Hi Darcie, I have a 16 month old Lab Chow mix that is very timid around children but if the child starts running my dog will start chasing him/her and bark and try to playfully nip at them. I know she is playing as she will do the same thing with me (I try to correct her when she does this with me). Any suggestions how I may be able to curb this behavior? Jeff
Dear Jeff,
When I have a mixed breed dog, I look at the temperament and characteristics of both breeds to try to determine the best way to train. I’ve never had a Chow so I won’t be a whole lot of help for you. I’ll give you what I can.
If she was a herding dog, I’d say that’s what herding dogs do and you can easily change the behavior. My girl Dancer chased the neighbor boy over the fence. Well, he went for the top of the fence and she grabbed his shoe. I was on her side about that, he was throwing rocks at her. I talked to his Mom and we all worked together, Mom, the boy, Dancer and me. He stopped teasing her, she stopped chasing him over the fence.
I do worry about your dog being timid. That runs up a few red flags for me, no matter what the breed. Timid often translates to “fear” and that can be bad. Fear can turn into all things bad like aggression. A Lab and a Chow are pretty good sized breeds with a lot of muscle. Even in play, they could hurt somebody pretty easily. The chasing and nipping can easily turn into someone getting hurt.
If she was mine, she would be on a leash and would not get to chase children or anyone. I would immediately start positive training with her. Some people think that positive training means food and it can indeed include food. Positive training means no force: no hitting, jerking, spanking, yelling, choking. If you do those things with your Chow mix, she’ll probably shut down or get worse. Positive training is getting your dog to agree to work with you.
I’ve never had a Chow, I understand they are a strong willed breed but even if that’s true, it doesn’t have to be all bad. It does mean that you and each member of your family will need to train her and she will have to obey each person at the drop of a hat.
My very best advice for you is to find a good positive trainer to teach you and your children how to handle the dog. That said, here we go…
Teach her “off”. Start with a bite of food. Tell her off, she leaves it, give it to her. Make a fist, show it to her gently, say “off”. The instant she ignores or moves away from your fist, praise her. “Off” simply means “do not put your mouth on this.” When she’s doing good with off for the whole family, then take a few running steps, if she starts to put her mouth on you, tell her “off”, when she does, praise. It’s the best training not to nip that I have ever found.
I would put her on a leash and teach her a very solid “sit”. No matter who says sit, she does it. Whether she’s at a dead run or standing still. “Sit” cures a lot of ills. Meaning, you can’t run and nip if you’re sitting.
She needs a drop dead recall. Meaning, if she has started to chase, anyone can call “Judy Come!” and she turns to come running.
I hope that you can find someone quickly to help you. Don’t let them use a shock or metal collar, you’ll see things get much worse if you do that.
You might consider that she is a full grown dog now. Some trainers will tell you that you have a lot of time left to train her, others will tell you that you are out of time. Some will say that you need to find her a new home, others will say that she needs to be put down, some will say, hang in there and see how it goes before you make a decision.
I say, find a good positive trainer and give her a chance to be your good dog. She hasn’t bitten yet, nipping comes in a close second, but you would have told me if she’d taken skin with a nip. Right?
Take her for morning and evening walks, good long walks, this will help more than anything else you can do. She must be either beside you or behind you on these walks and on a loose leash.
Lots of obedience training, positive only, please. Make it fun. You might consider agility, too. Turn her energy into a game that won’t hurt anybody.
And manage that movement. She can’t chase and nip if you have her on a sit stay and on a leash. Good Girl! for not chasing.
Dogs love to chase and play and if all goes well with the training, she’ll get to do that, too. One last piece of advice if the “off” doesn’t work quickly…it should but if it doesn’t…get her turned on to an Orbee Ball, Zisc Frisbee, or a soft toy (you’ll find them all at SitStay.com). If she has something in her mouth, she’s less likely to bite.
I wish I was there, I’d love to meet her. I have Lab mixes, too.
Darcie
