Dog snapping at my face?

[Natasha]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading this board for a long time but this is my first time posting.

I'm wondering if anyone could give me any advice on how to train my 1 year, 10 month old eskie to stop snapping at faces? He never bites - I know that when dogs teeth touch the skin, you should make a loud pitched yelp-like noise (like littermates would do) and stop playing with them immediately. I do this when we're playing and his teeth do touch my skin, and Scout is very good about not biting, but sometimes he will do a little snap towards my face before coming in and kissing me. It always seems to be in a playful kind of way, i.e. he is not doing it maliciously or out of anger or fear but I know that this kind of behavior is NOT OKAY and needs to be discouraged. But I'm wondering how to get him to stop? His teeth are not touching me so I can't do the yelping thing. In the past, as soon as he's done it, I say NO and he comes in and licks my face. It almost seems like he does it instinctively - almost like an affectionate thing (because he always does it when I'm stroking his head and cooing at him), but I need to know what best to do to make it stop as I am well aware that it is not okay to have my dog snapping at people's faces. Any advice would be much appreciated, thanks.

[Kathy]

Welcome to the board!

You're right that you don't want your Eskie snapping at faces, but luckily it's just an air snap.

Does he always do it or only when you're stroking his head?  If only then, you might check his ears to make sure they aren't sore. It could be his way of asking you to please stop stroking.  Then he licks you because he's sorry he snapped.

What I do to stop unwanted behaviors, is to set up the situation so the behavior doesn't happen, than praise and reward lavishly.  If I wanted to stop this snapping behavior, first I'd stop stroking his head and cooing.  I know this can be hard because you like to do it. But it seems to be a trigger for the snapping and you need to eliminate the trigger for awhile until he "unlearns" the behavior.

If you use a clicker, this would be a good application. If not, use a single syllable praise word like YES! or GOOD!  Carry around tiny treats in your pocket, like Cheerios.  Randomly give your dog affection, putting yourself in "air snapping position", but just for a second.  Click/treat.  (Or YES/treat).  You want to build up a lot of history of affection/no snapping scenarios.  Gradually lengthen the affection part before clicking/treating, but never so long that he snaps. Eventually you should be able to kiss him on the nose without getting air snapped first.  After that, you should be able to let him lick your face (if that's what you want) without the snapping. But go slowly enough that he is successful nearly every time.  If he does start to snap, give your ACK or whatever you use to stop him. You should be able to tell when he's about to snap so try to ACK before the snap, not after.

Hope this helps.  Keep us posted on youru progress!

[Geno]

I agree and also think that the follow up kiss should not be allowed so soon. Ignore him for snapping, turn your head and don't look at him. It just sounds like a bad habit and should be easy to break.

When he doesn't snap and provides kisses, then reward him.

And welcome to the board!!

Good luck and keep us informed.

Geno

[Natasha]

Thanks you guys. He does seem to be getting a little better. He doesn't do it all the time, it's pretty random, and snap is probably the wrong phrase - nip would be more accurate. I don't think he's in pain. I think it's almost instinctual because when he does it, he backs up right away, like he knows it's wrong and then quickly kisses me. I don't know, really. I've called a dog behaviorist and I may have him come out and see what he says. Thank you so much for your input!

[Kathy]

Natasha, I see you are in Minneapolis.  There are several of us here on the board from the area. Did you get your pup from a local breeder?  We have lots of knowledgeable people who can help.

Also, we have the Northern Lights American Eskimo Dog Association that you can join if you want. We have a picnic every summer where we all get together with our Eskies and have a ball!

[BanaerEskies]

Welcome Natasha,

I have one that does that as well. a small nip with a kiss tucked in it.  She does it in a submissive way, but I do not like teeth in my face so I don't let her get in my face.  Charm's body language when she does this is very submissive, squinty eyes and she nearly rolls onto her back from a sitting position and she unpricks her ears...lays them back on her head, but not pinned. 

I have never tried to correct her for it (I know where that tongue has been and don't want it in my face!), but if I did I might try gently holding her snout for a second and quietly telling her "no teeth" BEFORE it happens to remind her not to include her teeth when giving kisses. 

[Natasha]

Thanks for the advice, I might give that a try next time he does it.

