Puppy Biting

[cavadornewmum]

any suggestions how to stop our 12 week old puppy snapping and bitiing? we give her plenty of attention but if we stop she will demand more attention by nipping our calves or jumping and biting the bottom of clothes. Also when patting her she will chew our hands, sometimes very gently but others too hard. Have tried yelling `ouch' and withdrawing attention but not really seeing much result

[Stewie_the_Frenchie]

When my Newfoundland was mouthing (the thing she's doing when you're trying to pat her), we would grab his snout and shut it while making a growling noise with eye contact and then put him in time out for a couple of minutes with the light off and no toys. However, my dog is big and dominant and really needs to be shown who is boss, so depending on what your dog is like, you might have to decide what is right for her.

Some people use a method of yelping and walking away, it sounds similar to what you've been doing.

Do you give your dog too much attention? Does she have to work for it?

Google NILIF - it stands for "nothing in life is free" and is a method I used that really helped me. But just remember, your dog is going to be different to mine - different dogs need different approaches.

Good luck, let me know how you go!

[Boxerheart]

Yelling ouch and pulling your hands away etc just make you into a big exciting squeaky toy and makes things worse. Don't make eye contact. Ignore it. Push it gently and casually away without a word and without making eye contact. Learn about being a pack leader...etc etc

This problem has been reitorated in here again and again. It's puppy behaviour..just as with small kids there are proven ways of dealing with it.

I can only say one thing x3

PUPPY SCHOOL PUPPY SCHOOL PUPPY SCHOOL.

OWNERS need to learn too.

Not aimed at anyone in paticular but I can't help but wonder why people get animals before learning whats involved, or without going that extra mile to learn whats involed.

[jillybean]

My pup is a huge fan of biting my legs and my arms... And yes I took her to puppy pre-school where even the instructor there had no solution for me because I'd come back every week and say "She's still biting me!"

Things that may work for you:

*Squirt them in the face with a spray bottle of water when she bites

*Grab on to her bottom jaw and push down on her tongue with your thumb if she bites your hand - dog's don't like this and will try to spit your hand out

*Hold their mouth firmly closed for a few seconds

*Hold some treats in your hand and make a fist. Allow your pup to sniff and lick your hand and praise her when she does. This encourages gentle licking rather than biting.

And above all make sure you reward your pup when she's not biting you!

[sas]

any suggestions how to stop our 12 week old puppy snapping and bitiing?

You're not alone, most of them do it, as that's how they interact with their litter mates and learn.

we give her plenty of attention

I wouldn't give lot's of attention as fawning over a puppy gives it the impression you are a follower not a leader.

but if we stop she will demand more attention by nipping our calves or jumping and biting the bottom of clothes.

That's because puppy thinks you're a follower and you should be playing when she wants to plat.

Also when patting her she will chew our hands, sometimes very gently but others too hard. Have tried yelling `ouch' and withdrawing attention but not really seeing much result

Yelling tends to just make the dog more excitable, if you can work on a basey growl like its' mother would do you may have more luck.

Some dogs think the forms of punishment we dish out are fun and games even though those forms of punishments work on other dogs.

You can try a few things...

1) Put puppy for a 2 minute time out everytime puppy bites/nips/snaps. I personaly allow soft mouthing as this to me is where they learn bite inhibition.

2) Water pistols can work but can scare dogs away from the water in the future or make them over excited about it.

3) Yucky tasting spray sprayed over the parts of your body the puppy goes for.

Physical repremands are individual per dog when the softer methods don't work and you'll work out what works and what doesn't but making sure you don't over step the line and make the dog affraid of you after the punishment has finished.

Some people don't like giving physical repremands, however all dogs are individual and require an individual approach in my opinion, some dogs will cease biting with softer methods and some won't, they may get worse.

Edited November 27, 2007 by sas

[Boxerheart]

Maybe we should compile some of these tips into a specific puppy biting thread and ask for it to be stickyed

[chloebear]

Google NILIF - it stands for "nothing in life is free" and is a method I used that really helped me. But just remember, your dog is going to be different to mine - different dogs need different approaches.

My puppy was mouthing constantly on my two year old son and jumping up. I have started to use the NILIF theroy and I very happy with the progress that we are making.

[chloebear]

Maybe we should compile some of these tips into a specific puppy biting thread and ask for it to be stickyed

Sounds like a great idea

[Stewie_the_Frenchie]

Maybe we should compile some of these tips into a specific puppy biting thread and ask for it to be stickyed

Sounds like a great idea

definitely worth doing...almost every new puppy owner is going to go through this stage - I think it would be more helpful, as perhaps people may get sick of answering the same topics all the time. Although, I realise being a first time puppy owner, that you get a shock and think yours is the only one doing it!

[Cockerlover]

Stop making an on going game ;thats what puppies do & how they see it ;; be very firm & let pup no you are not playing ; maybe a good flick on the nose as a responce will work;; each puppy is different ;you just have to get what works for yours ;but first & for most it must learn respect f or its pack leader YOU ;not going to say good luck cause it takes more than that!but hope you find the solution.

