How To Wake Up Dogs That Bite When Sleeping

How To Wake Up Dogs That Bite

There are two spirit dog schools of thought, on the subject of waking up a dog that has the propensity to bite or snap at you if you disturb them while they are sleeping.

School of thought # 1; Leave the dog alone and stop bothering him when he’s sleeping. The problem with this advice is, kids. They are not going to let a sleeping dog lie, regardless of how many times you tell Timmy, to leave the dog alone.

School of thought # 2 ; Mess with the dog constantly while he’s laying down or sleeping. That’s right bother him, wake his ass the f♦ck up. But how do you do this, without getting bitten ?  I’ll get to it in a minute.

A dog that bites when startled or woken, is an unnatural occurrence in animal behavior. We unwittingly teach our dog to do this. If puppies and dogs were allowed to live like their suppose to. They would be sleeping with their pack, laying on top of one-another, stepping on each other while sleeping, getting stepped on while sleeping, nudging each other, and using each other as pillows.

The dogs get used to being bothered while lying down or sleeping. Hence they don’t see being disturbed while sleeping as a potential threat to them, thereby eliminating the defensive bite response.

Fixing the Problem

This is actually a pretty simple procedure, relieving a dog of these imagined fears. Like I said, before you mess with them. In the early stages of modifying this behavior, YOU DO NOT WAKE THE DOG WITH ANY PART OF YOUR BODY.

You initially start bothering him (The dog behavior community likes to call this desensitizing) by using any soft objects that you can toss or throw on the dog. Towels, blankets, stuffed toys, fuzzy slippers, even a tennis ball or two, any soft object will do.

You keep on doing this (tossing stuff on him) for as long as necessary. I must mention again, that you do not touch the dog during the early stages of modifying this behavior. You use some type of object, because the likelihood is pretty good that in the beginning he will snap at those things.

After you initially wake him up by messing with him, then the second part of your job is to relax him with your voice. This is where you have to make him either comfortable or happy by speaking to him in a calm and slightly happy voice. Again do not be too close to the dog when your talking to him, unless you are 100% positive he’s not going to snap at you.

I’m gonna stop right here for now, because your first step is the bothering him stage. Dependent on the dog and the amount of time you put in, this could take two, three, four weeks up to two, three, four months to accomplish. So let the fun with dogs begin.

THE SPIRIT DOG

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Filed under: pets, dog behavior, The Mind Of a Dog Tagged: | biting dogs, dog behavior, dog body language, dog emotions, Dog Training, Dogs, dogs that bite, modifying dog behavior, sleeping dogs bite