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My puppy Marnie at Six Months (Original Post) Liberalynn Jun 2014 OP
what a sweet face fizzgig Jun 2014 #1
Thank You. Liberalynn Jun 2014 #5
Love, love, love when Shepherds ears do that!!! raptor_rider Jun 2014 #2
No need to apologize here. Liberalynn Jun 2014 #6
Yay! shenmue Jun 2014 #3
Thanks! Liberalynn Jun 2014 #7
Those Ears !! Tuesday Afternoon Jun 2014 #4
I know Liberalynn Jun 2014 #8
I sure love shepherds warrior1 Jun 2014 #9
She is Liberalynn Jun 2014 #11
WHat a sweet face...she is getting big! joeybee12 Jun 2014 #10
She's about 53 pounds now. Liberalynn Jun 2014 #12
More than all my cats total! joeybee12 Jun 2014 #13
My older one, 4.5yrs weighs in at 80lbs Packerowner740 Jun 2014 #16
Those are good sizes Liberalynn Jun 2014 #17
How's the training going to stop the playful biting problem? riderinthestorm Jun 2014 #14
Well I am not getting any more bleeding bites Liberalynn Jun 2014 #18
Oh I like the collar idea! We're using an annoying whistle, followed by a re-direct riderinthestorm Jun 2014 #20
Good looking GSD Packerowner740 Jun 2014 #15
Thank you! Liberalynn Jun 2014 #19

raptor_rider

(1,014 posts)
2. Love, love, love when Shepherds ears do that!!!
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 11:16 AM
Jun 2014

Beautiful baby!!!! Sorry, I'm very biased on Shepherds. Grew up with them!!!

 

Liberalynn

(7,549 posts)
6. No need to apologize here.
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 03:15 PM
Jun 2014

My parents always had Shepherds and I too am partial to them. Marnie is the fifth German Shepherd in the family!

 

joeybee12

(56,177 posts)
13. More than all my cats total!
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 05:27 PM
Jun 2014

Actually, it probably is...the three kittens are only a couple pounds a piece!

 

riderinthestorm

(23,272 posts)
14. How's the training going to stop the playful biting problem?
Wed Jun 25, 2014, 07:12 PM
Jun 2014

One of my employees picked up a pitbull puppy 2 months ago. She comes with him to work (here at the farm) and she sounds a lot like your Marnie. Relentless playful biting.

She's the first pup I've ever seen who didn't respond to ANY reprimand to stop (like your pup). Not a mean bone in her body but since we have a lot of kids around, it can't happen.

Its taken ALL 40 of us - clients and staff alike - working with her consistently and she seems to have finally learned. Its been a joint effort with everyone getting daily updates on the bulletin board about where she's at. Its a testament to how much people love this employee that everyone is rallying around helping her... they REALLY want him (and her) to stick around.

Fingers crossed....

 

Liberalynn

(7,549 posts)
18. Well I am not getting any more bleeding bites
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 02:01 PM
Jun 2014

The trainer has me using a remote collar. It's not the kind that Zaps. This just vibrates to get the dog's attention. Melissa wants us to use it to train Marnie, "Come, Leave It(For objects she's not supposed to bite including myself and others, to stop chasing the cats or to drop something she is not supposed to eat), and off(no jumping or counter surfing)

Marnie comes when called immediately now which is great, though she still tends to bite at me when she gets to me. It has also worked great with off. On the biting, she will stop when she gets the page and a "leave it" command but it's not ingrained yet. She won't stop mouthing without the collar on and sometimes even with the collar I have to "page" her more than once, especially if I am telling her no when she wants to do something like go upstairs when I don't want her to.

As I said though at least now she is not breaking the skin just giving black and blue marks. We are going to another session with Melissa this weekend so hopefully she can help me curb it even more.

Good luck with your employee's puppy. It is good everyone is pitching into help. It is hard when they don't respond to normal training methods. Melissa said she sees a little bit of "remorse" in Marnie when she's reprimanded but not a lot. Hopefully we can help make both these pups good citizens.





 

riderinthestorm

(23,272 posts)
20. Oh I like the collar idea! We're using an annoying whistle, followed by a re-direct
Fri Jun 27, 2014, 05:00 PM
Jun 2014

The cheap shrill, shriek-y whistles the kids get at birthday parties. I bought 40 and they're hanging everywhere, including on everyone's stall door.

If she tries to bite, we whistle. She stops immediately and looks around a bit panicky. Then we re-direct her to something else for her to "play" with (usually a lead rope since we're a horse farm and those are also everywhere) but there's plenty of toys to pick up and offer her to chomp on or play tug-of-war.

Fercho (her owner), can mimic the whistle himself and she's so in love with him that he now only has to softly whistle and she stops immediately without needing a re-direct.

Fingers crossed for both these pups. I've never seen anything like her before - penny can, spray bottle, yipping like a pained puppy, even the dreaded "submission" roll over didn't work. She'd come back even HARDER! Over and over and over again. You could not get her attention to re-focus and STOP the freaking biting. Fercho came up with the idea of the whistle himself when he did it REALLY loud one day when she was drawing blood as I was trying to pet her. She actually stopped and scratched at her ears, his whistle was so piercing.

But it was like a light bulb went off over both of our heads.

We're a few weeks ahead of you though on working on the problem. We've had a couple solid successful weeks so fingers crossed we're over it... I'll be curious how Marnie does with the collar.

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