[vic2010]

With regards to the biting of your hands etc, try replacing your hands with one of pups toys and play with them using the toy. This might then get pup to play more with the toys rather than hanging off you so much.

One thing we have done for my boy is we put his toy that his breeder put in with him on a bit of rope and we play with that. He runs and chases after it and then brings it back and has a chew etc etc. Ofcourse this only sort of works if you dog is sort of knee height or under.

[cavNrott]

Stop making an on going game ;thats what puppies do & how they see it ;; be very firm & let pup no you are not playing ; maybe a good flick on the nose as a responce will work;; each puppy is different ;you just have to get what works for yours ;but first & for most it must learn respect f or its pack leader YOU ;not going to say good luck cause it takes more than that!but hope you find the solution.

No need to flick any puppy noses That's NOT what puppies do and it's not the way to treat a little puppy. Anyone who tried to flick the nose of my dogs had better get ready to have their own nose flicked

I would suggest you carry a stuffed toy around in your pocket and when pup starts nipping, stuff the toy in his mouth. Puppy need to know what he is allowed to bite so when he takes the toy, praise him.

[Cosmolo]

I disagree with giving a puppy a toy as soon as they start to mouth- you need to stop them from mouthing and then 30-60 seconds later provide an appropriate chew toy. If they mouth and then get given a toy- that rewards their behaviour and some pups will then do it whenever they want you to play with them

[cavNrott]

I disagree with giving a puppy a toy as soon as they start to mouth- you need to stop them from mouthing and then 30-60 seconds later provide an appropriate chew toy. If they mouth and then get given a toy- that rewards their behaviour and some pups will then do it whenever they want you to play with them

Righto! Please tell us how you prevent a puppy who is hell bent on mouthing/nipping to stop for 30-60 seconds (without getting physical with them) before you produce the toy? If I knew how to bring an immediate halt to a determined puppy nipping for a period of 30-60 seconds I probably wouldn't need to stuff a toy in their mouth.

What do you do and what does the pup do in that 30-60 seconds waiting period? I would be very interested to know. With me and mine, the pup continued to nip and I continued to yelp ouch! Turning my back and folding my arms would meet with pup nipping at the back of my legs or clothing in most cases.

I mentioned what worked with all my pups My pups learnt very quickly that teeth are never to meet with flesh. I would say Ah Ah (for the nipping) and then put the toy in pups mouth within a second or two and praise pup for taking the toy. Sometimes I played with the pup and other times puppy played with the toy by itself.

My adult dogs will still bring a ball or a toy to me whenever they want me to play with them. I don't have a problem with that. If it's convenient I'm happy to play with them. They don't make pests of themselves if I tell them 'later'.

[Cosmolo]

Well i guess you'd say that i 'get physical' with them then because i put them into a sit, before releasing and providing a toy. How you stop them from mouthing to provide the time delay also depends on the pup in question but i will always have a time delay before giving a toy. I have nothing against playing games with toys at all, just those toys being given when a pup is doing an undesirable behaviour.

Edited November 29, 2007 by Cosmolo

[cavNrott]

Well i guess you'd say that i 'get physical' with them then because i put them into a sit, before releasing and providing a toy. How you stop them from mouthing to provide the time delay also depends on the pup in question but i will always have a time delay before giving a toy. I have nothing against playing games with toys at all, just those toys being given when a pup is doing an undesirable behaviour.

I guess we do what works for us. I give a toy to redirect the undesirable nipping behaviour not to reward it.

I don't physically put baby pups into a sit. I lure them into sit with a treat. A baby puppy who is in a state of high excitement with nipping, jumping and generally being silly is not focusing on commands. I won't ask a pup to do something unless I'm pretty sure it will comply because I don't want pup to think any command is optional.

Though I would expect a 10 week old pup to sit on command I wouldn't expect it to 'stay' for 60 seconds. A of second or two of compliance keeps me happy. I do expect my older dogs to hold a command until I release them but I don't ask this of a baby puppy.

[Guest Tess32]

I disagree with giving a puppy a toy as soon as they start to mouth- you need to stop them from mouthing and then 30-60 seconds later provide an appropriate chew toy. If they mouth and then get given a toy- that rewards their behaviour and some pups will then do it whenever they want you to play with them

You can just use your "no" word or "uh uh" or yelp when he bites, THEN rediret to toy and praise. You cannot sit there for one whole minute and expect a puppy not to bite.

[Cosmolo]

Just to clarify- i don't expect a pup to sit for 60 seconds. I am talking only about the time delay when i use that number and i actually said 30- 60. I don't ask the pup to sit and expect them to comply, i gently guide them into a sit to stop the behaviour so that i then have the opportunity to redirect them to a toy without rewarding them. I don't teach them that sit is optional.

I don't believe that the pup can understand that you are trying to redirect them immediately and not rewarding them- while i am sure it works for some puppies, i have seen many that it doesn't so i choose to use a different approach most of the time. I don't expect anyone to change what they are doing if its working for them, its just that the people i see who talk to me about mouthing usually have dogs who mouth with intensity and/ or the behaviour is more ingrained. (ie, they haven't been training/ being consistent since they got the puppy so their problem has developed further than what your pups might due to consistently of handling etc)