Puppy Biting!

[Dame Aussie]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and am hoping for some advice on my 12 week old aussie shepherds biting behaviour.

I'm sure this has been asked before but I feel as though I'm not doing the right thing. Lili will bite hands, feet, pants legs, ears, hair and face. When she goes for the face it's a full on attack, she launches up there!

While none of her bites are very hard and she only does it when playing I don't feel like were getting anywhere with her. I have been yelping and walking away from her and this sometimes works, but if shes got a hold of my clothing for example, she will not let go, i ignore her and she keeps pulling, i say "no" or yelp , nothing, I have to end up forcing her mouth open to get it out! I'm trying to be consistent, does anyone know how long these techniques take to work or am I completely off track?!!

Thanks!

[Bonnie N Her Aussie]

Hi, I'm new to the forum and am hoping for some advice on my 12 week old aussie shepherds biting behaviour.

I'm sure this has been asked before but I feel as though I'm not doing the right thing. Lili will bite hands, feet, pants legs, ears, hair and face. When she goes for the face it's a full on attack, she launches up there!

While none of her bites are very hard and she only does it when playing I don't feel like were getting anywhere with her. I have been yelping and walking away from her and this sometimes works, but if shes got a hold of my clothing for example, she will not let go, i ignore her and she keeps pulling, i say "no" or yelp , nothing, I have to end up forcing her mouth open to get it out! I'm trying to be consistent, does anyone know how long these techniques take to work or am I completely off track?!!

Thanks!

I know what you mean.

I have a 6 month old girl, and a 9 week old boy. So i'm there, and I've been there.

What I did with Millie was when she would bite my hand, I would press down under the tongue untill she yelped and then ignored her for 30seconds.

With Cooper, I've been yelping, as this is only his first week home.

have you been into the Aussie thread yet? That's where all us who have aussies talk about them and share photos. it's good for learning things as well.

Best of luck with Lili. If you lived over my way she could play with Cooper and Millie. Shame. You should still go to the thread and post pics though. :p

With her jumping up and nipping the clothing, you could try pinning her on her side laying down for about 30seconds untill she calms down and firmly say "NO" or "CALM".

I pin Millie when ever she jumps, I find it more succesfull then the knee raise and ignore.

Edited August 26, 2008 by Bonnie N Her Aussie

[Rhi*Jak*Ed]

Ahhh this thread has brought back some memories!! I should photograph a pair of my tracksuit pants that Jak completely demolished. Every time I walked down the hall she would latch on to the bottom of them and not let go!! I was advised to put something horrible tasting along the bottom of them (like chilli sauce).... That's quite hard to do with work pants etc though. So not sure there.

All I can really recommend with the biting is to remove her from the situation (or you). Keep at it though. If you separate her from the "pack" she should soon associate the biting with being left on her own, which she won't like. If she bites, put her in "time out", such as the bathroom etc for a few minutes. But it has to be immediately after she's bitten or she won't put two and two together.

In all honesty, nothing really worked with mine. I dare say that I wasn't all that consistent though. She did however eventually grow out of it. Now she just knicks off with my socks if I am silly enough to leave them laying around

Jak still mouths at times, and is getting less and less now (yes, she's 18 months old). I realised that she only did it when I was excited with her during play time. If I am calm however she won't mouth me...

Anyway all the best with it. It may take a few weeks or even longer, but just try and be consistent

[GSDhandler]

i found Nekhbet the best person to talk about on biting. he gave me some suggestions on my own thread and they worked like a charm. the breeder i got Koda from recomended that you take a firm hold of the snout (thank Dog for long nosed dogs) but dont squeeze too hard and tell them, in their face NO. they get a bit worse becuase they start testing you. when they do, give them a scare and they dont do it again. i found using a combination of bite inhibition to stop the intensity of the bite, then moving to bite removal techniques like the snoute grab, thounge press (only if your fingers are already there) and the yelp all worked becuase they made it unpleasant for her to bite me.

be sure never to do what my OH does. he balls up, and so her prey drive goes nuts, and she starts to really bite, then i have to isolate her, while i patchin him up, tehn tell him off for being so stupid.

best of luck. try typing biting into the search bar at the top (and sort through the millions of topic suggestions) because i think everyone has posted at least once on their puppy biting :D

[Gerda the Schnauzer]

I'm going through the same thing (11 week old), if it helps. Nothing is working. So puppy school suggested we get a water gun and spray her when she does it (in a way so she can't see us) and if that doesn't work put some tabasco in it too......... not sure if I will do that or not, but I'm at the stage where I will try anything because we can't be with her for long at all with all that biting.

