my baby keeps biting me....

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Postby Sarahdee » July 13th, 2006, 11:47 am

I have had the pup for about 4 weeks now and he is about 7 months old.
He is getting alot better, but he still attacks me and bites my arms.
I know he is playing, but I need to stop this now.
nothing has worked to get him to stop being mouthy.
I have to put him in his crate because I can't stop him.
I have been using the rock bottle trick and that works, but I don't always have the bottle around when he goes nuts!
any suggestions to make him stop.
thanks
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Postby cheekymunkee » July 13th, 2006, 12:23 pm

Things that I have used:

Holding the snout while saying No Bite

When they start biting, give a toy instead

A firm shake of the scruff

A loud YIP sounding like a fellow litter mate. ( or at least trying to)

Ignoring when they get too rough, rough play means I quit. They get bitey, I turn away & ignore them.

I bit Justice once because she was a hard headed little popp when it came to teaching her she was being too rough. :oops: It worked, I bit her on her ear. She was soo surprised!
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Postby SpiritFngrz » July 13th, 2006, 12:32 pm

My baby keeps biting me too- she is almost 3 years old! We got her after she was already a year old so when she was a pup she learned that play biting is ok. Yes, so it is imperative that you stop it now while he is still young. She does it a lot less now (we've had her about a year and a half) but she still does it from time to time for fun. What I found that worked the best was when she was doing it bad I sprayed bitter apple on my hands and that was YUCKY to her. That curbed it a lot. I'd also spray it on my socks if she was trying to bite those. Now I mostly do what Cheeky said, I yelp like a puppy if she bites me too hard and that stops her like, oops I'm sorry. And if she is really out of control, I say "CRATE" and she goes in there for a time-out.
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Postby SpiritFngrz » July 13th, 2006, 12:34 pm

oh, and also, giving her a toy doesn't really work for her because 9/10 times she is more interested in me than the toy.
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Postby rockermom » July 13th, 2006, 1:44 pm

Crating is good Ive done that alot at the 6-7month age when this mouthy play was at its peak.
Really saying owe loud and as if he took your arm off usually stops it.
If he is on his back I kind of hold him there and put my hand on his mouth while saying no mouth or no bitey face. It calmed down alot over time. Sometimes he still wishes to play bitey face mostly with my husband and older son who dont mind it much, where I hate it. Just saying no bitey face or no mouth works for me now. And yelling owe he will turn his head away and go in a down. Looking real sorry faced.
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Postby pitbullmamaliz » July 13th, 2006, 1:56 pm

Just make sure you never use the crate as a punishment. Instead, maybe put the pupper in the bathroom and shut the door, just for a few minutes, so he learns that if he nips, everybody disappears. But this way he won't equate the crate with punishment.
With Inara, I would grab her muzzle and look straight into eyes, saying "no bite" in a deep, firm voice. Worked for me. However, my hubby would let her play nip him and she still does so - he can't figure out why! :| So just make sure everybody in the house is consistent. Good luck!
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Postby Sarahdee » July 13th, 2006, 3:08 pm

thanks for the advice guys!
well, ignoring definitely doesn't work.
the bottle seems to be the only thing that works. But a few times I had to put him in his crate for a few minutes. He was just going crazy.
If I try to put him in another room, he will rip my doors apart from scratching trying to get out. Or eat my rugs or something else that is in the room.
I think he's gotten alot better from the first week that I got him.
I'm going to try keeping him in another room again.
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Postby rockermom » July 13th, 2006, 4:17 pm

Sorry I should have clarified. I did not mean yell and say bad dog and stuff and then throw in crate. I meant to crate for quite time for just a few minutes. Like a time out.
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Postby rockermom » July 13th, 2006, 4:18 pm

Oh yes and defiately do NILIF. Was the best advice I was given. Search NILIF you will find tons of help.
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Postby Sarahdee » July 13th, 2006, 4:53 pm

thanks, yeah, I usually don't yell, unless he really hurts me.....
i just say tell him you can't be biting me.

I even took some video of him when he is biting me and showed it to his obedience teacher to see what he though.
he actually started laughing and said he is just playing. I told him it hurts though.
so that is something that were going to work on.

The obedience teacher actually said, he thinks I'm too much of a pushover and my voice and face are too sweet, and the dog knows it.
So the dog knows he can get over on me I guess.
He said maybe he is not the right kind of dog for me.
I said I will do whatever I have to in order to train him.
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Postby mnp13 » July 13th, 2006, 6:08 pm

Ruby is 4 1/2 and one of her few "games" is chewing on me. She has never broken skin, but man does it hurt!!!

