HELP! Dog plays too rough!

[billw84]

my 7 month old dog is very playful, likes to chew on things, and very submissive to me. however, there are completely RANDOM, unpredictable times when my dog would jump at my arm and bite on it (more like nibble), or when im sitting down jump at my face without warning and try to scratch it (or to her, just touch me with her paws). of course i get annoyed, and yell "NO" at her. she would immediately duck down, or run away. its the same cycle over and over, almost like she won't learn.

"it's because she's part pitbull"
is the explanation some of my friends give me to why she does this. of course i found this ridiculous & quickly ruled that out since its just a stereotype/myth

what are ways to discourage such aggressive-play type behavior? i know she means well, and only trying to have fun, but there are times she doesnt understand her own size and strength and can be a little too rough

any advice would be greatly appreciated

[Fran27]

She wants your attention, and she's getting it, even with a no. Just totally ignore her when she does it. Yep, it hurts, but if you keep going she will still do it when she's 2 years and 50% heavier. And it will hurt much more then.

[Bailey+Ralph]

As Fran said ignore her.
If your sitting down then just stand up and walk away from here, without saying anything.
She will soon realise that she is getting no attention from you and should calm down a little :)

As you said and rightly so, her being Pit x has nothing to do with this.
The fact that she is young and craving attention does!

[dogsouth]

I tried this with Jed:

When we first adopted him, he was teething. So my husband and I were like living, breathing teething rings. I tried the whole ignoring/walking away thing but Jed kept biting. I forgot where I read about this, but I started yelling 'OW!!!!' really loud. That got his attention and it worked.

[Fran27]

The ow thing never worked with mine. I think it really depends on the dog. Try something for a week or so, if you see no difference try something different.

[Herschel]

When Herschel tries to nibble on us we yell "Ow!" and turn away. I guess it is a combination of both techniques mentioned in this thread.

We call him the "little shark" when he gets in this mood where anything and everything is fair game to bite. I almost bit him back one time...

[dogsouth]

When Herschel tries to nibble on us we yell "Ow!" and turn away. I guess it is a combination of both techniques mentioned in this thread.

We call him the "little shark" when he gets in this mood where anything and everything is fair game to bite. I almost bit him back one time...

My FIL (RIP) actually bit one of his doxies after he was bit first. That worked. No, I am not advocating biting your dog, but I can't believe he did that.

[Roxy's CD]

I've heard of biting them back, I've never done it, but I can only imagine how funny it would look! lol

As everyone's said he's just trying to get your attention. If my guys do it, (they'll jump right in my lap, Roxy'll grab your arm etc.) I usually say "NO! And tell them to bugger off and lie down."

Although since your pup doesn't seem to be responding to that method, I would definitely say to ignore him. With dogs it doesn't matter, negative/positive attention they achieved their goal: To get attention.

As Caren said getting up and sitting somewhere else is probably the best solution.

I don't think the "yelping" would work in this situation though, because from how you described it, she's not biting hard. The problem is she wants to play when you don't want her too. Try ignoring her. :)

[Roxy's CD]

I've heard of biting them back, I've never done it, but I can only imagine how funny it would look! lol

As everyone's said he's just trying to get your attention. If my guys do it, (they'll jump right in my lap, Roxy'll grab your arm etc.) I usually say "NO! And tell them to bugger off and lie down."

Although since your pup doesn't seem to be responding to that method, I would definitely say to ignore him. With dogs it doesn't matter, negative/positive attention they achieved their goal: To get attention.

As Caren said getting up and sitting somewhere else is probably the best solution.

I don't think the "yelping" would work in this situation though, because from how you described it, she's not biting hard. The problem is she wants to play when you don't want her too. Try ignoring her. :)

[JFrick]

Khaki (5 month old Aussie) does the same thing. She gets wound up wanting to play and play bites too hard. I've tried the "OW" thing and the ignoring thing, and neither have worked.

Any other suggestions?

[moonchild1970]

Yup I would say "OW!" or "Yipe!" really high pitched so the dog knows he hurt you, and then I would simply get up and walk away.

Of course most dogs do NOT want THAT reaction! So they soon stop...

[micro202]

Yup I would say "OW!" or "Yipe!" really high pitched so the dog knows he hurt you, and then I would simply get up and walk away.

Of course most dogs do NOT want THAT reaction! So they soon stop...

That's what we have done to some success. Play time is over for about a minute if I get nipped. I'll yell "OW" and walk into another room and not look at her. If she follows me, I'll go into another room and shut the door.

She is still a little mouthy, but it's improved quite a bit.

[bubbatd]

This really should have been nipped in the bud early on , unless you've only gotten the pup rescently . I agree with the ignore, but the baby HAS to learn !! I did the high pitch yelping, but with much younger dogs. ( it worked ) Good luck and let us know how it's going.

[smkie]

When i got Victor he was very ruff in play, and i think had been teased which intensified his reaction to a frenzy. WE began with play that didn't have a physical contact with my body, bubbles. That helped wear him down. AFter that when we played with a ball i instructed the children to make him sit FIRST then put their foot on the ball telling him no no no before they reached down and picked it up. I used t-touch massage to calm him when he became too riled up and couldn't turn it off. Now he is super gentle and takes everything nicely. A lot of what we did was redirected that impulse into something he could do and not just remprimanding what he was doing wrong. He nipped nibbled and bit too..so i kept a toy ready at hand or in my pocket so i could bring it out quickly.

[raabenb]

Yes, ignoring the dog is the best thing to do. Sometimes it can take up to a month or two to correct the problem. You will not be damaging the dog by giving it o attention. As long as you still feed it and walk it, it knows its still part of the pack!