Biting Shoes, Sock And Pants

[bridged]

My rotti pup is really starting to get on my nerves when ever i walk anywhere she grabs hold of my shoes or pants or socks.

Ive tryed destracting her with other toys and always tell her a stern NO when she does it.

She gets distracted by the toys for about half a second then goes strait back to biting my legs.

Help please

[kazzakanary]

I cannot help cause my pup does the same!!

Looking forward to the answers to this one!

[pipppy]

In my vast experience with these things.....nah....just kidding, although our pup is a germshep x cattle so add circling around and around to the biting of the shoes and pants and OMG its hard to stop it or get out of his way. LOL.

Billy loves my dressing gown of a morning he is out of control biting and tugging on me, and running around and around me in between biting.

In all seriousness what we have found helps is the water spray bottle, a good fast spray whilst telling him to STOP, it usually does the trick if he sees the bottle now he tries very hard to behave himself.

Have you tried the water spray for anyother dicipline?

Its a good technique, especially for biting and tugging because really the only other way we found to stop him once he gets going is to physically use your hands to remove him from your clothes or shoes, and then you can have the double whammy of them nipping at your hand cause they think you are playing their game.

You can also use the sit command and get them to sit as soon as they start the bad behaviour, with billy we have to give that command quite early as he soon gets outof control excited once he gets hold of something and he wont sit, he wants to play tug......does your pup sit yet?

Distraction with another toy can also work, but I have found that once he sets his heart on our shoelaces or pants nothing will stop him form his true mission.

Well I am sure others will be along shortly with some suggestions, but these things have worked for us, just be prepared, dont find yourself at their mercey and the spray bottle on the kitchen table out of your reach. LOL.

Edited October 23, 2006 by billiam

[dougie]

& the problem is?

puppies are puppies....

they grow out of it.......

....in about 18 months......

[Tonymc]

As Dougie, said Pups will be Pups. Tonymc

[ReXy]

lol remy still does it at least once a day hes 7 months now,, he thinks that he needs to hold my hand or pants when i walk out the washing line..lol its the only time he does it..lol either that or hes saying no mum dont worry about the washing play with me...lol

as gramps " dougie" said.. pups are pups , they will grow out of it

[bridged]

cool i wont be to hard on her then

[fernstaff]

yep ebony is 9mths and still grabs onto shoe laces, pants, socks! hopefully only 1 year to go lol

[Flying Penguin]

Sam does the same but she has stopped going for the pants now, and almost at the socks but there is only a sock issue when you are putting them on.

I just kept telling her NO and if she continued she went outside, it soon fixed the issue.

Hope it helps

[jaybeece]

as gramps " dougie" said.. pups are pups , they will grow out of it

I wouldn't be so sure....my bugger of a dog will be 2 in February and will still do it if he knows he can get away with it He was encouraged to do it as a pup and has just kept it up because it's fun.

I'd be discouraging it as much as possible. If my boy starts biting at my feet I stop walking and completely ignore him until he stops. If it looks like he's going to start again I'll say "Ahh!" and then praise when he behaves himself. I also make sure to show him "approved" ways of playing that don't involve biting me

[wagsalot]

Riley tried this for a while when he was still a pup.. He'd bite our legs, feet, and hands if you were sitting on the floor.

We'd say NO, pick up him and put him straight in the laundry with the door shut for 5 minutes everytime he did it.

He soon learnt.

[tarazades]

I've found that having a toy and showing it to the puppy and not giving it to the puppy until you get where you're going helps. My pup is slowly but surely learning not to attack my feet as I walk. But I make sure I give him the toy once we get to where I'm going.

[Nekhbet]

I have never waited for a pup to grow out of these phases. If you allow the behaviour and wait for it to go away then it remains and sometimes multiplies. Then we have people with 18 month old shockers going 'oh it still does x, y, z"

wave a rag in its face and get the dog to focus on a proper fun thing, praise it for playing with the rag/toy instead. Stand stock still when the pup is tugging and ignore it completely. Dont show that clothing means attention, it will give up. Conversely grab some bitter spray/chilli and wipe it on an old pair of pants and let the pup grab on. If the pup goes for a rebite then spray and say NO. A little discipline never hurt any pup.

[megz74]

i used the water bottle technique as well and it worked great.

[BittyMooPeeb]

Blossom used to do this (still does :D ).

I use the 'screaming wounded person technique' (ie scream in pain like a sibling puppy would).

I also used the 'this can work for me too' technique and built on it to teach her a trick. Now when I say 'take my socks off' she duly does just that with great enthusiasm and gets a treat at the end. But she doesnt get a treat unless she is *asked * to do it.

I'd definately be getting her to stop it asap. I know someone with holes in all of her pants and her dog is now over 6

[Jellybean Chick]

Hi Bridged,

I've got the same problem with an 8 week old labrador pup, I think I might go and invest in a water pistol!! I've looked in so many books and none of them really talk about what to do if your pup is biting you or your clothes. I think my pup is just trying to be the "alpha dog". Fingers crossed the water pistol works....if anyone has any more suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Edited November 3, 2006 by Jellybean Chick