Puppy Biting

[stormie]

8) Walking away/ignoring - absolutely no use.

I just saw this on 'It's Me or the Dog' last night with a Great Dane pup (about 12 months) called Dylan.

When the lady owner asked Victoria why Dylan was mouthing her and not Victoria, her reply was simply that pups don't mouth more dominant members of the pack, so he doesn't see his owner as the dominant one whereas he perceived Victoria's dominance just by her attitude.

The solution was the 'quick high pitched puppy squeal' (which I doubt men can imitate successfully, if at all), cross the arms, turn your back and look away - ie, total ignore / game over. It worked virtually instantly.

There's definitely something about the squeal resonating with dogs as the one she emitted on TV even startled my little Cocker Spaniel pup out his sleep and he started looking around. He's also one of these mouthy/nipping pups because I play with him so he sees me currently more as a playmate than the boss, so I had the thought of copying Victoria's squeal (I taped the show) and putting it onto some sort of tape player to use when needed... but I don't have one.

Anyway, the thought's there, so a possible puppy training tool? I know they make electronic clickers now with chirps and trills, so maybe one with a sqeal for the mouthing problems?

I saw this too and was a little confused by this. Victoria said a puppy would not mouth a pack leader. So when the dog mouthed her, why would the owner be told to act as a puppy? Wouldn't it get a better result to act the way the pack leader would with more of a growl and put pup in it's place? There's probably more to it all, but it just doesn't make sense to me how squealing and acting as a litter mate and therefore on the same level, would lead to the dog treating you as pack leader? Can someone explain???

[Kavik]

I think Victoria is using the noise partly as a behaviour interruptor - something that stops the behaviour. She uses these noise a lot on the show for different things - used it the week before with the OCD Gordon to get him to stop chasing the light and licking things.

[anthony mazzeri]

I guess a growl from what it sees as a pack leeader is totally different to a growl from what it sees as another pup playmate.

So if it sees you as just another puppy growling and acting dominant it would just be a trigger for more play fighting/wrestling/mouthing, so it would have the opposite effect to what you'd want. If the puppy sees you as another puppy to play and mouth with, then the puppy squeal would be most immediate success in terms of communication.

Actually getting the pup to see you/me/us as the pack leader thing seems to be a separate issue by the looks of it.

[deltron]

At puppy school we learned to submit the puppy, I wish I had gone to this puppy school when he was biting, it would have helped us so much.

What is 'submitting the puppy'? I've never heard of it before, perhaps it might work on my pup? Can you please explain what it is? Thanks

[Dogsfevr]

The other thing to remember is often when the pup nipping starts the humans have started a game that is no longer fun.Make sure that your not starting something .think about when its worse

[Moosashi]

First post here guys, long time listener, first time caller kind of thing...

Having a similar issue with our pup, she's nearly 10 weeks old and just starting to get to the stage where she's confident in her new home and trying a few things on, biting being one of them. It's not too bad at this stage, just would like to stop the habit before it gets started.

Same as the above few posts, tried scruffing her, growling, saying 'no', but it tends to wind her up more.

I will be taking her to puppy school as soon as she's old enough, which will hopefully get things sorted, but in the meantime any suggestions on being the more dominant one would be appreciated!

[Dogsfevr]

I think what people need to understand is its not a case of being "dominant" this can ruin a dogs nature.

What is required is respect,fairness(people not stirring/creating an unwanted result) & above all consistancy.

Be consistant in what you want as a result but most importantly all family members need to apply the same rules.

[Nicole...]

I am definitely an advocate for the yelping approach. We have had our cocker spaniel pup for 2 weeks now and it is very effective with her. It is easier for me than my husband as I can just say ouch and my voice is high pitched enough to sound like a yelp. Saying ouch didn't work for him so he yelps like a puppy would when she bites hard. If she is really worked up, we might have to say ouch/yelp 2 or 3 times for her to get the idea but most times after we do it once, she immediately bites very gently.

I know that all pups aren't the same, but this approach is definitely worth a go.

[anthony mazzeri]

Just out of curiosity, how many of you with biting puppies have bought them a stuffed toy with a squeaker inside it?

I realised two days ago that my little pup was mouthing my sleeve (with arm in it!) just like he mouthed his stuffed toy to make it squeak. So I took it away and he's since improved dramatically.