A puppy with a biting problem

Luv_them_doggies

life without dogs,no way!
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#1
Hi! Recently I adopted a american stafforshire bull terrier mix and he is a great dog except for one little problem, hes a nipper. He is only 4 months old so I am hoping its just a puppy thing. ANyway when we play with his toys or sometimes when i come to pet him he tries to chew on my hand. The other day he got my whole arm in his mouth!!! And he bites kinda hard. I have heard of the "when he bites you give him something appropriate to bite on"
thing but I am looking for a different solution, becuz thats not really working.


:eek: Any ideas guys??? :confused:
 

showpug

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#2
I have the same problem at home. Yes, it is a puppy thing and should pass, but you need to take this as an opportunity to teach your pup what is appropriate and what is not. One good method to use is whenever your puppy bites, nips, or chews on you, say "NO!" sternly and immediatley get up and walk away. Give your pup no attention what-so-ever for about 5 minutes. A lot of people think that the pup will learn that biting = no fun and an end to any attention. This seems to work well with my pup, but he is sensitive and does not like to be ignored. Some more independent puppies that don't crave as much attention may be harder to train with this method ;)
 

BigDog2191

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#4
Spray bottle-didn't work for me but for some people...

The training idea that pug mentioned does not work for me... he doesn't crave as much attention because i'm with him ALL the time.

I really don't know... you can try various things...

What I do-people on this board wouldn't approve of and I don't really feel like starting an argument...
 
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#5
My puppy used to be a nipper. I tried the replacing my hand/leg/foot with an appropriate toy to bite, but it didn't really work for him. So then, when he would nip I would sternly say "NO BITE!" and walk away. When first starting the "no bite" when I would walk away he would still bite onto my pant legs and pull thinking it was a game but I would say "No bite!" again and he would stop, then I would ignore him for a few minutes, the return to him and start playing again and praising him. It took me a few weeks to get rid of the nipping, but it worked for him, and now he's nip free :) Now, we are working on "Off!" cause as soon as I get home from work he's jumping up on me and scratching me with them darn nails! I love the puppy stages of life!! And a lil off topic, but, I sure do miss puppy breath!!!!!!!!!
 

BigDog2191

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#6
IcePrincesss17 said:
My puppy used to be a nipper. I tried the replacing my hand/leg/foot with an appropriate toy to bite, but it didn't really work for him. So then, when he would nip I would sternly say "NO BITE!" and walk away. When first starting the "no bite" when I would walk away he would still bite onto my pant legs and pull thinking it was a game but I would say "No bite!" again and he would stop, then I would ignore him for a few minutes, the return to him and start playing again and praising him. It took me a few weeks to get rid of the nipping, but it worked for him, and now he's nip free :) Now, we are working on "Off!" cause as soon as I get home from work he's jumping up on me and scratching me with them darn nails! I love the puppy stages of life!! And a lil off topic, but, I sure do miss puppy breath!!!!!!!!!
Yeah, I love puppy breath.
 
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#7
IGNORE! IGNORE! And YELP!!! I've live through MANY puppies that get too rough and they need to know in their own language that IT'S NOT RIGHT to BITE! They don't have their mamma anymore to learn from, so they look to you for the signs. Cry like a dog in pain when they do it and ignore them afterwards so they think about it and their learning process kicks in....
 

Saje

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#8
Ok there are a few things that you can try.

1. yelp, whimper and walk away so that he thinks he's hurt you

2. ignore him. give him NO gratification for doing it. If they don't get any attention for it will stop. Eventually. Remember that you have a puppy who will want to chew and nip and play on everything. Training takes time. They don't have a long attention span and you need to be consistent and patient! It will work. Too many people expect things to work right away but those aren't the rules in puppyland. :D

3. replace it with something he can chew on or use apple bitter spray or something else to make you taste nasty.

4. if he is an ankle biter the ignoring method will have to turn into a time-out principle. He will just chase you if you turn and walk away so instead you should pick him up, carry him out of the room (without saying anything or looking at him) and put him in a separate room for a few minutes. He will learn that biting = no play time.

Good luck!
 

bridey_01

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#9
I never entirely discourage biting. Although puppies learn alot about bite inhibition when they are with their littermates, they continue to do so between eight and twelve weeks, and sometimes long after. The goal should not be to eliminate biting, it's a natural doggy behaviour. It would be akin to stopping barking. I agree with above posters that yelping and ignoring should be implemented but only when the bites are too hard. Gentle mouthing should not be discouraged, it is completely normal. I wrestle and play fight daily with my Kelpie, with no ill effects. Just be sure that you are in control at all times. You should definetly not play fight with your dog unless you can get them to down immediatly at your command. Other than that, the pup doesn't sound abnormal. Just be careful about those hard bites. Make sure you yelp/ignore every single time a bite hurts.
 
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#10
At four months old he's going into teething. Get him some teething toys that you freeze. If he seems to be really having problems you can rub a little of the baby Numzit on his gums. Just make sure it's the BABY formula, not the stuff for adults. That can also help teach him to stop biting on you, as it feels kind of funny and he may not like it very well, lol!
 

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