Hi I am from the UK and have a10 month old male berner who is becoming very dominant with me and will not respond to any training. At the moment he constantly barks, grabs my leg, jumps up and is becoming totally uncontrollable. I have had dogs all my life but never a male dog. I have tried everything to ignoring him, walking out the room, talking to him etc but nothing is working and am at my wits end. He is a bit better behaved when I am with him on my own. I would appreciate any advice anyone can give me, I don't want to give up on him and it will break my heart to have to re-home him but I have to consider my health as I have Stage 3 Kidney Disease, my last hope is sending him to a training school something I have never had to do before with any of my dogs throughout my life I feel I am failing him somewhere but don't know where

He is hitting his teenage stage.

I don't think it is dominance he is being naughty. Mentally Bernese do not mature till about 3 years old. He has realised he has the better of you at the moment and is making the most of it.

Do you have a room you could put a stair gate across ? Either remove him to it or yourself I know you say you are removing yourself but the usual way is dog shows unwanted behaviour remove him or you and for only 2 mins. Let out if not stopped keep repeating just increasing each time by no more than a minute.

Are you just raising your voice to him or shouting ?

Lowering the tone of your voice may stop him long enough to take the situation over if you are making a higher pitched noise it may well be winding him up. Have you tried diverting him onto a toy and teaching get a toy ? Is he getting enough mental stimulation Bernese will become naughty if not exercised enough but of course it is a catch 22 situation with them as you must not over exercise while still so young.

You could try hide and seek games round the house or garden to mentally tire him.

I had a little staffie to stay recently I lost my Bernese recently to illness so dog sit at the moment and I have never come across such a naughty dog. I put him outside the back door 10 times one evening within 10 miinuts till he got the message to stop his biting. He was like a child and dogs do get like children over tired and need you to step in and find the solution to make them settle sometimes.

Consistency is the key with any dog especially Bernese. Good luck hope some of the suggestions help. Remember we have all been there and come out the other side.

I will add never raise your hand to him or hit him you will make him shy and a shy fully grown Berner is no joke. ( I am sure you don't do this though ) .

Training classes may help but finding someone who understands the complex minds of a Bernese is hard. You need someone who does not use old fashioned traditional methods such as yanking nudging etc.., but positive reward or toy related training. Or just fuss. they do need a firm hand when young but a fair hand.

Where abouts in the uk are you ?

Hi there,

I have an 11 Month old boy and although he is not as naughty as your little terror seems to be, he still does have his moments,but I agree with lynn he is still just a baby and is testing his luck,consistancy is the answer and he will eventually get the message.

Is there anything in particular that sets him off or is he like this all of the time?

I agree you need to sort this out now as having a 100+lb dog out of control will be no fun,again as Lynn mentioned use a toy to take his mind off things,Fynn's favourite is a Kong filled with his favourite treats.

I have found shouting never works just makes him worse so I just turn my back on him and walk away lock him outside if I have too and when he doesnt have an audiance he calms down.

I know this must seem hard at the moment but all off your hard work will pay off in the end,just stick with it

where abouts in the UK are you?

__________________
Rowan

Durham UK

Our Berner boy is 9 months old and exhibiting the same behavior.

I am pretty lost as he is fantastic in every other respect. He is very well socialized and greets people with a fantastic automatic sit. He walks on leash very well and is very gentle with visiting children. I also walk him an hour everyday rain or shine.

He shows absolutely no food aggression. He has stopped jumping up. He sits, stays and does a beautiful leave it.

The biting is what is killing us. Its like he goes nut out of no where and will start nipping, biting at clothes and it builds.

He has bit down very hard leaving bruises on our hands, legs and arms.

What frustrates me most is that none of the "remedies" I have read about don't seem to phase him. We consistently did the "no bite" ply w/ toys distraction. He ignores the toy and continues to go at us. If you walk away, he will follow biting at your legs, feet and butt.

We followed Before & After Getting Your Puppy religiously. Somehow, this one issue is not resolving.

Spraying the water/vinegar solution seems to hype him up even more....

We never played tug-a-war with him. When he was smaller he did not bite like this at all. In fact, he never chewed up stuff he wasn't supposed to, just focused on his toys.

I am really lost as 80% of the time he is great but that 20% really worries me. Plus it hurts.

This behavoir seems more pronounced the past 2 months. I love our pup but this biting is really getting out of control.

Bernese can be a mouthy breed they have to learn the bite inhibition. Ollie was aways a mouthy dog but got gentler as he got older they are still still teething in as much as the teeth are settling into their jaw this is just as painful as when they first start teething. Ollie was turned 1 before he stopped bearing down so hard and someone I knew at the training school said his was even older.

Try this it is good.

The Bite Stops Here by Dr Ian Dunbar