churchtexter
New member
Just want to share my story because I know that having a biter can feel like a very daunting task.
Last year, I took my pup (at the time 2y/o, F, mix breed) on a walk with a friend's dog. I was not nearly as educated as I am now, and we let them run around together. In hindsight, my dog's energy was way too much for the other dog, and I think it tried to correct her and they ended up in a fight. Unfortunately, my dog broke skin on the other dog and I felt terrible.
We got very serious about training after that. We stopped having any off leash dog interactions and got serious about proofing her recall out of play. I learned a lot about play based training and it worked wonders (in addition to e-collar training). We've worked hard and she has progressed wonderfully! I started reintroducing play dates with a different dog that has a better matched play style, and practiced frequent breaks. She has also been introduced to dogs that don't want to interact with her, and learned how to leave them alone. It has all gone so well that my friend and I decided to try again with our dogs. We watched them closely, I gave my pup a little bit of guidance along the way, but ultimately they did just wonderfully.
I really attribute her emotional regulation to play based training. We have mostly followed the Balabanov style, and learning to out a toy has correlated to so much trust, cooperation, and control in her. She's just awesome and I'm so happy about our progress!
Last year, I took my pup (at the time 2y/o, F, mix breed) on a walk with a friend's dog. I was not nearly as educated as I am now, and we let them run around together. In hindsight, my dog's energy was way too much for the other dog, and I think it tried to correct her and they ended up in a fight. Unfortunately, my dog broke skin on the other dog and I felt terrible.
We got very serious about training after that. We stopped having any off leash dog interactions and got serious about proofing her recall out of play. I learned a lot about play based training and it worked wonders (in addition to e-collar training). We've worked hard and she has progressed wonderfully! I started reintroducing play dates with a different dog that has a better matched play style, and practiced frequent breaks. She has also been introduced to dogs that don't want to interact with her, and learned how to leave them alone. It has all gone so well that my friend and I decided to try again with our dogs. We watched them closely, I gave my pup a little bit of guidance along the way, but ultimately they did just wonderfully.
I really attribute her emotional regulation to play based training. We have mostly followed the Balabanov style, and learning to out a toy has correlated to so much trust, cooperation, and control in her. She's just awesome and I'm so happy about our progress!