My cute puppy won't stop biting me during play!

[Vylula]

I have gotten such good advice from others on potty training that I thought I would introduce another issue I am having. You can tell I am a first time mom to a puppy. I am the master at raising cats!

My sweet, pretty puppy who is 4 months old loves to play but during play time, she would rather bite and chew on me than her toys. She loves her toys but when I am in the picture, I become the chew toy.

I have heard to get up and walk away when she does this and then come back and try it later, but so far no luck. Some tell me to pop her on the nose, some say don't do that!

I tell her No or Ouch! in a firm voice and she just comes back for more. Sometimes there are some growls with it. Is she just playing? Is she mad at me?

Any advice?

Thanks!
Vy

[dogsarebetter]

some people say the best thing to do is to sit on your hands and ignore her when she starts doing that. To prevent that I never play with my puppy with my hands. I always use a toy.
you will get some better advice later, im sure. Some people say you should "yelp" at her to show her it hurts too.

[moxiegrl]

No she's not mad at you...she's just playing! A loud yelp to stun her, and then totally ignore her until she calms down. This will teach her that when it gets too hard, play time stops.

Also encourage her to play bite her toys. We use the "easy" command for Katie when she starts getting too rough. In the beginning though it was the "yelp and ignore" method. And when I say ignore, I mean really really ignore. She is not even in the room. No eye contact, no petting, nothing. She just *poof* disappeared.

It will get better. But just like potty training, you have to be consistent.

[sourjayne]

I like this article by Ian Dunbar on bite inhibition -- it talks about training the puppy to understand that humans are fragile and teeth on skin causes pain.

Completely curtailing puppy biting may offer immediate relief but the puppy will not have sufficient opportunity to learn that its jaws may inflict pain. Consequently, if ever provoked as an adult, the resultant bite is likely to be a hard one.

It says to allow soft mouthing, then say "ouch" when the bites become so hard as to be painful. Eventually, use "ouch" when the bites aren't really painful. Keep lowering your pretend pain threshold until the puppy is giving you sweet little soft bites (SO cute.)

If your pup continues as if you didn't say anything when you say ouch, you'll need to teach the pup what the word "ouch" means. Emphasize the ouch and immediately withdraw all attention and contact. Ouch means end of play. Either leave the room or, if that's impossible or ineffective, put the puppy in his pen or puppy-proofed room for one or two minutes, then resume play. Don't march him to his room as if it's a big punishment, try to make it immediate but matter-of-fact, calm, and cool. It only needs to be a minute or two to be effective, then let the pup out and play again. Repeat as needed (it shouldn't be needed for too long!)

One more thing, my puppy would get really cranky and bite really hard and act really excited just before crashing into a long nap. Just like a tired toddler who doesn't want to go to sleep! If your pup is really being difficult, encourage sleepy time by putting him in his crate with a nice treat or chew toy he enjoys. Hopefully he'll munch for a minute, then curl up and go to sleep. He may whine for a minute, then curl up and go to sleep. I'd let him out if he didn't go to sleep in a couple minutes, he'd usually at least be calmer.

[girlbuffalo1]

With Wrigley if he were to nip we could pick him up by the scruff say no sternly then give him something he IS allowed to chew on and ignore him. I'd say we only had to do this 10 times maybe but he wasn't a very mouthy puppy though.

[sourjayne]

Originally Posted by girlbuffalo1

With Wrigley if he were to nip we could pick him up by the scruff say no sternly then give him something he IS allowed to chew on and ignore him. I'd say we only had to do this 10 times maybe but he wasn't a very mouthy puppy though.

This made my puppy very defensive and would bite out of defense rather than just out of play. This doesn't work with all puppies. The method of removing attention will work with all puppies, since all puppies are social animals and love attention from their owners.

[ToscasMom]

Though she has a soft bite, Tosca does that Collie herding snap at thin air sometimes when she's really excited. It's really kind of laughable sometimes, but if I let it go, she will nip at my shirt or any loose clothing. If I let it go more, she will move right into play biting with my hands. The growling firm NO works well for me. She knows it means NO I don't like this and the fun is over if you don't stop it now. Then I firmly make her sit till she calms down, which doesn't take long because she wants to play some more. This seems to work well. She has gotten to know that if she starts biting at me, even softly, the game is done. I guess all dogs are different but this is what works for us.

[girlbuffalo1]

I guess Wrigley is different then--he has never gotten defensive because of picking him up by the scruff--I even pick him up by the scruff with his hind feet still on the ground to bathe him. I have also grabbed him a couple of times this way when he was about to get in trouble--it's like he doesn't even notice.

[Herschel]

Bite her back. Just kidding.

The Ian Dunbar article has the right idea.

[Vylula]

Thanks! I am going to try the Ian Dunbar article....I think that may work best for my pup.....