GRABBING CLOTHES

[Suzybee]

Hi, Billy is 10 months old and when he plays he grabs and pulls our clothes and also sits and barks at us. This is his only bad thing so far!!!  We have tried telling him No and leave and even ignoring him and walking out the room (sometimes with him still attached) He's not aggressive with it, he just wants to play.  We just don't know what else to do to stop him. Any ideas?

[Beth]

Nope, i'm finding this is a favourite past time of Rudy's. I'm hoping time and lots of no's and ignoring will do the trick.

[Philtrum]

Mabel loves to have a go at my daughters clothes (and mine too sometimes), we have taught Grace (daughter) to stand still and tell her "off", if this does not work and its continued then Mabel gets a little time out in the kitchen/another room

we also have some bitter apple spray and when she was at her worse (so far as she is only 10 weeks) we spray the hem of Graces dress and follow the same procedure, doing that helped her learn that it does not taste nice

I find that she is doing it when she wants something, either play, fuss, toilet or food

we have been teaching her to sit before she gets fuss ... and today she ran up to me and skidded to a halt on her bum ... obviously wanting some fuss ... so she got loads

hope thats of some help
Phil

[Suzybee]

It does thanks, and nice to know he isn't the only one out there that does it. He has mad 10 mins at 4 pm and just goes mad.  Glad you said about the time out, Billy is no stranger to that, mind you he hasn't had it for a few days. It does the trick and he comes back in and goes straight to sleep.

We did try the rattle bottle, but he just thought it was a toy, might not have been doing it right. Is there a right way to shake a bottle Where do you get bitter apple spray?

[Philtrum]

lol ... im sure they all do it

time out is a good non-negative way of reinforcing that bite=no play

I'd steer clear of the rattle bottle if you can, a good firm no is better as its a command and not a negative reinforcement by loud sound

bitter apple or "anti chew spray" is available from most pet shops and garden centres that have pet sections ... i've not checked but I would imagine you can get it from supermarkets too ...

it does not last long, but it can be enought to deter and they you can distract with somethine positive that you want the pup to do and reward for that

lol ... reading it back it sounds great, but Mabel still goes for clothes, its getting much less though now, and her leave command is getting better

I hope that by teaching her actual commands and their meaning (clicker training is great !) that we can then practicaly use them in the situations .. and reward for when she follows the command

[Sequin]

I can't offer any advice I'm afraid but we've got exactly the same problem with Starsky (4 months) at the moment, although he only does it with me!  He gets sooo excited to see me first thing in the morning or when I come home from work that he goes nuts, jumping up at me and grabbing any clothing he can.  I've tried 'no!' and 'off!' but it doesn't seem to be making much difference. 

I'm trying to think of it positively, that it's his way of showing he loves me (he's a real mummy's boy!  ) but it's driving me mad!  Hopefully it will get better with time.  Hutch is much calmer and prefers to show his love by wagging his tail so hard it looks like it will fall off!

[kobi]

Hi Folks
          The only thing kobi grabs is socks he is bloody sock mad i leave them by my chair (my fault i know),  he no's he shouldnt but sneaks round and the promptly sits in front of me showing off the sock and waging his tail as if to say look at me i got it what a muppet,there are more holes in my socks than there is in a calender, when i catch him sneaking round and when he is about to grab it i shout in a loud voice NO the excitment in getting it sort of wears off a bit and he backs away but he will try again,again,again then he will give up. Good luck

Regards alan

[Suzybee]

Thanks, I keep saying he's only young he will get over it. He actually did let go of Dads coat tonight, when we said leave. He may get over it.

I have never been able to find the clickers anywhere in the shops.

[Philtrum]

we got our clicker from pets @ home, but you should be able to get them from loads of places ... if not ebay have millions !

amazon sell them too if I remember right

[Top Barks]

Thanks, I keep saying he's only young he will get over it. He actually did let go of Dads coat tonight, when we said leave. He may get over it.

I have never been able to find the clickers anywhere in the shops.

Do you have a certain tug toy you play with? If not it might be prudent to introduce one.
You need to teach him to play with rules in place so if he grabs something he shouldn't the fun ends.
I would also heavily reinforce a drop cue by rewarding him for letting go of an item (preferably not your clothing to start with)
I find offering the dog something better  often gets the dog to drop an item and as it drops the item say drop and reward with whatever your dog likes to work for.
Mark

[Suzybee]

Many thanks for all your advice, I will take it all on board. He seems to have the devil in him today, we think it could be because he was bored. We bought him a new toy yesterday and he seems to love it and when ever he looks like he is going to start, we get him to play with the toy and it seems to work. 

I shall look at getting a clicker aswell I think.

[ludo]

oh I remember this well - it only lasted a few weeks but was sooooo challenging at the time - we played swops when he grabbed things - with clothing, I immobilised the sweater or whatever it was so he couldn't actually shake it - got boring so he let it go - bitter apple, tucking pants in socks, regular sleep slots and changing food to Burns (which calmed him down) all helped to get us through this period 

[Kimberley]

Coco can still does this, its excitement with him. I carry a favourite toy in a pocket and when he starts to get excited out comes the toy

[cazza]

I shall look at getting a clicker aswell I think.

If you've not used a clicker before - then make sure read up on how to 'charge' the clicker first and remember the click is as soon as he does / is doing the behaviour you want 

Think Mark will be able to explain this better than me 

[Top Barks]

I'm sure you can explain it just as well! 
Over to you, I'm off two see two lovely chocolate worker girls  in harrogate this morning so I'm a bit pushed for time.
Go on Cazza you can do it!