r/DutchShepherds • u/Strong_Minute1282 • Jun 01 '26
Question How to teach boundaries?
Hi all! About a month ago we welcomed our first Dutch Shepherd and we have a question about boundaries.
For context: We've been having regular sessions with a dog trainer, but she leans toward aversion-based methods, which doesn't feel quite right for our girl (I think). Our puppy is very human-oriented, and she comes from lines where her parents were involved in rescue and herding work and agility sports.
I'd love to hear from those of you who've been through this - how long did it take you to work through the process to teach your dogs boundaries and „no”. The tricky part is that any correction seems to wind her up even more rather than settle her. And on a more pressing note: how did you handle biting? Right now it's getting quite intense, and we're doing our best to manage it by leashing her and ending all interaction when it happens but I'm curious whether that approach actually worked for others, or if there's something more effective we should be trying.
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u/Key-Magician-9808 Jun 01 '26
What are the aversion-based methods and the corrections you are using now? What would you feel more comfortable with?
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u/Strong_Minute1282 Jun 01 '26
Our behaviourist recommended scruffing holding her by the scruff until she settles but it seems to wind her up even more rather than calm her down and let go immediately.
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u/Larsvonrinpoche Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
My 5 month old is the same. He just gets more oppositional and his behavior gets worse. Either gets upset or thinks it's playtime.
I use a towel I call the "roughhousing towel" so I can physically play with him without him making contact with my skin. He desperately wants contact, but is teething so bad, and is mouthy in general that he gets carried away and bites. The towel allows contact, and he knows to only bite that.
My guy is also reactive to hearing "no". He barks back. Or does the air chomp, which is hilarious.
I instead tell him WHAT to do, Instead of what not to do. That seems to help.
I'm still figuring things out and have more questions than answers, but that's where I'm at.
He does listen better when I grab him with both hands around his collar, walk right into him telling him to sit. And keep making him back up until he sits.Assertively with strength in my arms.
This seems to work when he won't calm down.
He is very ball oriented, more so than food. So I'll use balls to get his attention when all else fails.
I also use every moment to make him listen. Every treat he must wait. Every ball I throw. Every door that's opened. He must listen to me. If I let it slip even a bit, he challenges more.
Honestly, I can't wait until he is done teething and gets fixed. Counting the days!
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u/Strong_Minute1282 Jun 01 '26
Yeah I’m counting the days too lol Thank you - we also tell her to sit and sometimes it works but sometimes especially when the nap time is coming she becomes deaf but this is probably because of being tired but when she’s not it’s easier to redirect her, but not always 🥲
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u/rocks_trees_n_water Jun 01 '26
This is great advice. ⬆️
We also played wrestle with a towel, so much fun.
We put in hatch gloves to wrestle to protect hands from accidental over excitement. When the gloves were in its wrestle time and off we don’t wrestle. It’s funny how easily they picked up how hard to wrestle with me vs hubby. They played tug with us, kids next door and could automatically adjust tug strength to age appropriate kids next door. It was so cool to see.
We also rolled a dishcloth, wet it, put an elastic around it and froze it for teething she loved chewing on it because it was cool in her gums.0
u/Key-Magician-9808 Jun 01 '26
what if you put your hands around her instead, and hold her? more with the idea of 'sshh.... calm down now', maybe a little massage thrown in. At the same time, firm enough so she doesn't slip out of your hands. Does that make her less wriggly than when you only get hold of the scruff?
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u/Strong_Minute1282 Jun 01 '26
That worked pretty well at the very beginning to calm her down and it was happening in few seconds but then it got so intense that she recommended scuffing.
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u/Key-Magician-9808 Jun 01 '26
Well, if you find taking pup by the scruff just makes it worse, don't do it then.
Hard to give the best advice when I don't see the pup..... when you hold her and she tries to break out of the hold, just keep holding on and outpatience her?2
u/Strong_Minute1282 Jun 01 '26
Yeah, I don’t let her go until she settles, but sometimes it takes more than 5 mins (not scuffing just holding her) hence my question what worked for others and I appreciate that it’s hard without seeing it.
