My six month old puppy constantly jumps on my husband, nips his ankles and tries to untie his laces. Ignoring him and turning away doesn't stop the behavior. My husband thinks we should use a chain collar to correct him but I'd like to avoid this method. Has anyone used a crate as a time out in these situations? Any words of wisdom?

Originally Posted by gloria66

My six month old puppy constantly jumps on my husband, nips his ankles and tries to untie his laces. Ignoring him and turning away doesn't stop the behavior. My husband thinks we should use a chain collar to correct him but I'd like to avoid this method. Has anyone used a crate as a time out in these situations? Any words of wisdom?

Our Pup is four months and exhibits much of the same (from what we understand typical behavior) a few thoughts from what we have been told to what we have experienced: BE THE ALPHA for your pup ... jokingly Barbara used her "Steve Voice" as our pup sometimes responds differently to my commands VS hers ... and humorously it works ... but still behaves overall the same for both of us. We use several techniques to discourage the excessive gnawing/nipping and chewing on us: Give'm something else to chew on/toy/bone/etc ... pet & praise. When that hasn't worked we separate us from the pup by cage/outdoors or simply putting the child-proof gate up keeping him in the next room away from us. The breed hates owner separation and disapproval and our pup is successfully/happily learning. Be repetitious and patient with this instruction .. our pup is coming around to the concept and is such a joy.

Originally Posted by SERUSSELL

Our Pup is four months and exhibits much of the same (from what we understand typical behavior) a few thoughts from what we have been told to what we have experienced: BE THE ALPHA for your pup ... jokingly Barbara used her "Steve Voice" as our pup sometimes responds differently to my commands VS hers ... and humorously it works ... but still behaves overall the same for both of us. We use several techniques to discourage the excessive gnawing/nipping and chewing on us: Give'm something else to chew on/toy/bone/etc ... pet & praise. When that hasn't worked we separate us from the pup by cage/outdoors or simply putting the child-proof gate up keeping him in the next room away from us. The breed hates owner separation and disapproval and our pup is successfully/happily learning. Be repetitious and patient with this instruction .. our pup is coming around to the concept and is such a joy.

This is the best way if the giving a toy and praising does not work. At 6 months he is still very much a baby and learning they do not mentally grow into their brains till around 3. They are easily trainable they love to please the humans so patience kindness being calm and it soon sinks in.

Please do not revert to a choke collar or chain as we here in the UK call them. Bernese do not like being scolded or yanked and pulled around the chain will also pull on his fur possibly pull it out and hurt as it will on any dog and besides it can damage the larynx.

Thanks for all the good advice. My instincts tell me that a choke chain is definitely not the way to go. Today, when he was jumping and nipping, we gave him some time to calm down. When he couldn't, I just took him by the collar and without saying a word, put him in his crate. After a few minutes, he settled down and was let out. He did a little nipping and shoe lace grabbing and I had him sit, come and stay. That calmed him down and redirected his mind.

Originally Posted by gloria66

Thanks for all the good advice. My instincts tell me that a choke chain is definitely not the way to go. Today, when he was jumping and nipping, we gave him some time to calm down. When he couldn't, I just took him by the collar and without saying a word, put him in his crate. After a few minutes, he settled down and was let out. He did a little nipping and shoe lace grabbing and I had him sit, come and stay. That calmed him down and redirected his mind.

Thats a better way to deal with the situation.

I think we forget puppies like babies and small children get over tired and when they do they become naughty, we find kind ways to deal with this and in a similar way give them time out. IE put them to bed or calm the environment around them so they become sleepy and settle and have that much needed snooze. Mayb some getting ont hefloor and cuddling would calm him too and send him to sleep.

I use to spend a lot of time on the floor cuddling my boy if he wasn't on the sofa in between us having cuddles.

We would put Molly in time out, similar to what you are doing. Ignoring her behaviour never worked for us. We didn't want her crate to be a negative place though so we would alternate where she would go, but it would always be somewhere not too close to us. Sometimes we would just tie her leash to the kitchen table leg (until she got bigger ) and have her wait there for a few minutes. We still do the same thing sometimes when we play outside when she gets too rambunctious. I find the best time to play with her is after she's walked or we've done some sit and waits so her mind is a bit more focused.

We also used a time out in his crate. We didn't like the idea of having his crate be a negative place because he loves his crate. So when we would put him in time out, we would put a blanket over the crate so he couldn't see out. We mostly would use it when he would get so crazy with biting and barking and it was a way to calm him down. It did seem like he was over tired and couldn't calm himself down. We haven't had to do it for a few weeks and he just turned 4 months old. He has gotten better.

My Paige nearly went back because of her pulling, jumping and biting.I've had her since she was 12 weeks and she turns 1 on 7/16. I took her to puppy socialization and basic training at Pet Smart. Yes I her what you are all saying, but the trainer Karen was great. She knew how big Paige would become and my walking with a cane didn't help. After 2 lessons Paige had stopped being "bad". For leash walking she had me have the leash behind me to the left. Hold leash in right hand. Thus when she pulled it was my whole body stopping her.(Halter not collar). Lots of praise when she was good, do it again if not. For jumping it was to turn my body away and yelp like a hurt pup. The biting was vinager and water 50/50 spray when redirection didn't work. Also holding her snout and saying no biting worked. I use the word easy when she starts to walk ahead and she stops till I catch up. This was learned in the beginning of leash training. Now she is a pleasure.(She is my second Berner). I have 3 other dogs not Berners also and never needed assistance with training until her. Hope this helps someone.( I posted this for leash training originally.)

Originally Posted by LMQ

My Paige nearly went back because of her pulling, jumping and biting.I've had her since she was 12 weeks and she turns 1 on 7/16. I took her to puppy socialization and basic training at Pet Smart. Yes I her what you are all saying, but the trainer Karen was great. She knew how big Paige would become and my walking with a cane didn't help. After 2 lessons Paige had stopped being "bad". For leash walking she had me have the leash behind me to the left. Hold leash in right hand. Thus when she pulled it was my whole body stopping her.(Halter not collar). Lots of praise when she was good, do it again if not. For jumping it was to turn my body away and yelp like a hurt pup. The biting was vinager and water 50/50 spray when redirection didn't work. Also holding her snout and saying no biting worked. I use the word easy when she starts to walk ahead and she stops till I catch up. This was learned in the beginning of leash training. Now she is a pleasure.(She is my second Berner). I have 3 other dogs not Berners also and never needed assistance with training until her. Hope this helps someone.( I posted this for leash training originally.)

It sounds like you found ways that worked for you. By the way, there's nothing wrong with taking your puppy for training at Pet Smart.

Storm use to pull and jump and nip. For the jumping and nipping he would go into a room by himself. kind of like a crate. he hated it. It did not take long for him to stop.

Pulling, hmmmm, a choker chain did not work, he still pulled bad. I still do this when I want control. I loop the lead through the handle and put the whole lead around his neck. It works for him.

I tried a halty but when he panicked slipped out of it and headed for traffic it went in the garbage. That was my fault for not trying to get him use to it on in the house first. I thought put it on and take him so he doesn't have time to think about it. bad idea.