Stopping a Santa Monica Dog’s Ankle Biting

For this Santa Monica dog training session we were called in to stop 7 year-old Chihuahua Dachshund mix RoRo from lunging and nipping at strangers who stand up, move suddenly or try to leave.

When a dog lunges and bites people when they move, its often a result of a dog who is insecure or suffers from low self esteem. It can also be caused by a dog who thinks its in the leadership position in the home. I think in RoRo’s case, its all of the above.

I spent the first part of the session going over the importance of exercise, consistent enforcement of rules so the dogs seems the human “acting” like a leader in the dog’s eyes, adding structure to petting and rewarding desired behaviors so the dog knows what it can do that the human wants.

Next I handed my camera to the guardian so she could record a positive dog training exercise to stop the dog from lunging at people who move.

Helping a dog understand that a person’s movement isn’t a bad thing isn’t hard to do and you don’t have to be a professional dog trainer to do it. Just follow the steps, progress slowly and practice often.

RoRo’s guardian was impressed that I was able to stop the nipping so quickly. Teaching a dog to stop nipping is all about helping it practicing positive associations and helping the dog practice not lunging and nipping.

At the end of the session, RoRo did try to nip my ankles when I left at the end of the session. The guardian can use this same trick to stop a dog from biting people’s ankles. She will just need to find a helper who can move slow and progress like I did in the free dog behavior video above.

To help the guardian remember all the dog behavior tips we shared in this in home Santa Monica dog training session.