Hi Kathy, I got my eskie from the humane society but I had an eskie mix when I was younger as well. I love this breed! The summer picnic sounds fun - I've joined your facebook page, is that the best place to get updates?

[BanaerEskies]

Any improvement in the snapping?

[Natasha]

Sorry for the delay in replying, I just saw this....I need to figure out how to set up email notifications for threads.

He is still doing it a little. I still tell him NO very firmly and he knows right away that he shouldn't and starts licking at my face. I'm actually going to sign him up for dog obedience classes in the next month or so, so I'm kind of holding off on trying to correct things myself before I have any guidance from an expert. He also snaps at treats in my hand and nearly takes my fingers off. He isn't malicious.....he's actually one of the sweetest and most good natured dogs I've ever known - he just loves food. So that's kind of another major thing I need to get some advice on. I'm hoping the dog trainer may be able to help a bit.

[BanaerEskies]

Glad you are going to an obedience class....it great way to bond with your dog and work on issues.  You have lots of advice here, which can be confusing as there are many ways to get to the same end result.  It can be difficult to sort through and choose a method or to evaluate the method you chose as to its effectiveness.  Having someone on hand to provide feedback is invaluable. 

[JuneBud]

Sorry for the delay in replying, I just saw this....I need to figure out how to set up email notifications for threads.

He is still doing it a little. I still tell him NO very firmly and he knows right away that he shouldn't and starts licking at my face. I'm actually going to sign him up for dog obedience classes in the next month or so, so I'm kind of holding off on trying to correct things myself before I have any guidance from an expert. He also snaps at treats in my hand and nearly takes my fingers off. He isn't malicious.....he's actually one of the sweetest and most good natured dogs I've ever known - he just loves food. So that's kind of another major thing I need to get some advice on. I'm hoping the dog trainer may be able to help a bit.

For the snapping at food, two things can help.  My last dog would snap and I just held the food with my fingers twisted toward me so the dog couldn't see the treat.  She didn't really want to bite me and that slowed her down so that she took the food gently.  My present dog Kodi is good about taking food from your hand, but if it is something really good like a piece of chicken, he gets overenthusiastic.  I can tell that he's getting ready to snap and I snatch it back out of his reach and tell him "easy."  Once or twice is all it takes and he settles down and behaves himself.

[Natasha]

I do try to hold food in a way where my fingers aren't sticking out so they can't be bitten and it works, but I'm kind of hoping that I can get him to stop snapping altogether. Reason being that when other people give him treats, I don't want them getting their finger snapped off because they don't know the special way to hold the treat. I have no idea how to teach this.

[Saint Mom]

Same thing here. Nuuk and Kooza are super fast at grabbing the whole hand given the chance.  Takoda has to smell and smell again just to make sure you're not trying to poison him. hahahaha Then he'll take from tip of his tongue, verrry slowly. Meanwhile, I have to zumba dogs dancing and prancing all around him waiting for him to make a false move to try to steal from me. hahhaahah

So what I teach them (and I have to repeat too often) is show them the treat with fist closed. You snap too fast, oups...the food disappeasr. I re-try as many times as required before they take it slowly (I open my hand gradually and it will be closing fast and disappear high in the air if they try to grab it too fast).

I also tell my guests to give them the treat with fist closed (if they want to keep their fingers for other uses later on LOL ) and open and show them the treat not with finger tips but in the palm. There are less chances of having their fingers chewed at same time. hihi

Another thing to remember. Most dogs will snap your fingers if you feed them too high. That is the way they have to grab if the angle is too high for their head/mouth to reach. So not totally their fault. It is what it is. If you level to a flat line with the face/mouth you should see a great improvement.

Also always show the treat very slowly to them (give them time to think some), and make it disappear super fast (your arm goes over your head in a flash) if they even touch your fingers without slowing down. Normally in just a few shots (4-5 max) the dog will get the picture that food has to be taken from your hand in a decent way or gone it will be.

That was a tip we learned from our trainer. Always feed at their mouth level instead of way up in the air where they have to lenghten their head/neck to reach for food. Try it and you'll see. And do not be shy to tell your guests to give with fist closed at 1st.