HELP! 10wk old puppy is biting & growling...
One week later he is jumping up to bite, growling & scratching. I can't walk past him without my legs getting mauled 
I'm worried that we're not bringing him up right & he's going to get really big really quickly!! We've tried "No bite" but he doesn't seem to respond. Sometimes clapping works but then he jumps back biting harder. We'll be off to puppy classes in 4 weeks time when he's had all his jabs but in the meantime can anyone help us? |
|
|
You're experiencing typical sheepie puppy behaviour. Not to panic!  Do a quick search (using the search tool at the top of the page) on words like "nipping" or "biting". You'll find lots of threads with good information.
Oh - and welcome to the forum! Congrats on your puppy! |
| Welcome to the OES forum.............and to PUPPYHOOD!!!!!
You will get lots of advice and support here...but I agree...read previous threads and you will get some good suggestions. Oh! I we love to see pictures of your new baby!!!!1  |
| Hi again!
While you're waiting for personalized answers, try thissearch of oes.org. |
| Welcome and Congrats! Sounds like Wolfgang (cute name BTW) is a typical puppy. It can be VERY frustrating, but with patience and diligence, you and Wolfgang will get through this stage...then onto the next one... |
| Thank you so much for all the supportive messages.
I've read through the some of the advice here... it's really useful! My boyf & I were ambushed by the sharp-toothed WolfyG this evening. We decided it was time for some time out & left him in the kitchen by himself for 20mins. He barked & whined & cried... (how guilty does that whimpering make you feel?  ) and then he settled down. We opened up when he went fully quiet & gave hims lots of hugs'n'kisses. Seemed to work really well... Enough to give him his first bath & blow dry! He is now a gleaming & seems to have a new persona about him. Very calm & sweet.
I'm guessing that there will be pleanty more roller coaster rides but it's great to hear that there are others who have been through it. Thanks again x |
| Oh my GOSH do I know the pain (literally) you're going through!
Gus Gus was very much a biter, he still can be at times (he's almost 8 months now) but it was mostly a phase. Dogs learn through their mouths, so to a certain point I'm sure he's checking stuff out and just being a puppy. Gus has never responded much to "No bite" or the yelping trick- he just doesn't seem to care much that he gets yelled at. Thankfully he's not extremely naughty! The best thing we could do is when Gus would start getting really bitey we'd put a toy in his mouth and leave him alone. We'd say "NO BITE" loudly, hold his mouth closed while we said it, and then gave him a toy to chew. I went out and bought probably 5 flavored nyla bones, which he likes, and some rope toys which he could chew on, but not destroy. Gus till likes to sit with me, and if he's bored he'll try to chew on my hands. I have no clue why. He outgrew the painful puppy biting within a month of starting it, but he did ruin a few shirts and pairs of jeans before that phase ended (While I was wearing them! OW!). Good luck! Remember he's just a pup and the phases he will go through will be annoying, but pretty short! Gus's new phase is barking at me if I look at him too long- that's pretty cool. |
| The removal of your attention/affection will hopefully be a big enough deterrent for WolfyG to stop this behaviour. It seems to be what works with Tucker. There are many schools of thought on this, as there are with most anything to do with dogs, but I like what Tamar Gellar ("The Loved Dog", a.k.a. Oprah's dog trainer) when she said "I want you to love your dogs so much that when you ignore them, they'll do whatever it takes to get your attention back again". As previously discussed, we also gently lay Tucker down for a few moments as well, but kneeling behind him, asking him to lie down, then covering his body with ours. After just a minute of this he is usually very relaxed and will get up, walk away and do something like chew on a toy or go take a nap. Maybe this would work? It is very gentle but somehow our bodies on his do the trick.
Tucker also didn't respond to the yelping or even really replacing our hands with a proper chew toy, but when we calmy said, "ouch! No biting" and walked away, leaving him not able to get to us, he learned quickly. Even at almost 11 months old we still have to do this as much as a few times a week, but he learns much faster now. (Thankfully!) |
| Hi,
Yup seems we can all relate when those little quiet furballs turned into a nipping shart tooth Raptor imitators.
Sometimes it's not enough to show them what you don't want them to do but you also have to show them what to do. In other words , what's acceptable. As soon as pup bites...a loud yelp from you , (lol that part should be easy!) a firm NO - pup would have learned this when playing with littermates and perhaps got too rough at times..the sibling would yelp and pup backs off and mom intervenes. Then immediately place a toy in his mouth with lots of praise...good boy!!! Make a big deal out of this. Now you are also showing him what you want him to do. Pup may drop the toy or seem confused but trust me they soon "get it", hands are off limits...toys are good to chew. Be consistent and always have a toy handy to replace in his mouth. Another thing....don't play tug a war with him as this sorta promotes the playing for dominance and better to avoid it. It's important to remember he's a baby and is also teething. Betcha in the coming months you may find baby teeth on your floors, so he needs to chew. Purchase hard rubber toys for him and if you reach down to pat him and he goes for your hands. A firm NO and again place a toy in his mouth and use positive reinforcement. Eventually he will view what pleases you and as dogs do far better with positive reinforcement than negative , it only takes a few times for him to learn how to please you. Get everyone in your household on board and that way everyone is consistent. Good luck to you! Marianne |
Marianne wrote: Sometimes it's not enough to show them what you don't want them to do but you also have to show them what to do. In other words , what's acceptable. Excellent point, Marianne! It's always good to re-direct their attention away from what you don't want and towards what you do want. I once read that it would be like me saying to you, "Don't think of the colour blue. Don't think of the colour blue". Of course that's all you can think of! but if I say, "Don't think of the colour blue. Think of the colour red!" then it makes it much easier to not think of blue! Marianne wrote: As soon as pup bites...a loud yelp from you... I found that Tucker sometimes did not respond to me if I was too too loud or if the pitch of my voice wasn't high enough. Try to imitate the exact sound that a puppy might make, or like a high squeaky dolphin sound. That's what worked for me anyway, otherwise I found it just wound him up more. Marianne wrote: It's important to remember he's a baby and is also teething. Betcha in the coming months you may find baby teeth on your floors, so he needs to chew. Purchase hard rubber toys for him and if you reach down to pat him and he goes for your hands. A firm NO and again place a toy in his mouth and use positive reinforcement.
Something I found helpful for the teething was to wet a facecloth, tie it in a knot, and put it in the freezer. Tucker loved to suck and chew on this when it was frozen. BUT WARNING: Once pup is big enough that the cloth could actually fit in his mouth, do NOT give this to him as he could eat it (I am speaking from experience). But perhaps you could wet park of a big towel and freeze it...same benefit but no risk of swallowing. Good luck with everything!! And I hope we are all able to offer you some helpful advice!  |
Didn't find exactly what you're looking for? Search again here:
Custom Search
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|