# 1yr-old nipping at strangers who enter the house



## cts125 (Aug 13, 2010)

Our 1 yr-old, Wiley, has shown signs of fear aggression when anyone he hasn't met comes to our home. In addition to barking uncontrollaby he will lunge or jump up on them and recently the behavior has escalated to nipping at their hands. After a few minutes he will stop that behavior and attempt to engage our visitors in play, but he is still in a dominant frame of mind.

He only exhibits this behavior at home (or motel rooms when we travel). In general, out and about he greets people cautiously but never agressively. He does show leash aggression in the area around our home, usually at night when meeting another dog.

Our main concern is that this behavior might continue to escalate and lead to biting. We have a sense that this might be a phase but we don't want to leave it uncorrected.

Any advice or suggestions?

Thanks
Charles


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

If I had a dog who what nipping or biting at people, on or off leash, I'd want to consult with a good trainer QUICK. Even nipping in play is not OK in my book, except with a VERY small puppy who has not yet learned better.


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## Thumper (Feb 18, 2007)

If it were only barking and hyper behavior, It would be less alarming than the nipping/biting. That may take more than reprimanding ..possibly a trainer could help with this.

If it were me, I would be so mad I'd probably put her in her crate (she HATES her crate) as hyper and barky bark bark as Gucci gets when someone comes over, I've never seen her nip or bite..that would worry me so much.

I hope you get some good suggestions and ideas soon

Kara


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

krandall said:


> If I had a dog who what nipping or biting at people, on or off leash, I'd want to consult with a good trainer QUICK. Even nipping in play is not OK in my book, except with a VERY small puppy who has not yet learned better.


Ditto.


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## The Laughing Magpie (Aug 20, 2009)

It may have started out as a phase but at 1 yr old it is now a habit. I agree you do need to get in touch with a postive trainer or a behaviorist. In the mean time you need to redirect Wiley's meet and greet behavior. Since most of us live busy lives sometimes its hard to consistently redirect behavior. These are only suggestions to help you for now as you are looking for the right trainer. You could get a family member or neighbor to help you with door etiquette. You should have Wiley on a leash at first, have someone ring the bell make Wiley sit, if he sits give him a treat if he gets up no treat, everytime he give yous the right behavior you will treat(you will need many small treats as you will be feeding his good behavior) have the person come inside and sit down. After Wiley is calm let him greet your guest, no playing. You should do this many times as much as you can on different days(It actually takes a bit of time each time you do this). When you don't have time for this and you have guests keep him out of the room until your guests are settled, then introduce him (if you need too have him on the leash). The idea is for him to learn this behavior. My dog Yogi use to jump on all guests (more like a tackle) he did not bite or nip, he did think everyone came to play with him. He still gets excited, he does not jump and if he gets too excited he gets a toy goes to the other part of the room and shakes it and chews it until he is calm, then he comes over to meet everyone (he is redirecting his behavior to chewing the duck). It took many months to teach this. You really need to address this as soon a possible. If you have not been to a beginners obedience class you may want to try, you will learn lots of coping skills and classes are fun. Hope this helps a bit.


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## O'Bluff (Jan 29, 2011)

Have some people (one at a time on different days) he does not know come to the door with his favorite treats. Have him on a leash and see if you can get him to associate strangers with something pleasant, i.e., his favorite treat.

Good luck. Yery impressive that you are nipping this in the bud. No pun intended - really!


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## StarrLhasa (Jun 6, 2010)

We had had been having problems with our two [girl approx 1 1/2 yr old and bot 1 yr old] getting really excited and barking and trying to jump up on visitors, although not biting. What we did was designate a doggie bed about 15' from the front door as a settle spot.

When the doorbell rings and the dogs start to bark and run to the front door, we tell them to SETTLE and point to the bed, and they both have to sit or lay down on the bed before we will open the door.

They cannot leave the settle spot until released. The visitor can come to them to greet them and pet them. Then they are released from settle. We are still working on it, but it has helped reduce the noise and chaos.


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## davetgabby (Dec 29, 2007)

StarrLhasa said:


> We had had been having problems with our two [girl approx 1 1/2 yr old and bot 1 yr old] getting really excited and barking and trying to jump up on visitors, although not biting. What we did was designate a doggie bed about 15' from the front door as a settle spot.
> 
> When the doorbell rings and the dogs start to bark and run to the front door, we tell them to SETTLE and point to the bed, and they both have to sit or lay down on the bed before we will open the door.
> 
> They cannot leave the settle spot until released. The visitor can come to them to greet them and pet them. Then they are released from settle. We are still working on it, but it has helped reduce the noise and chaos.


Good stuff, you 've got the right idea.


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## Ninja (Nov 1, 2010)

StarrLhasa said:


> We had had been having problems with our two [girl approx 1 1/2 yr old and bot 1 yr old] getting really excited and barking and trying to jump up on visitors, although not biting. What we did was designate a doggie bed about 15' from the front door as a settle spot.
> 
> When the doorbell rings and the dogs start to bark and run to the front door, we tell them to SETTLE and point to the bed, and they both have to sit or lay down on the bed before we will open the door.
> 
> They cannot leave the settle spot until released. The visitor can come to them to greet them and pet them. Then they are released from settle. We are still working on it, but it has helped reduce the noise and chaos.


I'm also having a similar problem. This is a really great idea thank u for sharing


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