What commands will help with these problems?

[meganp]

So my DDB puppy is about 6 months old. He's a great dog and a wonderful addition to our house. I have had him in dog school where he's learned sit, down, stay, he's still working on come because half the time he's waiting for the person holding his leash to pat him before he comes to me.

I do have two problems when he's at home. The first is when someone in my immediate family comes in he gets so excited he starts jumping and nipping them. He doesn't do this with friends coming over it's just with the people he sees the most. I'm sure part of this is he's just a youthful puppy but I don't want this habit to continue when he's older.

He also still has a habit of grabbing things he's not supposed to. If I'm washing off my plate to put in the dish washer and he wants my attention he will jump up and grab a dish towel off the sink and run with it. I've tried just ignoring it which works to varying degrees, my trainer suggested swapping out the object he took with a treat but I am worried about just rewarding the bad behavior. He also has a tendency to grab napkins or tissues out of the trash. These habits aren't all the time but again I want to curb them now before he gets older.

He is very well exercised and the longest he is home alone is a couple of hours. Honestly he is a great dog, very friendly and great with my young nieces. These are just two problems that I just can't seem to get a handle on.

 

[PrinceLorde13]

Yes his age is a big part of his behavior and you are very wise to want to correct these problems now. My suggestion for the over excitement is no positive interaction while he's in that state, no hello, no petting, if necessary have his collar and a leash ready to be able to stop him of jumping and nipping if ignoring just hypes him up more. When he does act calmly even for a moment reward that with a pet or good boy or treat. Also, at least in my house, how the people come in and act will directly influence the dogs reaction, I.e. Baby talk, high pitched noise, excitement of their own will all feed the pups level of excitement as well.
Now the stealing lol. My male did the exact same thing from about 4months to around 7months, even the dish towel if I was in the kitchen. I did talk with some people about the switch for a treat thing and people seem to be pretty divided about it, for some it does work. However I was like you and felt it would only teach him to steal for treats. Honestly all I would do is take the towel back with a firm no, it was annoying at times but he did get it. It also helped as he got older and became more interested in and more able to use his toys and of corse at all times standard training is going on here so he was also learning respect, discipline, and a firm definition of "no" and "drop it" during these time which I also feel aided in breaking him of this habit. Hope some of this can help you.

 

[Smokeycat]

He sounds a lot like my non mastiff was. What finally worked to teach him not to jump up was grabbing his front legs and 'dancing' with him every time that he did and then big excited attention when he said hi with all four paws on the floor.
Jiggers will steal to get attention so unless he grabbed something dangerous, like he did with a steak knife once, we ignore him and the object is no longer any fun without being chased. When it was dangerous for him to have I did do a trade with a tasty treat. I was worried about him starting to steal for the treat but it quickly became apparent that the treat was a consolation prize and not his goal.

 

[season]

The word NO is a wonderful word if your dog actually believes it.

 

[season]

The main thing is consistency....leadership isn't a part time job....especially with puppies who are still trying to figure out what works and what doesn't work for them, you need to be consistent, vigilant and on top of things all of the time. Getting your dog to understand the word NO is paramount in establishing discipline. Dogs/puppies (just like humans) will do what works for them. Praise what you like, correct what you don't. It's really that simple.

Any dog can learn basic commands....that really doesn't mean anything unless they do it all of the time and under pressure.

 

[meganp]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will say I do realize as he is growing all his mischievous behaviors have gotten better so I'm sure like everything else this will just take more time and more work. I was just looking to see what some others felt helped them get to the place they wanted to be.

The jumping is just his excitement. When I walk in the door I'm always calm and even in hopes this will keep him calm and even. I will take part of the blame though because when I come in I'm usually carrying my work bags and so I'm not always dealing with the situation as quickly as I need to be. For now I might change my routine so I'm more free to deal with his behavior the moment i walk in.

I've tried to ignore him when he gets something but if it's tissues he just eats them and if it's another object he'll chew on it. As I said I'm very hesitant to try swapping out a treat for the object(though if it was a dangerous object I would do whatever it took) so maybe for the time being I can try swapping out a toy for the object. I have to say it's not like he'll steal anything he usually goes for soft objects like a towel, a bag, something made out of cloth.

Season- I don't really use the word No with him because I have two toddler nieces who are constantly yelling no. No to the dog, their parents, anyone who gets in their way of fun. But We have lots of other words that we use and work but when it comes to these two problems you'd think he doesn't even know his name, he gets blinders on. I'm working with him routinely to get him to listen to commands and follow commands. He will sit when I tell him to even if there's a crowd of people near him but if he's got my sweatshirt and he's running with there are no words to stop him. So he's a work in progress but he's just six months old and we're working on it.

 

[season]

You can use any word you want....It's about the energy u use...and the consistency u use them with. When I get home I ignore my dog...no touch, no talk, no eye contact. He's 1 year and 8 months old now, so it's a routine....he doesn't bother even trying to get affection and attention until I initiate it. It'snot hard to get your dog to follow your lead as long as you and every one else in the house is on the same page. But if you are feeding into his excitement with attention then he's training you.

And why would you ignore a behavior you don't want. So if your dog grabs a towel off the table you ignore it? I wouldn't do that. Here's what I did. Solo did something like that, I said No (you can say whatever word you want, it's not the word that matters)....firm, but calm and assertive. I watched him like a hawk, so he never had the opportunity to get something before I got to him with a No first. Simple. Pretty quickly he learned that shouldn't be done. If u can't watch your pup all the time then put him in a crate. Also keep him on a leash while in the house until he learns. Keeps him close to you and helps you establish leadership.

