[Jeffery]

When you say “biting”, do you mean the dog gets mouthy and grabs your hand of sleeve, or do you mean the dog is actually biting, being aggressive?

[Michael]

Great question, it’s much more that she’s being mouthy than aggressive biting. But it is near constant and pretty hard.

As I said I think I know some answers, but it’s like all her mouthiness for the day in a 20 minute period.

Suggestions to improve? Walks at this time of night have proven 50/50 effective or not, sometimes she stays just as riled up.

[BillM]

My pup (6mo old Malinois) gets into a hyper stage during the evenings sometimes (almost all the time). When he’s just burning some energy, I let him have a minute at doing it. But, when he starts to go over the top (for me), he usually gets really mouthy and that’s when I either start working with obedience commands (which is play to him, he loves to work) or occasionally, I have to give him a time out in his crate. Usually, these two things take him totally out of that state, with the training being the number one thing I go to.

[Cameron]

It sounds like he’s demanding attention, so giving him attention (ie walking, etc) would be reinforcing this behavior (anything that doesn’t stop a behavior, reinforces it).

The best solution to this is the place command. I have a malinois that’s similar. He will demand attention and play all day, if he doesn’t have anything to do. The solution is to give him a job, and that’s the place command. He’s obeying while staying in his bed, which helps him focus, and gives me the break.

Robert has many videos on bed/place/stay. My method is pretty simple and works well. Start by luring (Robert covers this well) and when they know to go to the bed, then go and reward them with increasing duration between rewards. Soon, move to remote rewards (recall them for the reward and back to bed/place).

An easy way to practice is when watching TV. Send the dog to their place while the show is on, then break and give affection during commercials, sending them back to bed when the show resumes. You’ll see progress VERY quickly.

The important part is corrections. If they break the stay (and that’s what they broke, they didn’t break a down or go to bed, because they completed those tasks), then slowly return them to their place under pressure (I use dominant dog collars and apply some pressure).

How much pressure? It’s really easy. Start where you’re comfortable. If they break the stay, it’s not enough so increase it until they stop breaking the stay.

Some tips: Never chase the dog. Never say “No” or anything until you have the leash. NEVER be in a hurry back, the walk back to the place should suck for the dog so they don’t want to break the stay. Do not reward when you get them back. A short leash pop and STAY. At first, don’t wait too long to reward but increase the wait time.

Work the place/stay at home, when that’s good, do it outside in your yard, then other places (only where you can correct). This is the key to a stable, enjoyable dog. Just one persons opinion.

[Michael]

Thank you all for the feedback. I will try some training, and yes, we do a lot of “place” work inside and out. I’m really curious how this will go!

I’ll be curious tonight because we got her introduced to two new neighborhood dogs today (in the morning) so hopefully she’ll be a little more tired but not over tired.

AKC (for what it’s worth) rates Berners and Mallinois surprisingly similar!

[Cameron]

I’m not very familiar with Berners, so can’t comment on that but I think this behavior can occur in any breed. I believe it’s us as owners and handlers that create the behaviors inadvertently. The smarter the dog, the easier they learn how to get what they want.
I believe it’s important not to try to tire the dog out to get calm behaviour. Robert made a video I watched years ago where he said he trained the dog before walking or tiring them out because he expected the behavior regardless of the dogs energy level. That message stuck with me.

I’ve also realized that the ‘tire them out’ method is ultimately self defeating here. If you walk your a dog 1 mile every day to tire him out, eventually you’ll need to walk 2 miles to tire him out, and then 3. As he gets fitter, he’ll need more and you’ve essentially achieved the opposite of your goal.

Some dogs just don’t know what to do with themselves. They need to be busy working.

I have 2 mals. My 4 yr old Dutch KNPV line boy and a 2 yr old Belgian Joe Farm line PSA girl. My girl has a much higher drive but she can chill out with me. My boy simply cannot. Without direction, he spins out of control. After working and walking the dogs in the morning, I make a coffee. My girl will sit down, or wander around the yard while I drink it. My (lower drive) boy will bark at me demanding we work (since I’m OBVIOUSLY not doing anything important), so I need to put him in a down stay to calm him. He will maintain his stay for an hour or more, but if I release him, he goes right back to demanding. My girl will chill out, but if I say, “lets go to work,” she’s up and vibrating, ready. Your dog may be like my boy, and need the structure of a ‘job.’

I think there’s a few lessons here in your post that are beneficial to many, myself included:

Tiring your dog won’t fix this kind of thing.

Giving into your dog teaches them that they can manipulate you, and you can’t fault them for learning something you taught them even if it was accidental.

Some dogs can’t just chill, and it’s not always the ones you’d expect. You may not be able to teach them to chill, but you can teach them to behave.