Very bitey puppy

[Newmum]

Hi everyone,
I'm hoping someone can help me out. I have an 8 week old puppy who I got a few days ago, things are going pretty well except sometimes when we play with her with toys she will bite my hand and not let go. It hurts now so I definitely want to train her this is bad before she gets any stronger. I have tried yelping or a sharp ah ah and going limp rather than pulling my hand away but she takes ages to let go. I've tried offering her a toy, she has plenty of chew toys, different kongs and ropes which she does enjoy but she won't take them as a trade to stop biting me or if given after she stops biting me she just thinks they are less fun than biting me and goes to bite me again. When she eventually does let go I walk away but she just follows me and bites my toes or trousers instead. I don't know what else to try. Maybe a timeout in the boring hallway? Does this work? But how do I get her to release the bite in the first place without being cruel?

Thanks for any advice!

[gwd]

welcome, and congrats on your new puppy!

I think you'll find this recent thread helpful.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=17960

at 8 weeks, you can't really expect the puppy to release your hand on command or just figure out that she shouldn't be biting and just lets go. by all means slip your other hand into her mouth and unlatch yourself........gently of course but unhook those little needles from your skin.

you're on the right track with the time out but it's you that removes yourself from the area.........puppy learns that inappropriate biting causes you to leave and the fun to stop! in the linked thread I've gone into more detail.

[Newmum]

Hi, thanks for your reply, I had a read of the other post too. I'm trying to do everything right! It's not having much of an effect yet but I'll stick with it and see how it goes. She's doing great with most other stuff so I know she's smart enough to learn. I only brought her home Saturday and today no house accidents and she's learnt sit and down already though she'll only down during training sessions but still, I think she's doing great. Anyway enough boasting about my new pup! When I do the time out when I come back she's only calm for a few seconds, does she need longer time outs? doing about 10 seconds ATM as 5 had no effect whatsoever, or just keep going as I am?
Thanks again

[gwd]

Anyway enough boasting about my new pup!

pictures are always appreciated as well!

When I do the time out when I come back she's only calm for a few seconds, does she need longer time outs? doing about 10 seconds ATM as 5 had no effect whatsoever, or just keep going as I am?
Thanks again

longer isn't needed, just more frequent. the key is consistency.......each and every time you get up and remove yourself is a 'training moment' .......the puppy will learn that the fun stops each and every time she gets too bity. of course you're working right now on saving your skin but what you're also doing is giving her a solid basis for bite inhibition that will carry over her entire adult life.

hang in there..........there will be days it seems as all you're doing is walking out of the room!

[GoChiBlackhawks]

My dog (3 year old male GSP) doesn't bite us too much, but when he starts playing rough he does bite and he doesn't really know how to make sure he's not hurting us. What we do is just remove ourselves from the game. It's kind of like a time out, but we don't place him in another room or anything. We just leave the room and don't engage him with any other toys. It kind of ends the game that way. While it might be harder because your dog follows, if you can teach a decent sit/down and stay, I think this will work well.
Another thing to do is make sure the dog is getting a TON of exercise. That puppy energy needs to be burned off. When our dog has a lot of energy, he can be quite insane. If you can afford it, try doing a day of doggy daycare and see what the biting is like afterwards. It could just be extra energy that isn't being used correctly. If after a day of cage-free doggy daycare doesn't dull the biting, you can also try to redirect the biting into a different game, such as fetch or tug of war.
Puppies also bite, as a general rule. I believe it should get better as the dog gets older, but I suppose you can't be certain.
Hope that helps a little!

[DianeLDL]

Hi, thanks for your reply, I had a read of the other post too. I'm trying to do everything right! It's not having much of an effect yet but I'll stick with it and see how it goes. She's doing great with most other stuff so I know she's smart enough to learn. I only brought her home Saturday and today no house accidents and she's learnt sit and down already though she'll only down during training sessions but still, I think she's doing great. Anyway enough boasting about my new pup! When I do the time out when I come back she's only calm for a few seconds, does she need longer time outs? doing about 10 seconds ATM as 5 had no effect whatsoever, or just keep going as I am?
Thanks again

I agree, that we would love see photos.

Another suggestion that I have heard is to have chew toys everywhere around the house so that as soon as it looks like your puppy is getting ready to bite, to put a chew toy into the mouth instead. Puppies need to chew. That is why your pup is biting. So, having lots of chew toys easily accessible to grab in a second, would give the puppy something acceptable to chew on.

Also, as far as ankles and trouser legs are concerned, they are very attractive. My husband walks barefoot and wonders why dog goes after his ankles. So, wearing shoes, perhaps making the trouser legs less flappy by tucking them into boots or sock tops when at home. For some reason, the flapping pant legs are very attractive. I also had to get rid of my furry slippers as our dog would attack them (while on my feet) probably thinking it as another animal.