Just head my warning....he may be a "work in progress" now, but soon he will be a 100 lb "work in progress" because you haven't developed the leadership skills you need. Loving a dog is easy. Giving affection is easy. Good luck.

 

[scorning]

My dog was kind of a hot mess at the door. Our trainer had us use a bed or place command. Then when someone is at the door, you can send them to their bed and have them stay there until the person is inside. My dogs are calmer when they are obeying the place command. We've also started to use this for when we are eating dinner, we have them go to their bed until released.

For the stealing ,management is key. Use pet proof garbage cans and only allow the dog as much freedom as they have earned. If they steal stuff in the kitchen, they don't get to go in the kitchen. We use baby gates and crates to manage access.

 

[DennasMom]

It sounds like attention-getting behavior to me....

He may be well exercised, but, being a velcro dog... they do like your attention nearly ALL the time. If he has a set schedule or routine for when play time is and when it isn't, that might help him be less pushy, too. I'm not big on schedules around here, but that works for some people. Sometimes just having a 'job' can help. Denna's 'job' when I'm making dinner is to lay down OUT of the kitchen (normally in the doorway), where she can supervise (and occasionally receive a tidbit of what I'm fixing).

I'd work on some impulse control games with him. Teach him "wait" for EVERYTHING. He must sit&wait for dinner, for going outside, for pets, for games, for treats, for toys, etc. Once he gets good at wait, you can use it for all sorts of stuff... if you see him going to grab a napkin - "wait!" and hopefully he'll sit and wait for you to go get a treat. So you are not rewarding him for a game of napkin-chasing, but you are rewarding for a 'wait', and any other command you want to tack on to it at the end (for example: wait.... sit.... then treat).

I also like the 'dancing' idea for stopping the jumping-up-in-excitement issue.

And, if you can't use "no", get some other good commands, like "stop" and "enough" and another good one is "rug" or "place" (send him to his bed to 'wait' for a treat). As scorning mentioned, the "place" command has LOTS of good uses, too.

 

[cj-sharpy]

Agree with all the advice you've been given.
Some things that have worked for us is to not use the dogs name for bad things.
So no more "max no, Max leave that, Max come here for a wash"
But lots of "Max heal (then treat)" and lots of name use when playing or clicker training. That helped him learn his name so when he hears it it means good things and helped with recall. Not perfect but like you a work in progress.
As for stealing things (or in my case chewing up things) I taught wait as no with his food first. He had to sit, then lay down before the food was put down, then he had to wait a few seconds or a minute before being released to eat. If he moved a strong no and make him wait. This also helped with leave it.
Sort of a middle ground between positive and traditional training.
Do what your told and good things come. Don't do what your told and they don't.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[cj-sharpy]

Oh and if you don't want to use "no" as it may confuse him just pick any other word or even a hand signal.
I taught my Max that a click and a fingered by sit. Two finger pointing down means lie down. I also know that the police in UK used to use German or Belgian commands to lessen the chances of a criminal calling off the dog.

It's good to watch someone loosing their minds cos their dog doesn't know sit and then I click my fingers and Max sits instantly.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[ruby55]

I had a dog that, although well behaved for the most part, could NOT resist garbage cans. It didn't matter what kind of can it was, he would attack & get it open before I could stop him, even if I was in the same room. I found the best solution was to keep the garbage in a room he could not get into. It was a pain in the butt to have to go to the mud room every time I had to throw something away, but it was better than an emergency vet bill.
We taught our dogs "leave it". In our case the command means stop whatever you're doing - drop it, don't get up on the couch, don't pick that up, all come under the "leave it" heading. Our 6 month old hasn't gotten the hang of that command yet, but he's learning by watching the older ones. I had a friend who had one of those dogs that learned if he stole something & got nasty about letting it go, he would get a piece of lunchmeat. Knives & prescription medication were a real problem. So I never used the trade for something better trick to get stuff back from the dogs.
In our house, the word "No" is only used for extreme circumstances, & the dogs will freeze when they hear their name & that word. They don't know what's wrong, but they know to JUST STOP in their tracks until they're released. I'm pretty sure it's the tone of voice that gets them though, since it's usually an urgent situation.

 

[meganp]

Just head my warning....he may be a "work in progress" now, but soon he will be a 100 lb "work in progress" because you haven't developed the leadership skills you need. Loving a dog is easy. Giving affection is easy. Good luck.

Maybe we are both misunderstanding each other because I find your post rather condescending. I called my dog a work in progress because he is a six month old dog who has picked up on a lot of commands very quickly but clearly has more learning to do. He's not some kind of menace who is impossible to live with. He's a dog I'm still training. He does not have the run of our house, our life or anything else. He has a few traits that our past mastiffs haven't had and I was seeking advice on curbing these behaviors before the became worse.

 

[meganp]

Thank you to everyone for the advice. We've already come a long way with greeting me at the door. He is already getting better at greeting me at the door and not jumping or getting too worked up. The jumping and nipping has been almost non existent, I'm working on getting him to sit and wait while I put away my keys and bag but we haven't mastered that yet.

The grabbing things when he wants attention now seems to come and go. Some days we seem to have no problems with it or if he does grab things a quick command stops him and he will give me the item. We still have some days when nothing will stop him. I'm going to continue to work on it. I have found that having one of his toys by the sing with me will get him to sit down and play with the toy at my feet while I wash dishes so I'm working with that to improve things.

I'm also working on mastering wait and stay with him, he's starting to get them so we will see how that will help both of us.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions and have taken all the advice so I can see what works for us.