Mouthing And Biting

[Roxy Lady]

Roxy (my bully pup) is roughly nearly 4 months (born 14th June).

Anyway she is (IMO ) stacking well, but she is a bad biter and grabber!! When walking on lead shes not too bad, but once stopped if not stacked or shes getting bored with the stack she will try and bite your feet or trousers.

When in stack shes fine until your hand goes too close then she will grab and bite down hard!! I'm sure shes still teething, and i've just been saying a firm NO and pointing at her, she'll look at me for a minute then try and do it again. What else can i do to stop her from trying to grab anythat goes near her? And will she grow out of the ankle biting thing, it friggin hurts!! Nasty lil bitch !

I don't want to smack her coz i don't want her scared by thinking a hand near her is going to smack her, more treats maybe?? The thing is though with the treats she tends to put her head down to eat them or bits drop and she looks for them.

I stand to the side of her with my hand in front of her face to attract her attention and my thumb is copping a hammering!! I know shes still young, i'm just not sure what else to do, do i ignore it and hope she'll grow out of it or keep doing what i'm doing??

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!!

ETA Might be better off moved to training section.

Edited January 25, 2008 by bullyluvr

[Lablover]

Try to keep your hand movements as limited as possible. Our movements stimulate.

BTW, the pups that chase anything, loose clothing on my person, my moving body, are the ones I note, positively.

[PAX]

You could try a different food that does not cruble eg, cooked sausages. Only give her little bits so she can eat it quickly without having to check for dropped bits on the ground.

[Roxy Lady]

Try to keep your hand movements as limited as possible. Our movements stimulate.

BTW, the pups that chase anything, loose clothing on my person, my moving body, are the ones I note, positively.

Thanks for the ideas lab lover and PAX .

I'm unsure what you mean by 'positively'?? Quick learners because of drive...

Shes doing well with her stacking, even the vet commented on how well she stood on his bench today...I was so proud , i told him we'd been practising

[sas]

We started stacking our puppy with treats and then stopped due to the similar problem you're having. Instead we would talk to him thoughout the stack and give slow long strokes when he was ding good.

Clicker training may be ideal?

[Roxy Lady]

Sas, i've actually stopped treat rewarding for awhile now and have been doing the same as you, which is working quite well. I just would prefer to maybe use a treat or smell on my hands than a toy in the ring to get her attention when she starts to get bored. A clicker would be ok i think but am not really familiar with using them, it would get her attention though. I spose at least then shes not going to be continually searching for food.

[Roxy Lady]

Ok. I've got Roxy going well with her stacking etc. But am now having a problem with her grabbing at the kids whenever they're running or moving around. I've tried a few different things, yelling NO, growling at her and growling No, Pinning her to the ground and growling at her No, smacking and telling her No, getting the kids to yell No at her, ignoring her and going inside, leaving her outside! None of this works, after you yell at her she bolts around the yard like its all a big game, for some reason shes just not getting it!

The other night, i was doing a bit of practise with her, and having a bit of play with fetching the ball, anway Lana went to run around the back Roxy ran after her and next thing Lanas just screaming and had a bruise straight away on her arm from where Roxy grabbed her. Its not in aggression, shes definitly playing. She was already bolting around the backyard by the time i got there and wouldn't come to me, i eventually got her over with a few stern Get Heres, and i smakced her about 5 times really hard on her rump while i had her pinned on the ground and was growling at her, and she still got up raced around stupid!

Trust me it hurt me alot more than it hurt her to do that to her, and when i went around to the front, OH went off saying i should flog the crap outta her, look at the bruise etc etc. I explained i smacked her, it wasn't in aggression and what more could i do? Shes still a pup, (7 months) and IMO shes still learning, and that smacking her wasn't gonna help the problem but i really need something that is going to put a stop to this behaviour, everything i've tried isn't working and i don't know what else to do? I don't want to smack her at all, (afterwards i took her for a walk and she wouldn't even walk properly coz she crouched whenever i went near her )

Any Advice will be really really appreciated.