I brought home my new puppy today!!! She is sweet and full of puppyness!! We went to the shelter to get her and the kids fell in love with her on sight.
But I have a question for you all. How do we stop the puppy biting?? Our current dog, Toby never did that as a puppy. He has always been VERY calm. But the new dog (Piper) does the puppy biting and jumping. How do you break them of this?? ↓
|
|
| Name: Bluies101 | Date: Nov 30th, 2006 3:59 AM |
| When she does the biting a stern NO and then give her something else that she is allowed to chew and bite. The jumping thing is easy you just tell her no and immediatly start teaching the sit command make sure you keep lots of treats on hand then she will know that when you come in or show her attention she is supposed to sit and be calm. And one more thing teach your kids to firmly tell her No they are too young to teach her the other stuff but she will learn The word No and walk away from jumping or biting them. Good Luck with her And remember patients and love. ↑ |
| Name: momof3 | Date: Nov 30th, 2006 4:27 AM |
| I have started to work on the sitting, but I need to go to the store tomorrow to get puppy treats. We only have BIG milk bones for our other dog, but I was using bits of her food. She seems to be getting it. And I have been telling her no with the biting and so far tonight, she has stopped when I tell her no. I know that tomorrow she will probably have forgotten it. But puppies will be puppies. I have all the rags in the dryer, ready to go for tomorrow!!!! ↑ |
| Name: T-rabbit | Date: Nov 30th, 2006 6:25 PM |
I hope this will help you out.
By Dr. Ian Dunbar
Puppies bite, and thank goodness they do. Puppy biting is a normal and natural puppy behavior. In fact, it is the pup that does not mouth and bite much as a youngster that augers ill for the future. Puppy play-biting is the means by which dogs learn to develop bite inhibition, which is absolutely essential later in life.
The combination of weak jaws with extremely sharp, needle-like teeth and the puppy penchant for biting results in numerous play-bites which, although painful, seldom cause serious harm. Thus, the developing pup receives ample necessary feedback regarding the force of its bites before it develops strong jaws – which could inflict considerable injury. The greater the pup’s opportunity to play-bite with people, other dogs and other animals, the better the dog’s bite inhibition as an adult. For puppies that do not grow up with the benefit of regular and frequent interaction with other dogs and other animals, the responsibility of teaching bite inhibition lies with the owner.
Certainly, puppy biting behavior most eventually be eliminated: we cannot have an adult dog playfully mauling family, friends and strangers in the manner of a young puppy. However, it is essential that puppy biting behaviour is gradually and progressively eliminated via a systematic four-step process. With some dogs, it is easy to teach the four phases in sequence. With others, the puppy biting may be so severe that the owners will need to embark on all four stages at once. However, it is essential that the pup first learn to inhibit the force of its bites before the biting behaviour is eliminated altogether.
Inhibiting the force of bites
No painful bites The first item on the agenda is to stop the puppy bruising people. It is not necessary to reprimand the pup and, certainly, physical punishments are contra-indicated, since they tend to make some pups more excited, and insidiously erode the puppy’s temperament and trust in the owner. But it is essential to let the pup know when it hurts. A simple "ouch!" is usually sufficient. The volume of the "ouch" should vary according to the dog’s mental make-up; a fairly soft "ouch" will suffice for sensitive critters, but a loud "OUCH!!!" may be necessary for a wild and woolly creature. During initial training, even shouting may make the pup more excited, as does physical confinement. An extremely effective technique with boisterous pups is to call the puppy a "jerk!" and leave the room and shut the door. Allow the pup time to reflect on the loss of its favourite human chew toy immediately following the hard nip, and then return to make up. It is important to indicate that you still love the pup – it is the painful bites which are objectionable. Instruct the pup to come and sit, and then resume playing. Ideally, the pup should have been taught not to hurt people well before it is three months old.
It is much better for the owner to leave the pup than to try to physically restrain and remove it to a confinement area at a time when it is already out of control. If one pup bites another too hard, the bitee yelps and playing is postponed while the injured party licks its wounds. The biter learns that hard bites curtail an otherwise enjoyable play session. Hence, the bite learns to bite more softly when the play session resumes.
