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[chrissie]

hi my names chrissie and we have a bitof a problem with our 8 mth old irish setter sheis lovely but she has started to become quite aggressive and has starting to softly bite but its getting worse last night i hit her nose and she bared her teeth and starting biting again and growling but still wagging her tail please help thanks

[gregk9]

What is she biting? Has she been through any training classes?

[chrissie]

hi greg, thanks for reply she is biting us she hasn't been to any obedience classes as yet we have only had her for about 6 weeks so we don't really know if that is why the previous owners sold her because they had children ??

[Bill]

To me, it doesn't sound like aggression, rather normal puppy play that has gotten out of control due to excessove excitement and lack of teaching by the owners. Slapping on the nose is certainly the best way I know of to turn a dog like this into an aggressive dog. Under what conditions is she biting you and where on your body is she biting?

Normally turning your back and walking away and ignoring the dog for a few minutes will stop this kind of behavior. I haven't seen this dog "in action" but in most instances, the dog is soliciting attention and so far it is working for her. Without saying a word, instantly turn and walk away, or get up and walk away and ignore the dog for about 5 minutes. No fussing. No yelling. No hitting. No nothing except walking away. After the 5 minutes is up, you can again talk to the dog and interact with it but again, no fussing ... the incident is over. Keep the interaction calm for a while after this has occured.

[chrissie]

hi bill thanks so much for your advice.

when we take her out to the park if she goes onto an open field, which she loves, after a while she will just start jumping up at our arms and starts growling and biting and pulling on sleeve. But when she is on the garden paths and hills she is fine no attacking at all. I know the easy answer is not to take her on the open spaces but that is where she runs her energy off and as a setter she has a lot of energy. we have only owned her for about 6 weeks so i don't know if the previous owners sold her due to this problem.

When we first took her to the park she would always come backto us once called, but lately she is ignoring our calls and coming back at her leisure.

It sounds as if we are really moaning about her but we love her dearly but just want to be able to give her a wonderful home with a loving family.

we will certainly start doing as you have said and fingers crossed we will succeed thans to your help!

[Bill]

Your last post just reinforces my conclusion that the dog just has out of control exuberance. I think she is trying way too hard to get your attention and to get you to play with her. I don't see aggression in your descriptions. I see a fun loving dog trying desperately to have even more fun. She will have to learn the limits of what is possible and what isn't. Your job is to see to it that she gets no interaction when the solicitation gets out of hand. I'm sure she will soon learn the limits if you are consistant.

[chrissie]

thanks bill we feel a lot better now because you putting it the way you have really describes her to a t. I suppose we are just panicking a bit because we have grandchildren and the last thing we would want is for Ruby to attack them but i think you have armed us with good sound advice which we will follow thanks again have a nice evening