Hello! We have a 14 week old St Bernese (St Bernard/Bernese mix) and he is the sweetest, affectionate pup…most of the time. But he likes to charge at my kids and nip at them when they come down the stairs or walk across a room. Any tips to curb this behaviour? I don’t want them to be scared of him and right now they are so hesitant which makes the situation worse. Thanks so much!
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. You don't mention the ages of the kids, but I'm guessing they are young. If they are under 12, leave them out of that second part - kids taking something from a dog is not a good thing. If they are 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 chasing 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 one of the kids 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 kids, 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. Do the same thing with the stairs by first determining when he starts going for the kids - when they reach the bottom of the stairs or as soon as he sees/hears them on the stairs. You want to give the sit command just before the kid reaches that point on the stairs. Follow steps 1 and 2. When you reach stage 3, you're going to change it slightly. Instead of having the kid sit next to you, you're going to have them give the sit command from that point on the stairs. They only walk down the stairs once he sits. When you can't supervise, use a baby gate or exercise pen to keep him from being able to get to the stairs. Also, everyone should get in the habit of explaining to him what you're doing. In conersational tones, say things like "I need to get the laundry", "I'm going to my room", I think we'll have meatloaf tonight", and so on. Get him used to you making a comment right before you get up. It helps him understand you're not disappearing on him. As he grows, he'll start to catch on to the words. So when you say "time to do laundry", he knows you're going to go to the laundry room and when you say "I'm going to the store" that you will be leaving the house for a while. It helps with the separation issues. Use a different statement when you are leaving for a short errand versus a long absence. Mine were "be a good dog" when I left for work or for more than an hour, and "I'll be right back" for getting the mail, getting the mail, and short errands. This will also help with him learning to ignore the kids moving around. My Tornado-dog has become so intuned with my conversations that when I say "shower" he (and his sister) run upstairs to the bathroom, and when I say "I have to pee", he runs to the downstairs bathroom and "points" at the toilet. When I say "potty", he goes to the back door because that means it's HIS pee time.