No jaw pressure at all The second stage of training is to eliminate bite pressure entirely, even thought the bites no longer hurt. When the puppy is munching away, wait for a nibble that is harder than the rest and respond as if it really hurt: "Ouch, you worm! Gently! That hurt me you bully!" The dog begins to think "Good Lord! These humans are so mamby pamby I’ll have to be really careful when mouthing their delicate skins." And that’s precisely what we want the dog to think – so he’ll be extremely careful when playing with people. Ideally, the puppy should no longer be exerting any pressure when mouthing by the time it is four to five months old.
Inhibiting the incidence of mouthing
Always stop mouthing when requested: Once the puppy has been taught to gently mouth rather than bite, it is time to reduce the frequency of mouthing behaviour and teach the pup that mouthing is okay until requested to stop. Why? Because it is inconvenient to try to drink a cup of tea, or to answer the telephone, with 50 pounds of pup dangling from your wrist, that’s why.
It is better to first teach the "OFF!" command using a food lure (as demonstrated in the Sirius video*). The deal is this: "If you don’t touch this food treat for just two seconds after I softly say "Off", I will say "Take it" and you can have the treat." Once the pup has mastered this simple task, up the ante to three seconds of non-contact, and then five, eight, 12, 20 and so on. Count out the seconds and praise the dog with each second: "Good dog one, good dog two, good dog three…" and so forth. If the pup touches the treat before being told to take it, shout "Off!" and start the count from zero again. The pup quickly learns that it can not have the treat until it has not touched it for, say, eight seconds – the quickest way to get the treat is not to touch it for the first eight seconds. In addition, the regular handfeeding during this exercise helps preserve the pup’s soft mouth.
Once the pup understnads the "Off!" request, it may be used effectively when the puppy is mouthing. Say "Off!" and praise the pup and give it a treat when it lets go. Remember, the essence of this exercise is to practise stopping the dog from mouthing – each time the pup obediently ceases and desists, resume playing once more. Stop and start the session many times over. Also, since the puppy wants to mouth, the best reward for stopping mouthing is to allow it to mouth again. When you decide to stop the mouthing session altogether, heel the pup to the kitchen and give it an especially tasty treat.
If ever the pup refuses to release your hand when requested, shout "Off!", rapidly extricate your hand and storm out of the room mumbling, "Right. That’s done it, you jerk! You’ve ruined it! Finish! Over! No more!" and shut the door in the dog’s face. Give the pup a couple of minutes on its own and then go back to call the pup to come and sit and make up. But no more mouthing for at least a couple of hours.
In addition to using "Off!" during bite inhibition training, the request has many other useful applications: not to touch the cat, the Sunday roast on the table, the table, the baby’s soiled diapers, the baby, an aggressive dog, a fecal deposit of unknown denomination… Not only does this exercise teach the "Off!" request, but also to "Take it" on request.
Never start mouthing unless requested: By the time the pup is five months old, it must have a mouth as soft as a 14-year-old working Lab; it should never exert any pressure when mouthing, and the dog should immediately stop mouthing when requested to do so by any family member. Unsolicited mouthing is utterly inappropriate from an older adolescent or an adult dog. It would be absolutely unacceptable for a six-month-old dog to approach a child and commence mouthing her arm, no matter how gentle the mouthing or how friendly and playful the dog’s intentions. This is the sort of situation which gives parents the heebie-jeebies and frightens the living daylights out of the mouthee. At five months of age, at the very latest, the dog should be taught never to touch any person’s body – not even clothing – with its jaws unless specifically requested.
Whether or not the dog will ever be requested to mouth people depends on the individual owner. Owners that have the mental largesse of a toothpick quickly let play-mouthing get out of control, which is why many dog training texts strongly recommend not indulging in games such as play-fighting. However, it is essential to continue bite inhibition exercises, otherwise the dog’s bite will begin to drift and become harder as the dog grows older. For such people, I recommend that they regularly hand-feed the dog and clean its teeth – exercises that involve the human hand in the dog’s mouth. On the other hand, for owners who have a full complement of common sense, there is no better way to maintain the dog’s soft mouth than by play-fighting with the dog on a regular basis. However, to prevent the dog from getting out of control and to fully realize the many benefits of play-fighting, the owner must play by the rules and teach the dog to play by the rules. (Play-fighting rules are described in detail in our Preventing Aggression behaviour bookelt.*)
Play-fighting teaches the dog to mouth hands only (hands are extremely sensitive to pressure) and never clothing. Since shoelaces, trousers and hair have no neurons and cannot feel, the owner cannot provide the necessary feedback that the dog is once more beginning to mouth too hard. The game also teaches the dog that it must adhere to rules regarding its jaws, regardless of how worked up it may be. Basically, play-fighting teaches the owner to practice controlling the dog when it is excited. It is important to refine such control in a structured setting, before a real-life situation occurs.
