottle method - it worked for my VERY energetic puppy. She was adopted and had originally come from an abusive home so we had to find a correction method that she would not associate with the abuse. It did take probably 4-5 weeks to cure her but we were persistant and it worked.

If just plain water doesn't work, I have heard that mixing water & vinegar often will - they don't like the smell/taste of it.