please please could someone give me some advice?
i have a beautiful 13wk old shihtzu x terrier and i also have four children, we wanted a family dog so that is why we got her but unfortunately things arent working out that way. shes a good puppy in respect of chewing things etc but the only problem is BITING.
At first i thought it was playful biting but now it has became aggressive biting, for no reason at all she will just turn on you and has broke the skin on my childrens hands alot of times. ive tried ignoring her and shouting NO but its not working, im unsure now of what to do for the next step. we all love her very much but the biting really is becoming a problem. you could just be stroking her then she will just snack at you.
please please help me change my puppy
please help me stop my puppy from biting
Moderators: emmabeth, BoardHost
I can assure you that there IS a reason behind your puppy biting aggressively, IF it is aggression thats behind this.
Dogs NEVER do something 'without reason' and when you understand that, you find tis much easier to get to the root of a problem and solve it.
Firstly, how old are your children.
When and how do they play with the puppy.
Is the puppy ever crated, does she have somwhere of her own to go thats safe and quiet and no one interrupts her or interferes with her there.
What is she fed?
What toys does she have.
Ok a few tips that might help here until you can answer the above questions.
1/ Train the children, (and yourself - most dog training isnt about training dogs its about trainign people!).
Make sure your kids are able to be consistant with her, if necessary, write down the rules regarding what they can and cannot do wtiht he dog, what the dog is and isnst allowed to do, and put them on a poster where everyone can see.
Insist that your children only ever play QUIET and CALM games with her, no running, shouting, squealing, fast movements, no pulling or poking or roughhousing.
If your children are too young to follow these rules (and really, even if they arent), NEVER allow them to be with the puppy unless you are present. It is when pups and children are unsupervised that horrific accidents happen and invariably, its the pup that gets the blame and pays the price.
If you can, id use baby gates and a suitably sized dog crate to ensure seperation at various times of the day so you know where everyone is.
Now, onto the biting.
Your pup im afraid to say is not the most suitable of crossbreeds for a young family. Shih-tzus are small, easily hurt (due to their small size), they look like a toy which will cause problems for even some older children, they are fiesty and independant. Terriers are the same although more robust, they are bred to chase, bark and kill so its not surprising really that a baby terrier x is going to want to practice all those behaviours.
If your pup was still with her litter mates she would be practicing on them, and they would let her know that it was not appreciated when she bit too hard or too much. They would squeak and then they would ignore her, or get out of her way.
You must do the same thing, so when she makes contact with your skin, you YELP like she broke your arm right off, and you say NOTHING AT ALL but march right outo f the room adn shut the door behind you, shutting her away from you.
Your children WILL have to do the same thing - if she is going for feet and ankles then id suggest for now, your children wear clean welly boots or similar tough ankle covering boots in the house, if she cant bite and get them to run around screaming and yelling, and they can just ignore her when she does it, you will get results.
The other thing you MUST do, is offer her something more suiiitable to bite and shake and kill. If you purely ignore the behaivour, she will just try harder, if you give her an alternative such as a squeaky toy, a ragger rope, a kong with puppy food in it, she will eventually give up biting people in favour of the toy - do give her these BEFORE she starts nipping though, you need to watch her carefully and see when sehs goign to start.
If she really IS nipping and snapping seemingly without reason, you need to double check with your vet that shes not in any pain, perhaps someones frightened her, or stepped on a paw by accident.
Final tip before i go.
Dogs dont like being cuddled. Dont let your children do this, dogs can feel very very threatened adn nervous if they are restrained and smothered wtih cuddles, picked up, have faces put up close near their own etc.
Try and spend time with her training her to do other things, such as the basic commands, sit, down, stay, come, leave, wait.... adn fun things like 'wheres the treat' and 'paw' etc.
The more time she spends tiring her brain out learning usefl things, the less time shes going to spend chewing on your children.
Hth
Em
Dogs NEVER do something 'without reason' and when you understand that, you find tis much easier to get to the root of a problem and solve it.
Firstly, how old are your children.
When and how do they play with the puppy.
Is the puppy ever crated, does she have somwhere of her own to go thats safe and quiet and no one interrupts her or interferes with her there.
What is she fed?
What toys does she have.
Ok a few tips that might help here until you can answer the above questions.
1/ Train the children, (and yourself - most dog training isnt about training dogs its about trainign people!).
Make sure your kids are able to be consistant with her, if necessary, write down the rules regarding what they can and cannot do wtiht he dog, what the dog is and isnst allowed to do, and put them on a poster where everyone can see.
Insist that your children only ever play QUIET and CALM games with her, no running, shouting, squealing, fast movements, no pulling or poking or roughhousing.
If your children are too young to follow these rules (and really, even if they arent), NEVER allow them to be with the puppy unless you are present. It is when pups and children are unsupervised that horrific accidents happen and invariably, its the pup that gets the blame and pays the price.
If you can, id use baby gates and a suitably sized dog crate to ensure seperation at various times of the day so you know where everyone is.