If you want to use the create consider a bite like barking to go out. He bites you say "good boy" and walk him to the crate. Make the bite "asking" to get in the crate for 10 minutes. He'll pick up the connection fast enough.

And for bitter apple... give them a solid squirt in the mouth. Make sure you get them good and full. Do that two or three days in a row. Then the second they smell it on anything they will not go near it. If regualr bitter apple doesn't work, get the stuff from your vet.
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Postby SpiritFngrz » July 13th, 2006, 10:14 pm

mnp13 wrote:And for bitter apple... give them a solid squirt in the mouth. Make sure you get them good and full. Do that two or three days in a row. Then the second they smell it on anything they will not go near it. If regualr bitter apple doesn't work, get the stuff from your vet.

Yes boy do they hate that! I think the bitter apple is what really curbed 85% of Satin's biting. Now ever time she sees that bottle-she barks at it! But we don't really need it anymore anyway...
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Postby SpiritFngrz » July 13th, 2006, 10:18 pm

Sarahdee wrote:The obedience teacher actually said, he thinks I'm too much of a pushover and my voice and face are too sweet, and the dog knows it.
So the dog knows he can get over on me I guess.
He said maybe he is not the right kind of dog for me.
I said I will do whatever I have to in order to train him.


This is my problem as well-the dog tends to listen to my husband more because his voice is deeper.
And, I could be wrong, but I don't think that the biting issue doesn't mean that he isn't the "right kind" of dog for you, the majority of puppies bite! It is something some of them have to be trained through. It is definitely workable. As I said Satin still bites here and there, but minimally now. When we first got her all she wanted to do was chew on us and boy did that hurt.
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Postby Sarahdee » July 14th, 2006, 9:20 am

I tried the sour apple stuff, I even put it on my arms to make him stop, he actually just licked it off. I guess it doesn't phaze him.
but yesterday when he started to get crazy, I got the bottle and shook it and he took off. So then he stopped immediately.
I think I need to just carry a small bottle around with me at all times.

I will also use the crate for time outs. that seems to settle him.
thanks for your advice guys!
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Postby SpiritFngrz » July 14th, 2006, 9:48 am

what about if you give him a good squirt in the mouth, that doesn't bother him???
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Postby rockermom » July 14th, 2006, 11:14 am

I agree with the being mean enough. I was saying no too nice then my dad (does training) told me I was being to sweet and guiet with my no's I had to get a deep strong no. It makes a difference. And really owe like it hurt worse than it really did.
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Postby Maryellen » July 15th, 2006, 9:42 am

jesse was a demon biter until she hit 9 months, but she was mouthy to my husband, not me. we tried bitter apple, bitter end, cayenne pepper, and tobasco. nothing worked.. poor hubby had bite marks onhis hands and arms for along time..... he wasnt harsh enough with her, where with me the first time she nailed me we had a Come to Jesus Moment, which doesnt work for all dogs.. you have to find what works for you and use it.. try bitter ends, it is more potent then bitter apple..
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Postby Magnolia618 » July 15th, 2006, 12:14 pm

I had a foster who would do this. When she was excited, she loooved to jump up and bite your chin. Every time she did this, I would hold her muzzle shut and VERY sternly say NO BITE!! Usually she was also in the process of licking me while she did it, so I often caught her tongue in her teeth (not hard) when I held her mouth shut. She did not like that and it caught on very quickly.
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Postby rockermom » July 15th, 2006, 12:22 pm

Magnolia618 wrote:I had a foster who would do this. When she was excited, she loooved to jump up and bite your chin. Every time she did this, I would hold her muzzle shut and VERY sternly say NO BITE!! Usually she was also in the process of licking me while she did it, so I often caught her tongue in her teeth (not hard) when I held her mouth shut. She did not like that and it caught on very quickly.


Yeah Rocky has done that a couple of times going for the nose. Not actually biting or nipping just like making the motion in front of your face. He does not want to hurt you. Its like over excitement. But visitors do not want to see a dogs teeth comming at their face. and neither do I so Like Maryellen, that is when the hand of GOD comes down.
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Postby Sarahdee » July 17th, 2006, 9:34 am

THis weekend was his first obedience class and he did very well.
He didn't bite or attack me all weekend.
THe trainer told me to be more loud with him. I was too soft spoken and not stern enough.
He told me never hold his mouth shut, it will just make him crazier.
so he was actually good all weekend. I just have to keep being stern.
thanks for the advice.
I'm going to get some of that bitter end and see how that works.
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