This is in addition to multiple time outs will help. As gwd said, it is every time the puppy goes to bite, end play. It may take a while. But consistency is the key. And, remember as someone else has said in other situations, that biting and time put while in the kitchen, to a puppy is not the same as doing it in the bedroom, for example. Every situation is different in the mind of a puppy, like learning to sit in the kitchen is different than learning to sit in the living room, or even out in the garden.

It takes time and patience. Look at the General Chat, we have two long time members who have new puppies. ClareMarsh has had hers about the same time as you have had yours. Emmabeth wrote about her puppy, Womble, a few months ago when he was in his biting phase, too.

So, know that there are others dealing with similar situations right now, too.

Diane

[Newmum]

Hi everyone,
thanks for the replies. I think I'm not doing the timeouts enough and that's the problem, I've been too worried that she'll go pee while I'm not watching! I need to just not worry about that. I've changed timeouts back to 5 seconds But more frequent, Fairly often she'll just wander off and chew the sofa or today's new favourite, the curtains! does this mean 5 seconds is too long for her? Thanks for the suggestion of doggie daycare, she hasn't had all her vaccinations yet but we have got puppy socialisation classes to take her to once she's fully protected, I'm hoping this will help. Also I'm hoping the walks we can take her on then will help too. She does get plenty of play exercise in the house and garden throughout the day as I'm home all day. Basically whenever she wakes up I take her out to let her pee/ poo then see if she wants to play or go back to sleep, she usually wants to play amount 4 times a day for about 30-40 minutes with 2-3 breaks to the garden in that time as she likes to pee mid play. I do 5 mins training before each meal. She's also got a ton of chew toys but once she gets into biting me or hubby that's far more entertaining apparently. I'll post some pics when I get a chance to get on the PC I promise!

I'll let you know how it goes.
Thanks again!

[Erica]

Even 3 seconds is enough for a time-out - it only needs to be long enough for her to realize that the fun has stopped. Eventually she should make the connection between her actions and the fun stopping - this is why it helps to be as quick as you can to leave the room. For one of the dogs I take care of, I literally just shut the door, take my hand off the handle, then open it again - or, that's what I used to do. The timeouts helped though and are no longer needed!

[Newmum]

some pictures as promised!











and the biting update. Today seems to be going better, timeouts every time she bites too hard, I can walk to the other side of the room instead of through the door most times but if she nips my toes I go out the room. Sometimes this is my fault as I walk away too fast and it makes my toes very interesting! Then when I come back to play I tell her to 'sit' before she gets the toy back. Also we've found a squeak from a squeaky toy gets her to release if she's latched on tight, usually does the trick. Also discovered that for the moment, off leash puppy zoomies in the garden when I join in the running actually get her more worked up and more likely to bite, doesn't seem to tire her out at all. So either on leash sniffing for the mo or I stand on the patio while she chases the leaves on the grass, she gets this as a 'treat' for weeing when told to outside, though she runs straight back inside when its rainy, yuk!

Also we took note of which toys she was chewing, shes not a great fan of the nylabone and will only chew it if we encourage her to and shes not so much a fan of her puppy kong either, I think her mouth isn't quite big enough yet even though its the small puppy one. but her soft toys she chews and chews. So off to the pet store we went and bought some more soft toys and some very squishy jelly type rubber toys. These seem to be keeping her interest more. It was also a chance for her to meet some kids and some older folks while in my arms at the shop. It was also great to read about emmabeths pup, Womble. Sometimes you get the impression from books, if you do this when pup does that they'll never do it again! So it was nice to read about Womble who has an experienced owner and hear from others on this post that it takes time. She is my first dog and I'm trying to do everything right for the both of us, just glad there's more information and knowledge about now about positive training or I may have followed the wrong advise.

[JudyN]

Oh she's just like a teddy bear!! Is she a cockerpoo?

Jasper isn't keen on hard rubber/plastic toys either. He much prefers ones that he can grind to bits, chew the limbs off and destuff If you get fed up with replacing soft toys you could try giving her cardboard boxes to shred.

[Newmum]

She's a miniature poodle, just had her first bath here, was surprised how small she actually is without the fluff! One lady in the pet shop thought I was holding one of the dog toys till she realised it was actually a dog

[katej215]

OMG those pics are just too much...that second one of her sleeping gave me serious puppy ache! What colour is she? I saw some pics of some red min poodles the other day which looked gorgeous...

[OnceInAWeil]

OMG those pics are just too much...that second one of her sleeping gave me serious puppy ache!

Me too! Awwwww

[Newmum]

Hehe, she is gorgeous. She's red colour we named her Ember. There were 2 that dark in the litter, the other one a boy, the rest were apricot. We were lucky to get her as the breeder was offered double what we paid by someone who wanted her for breeding but she was great and honoured our deposit. Everyone get puppy broody!

[katej215]

Aww Ember is a lovely name! She really is the most gorgeous girl!