In addition, play-fighting quickly becomes play-training. Starting the games with a training period, i.e., with the dog under control in a down-stay, produces utterly solid stays at a time when the dog is excited in vibrant anticipation of the game. Similarly, frequent stopping the game for short periods and integrating multiple training interludes (especially heel work and recalls) into the game motivates the dog to provide eager and speedy responses. Each time the owner stops the game, he or she may use the resumption of play as a reward for bona fide obedience. Everything’s fun!
Potential problems
Inhibiting incidence before force: A common mistake is to punish the pup in an attempt to get it to stop biting altogether. At the best, the puppy no longer mouths those family members who can effectively punish the dog but, instead, the pup directs its mouthing sprees toward those family members who cannot control it, e.g., a child. To worsen matters, parents are often completely unaware of the child’s plight because the pup does not mouth adults. At worst, the puppy no longer mouths people at all. Hence, its education about the force of its bite stops right there. All is fine until someone accidentally shuts the car door on the dog’s tail, whereupon the dog bites and punctures the skin, because the dog had insufficient bite inhibition.
Puppies that don’t bite: Shy dogs seldom socialize or play with other dogs or strangers. Hence, they do not play-bite and hence, they learn nothing about the power of their jaws. The classic case history is of a dog that never mouthed or bit as a pup and never bit anyone as an adult – that is, until an unfamiliar child tripped and fell on the dog. The first bite of the dog’s career left deep puncture wounds, because the dog had developed no bite inhibition. With shy puppies, socialization is of paramount importance, and time is of the essence. The puppy must quickly be socialized sufficiently, so that it commences playing (and hence, biting) before it is four-and-a-half months old.
If a puppy does not frequently mouth and bite and/or does not occasionally bite hard, it is an emergency. The puppy must learn its limits. And it can only learn its limits by exceeding them during development and receiving the appropriate feedbacks.
------
If your pup or adult dog is having serious bite inhibition problems, is snapping or aggressive in any form or fashion, please consult an animal behaviorist. ↑ |
| Name: Bluies101 | Date: Nov 30th, 2006 8:53 PM |
| Just because it is a natural thing does not mean it should be permitted. It does not have a pack or mother now so as its human mom you need to find the most reliable and compassionate way to teach it not to bite or chew on you or your family. The way i told you in the earlier post is tried and proven with my nine apbt. and it does not cause a fear of biting cause you redirect her attention. ↑ |
| Name: mynewpuppy | Date: Dec 21st, 2006 2:37 AM |
| with our first dog, he bit alot as a puppy. What I did to break him was tap him on the nose and tell him no bitting till he finally got the idea. It took a couple of weeks till he realized what I was teaching him. He has not bitten since then, That was 5 years ago. Hope this helps ↑ |
| Name: T-rabbit | Date: Dec 29th, 2006 12:43 AM |
| Name: babii | Date: Jul 9th, 2007 11:59 PM |
| Name: goober | Date: Aug 20th, 2007 1:07 AM |
| Name: Kay | Date: Nov 5th, 2007 6:28 PM |
| Hi I have a 12 week old Westie called Alfie and would like to hear from anyone who has one and any tips you can give me. ↑ |
| Name: jameice | Date: Nov 23rd, 2007 2:44 PM |
| why is that my dog has eight nibbles and usually it is suppose to have eight dogs but it has six puppies what does that mean is on of them going to die. ↑ |
| Name: christine | Date: Dec 5th, 2007 1:36 AM |
| aww, I am getting my chocolate lab puppy friday and have no idea what to call him, I already had a skipper. ↑ |
| Name: b3cca | Date: Apr 26th, 2008 11:13 AM |
| your puppy is just going throw puppy stage but u still need to let your puppy know that u ar the boss ↑ |
| Name: alm10189 | Date: Apr 29th, 2008 10:00 PM |
| Hi, I was hoping that someone could help me.. About a year ago I bought a male Cockapoo named Bogie. He is almost completely trained other than this one thing.. he eats my other dog's droppings.. he has been doing it ever since I got him.. I asked the vet on our last visit and she said it's just how puppies explore the world.. but he keeps doing it.. any suggestions?! ↑ |
| Name: helengive them something to ch | Date: May 28th, 2008 10:02 PM |
| give them something to chew on as probably cutting teeth such as a strap from a old purse should be ok ↑ |
| Name: lindalu | Date: May 28th, 2008 11:04 PM |
Helen
Yes... its normal for a 7 week old to sleep a lot. Not to worry in a couple weeks you will wish he was still 7 weeks and still sleeping a lot.
