Biting

Ok, i need help. Have done all the usual advice, the ignoring which makes her worse and she ends up biting feet, back, bum, head, hair whatever she can reach. Ive tried leaving the room at which point she jumps on the sofa and bites the cushions. Yelping gets her even more excited so i put her in her cage for time out. She's a jail puppy, she's always in there (joke - not always).

Anything else people have tried that works, everyone in the house is consistent even the kiddies. She bit my hubbies face this morning, he wasnt impressed.

Last night she went berserk, racing round the room up and down on the sofa and snapping away, she got put in her cage and we went to bed.

She is adorable most of the time, its just this biting when she's in the mood for it.

Any advice?

Jules

I can see two things that you're doing wrong.. when shes like this, you shouldn't leave the room, you should move her out of the room as a punishment.

Secondly, you shouldn't put her in the cage as a punishment, then she'll never want to go in there and will associate it with a bad place.

Whenever Zeus is like that, and he's like that quite often, I tell him off, if he doesn't listen, I simply put him in another room and give him a few minutes to cool off. 9 times out of 10, he comes in and is much more chilled out. If he starts again, I do the same. Over and over again, until he gets the point and eventually he does.

I would love to just put her in another room but she just ends up doing/picking up something she shouldnt. The cage is my last resort and she doesn't seem to bothered by it and indeed sometimes just falls asleep and i only leave her in there for a couple of minutes.

Time out/jail is our last resort, we do the no and find something for her to play with first and ive started the STOP command with some success.

Guess its just perseverance, she's getting better its just the mad half hour and the biting of my hubbies face

Jules

Have you tried redirecting her onto a toy that she can bite?

Daisy was like this too, almost exactly! Perseverence is key and we found the screaming in pain (high pitched) seemed to work best but it did still take time for her to understand that the reaction was bad and that it wasnt encouragement for play. She now gets upset if she catches you by accident (she's very clumsy) and tries to kiss you better.

She does still try it on occasionally, and when she does she gets a stern expression, a loud abrupt 'NO' and removed from the room. If she continues to demand playtime or attention, we do the hold on floor to assert who's pack place/leader. This is last resort and isn't done often now because she's learnt the rules (I think!)

Leicsblondie wrote: If she continues to demand playtime or attention, we do the hold on floor to assert who's pack place/leader. This is last resort and isn't done often now because she's learnt the rules (I think!)

Please don't do this. All it does is frighten a dog & make it resentful. It serves no useful purpose at all.

Hmmm, my dog trainer uses this technique too and he runs a large doggy day care centre.

He specialises in training aggressive dogs.

Leicsblondie wrote:Hmmm, my dog trainer uses this technique too and he runs a large doggy day care centre.

He specialises in training aggressive dogs.

Then I would change your dog trainer! Seriously, if you do that to a non aggressive dog you risk making it nervous & if you do it to an aggressive dog you risk making matters worse & possibly get bitten in the process!

Jules, what do you feed her?

I'm just so confused now and worried I'm not caring/treating my dog correctly...

I was lucky enough to watch this guy train a dog that had come in to the centre who was both dog and people aggressive, where the owners couldnt have visitors, and was the dog was muzzled all the time, to a dog that was wandering around, off lead, no muzzle, with 20 other dogs in a large enclosure. The training and explanation given seemed to make sense (he's the professional trainer, not me... what am I supposed to believe, especially when I see the results with my own eyes?)

PS, it is not something I need to do with Daisy now - she usually gets the message after being removed from the room, but seeing the positive results makes it difficult to understand that it's bad...

Caryll wrote:

Leicsblondie wrote:Hmmm, my dog trainer uses this technique too and he runs a large doggy day care centre.

He specialises in training aggressive dogs.

Then I would change your dog trainer! Seriously, if you do that to a non aggressive dog you risk making it nervous & if you do it to an aggressive dog you risk making matters worse & possibly get bitten in the process!

Jules, what do you feed her?

I'm with Caryll; I'd change trainers if my 'trainer' bullied dogs in that way too no matter how many day care centres he/she ran!

Leicsblondie wrote:PS, it is not something I need to do with Daisy now - she usually gets the message after being removed from the room, but seeing the positive results makes it difficult to understand that it's bad...

It'll have results, it's a positive punishment (positive in the scientific sense - to add something) so will frighten the dog and make it less likely the dog will act out the behaviour in your presence again. If there have been no side effects from using physical intimidation then you're lucky

Oh I am really, really worried now... I've been trying soooooooo soooo hard to get this right too

Don't worry, there's nothing you can change about the past; just make sure you don't do any alpha rolls (or other physical punishments) in the future

Nipping is all part of being a puppy, my pup would nip and snap but we would tell him off and ignore him, redirection is great, turn that energy ur pup has into something positive.

Treat training is good if he's food motivated.

