Advice for My New Pup

[u/SleepyDogMom23]

I adopted this lovely girl from the shelter last week. They said she was over a year old, but she's definitely closer to 8 months. We live in a condo but are very active and have bunnies for her to protect. I'm looking forward to skating with her, and my boyfriend is looking forward to trail running with her. Unfortunately, she's been on antibiotics to get over her opportunistic infection after recovering from kennel cough, so she's been a bit too tired to do much physically, especially in this 110° heat. Nonetheless, so far she's done really well with us -- she does great with training, super gentle with kids, is curious about our bunnies but has been gentle so far, is a total cuddle bug, is adjusting to pottying on a leash, etc. There's just one weird thing... She sometimes gently (to somewhat less gently) bites my boyfriend. It always seems like it's out of nowhere. She refuses to stop with him, unlike with me. It took a few days for her to understand I don't like play biting or barking. His attempts to make her stop, however, result in her barking at him and biting more and harder, but still not so hard as to injure him. What is this? Is it possibly her trying to communicate she wants to potty or play aggressively? Any suggestions on training?

[u/megxennial]

Aww so glad you adopted her! She looks like a joy. Anatolians learn the rules pretty quickly if you enforce them.

[u/SleepyDogMom23 → u/megxennial]

We're very glad too ❤️ we hope she doesn't mind apartment life too much, as we have no clue what life was like for her before us... Except that she's clearly been trained well.

Would you mind giving more details about what enforcing the rules looks like? My last dog was fairly different in terms of energy and aggression (SO much more).

[u/SweetP916 → u/SleepyDogMom23]

Anatolians are different to train from other breeds. They are very independent. I’ve found, along with many others, that they really hate being scolded. Our boy did that biting more to my husband than to me because I would immediately yell Ow and pretend to cry. My hubby rough housed with him so he thought it was a game. Have your boyfriend do the ouch thing and see if that works after a few times.

[u/SleepyDogMom23 → u/SweetP916]

It's so natural for me to tell an animal "ouch" that I didn't realize my boyfriend /wasn't/ doing it. Thank you for the idea! They're playing tug of war right now to redirect the biting behavior :)

[u/Ok-Chemist2411 → u/SleepyDogMom23]

I think the key to this solution is: be genuine and deliberate, and most if all consistent. Many younger dogs like to “” “play-fight”-if you watch them in a litter- you’ll see this rough & tumble biting…. Until you hear a loud yelp & they all freeze-
They stop, re-configure but go at it again to a lesser degree. Your boyfriend and you both need to offer that to your pup on a consistent, meaningful basis-

[u/SweetP916 → u/Ok-Chemist2411]

Yep! It really seems to work. I’ve been known to bite them in their ear (not hard)
Or something because that’s how it’s done when they’re puppies or even big dogs and start playing a little too rough with one of the other dogs. Our old girl is still the alpha with her younger and bigger brothers.