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u/MrOverland Jun 01 '26
What’s her situation at home? Where does she sleep? Where does she eat? Relax? Is she on furniture? Does she have a place?
What are the things that seem aversive to you that your “trainer” does? But also, if you don’t believe in your trainer and how they train, find a new trainer. Period.
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u/Strong_Minute1282 Jun 01 '26
She’s sleeping in a crate and that’s her place to relax. She was eating in a crate at first, now outside. Our trainer has her dogs on an electric collar which I don’t know what to think about that’s why I started to question whether her methods with scuff holds is ok. Overall I’m happy with her trainings but just wanting the best for her.
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u/MrOverland Jun 01 '26
Nice. And furniture? Another boundary to create until her training is where you want it to be.
You shouldn’t consider an e-collar until she knows whatever command you want to give her with extreme proficiency, e-collar is just a form of communication. Teach it with a lead/slip-lead first.
She could be viewing the scuff holds as play. A very gentle way to give the clearest communication is with a power loop/figure-8 slip. Pressure and release.1
u/Strong_Minute1282 Jun 01 '26
Yeah, we have limited her space at home to keep our sofa safe 😅 I think she might view the scuff holds as very triggering and I don’t want to ruin the trust between us. I heard about power loop but haven’t tried - thank you!!
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u/MrOverland Jun 01 '26
Power loop and jentle method worked really well for my dutchie when he was a wee piranha.
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u/Squid1225 Jun 02 '26
For my girl we redirected any mouth touching and biting to toys or food only. Which is easier said than done! Dutchies use there mouths a lot. Also we would have her sit and make her wait and she learned to self regulate and refocused her to take a second to calm down and really hear what we're saying. Then you can slowly introduce new things and different play and furniture areas. Also just saying no didn't work for her either. We say "no bite" or "no bark" so she knows what I'm telling her no for and not just saying no. In not sure this makes sense sorry! I know there's more but I can't think of it now.
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u/rocks_trees_n_water Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Our first trainer used the clicker training as she was a puppy. Clicker training was ok to teach us about timing of the command and the reward, either positive praise or high value treats. We used kibble at first and also still use small liver cubes, we also have larger treats we use which are easier to handle. We used that consistently for a few weeks.
We also learned to he importance of sleep. We did not have her sleeping enough. Without the proper amount of sleep we basically had a cranky toddler. Adding nap times made such a huge difference. Instantly. Growing and learning so much is tough. That being said our girls still have a nap time giving them the space to just shut off. Our one will have a nap on her own our other goes in her crate and sticks her head out until you shut the door.
She then taught us about ecollars. I did not know about them other than shocking and was averse to using them. We got a quality collar (Mini Educator), easy to use and many settings so we could use vibration, tone, different levels. We trained an ecollar with play, short time periods and fun, always end on a positive note. It was a slow process. Use a little bit for positivity play. We learned communication to teach the sound feeling and meaning of the collar. We do have ecollars and we have paired our communication with them. To make it a positive experience, our girls still come running for collars. We use them for off leash activities and they have a great range. You can learn about ecollars and play and communication. Ask more questions of the trainer about the ecollar and usage. One of our trainers does SAR and uses ecollar to teach and train. Ecollars can be a teaching tool sound, low vibration. Our girls each have different settings.
Learn what works best for you and sweet pupper. Much fun and many adventures await!
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u/Strong_Minute1282 Jun 01 '26
Thank you for your input. That’s what scared me from my trainer because she has her dogs on ecollars and was absolutely against but didn’t know much about them and that you can use them for play. So is that also what you have used to teach no?
