snapping turtle OES
I am new to the board but not OES's. Im on my 3rd! We also have a 9 year old Newfoundland!!! We just lost our Sheepie 2 weeks ago. The best dog ever ever ever! He was an angel sent to me!!! I missed him so much and our Newfie was so sad, we drove from Michigan to Nebraska to get our beautiful puppy. He is gorgeous, sweet and a very smart little boy of 4 months. HE IS ALSO THE BIGGEST BITER I HAVE EVER SEEN! He has 3 baskets of toys, they are spread out all over the house, not like he doesn't have the right things to teeth on... We try diversion methods...Bites arm... put toy in his mouth. He likes his toys, but he chooses to keep attacking arm... Leg... ext... I have tried NO! in a loud voice, I have tried gently holding his muzzle shut, just wiggles away and bites, tried dominance training, which he seems to be catching on to and is understanding when it comes to other behavior issues, but not the biting. I have tried Ceasers method of tugging lightly at the scruff of his nck and making pshhh noises... HE JUST WANTS TO BITE! I know he is a baby and is learning so many new things! I know he is teething and his little teeth are painful to him. I am just afraid he is creating bad habits, and that he thinks he is leading the pack around here. Our first Old English was part Tailsmen and very aggressive, he was my childhood dog. He ran our household! I do not want to make the mistakes my parents did with this little guys training!!! Do you guys have any ideas? Do you think this is just normal 4 month old behavior??? |
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i can't speak for all oes but i can speak for mine...olive was a biter at 4 months and continued up untill 8 months. i first of all bought a Kong for puppys and filled it with stuffing and then froze it so she had a treat to keep her entertained...and her mouth cold, which felt good to her. Second my vet told me to put on oven mits when we play that way it protected my hands and it let olive know it was play time. If the mits are off there is no biting. i also said a firm no! or even an ouch loudly so she would know when she hurt me. Now she is great and even thought she puts her mouth on my hands she never bites me. she doesn't nip i have no problems anymore. now if i could just make her quit sitting on me at night i would be ok  |
| I think it's pretty normal. Annoying, but normal! A good thing to do when he wants to bite is to stick a toy in his mouth or something else that is okay to bite on. If you're consistent with it, he'll catch on. Do a search for nipping on the forum here and you'll find a ton of advice.
Where are you at in Michigan? |
Welcome to the forum! I'm amazed you can type with only stubs of fingers left!  |
| Welcome to the forum! Sounds like fairly normal puppy behvior, I would just continue to divert his attention to appropriate chew toys. If he insists on continuing to bite hands and fingers, I would stop the play time. With luck he'll soon catch on that chewing Mom means no more play time. |
Oscar was a horrible biter! We called my dad "the blood donor" because every time they played my father needed a band-aid! 
Everyone has had great suggestions so far, and it sounds like you are doing the right thing by replacing your bleeding hand with an appropriate toy. That's basically what we did, in addition to the loud "OUCH" (along with facial expressions as Oscar is deaf) and stopping the play when he got too rough. Never tried it but I liked the oven mitt idea! At any rate, Oscar did outgrow this bad habit at about 6 - 7 months, and is no longer a vampire. 
Laurie |
| Chauncey was a nipper until about 8-9 mos. I used all of the above methods, but at his age it might be a combo of teething and puppy behavior. The frozen kongs and ice cubes ( still his favorite treat ) are great. I also searched the baby depts until I found a solid teething ring that was ment to be frozen....the cold things seemed to help. BTW, some dogs are just more oral, Chauncey will still lay on my lap and just mouth my hand, esp. when we're cuddling. |
| I actually didn't think Bing would come out of that stage, but he did! He's 8 months now and has been out of it for a few - so there is hope!!! |
| London seemed to grow out of that behavior around 6 or 7 mths old. It is a normal phase your pup is going through. |
| I'm just stopping by to thank you for the great mental image, "snapping turtle OES" I've got this great cartoon image of a Sheepie complete with oval shell. Or better, a great furry turtle! Next years halloween costume, mutant ninja sheepie turtles.
I still have reminders of my little girls "oral phase". Dining room chairs with chewed rungs, and a cat that bolts out of the room anytime the dog yawns. 