Let us know if something works!

[TerraNik]

When Jedi was mouthing, we felt like nothing was working, but persevered with making noises and walking away. He never really stopped until he was about 17 weeks old... Something must have clicked one day and now he doesn't do it! We tried a range of things:

- yelp and walk away

- putting our hand to the back of his jaw so that he couldn't bite

- putting a toy in his mouth instead

So if it's anything like us, just some patience helps... It sucks and I still have the scars on my hands from the puncture wounds!! But, you'll get there.

EDT - we're about to start this all over again with our new pup coming in 2 weeks!! Looks like those scars aren't going to go away for a little while yet...

Edited August 29, 2008 by TerraNik

[Dame Aussie]

Thanks everyone for your advice.

Im thinking Im just going to have to persevere and hope she grows out of it soon..I feel like a pin cushion

But even when she's attached to my face I can't help but love her

[Cosmolo]

Please don't expect your puppy to grow out of it as there are many dogs who don't.

I like to teach puppies that they are never allowed to put their mouth around a person so will correct the mouthing. You need to find what works best for your puppy- anything from a verbal correction, time out, scruffing, water spray, loud noise etc can be used to correct the mouthing but you need to be clear, consistent and have good timing.

Are you going to puppy school? It is always better if someone can show you what to do and determine what works best for your dog- the type of correction, level of correction and timing of the correction are vital in determining whether it will be effective and varies from puppy to puppy.

You then need to provide high value rewards for not mouthing- teaching some basic obedience (sit etc) can help the puppy to understand what alternative behaviours to try. Make sure you have plenty of chew toys and encourage the puppy to chew these- while you can redirect from mouthing to a toy, i generally correct the mouthing first, wait 30 seconds or so and then provide a toy to engage in a game. Thw time delay is important so the dog doesn't perceive the toy as a reward for mouthing.

[Rusky]

have a look at this

http://www.jersey.net/~mountaindog/berner1/bitestop.htm

[lilypily]

I always have a toy with me and when my pup starts biting I put the toy in his mouth for him to chew on. When he is really hyper I get up and walk away

[ZEPING]

Ahhh this thread has brought back some memories!! I should photograph a pair of my tracksuit pants that Jak completely demolished. Every time I walked down the hall she would latch on to the bottom of them and not let go!! I was advised to put something horrible tasting along the bottom of them (like chilli sauce).... That's quite hard to do with work pants etc though. So not sure there.

hahah chilli thats good !!! lol never heard of that one!!

[Nekhbet]

yup two methods I use

- grab the pups muzzle and gently curl the lips in and press into the teeth. Smarts for a little and the dog will whinge and carry on. Release when puppy gets the point and ignore

- if the pup launches at you again after this (standing) turn to it, look into its face and growl loudly (I mean VERY loundly) GGRRRR NO and stamp your foot (not on said puppy)

- if puppy grabs your pants/arm etc calmly reach down, place your thumb under its tongue and apply slight pressure until the puppy starts whining and again gets idea

if you are on the floor and the pup attacks your face (oooh the little rat!) grab it by a big handful of scruff and simply pin it to the floor until it gives up its temper tantrum. And be prepared for a temper tantrum if its already in a silly mood.

I dont use food etc because biting is a life lesson, not a trick for me. Dogs should not have to be provided with a reward or incentive for the simple fact they dont take a chunk out of you. As Cosmolo said a lot of people can redirect to a toy and the dog thinks 'oh I bite I get a toy'. These methods also teach your dog long term as you really give the dog a black and white understanding - NEVER BITE.

[Dame Aussie]

Thanks for the advice everyone. The good news is that over the last week or so she has settled down a bit. Now most of the time when she jumps as if to bite she licks instead

She's by no means perfect and I'm going to make use of some of the suggestions here to try and stop the behaviour completely.

One thing I've found is helping is instead of saying "NO" when she bites, I say "sit" and as she knows the command she will do it!

Anyway I'll keep persisting and see how we go.

Thanks again