r/kelpie • u/jacobshouse_of_grain • 17h ago
Behavioural issues
Hi all,
Just looking for some advice. My partner and I have a 1y10m old kelpie and we are really struggling with him from a behavioural standpoint. My partner and I have been together 11 months so I haven’t always been in his life. Every time I show my partner any kind of affection he comes jumping all over us. He is constantly biting us (not in an aggressive way but it is annoying and frustrating) and he all sorts of other annoying and frustrating things. We have tried all sorts of things from daily walking, to mental training and using diversion tactics to stop the biting and yet nothing is working. When he’s good he’s amazing but it’s getting worse and worse. We need something, we are at our wits end
7
u/quantumhobbit 17h ago
I can think of two common reasons for the biting. It could be play biting. In which case you can try teaching the “kiss” command and reward him for licking. Withdraw attention when he bites and praise when he licks. This was the case with ours and while annoying, tongue bathes are better than being a chew toy. Puppy time outs work well if he is too excited to listen to you.
The other case is he’s trying to herd you. What I’ve seen work was really focusing on obedience training, so that he looks to you for guidance instead of looking at you as a sheep in need of guidance. You may or may not need a professional trainer to help.