It will get better. |
| Hi I've (almost) stopped George from doing this my giving him either ice cubes to play with or a frozen towel.
The frozen towel is great! it gives him something to chew on and cool his gums! 
Wet a tea towel, twist it into a loop and freeze it. We can't go to the freezer now without him following us for something cold!!  |
| Thanks all for the advise!!!
I have started to figure out this little guy! I keep his bowl full of ice cubes And I dont know why I thought of this, maybe because my Newfie growls at him when he comes close to his face and he NEVER BITES the newf, well I started to growl at him and show my teeth. He stops immediately and I pet him and tell him he is a good boy! It is working for now! I am keeping my bloody scratched up and torn fingers crossed! I am going to have to try the towel and the oven mitt tricks too! Those are fantastic and creative ideas! I am sure you are al laughing at me! How funny I must look, growling at a dog! BUT IF IT WORKS! WHO CARES!!!! |
| can only say good luck |
| Just incase this helps, one thing we were told by our pupper trainer is to never give them more than 2 toys (one is best) at a time. Otherwise, with tons of toys thrown all over the place, puppy believes everything is ok for him to chew on (coffee tables, couch, etc.). Helped with Wilbur and now, when you take out an old toy, he gets excited and chews on that instead of us. |
| Hi,
I wanted to take the opportunity to say welcome to the forum. Lol the image of a snapping turtle pup gave me a chuckle as well but I do sympathize with your situation. Our news hour recently showed a fellow that was walking in the woods with 12 dogs of all different breeds and sizes. It showed him stopping and then turned around and almost growling when he told them to sit...and all 12 dogs did. He recommended acting like an alpha dog..LOL so whatever works as long as it's not being punitive to puppy. Good luck! He's also old enough for obedience classes so I'd highly recommend those so he learns good canine and people social behavior. Marianne and the boys |
| We got a laugh as well, we called Chauncey our furry alligater at that age.
We ran out of our bandaids and one day Bobby at 6'4" went to work as a firearm's instructor for the state with a Daffy Duck bandaid |
I've been reading up on these types of posts, trying to figure out this nipping thing. I don't really understand why everybody has "fond" memories of when their dog was a puppy with nipping problems.   As someone who is going through it right now... it hurts!
Our puppy is 11 weeks. I don't like having bloody scratches up and down my legs/ankles/feet/arms/hands. My husband leaned down too close to her head, and now he has a bloody scab on his ear. I've been reading the advice, but what do you do when the dog actually prefers your body part over the chew toy? She'll growl and go for your leg the way most dogs growl when you try to take their toy away. If she gets distracted with anything else, the second I move she lunges for my ankles/legs.  We've got numerous chew toys, we say "No Bite!," we've tried the high-pitched "Ouch!" but it doesn't do much to stop her. I'll try putting some of her toys away and give her only a couple, and get her a frozen toy.
What is y'all's advice when they just won't stop and they're being too rough? Time out in a room somewhere? I've read to not make the crate a punishment, so just put them in time out in some other room? I'm just curious about what to do when the nipping isn't playful anymore. How is your dog doing, Ogerdgonz? He should be going on a year old now, right? |
| This is a herding breed. They are bred to control the herd by nipping and circling the sheep. Sheepie's are very oral, esp. as puppies. I went into this knowingly. No it's not funny, but most of us can appreciate the original purpose of the breed yet still TRY to shape them into what we'd like them to be. I would suggest puppy classes but recommend you ask them if the have experience with the breed, it will make all the difference on your success. |
| I just wanted to say that I tried the oven mitt thing... it was nice! She got to gnaw away at my hands, while I got to hold her and wasn't freaking out from pain. And she'll have to understand that when the mitts come off, no more nipping on my hands.
