Puppy Biting

[LuvBella]

Hi,

I am just new onto here, and i realise the forum is primarily for purebreeds, and i have a maltese cross, so i understand if members may be loathe to help me, but i have found the best advise when it comes to puppy problems, comes from breeders and owners of purebreed, as they would quote often have a long history of training etc.

my maltese cross is 8 weeks old, and was picked up last friday.

She seems to already have mastered the dog door, to go outside to the toilet, both when we are home, and when we are not, which i am extremely happy about.

But the problem i have is that she seems to be alot more "bitey" than i remember my mini dachound being when he was a puppy (mind you my dachound is now 14 yrs old, so it was a while ago).

the only time she isn't trying to bite my ankles or feet or hands etc is when she is either sleeping or eating.

I cannot do anything without her trying to bite various parts of me. it varies between sharp painful bites and light nipping, so i would love to teach her that the light bites can be okay during play, but nothing more. When she bites me, i have been moving away, and giving her a more suitable item to chew on, which she will sometimes accept, other times, she will continue to come at me.

Is it normal for puppies to be this bitey, all the time, and how should i move forward with teaching her the acceptable limits?

[luvsdogs]

Puppies do bite. She will have to learn bite inhibition. Here's a link on what to do.

http://www.dogstardaily.com/training/teach...bite-inhibition

Welcome to the forum & is that your puppy in your avatar? If so she's gorgeous.

Edited February 26, 2009 by luvsdogs

[LuvBella]

Yes, thats my Bella

Thanks for the link, i'll have to work on it, because i definately do not want a dog that will attack my feet at any moments notice, with no restraint.

Other than the biting, she seems to be an ideal puppy. she has the run of the house while we are at work during the day, with her dog door put in on sunday,giving her access to outside when she needs to go toilet, and since then there has only been 1 or 2 accidents with her not quite making it outside when she needs to pee. Both times, the mistake is within a metre of the door, and there has been no poop inside since the weekend. And she goes outside during the night by herself too.

She seems to spend most of her day sleeping in our bathroom, both on the tiles, and my partners clothes, and hasnt even tried to chew on any furniture.

Overall, i am so happy with her, she can be a sweetie (when she isnt biting!!)

[Tassie]

She looks a real sweetie - and sonds like a good puppy too.

If you look down this forum, you'll see there have been at least a couple of threads dealing with biting problems that you can look at in addition to the Ian Dunbar site you've been referred to.

In my experience, you need to be prepared to have a range of acceptable chew objects lying handy in every room of the house, so that you can do the interrupt/re-direct on to an acceptable chew item very quickly, wherever you are.

[LuvBella]

Yes, i did have a read of the other threads, and they were full of info about how to stop the biting etc which i have found interesting to read, but i was so paranoid that Bella was excessive with her biting, and wondering if there was an underlying problem that may need to be addressed for why she did it sooo much.

My memories of my dog back home was that he was a sooky puppy who loved to cuddle up into me and sleep, so i guess i just forgot about how it actually was back then.

Bella will be going in for her second vax in 4 weeks, and i would love to get her started in a puppy pre school, but wasnt sure about when to start that in comparision to her vacinations.

[Tassie]

If you have a good puppy pre-school at a vet clinic near you, it's probably worth trying to get her in now. They take pre-second vax pups, I think.

IMO sometimes how much they bite and how hard can be influenced by how many other dogs they were raised with. My boy (5 months tomorrow) was raised with his litter mates, but also hsome aunties and a gran, who was apparently good at disciplining puppies :rolleyes: , so he came with good dog manners, and a reasonably soft bite - though he did like to use it a lot in the early days. Now he's teething big time, so if he's calm and quiet, he sometimes gets to hav a gentle chew on me - but it's now mouthing rather than chewing, and it's by invitation.

[LuvBella]

I'm situated near Carindale in QLD, does anyone have any recommendations?

[luvsdogs]

Have a look at this link, you may find someone in your area.

http://apdt.com.au/trainers/directory.html#qld

[LuvBella]

Well, the suggestion of yelping when she has bitten too hard, and walking away has seemed to work already. she still tries, but not as much, and its like she has second thoughts before trying, so t is pretty much light nipping now. i can now lie on the floor wih her, without her trying to bite unless we are playing. she now also seems more cuddly but i thinks that just because she isnt attacking me.

this is how i had imagined having a puppy again, so its all seemed to settle down now.

We also had our first vet visit today, just as a checkup, and to get her claws cut, and she was so brave!!