Malinois 6 months puppy biting help General Chat

Discussion in 'Belgian Shepherd Dog (Malinois)' started by Karla Krallis, Mar 5, 2022.

  1. Karla Krallis

    Karla Krallis New Member

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    Malinois 6 months puppy biting help

    Hi,
    I am not new to protection/working dogs. But, I am new to this breed. I have him in professional training for obedience at the moment.

    My question is that my Malinois keeps trying to or nipping at my 6 year olds’ faces. What do I do about this? How to solve it?

    PS - great to be here!
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  3. CaroleC

    CaroleC Member

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    Hi Karla, I presume that you are already using the blocking techniques of folded arms and leaving the room to stop excitable behaviour, but that your child is too small to do this. Malinois are a high energy breed, and 6 year old's are high energy kids. I would say that you might be better keeping your puppy separated - but still a part of family activity - by using baby gates. (You might need the extra tall ones for this breed).
    You say that you are using a professional trainer - what was his/her suggestion?
  4. Toedtoes

    Toedtoes Member

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    I agree with the use of baby gates. Only allow the puppy to be in the same room as your child if an adult is there with them to supervise.

    If you haven't done so, teach him to sit on command. When he does, praise him and give him a treat or favorite toy. Get him to sit when he wants something - including his meals. If it is in someone's hands, he has to sit to get it. Everyone in the family needs to practice this with him.

    The next part is "let me see it". The parents should do this. When he has a toy, gently hold on to it and say "let me see it". Don't pull on it or try to take it from him. Just hold on to it. At some point, he will loosen his hold on it for a second, when he does pull it away from him calmly and gently. Make a big fuss about the toy. Turning it over, saying what a beautiful toy it is. When he tries to grab it back, tell him to sit. As soon as he sits give it back to him. You can include a treat reward when he lets go of the toy to make that more desireable. He will quickly learn that it is fun to let you see what he has and that if he wants it (or anything) he doesn't jump on you or the kids.

    Leave the kids out of that second part - kids taking something from a dog is not a good thing. With kids 12 or older, you can let them do this ONLY when you are supervising and ONLY in this training context (never to get their own toy from him, etc - they should have the adults do that). The reason is simply because kids don't have much presense and he may decide that he doesn't have to behave - and if he tries to grab the toy back, he can hurt a kid.

    The reason why I say to teach these (which don't seem to have anything to do with your problem) is because it gives a good foundation to stop his jumping/biting at the kids. So on to that.

    1. Put him on a leash and have him by you (hold the leash). Get one of his favorite toys. Sit in the room and start looking at and oohing over the toy. As soon as he) shows interest in the toy, have the kid quietly get up and start walking across the room. Tell him to sit. If he sits, give him the toy and tons of praise. If he heads towards the kid, just hold the leash and ignore him - focus praise on the toy. When he focuses back on the toy, have the kid walk back through the room. Again, if he sits, give him the toy and lots of praise. You're basically teaching him that is toy is way more fun than the kid. The leash prevents him from reaching the kid and getting a reaction out of them.

    2. Once he starts catching on that ignoring the kid gets him the toy, start having the kids take turns being the "sit commander". Again, have him on a leash. Have kid 1 sit with you. You hold the toy. Have kid 2 walk through the room. Kid 1 tells the dog to sit. If he does, kid 1 gives him tons of praise as you give him the toy. If he doesn't sit, no toy no praise. You stay silent and just act as the "toy dispenser" - so he connects the kids with the behavior. This will teach him that sitting for the kids is worth doing.

    3. For the next step, the kids take turns. Sitting in the room with him on the leash and you holding the leash and a toy. Have one kid stand up and tell him to sit. If he does, you give the toy and praise him as the kid walks across the room. This combines the two prior steps - the kid "puts" him in the sit and his attention is diverted to the toy rather than the moving kid.

    4. As he repeats the desired behavior (ignoring the walking kid), you can have the command giving kid move further away from you and the puppy so he will take the sit command regardless of where they are in the room.

    All this will help him learn that jumping/biting at the kids gets him nothing, but sitting for them gets him attention. It also helps build up the understanding that he needs to listen to the kids, not just the adults.

    Also, you say he's in professional training right now. Is this a class where you are doing it with him? Or is someone training him for you? If the latter, I highly recommend you change to a class where YOU train him under the guidance of a trainer. This helps build a bond between you and the dog and gives you to skills to continue teaching the dog new behaviors, rather than just teaching you commands he has already learned.

    Last bit, protection sports tends to use aversive methods. These methods have quick results, but can create a more aggressive dog. When you have small children in the home, this can be disastrous.

    First, you're training the dog to go after people. Second, you are training them that biting is acceptable. Third, you are often allowing them to get so hyper aroused that they ignore verbal commands (hence the aversive tools - to break them off the attack, etc).

    In addition, just the use of those aversive tools can create confusion and conflict in the dog. They work because the dog connects the negative correction (leash jerk, collar shock, etc) to the behavior - don't do the behavior, don't get the correction. But they don't teach the dog what to do instead. So the dog is left in limbo. You wanted me to go after that person, but now you're punishing me for doing so. This conflict can result in a dog who uses aggression incorrectly and that aggression is most likely going to occur towards someone who doesn't have a dominating presence - kids.

    So you really want to use positive training methods and redirection as much as possible. Rather than correct/reprimand/punish the dog for bad behavior, you want to praise and reward good behavior and redirect behavior from a "bad outlet" to a "good outlet". So rather than reprimand the dog for biting at the kids for attention, you want to redirect them to sit for that attention. This teaches the dog how to behave correctly rather than just punishing him for, what to him is, normal dog behavior.
  5. Karla Krallis

    Karla Krallis New Member

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    Hi,
    Thanks for the suggestions. My trainer said to crate him at all times aside from daily training and 2 long walks. He said it like you did. He said that Kobe is a Ferrari and you have 2 other Ferrari’s at home…. But, I just cannot crate a dog like that. I am well aware that he is a working dog but I want that and a family dog too. There has to be a happy medium to be had in this situation.
  6. Chris B

    Chris B Member

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    Toedtoes and Helidale like this.
    As has been suggested, gates are far less confining that crates - it would be cruel to keep him in a crate for the length of time your trainer suggests.

    Bring him in the same room when the kids are calm and don't let them start rough housing with him.

    This breed is high intensity, so with kids in the mix, it's training (both kids and dog), patience and most importantly, setting boundaries

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