My pup stopped his nipping/snapping and chewing once he had a stagbar. He dosent have it all the time, but I know I can pop him in his crate to chill out if he's being hyper give him his stagbar and he's set for a good 40mins


Get him a large kong too, that serves well as a distraction so long as u make him work for it !!

julespercules wrote:Ok, i need help. Have done all the usual advice, the ignoring which makes her worse and she ends up biting feet, back, bum, head, hair whatever she can reach. Ive tried leaving the room at which point she jumps on the sofa and bites the cushions. Yelping gets her even more excited so i put her in her cage for time out. She's a jail puppy, she's always in there (joke - not always).

Anything else people have tried that works, everyone in the house is consistent even the kiddies. She bit my hubbies face this morning, he wasnt impressed.

Last night she went berserk, racing round the room up and down on the sofa and snapping away, she got put in her cage and we went to bed.

She is adorable most of the time, its just this biting when she's in the mood for it.

Any advice?

Jules

How old is she and what do you feed her on? Many dog foods are full of additive which make dogs hyper.

I never found ignoring my pup that nips, putting my pup out of the room, yelling in pain etc to work, what I have found work was to go out of the room myself, count to 10 then go back in again. I do have to keep doing this until my pup quietens down. If you are out for longer than a count of 10 your pup won't associate being left on her own to her biting.

I can see two things that you're doing wrong.. when shes like this, you shouldn't leave the room, you should move her out of the room as a punishment.

How are you to get the pup out of the room without making her more excited? How are you going to get hold of the pup to put her out of the room? When we get hold of a dog/pups collar it is an aggressive act and we can get bitten, I once saw Jan Fennell get bitten in a TV program when she got hold of a dog to put him out After that she always told the owner to put him out.

By going out ourselves we are leaving the pup on her own which she doesn't want, she wants to be with us and interact with us. By staying out for no longer than a count to 10, we are giving the pup to make her own decision on how to behave once she has worked out that nipping means that there is nobody there. If we leave it longer than the count to 10 the pup won't associate being left on her own with the nipping, their concentraton is not good enough.

She does still try it on occasionally, and when she does she gets a stern expression, a loud abrupt 'NO' and removed from the room. If she continues to demand playtime or attention, we do the hold on floor to assert who's pack place/leader. This is last resort and isn't done often now because she's learnt the rules (I think!).

If she is still doing this on occasion you haven't solved the problem, to many pups shouting "No" sounds like we are joining in as it can sound like a short sharp bark.

Try holding her down like that when she is an adult dog then you are likely to get your face badly bitten, if I walked over to you and put you on the floor holding you there, what would your reaction be? Would to correct a 2 year old child like that? If you wouldn't then don't do it to a dog/pup, to them it is an aggressive act .

So you are not sure if she has learnt the rules or not, all my dogs very quickly after I get them all learn the house rules, doesn't stop them trying to push the boundaries though.

We can never be pack leader of a dog, we are not dogs and they are not stupid enough to think that we are. I have 5 dogs but don't have a pack, I have a group of dogs, a pack is mum, dad and off spring, the older pups help with rearing the younger ones, when they reach a certain age they are kicked out to fend for themselves, apart from kicking them out a pack is the same as a family.

Hmmm, my dog trainer uses this technique too and he runs a large doggy day care centre.

He specialises in training aggressive dogs

.

doesn't mean he is a good trainer, personally I wouldn't let him near any dog if he treated them like that, especially an aggressive dog, that is not how you turn then round.

Im just so confused now and worried I'm not caring/treating my dog correctly...

I was lucky enough to watch this guy train a dog that had come in to the centre who was both dog and people aggressive, where the owners couldnt have visitors, and was the dog was muzzled all the time, to a dog that was wandering around, off lead, no muzzle, with 20 other dogs in a large enclosure. The training and explanation given seemed to make sense (he's the professional trainer, not me... what am I supposed to believe, especially when I see the results with my own eyes?).

I remember the days when I was confused really well, of course you are caring and treating your dog correctly, you ask questions when you are not sure and that is the way to go. Yes everone had different ways of doing things but one of the thinks I love on here is the training is positive and the dogs don't get hurt.

How did he get the dog like that?

PS, it is not something I need to do with Daisy now - she usually gets the message after being removed from the room, but seeing the positive results makes it difficult to understand that it's bad....

I will try and explain things a bit better, of course punishment works, nobody wants to be punished and neither do dogs. If your mum wanted you to wash the dishes and to get you to do them she hit you with her slipper, how would you feel? If your mum asked nicely and said "If you wash the dishes for me I will buy you an ice cream", wouldn't that make you want to wash the dishes more and do a better job because you are happier?

As parents we are not supposed to hit our chldren so there must be something wrong with that type of punishment. When trying to decide what to do with one of my dogs I ask myself if I would do it to a 2 year old child, if I will I will do it to the dog, if I won't, I won't do it to the dog, if I am undecided I do more thinking.

You are a good mum to your dog, if you weren't you wouldn't be asking questions, stop trying to hard, listen to your instincts and try and set your pup up to succeed, punishing a dog depends on the dog being set up to fail.

I think that one of the things so many people forget is that biting during play is a totally natural thing for a pup to do - it's how they play with their siblings & later on, other dogs. All we have to do is show them that it isn't acceptable with humans.

So don't think your dog is misbehaving - she just doesn't yet understand what you want from her.