Also, we gave her an ice cube and she really liked it. And I dipped her "binky" kong in water then put it in the freezer, and gave it to her at bedtime. I also picked up most of her toys, and just left out a small handful. I suppose time-out in the laundry room will have to be our resort when she gets too rough. She will probably wait for puppy training until she's about 4 months old, so that's not an option yet. She doesn't act aggressive all the time, but when she does sticking a toy in her mouth isn't good enough. Any other thoughts besides time-out? I'll try the growling thing next time. |
| welcome . i think you might have forgotten how much puppie bite. i have 2 older dogs and brought in a pup and really forgot that about those cute little ones. finally my pup derby got out of it about 6 months old.. good luck |
| Murphy will be four months old on Friday. Mouthing has been a problem. When he nibbles, bites or mouths, I do all the above recommended. They work. but he continues. It was good the see that he will grow out of this. He is a good boy, socialized and we have a trainer. Thanks for the hope of having my hands clearing of scars someday. He does at times, when he has something in his mouth that he should not, growl and go to bite and has bitten. we have tried the growl and stand tall - he still will not drop it. at times we are afraid of him when he is in this mood. any other suggestions. One was to neuter him now. |
Murphy's Mom wrote: we have tried the growl and stand tall - he still will not drop it. at times we are afraid of him when he is in this mood. any other suggestions.
That's what I was trying to ask. What to do when they still will not stop?? "They'll get over it someday..." is not very helpful when you're being eaten.   |
| When he does not stop - I stop playing with or petting him and ignore him - cross my arms and stand tall and turn my back on him. That lets him know this is not tolerated. It is getting better, a little less. I am more worried about his possessive behavior when he gets something in his mouth and will not let us get it. |
| just saw you live real close to me i live in cocoa.. if you need help i have a great trainer friend. |
| I feel your pain! Dodger is 16 weeks tomorrow, and for a while I was his chew toy. He has gotten better, not stopped completely, but better since we got him. Here's a few things that I've done.
I found that picking up all of his toys really helped. He was not too interested in them when they were all over, but now that there's only a handful he's much more interested in them. We rotate them every few days. He really likes to chew on hooves, and giving him these cut down on him chewing on me! (Beware, they're smelly) Sounds weird, but our trainer had us put our hands in his mouth. This was for two reasons: 1. He needed to know that people can look in his mouth, and that's OK and 2. that people have gentle skin - see the next little comment for what I did when he was too rough. (not sure what others think of this, but it seemed to work for me) Last, I yelped like another puppy and refused to play or give him eye contact for a few seconds. When he did it again, I waited longer to give him any attention (this includes scolding). If he persisted, I left the room for a minute or two. If you'd not going to training for fear of catching something, see if there is a trainer that can come to you. The little bit of basic manners that we learned in our puppy class helped so, so, so much. He is a dog that I am happy to play with, instead of one that I'm afraid will bite me, which I was. |
| Oooh that wet tea towel idea sounds brilliant!
I'm relieved to hear he should be over this by about 8 months, in the meantime I'm going to try ice cubes too. |
Hint of Mischief wrote: Oooh that wet tea towel idea sounds brilliant!
I'm relieved to hear he should be over this by about 8 months, in the meantime I'm going to try ice cubes too. Yes! She looooves the ice cubes! 
So how many toys out is too many? I want to give her one of each type (her stuffed squeaky elephant, her bone chew toy, her baby blanket, her ball, her piggy rattle...lol, okay maybe that's too many), but maybe I should just give her 2 or 3 total. Poor Sydney is starting to get some of Nanny's snapping too. The dog and cat were just sniffing at each other for the first few days. Now the dog chases the cat and tries to bite him on the back!  I have to keep the cat away from Nanny. Hopefully when Nanny is out of the biting (it's not nipping, it's biting!) phase, they can be friends again?   |
| I also am a new member here with the same problem...got Fetch when he was 10 weeks...he's been chewing on me ever since. I have tried everbody's methods including Cesar Millan. He's now 20 weeks, my arms and hands are looking better but he still tries when he gets excited. Cesar is right: they need lot's of exercise. The one thing that really concerns me is when he get's over-excited and starts jumping and biting with force. I really have a hard time getting him to calm down. He has ripped just about every sweatshirt that I own! |
| Buy more sweatshirts and welcome to the community!
It gets better! There are lots of folks on here with way more experience than I in raising a puppy through the biting and nipping stage, but I just wanted to hop in and say "Hi". |
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