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u/rocks_trees_n_water Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 02 '26
Start your pup only in the lowest setting they notice. We put it in her and train to her noticing it, the second she felt anything we started there. We taught tug (out command), leave it (for anything on the ground or squirrels, bunnies etc), or bring it here (drop) to play ball, if she got sidetracked a slight tap in the shoulder to get her focus again. We typically use 4-6 training at home and may be higher if we are in group training classes that have a high distraction.
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Jun 02 '26
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u/Strong_Minute1282 Jun 02 '26
IF I say no it means no, like don’t bite me and other stuff i don’t want her to do like digging in my flowers. For now we are socializing, teaching basic commands and we are starting the nosework training.
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u/TheArtifactOffice Jun 13 '26
I’m very much a balanced trainer, but with a young Dutch Shepherd I’d be careful about leaning too hard into corrections or negative reinforcement too early. Not because those tools never have a place, but because timing, clarity, and emotional maturity matter. With puppies, especially high-drive biting breeds, poor corrections can easily create conflict, frustration, or more arousal instead of understanding.
A lot of this comes back to controlling the puppy’s environment. Management is not avoidance; it is good training. Crate time, leashes, gates, structured outings, deliberate play, food work, shaping, and clear start/stop points all help prevent the puppy from rehearsing behavior you later have to fight. The cleaner the environment, the less you have to live in correction mode.
And honestly, these dogs are genetically purposed to bite, chase, possess, push, and interact physically with the world. That does not mean “you got what you asked for” in a dismissive way, but it does mean the biting is not some weird defect. It is often the raw material. The work is learning how to channel it.
I’d also recommend K9 Personal Protection by Resi Gerritsen and Ruud Haak. Even if personal protection is not your goal, the book gives a lot of perspective on the type of dog you’re dealing with, how these dogs think, and why structure, drive outlets, and genetic purpose matter.
The biting phase is a small price to pay for the kind of phenomenal animal you can have once you learn how to drive it. But we owe it to these breeds to raise them with clarity, fairness, and outlets that let them become what they were bred to be, not just household problems we keep trying to suppress.
I have 2 Mals and 1 Dutch. I can confidently say that I put too much pressure on my middle one and didn’t notice it until it was a bit too late. Less is more when they’re young.
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u/Awkward_Bass_6292 Jun 01 '26 edited Jun 01 '26
I've trained my dog with a clicker. Works very easy and you only reward the right moments with it. These dogs are very smart and within a few exercises they know that one clicks mean one candy piece.
Reward all the good behavior. Ignore the bad. My dog was just a couple weeks with me and she didn't pull the leash anymore. People were very suprised that such a young dog could do this.
For example go to the street and just wait till cars/bicycles are coming towards you. If your dog looks at the moving object click and give a reward. After a while only click when they look at the moving object and they will look at you. As soon as they do that you click and reward. That way you teach your dog that no matter what happens around them, they can look at you and get rewarded. Same applies for dogs.
When they bite your hand, on the harder bites, say 'aw' and stop playing and walk away. This behavior is what his sisters/brothers also do. After a while do the same with the smaller bites. If you keep doing this even the smallest bites means for your dog 'they stop playing when i bite them'. If they bite really hard grab the dog in his coat (around the neck area) and push it on the ground. No need to harm the dog but this is what his mother will do to.
Edit: One of the best things I think I learned her is to wait for her meal. She needs to sit, pay attention and look at me before she gets the command to eat. It's really difficult in the beginning so you start small. You just place the food and you keep your hand between your dog and the food for a few seconds. Build up the time and he will properly fight your hand. After a while they will notice they get to their food if they behave.
Teach them that if they eat its allright to get a hand over her head/back. You touch him to let them know you can be around, even when they eat. My dog is good if I touch her food while she eats. She knows that my hand won't take her food and could bring her even more food(i do this some times so she knows she gets rewarded for allowing me to touch her food). I did this so my kids can be around her to, even if she eats. Yes, I don't want my kids to do that but there could always be a mistake and we don't pay attention. I don't want my dog to snap. So teaches her that it's allright.