Puppy Training

[matt8602]

I just recieved my pup last saturday at the tender age of 8 weeks... Oscar... The Pug.

i have photo's of him in the photos forum.

Anyhow, i would like some advise on training him. i knopw hes only a couple of months old, but is it too early to stop him biting hands, fingers (nose, ears, etc!!)? and tugging at things, i.e. sleeves, pants, etc. or is it best to let him go for a bit longer because he's just being a puppy?

i dont want him to get into the habbit of doing these things, but i dont want to stop him from being a puppy aswell...

any advice would be great. also any advice on how to stop him biting/play biting (which is actually quite hard, with hes very sharp little teeth) and tugging on things...

thanks.

matt.

[bloss344]

It's best to start training as soon as you bring puppy home. It's easier to stop bad habits now rather than waiting until they are not so cute and much more annoying. They can still be puppies but under your rules. If you don't want him to do something when he's mature, nip it in the bud now.

As far as mouthing and nipping goes, I've been pretty lucky, my puppies haven't been too bad. When necessary I reprimand with a 'mother dog growl' arrrrhhhhh and then give a toy for chewing and praise, praise, praise for chewing the right thing. Pulling on clothes etc I use a similar method, a short sharp reprimand and steer the puppy into another activity.

A lot of what they do is play and learning and can be turned into constructive play.

Cute puppy

[sas]

I had a lot of problems with my puppy biting hands or whatever else, all the typical tatics didn't work. He's 17 weeks old and is pretty much over it now.

Ask your breeder how they handle it.

If I could turn back time, I would forget about how cute he was and be bossier and more aloof with him from day 1.

I also got frustrated a lot with him which of course he realised and this made him worse.

We changed his attitude by working on us first. If he was stressing me out with the biting and I could feel myself getting stressed, I needed to get into a more bossier frame of mind and mean what I said and follow through with the repremand. He learned very quickly that I didn't always follow through.

Tatics we used were:

Verbal Repremand - did nothing.

Folding his mouth skin over his teeth so he would bite himself: did nothing.

Smack (not particularly hard): did nothing.

Redirected him to a toy - would get him even more wound up & we were stuffed if we didn't have a toy on hand.

Water gun - worked for about 2 weeks.

Stop chew spray - worked for about 3 days.

Time outs: worked for short periods of time.

Being Bossy & aloof and showing him who was boss (body language & tone of voice) - still working.

Edited July 15, 2007 by sas

[badboyz]

Just found this article on another forum. Makes sense to me: http://www.clickersolutions.com/articles/2002c/mouthing.htm.

A method taught in puppy preschool at my obedience club is: have a handful of small yummy treats in a closed fist. When puppy bothers you hand keep it closed. The minute puppy pulls his nose/mouth away from your fist say "yes" and reward him with a treat. The "yes" is to mark the good behaviour similar to using a clicker.

[deltron]

I had a lot of problems with my puppy biting hands or whatever else, all the typical tatics didn't work. He's 17 weeks old and is pretty much over it now.

Ask your breeder how they handle it.

If I could turn back time, I would forget about how cute he was and be bossier and more aloof with him from day 1.

I also got frustrated a lot with him which of course he realised and this made him worse.

We changed his attitude by working on us first. If he was stressing me out with the biting and I could feel myself getting stressed, I needed to get into a more bossier frame of mind and mean what I said and follow through with the repremand. He learned very quickly that I didn't always follow through.

Tatics we used were:

Verbal Repremand - did nothing.

Folding his mouth skin over his teeth so he would bite himself: did nothing.

Smack (not particularly hard): did nothing.

Redirected him to a toy - would get him even more wound up & we were stuffed if we didn't have a toy on hand.

Water gun - worked for about 2 weeks.

Stop chew spray - worked for about 3 days.

Time outs: worked for short periods of time.

Being Bossy & aloof and showing him who was boss (body language & tone of voice) - still working.

Sounds like my pup!! Biting so much so that you don't want him anywhere near you.

The only thing that works consistently for me is to gently grab him by the scruff of the neck roll him on his back and growl in his face. I saw his mum doing this to him when I visited the breeder so I figured i'd give it a go.

It was SO HARD to make myself sound convincing. This is the 'big gun' tactic that I only use when he is being a complete monster. He stops whatever he is doing and usually curls up on my lap to chill out after being told off

[sas]

Oh yeah we tried the scruff and to lay him down, he became the real spawn of satan when he did that LOL

[EmmaKate]

With my pup I've started yelping every time he bites too hard, I also take away my hands and fold them under my armpits.

The yelping certainly takes him by surprise and stops him on the spot- I've been doing this for a few days now and have noticed his biting is getting slightly more gentle...but when he gets completely excited (feral as I say), he does seem to get carried away and forget, so then it's game over and all hands and feet are kept away.

Don't know what the neighbour thinks of it all, will probably have the RSPCA knocking on my door for signs of abuse!

I just tried the growling thing you sugested Deltron, as he was in feral mode, and it seemed to have stopped him in his tracks, I then got some licks and now his curled up on my lap.....might see how that goes too.

[matt8602]

Hey,

I tried that scruff of the neck, on he's back and saying "NO", and it works great. It only took 2 or 3 times and he stopped it!

but he is a really smart pup!

the only thing against that is that now when i go to pat him when he's hyper, he must think im gonna do it to him and he stops even just playing without biting. i hope this doesnt give him a bad association with hands near hes head/neck/back.

any ideas here?

thanks for all the ideas thus far, theyve been great.

Matt...

With my pup I've started yelping every time he bites too hard, I also take away my hands and fold them under my armpits.

The yelping certainly takes him by surprise and stops him on the spot- I've been doing this for a few days now and have noticed his biting is getting slightly more gentle...but when he gets completely excited (feral as I say), he does seem to get carried away and forget, so then it's game over and all hands and feet are kept away.

Don't know what the neighbour thinks of it all, will probably have the RSPCA knocking on my door for signs of abuse!

I just tried the growling thing you sugested Deltron, as he was in feral mode, and it seemed to have stopped him in his tracks, I then got some licks and now his curled up on my lap.....might see how that goes too.