Now, onto the biting.
Your pup im afraid to say is not the most suitable of crossbreeds for a young family. Shih-tzus are small, easily hurt (due to their small size), they look like a toy which will cause problems for even some older children, they are fiesty and independant. Terriers are the same although more robust, they are bred to chase, bark and kill so its not surprising really that a baby terrier x is going to want to practice all those behaviours.
If your pup was still with her litter mates she would be practicing on them, and they would let her know that it was not appreciated when she bit too hard or too much. They would squeak and then they would ignore her, or get out of her way.
You must do the same thing, so when she makes contact with your skin, you YELP like she broke your arm right off, and you say NOTHING AT ALL but march right outo f the room adn shut the door behind you, shutting her away from you.
Your children WILL have to do the same thing - if she is going for feet and ankles then id suggest for now, your children wear clean welly boots or similar tough ankle covering boots in the house, if she cant bite and get them to run around screaming and yelling, and they can just ignore her when she does it, you will get results.
The other thing you MUST do, is offer her something more suiiitable to bite and shake and kill. If you purely ignore the behaivour, she will just try harder, if you give her an alternative such as a squeaky toy, a ragger rope, a kong with puppy food in it, she will eventually give up biting people in favour of the toy - do give her these BEFORE she starts nipping though, you need to watch her carefully and see when sehs goign to start.
If she really IS nipping and snapping seemingly without reason, you need to double check with your vet that shes not in any pain, perhaps someones frightened her, or stepped on a paw by accident.
Final tip before i go.
Dogs dont like being cuddled. Dont let your children do this, dogs can feel very very threatened adn nervous if they are restrained and smothered wtih cuddles, picked up, have faces put up close near their own etc.
Try and spend time with her training her to do other things, such as the basic commands, sit, down, stay, come, leave, wait.... adn fun things like 'wheres the treat' and 'paw' etc.
The more time she spends tiring her brain out learning usefl things, the less time shes going to spend chewing on your children.
Hth
Em
thankyou so much for your good advice.
my childrens ages are 9, 7, 4 and 2 and yes the 2yr old does smother her with cuddles alot, which i will now put a stop to.
as for toys, she has loads and i mean loads of toys, rope toys, squeaky toys, chewy toys, cuddly toys.
i have never crate trained her. she has a dog bed and she sleeps in there most of the time, and whenever she wants peace she goes into the back hall where theres a pillow that she lies on. she gets loads of exercise and i will tell the children to stop running around as you mentioned as they think its fun to let her chase them. thankyou very much for your advice and i will definately put it to good use
thankyou
my childrens ages are 9, 7, 4 and 2 and yes the 2yr old does smother her with cuddles alot, which i will now put a stop to.
as for toys, she has loads and i mean loads of toys, rope toys, squeaky toys, chewy toys, cuddly toys.
i have never crate trained her. she has a dog bed and she sleeps in there most of the time, and whenever she wants peace she goes into the back hall where theres a pillow that she lies on. she gets loads of exercise and i will tell the children to stop running around as you mentioned as they think its fun to let her chase them. thankyou very much for your advice and i will definately put it to good use
thankyou
use the toys that she has in an effective manner - not just playing with her, or leaving there for her to entertain herself with, but when she does nip, or attempt to nip, give her a toy instead - to hopefully teach her that she's NOT allowed to bite you, but she IS allowed to bite the toy instead. and praise her when you see her playing with her toys.
My pup is now 1 year and 2 months old, and I still praiser her whenever I see her playing with her toys
My pup is now 1 year and 2 months old, and I still praiser her whenever I see her playing with her toys
Just a little addition to Leigh's great suggestion, the idea is more of an interrupt then redirect. It's important to not to reinforce biting hands by rewarding with toys and play.
A 13 week old will bite, it's completely normal behaviour. It has become abnormal, probably because your children aren't quite like puppies and don't know how to say, effectively, enough is enough.
I wrote an in-depth article about how humans can effectively tell a pup that enough biting is enough and teach safe and effective bite inhibition. This works across species and you can't really muck it up so long as EVERYONE does it:
http://www.ezinearticles.com/?id=244923
...so teach this method to your kids and make sure they can do it. The youngest will probably have difficulty, so it's important that you, as the responsible adult, do it for him or her.
A 13 week old will bite, it's completely normal behaviour. It has become abnormal, probably because your children aren't quite like puppies and don't know how to say, effectively, enough is enough.
I wrote an in-depth article about how humans can effectively tell a pup that enough biting is enough and teach safe and effective bite inhibition. This works across species and you can't really muck it up so long as EVERYONE does it:
http://www.ezinearticles.com/?id=244923
...so teach this method to your kids and make sure they can do it. The youngest will probably have difficulty, so it's important that you, as the responsible adult, do it for him or her.
Regards,
Aidan
http://www.PositivePetzine.com
Aidan
http://www.PositivePetzine.com