Potty training can be different for all dogs how quickly they train depends on you and how consistent you are.
Will you be pad training or out door training?
Do you work ...if so how many hours?and will there be any one home with the puppy while you are at work?
Finally.....are you crating? ↑ |
| Name: Jann | Date: Jun 8th, 2008 9:59 PM |
| Our new puppy that we got yesterday hasnt really been eating. hes playing and sleeping fine but he wont eat ↑ |
| Name: Sweet Nanaw | Date: Jul 14th, 2008 5:36 AM |
| I have a Daschund mix puppy 4 months old who bites and nips at people's ankles. How do I stop that? ↑ |
| Name: lindalu | Date: Jul 14th, 2008 10:05 PM |
Jann
Don't worry puppies spend much of their time playing and sleeping. If hes eating there is nothing to worry about. ↑ |
| Name: lindalu | Date: Jul 14th, 2008 10:17 PM |
Sweet Nanaw
You can start with a firm voice saying....NO BITE with a firm gental grasp around the muzzel! If you are walking while he is bitting stop thus will cause him to lose interest, but still use the NO BITE command.
Another thing you can do is time outs they work really well if you can be consistent with it. How it works is first you need to find an area that is gated or confined (not a crate or sleeping area)when he bites you immediately place him in the designated time out area at the same time telling him... NO BITE. If he wines ignore him remove him only when he is not wining. Every time he bites repeat the first step place him in his time out spot. If he does not wine keep him in it for a couple minutes then remove him. Time outs can be hard work for the pet owner because it seems like the pet is always in time out, but you will start to notice with time the biting will get less and less. ↑ |
| Name: wrwq | Date: Jan 20th, 2009 1:09 AM |
| Name: fhjsahahujf | Date: Jan 20th, 2009 1:13 AM |
| sexxxxxxxxxxxxyyyyyyyyyyyyy ↑ |
| Name: me | Date: Apr 19th, 2009 4:14 PM |
| most puppy's will bite because there teething but you can give them rawhide bones for your puppy to chew ↑ |
| Name: melanie | Date: Jul 7th, 2009 4:40 PM |
| my puppy keeps on biting people ↑ |
| Name: lily | Date: Sep 5th, 2009 7:09 PM |
| if you want to stop the dog biteing i say to my dog leve it and she stop's ↑ |
| Name: Nicki | Date: Sep 6th, 2009 8:35 PM |
| Hi wats up peaple!!!!!!!!! ↑ |
| Name: answer puppy qustions girl | Date: Sep 19th, 2009 2:38 PM |
| to break them of biting and jumping is to put a leash by the front door then when u have someone at the door put the leash on the dog then when the person walks in the door and he starts to jump just gently pull on the leash.now the bitting,u just tap them on the nose and say"NO".then u put them in puppy time-out. ↑ |
| Name: Selena | Date: Oct 1st, 2009 2:31 AM |
| I can't believe i just got a puppy its a shih tzu. ↑ |
| Name: Desiree | Date: Oct 9th, 2009 3:56 AM |
| just go chhhttt and put ur finger on them while saying that and it will break the puppy of that quick trust me = ] ↑ |
| Name: Lady | Date: Jan 1st, 2010 7:44 AM |
Hi there I am 9 years old. I had 7 puppies and dogs. I would tap them lightly on the head and pick her/him up walk over to her/her room. Leave her/him in their room for about 5 seconds. take her out n see if she bites againspray her with a water spray.
The jumping problem I have no Answer or Reply SORRY !! ↑ |
| Name: shannon | Date: Feb 6th, 2010 12:47 PM |
| Name: meganleak | Date: Feb 6th, 2010 12:47 PM |
|
|
