Help My puppy bites all the time
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Welcome to the forum and to the Wonderful World of SHEE PIEPUPPIES!!!!!!!!! :lol: 
(How old is she???? What is her name??? We really like to see puppy pictures...please... )
Having a 10 month old as we speak..I know what you are going through!!! My advice???? Lots and lots of hard bones/frozen bones (you can buy teething bones that you freeze at Petsmart), puppy kongs, and lots and lots of toys, stuffies,balls, etc....to keep that puppy busy, busy... Exercise...but not too much especially if she is real young......she will let you know when she is tired..(she will just lay down and close her eyes and nothing you can do will budge her.  .)
And of course lots of cuddling. loving, kissing, etc...(you know) |
| Daisy is 7 weeks old. We have a lot of toys for her to chew on but she seems to prefer us over them. Is there a certain method that any of you have found that worked well with your puppies? We've heard hitting her on the nose, which I can't do. Some say hold her mouth shut. There must be some better ways than these two. |
| If she is young yelping when she does it will get her to stop - its how her littermates would have told her to cut it off. |
| Welcom to the forum.
Most sheepies do not respond well to negative training methods. Aggressive correction will make things worse a lot of times. Any time Daisy makes contact with her mouth, walk away immediately. Don't say or do anything else. Completely ignore her. I used play time to do training sessions. If there was contact I stood up and turned my back. I would wait about 10 seconds and then return to playing. Sometimes I would have to do it 20-30 times in a 10 minute play session but you could see the message sinking in. The key is it has to be immediate and you have to do it every single time. Biting or nipping of any kind can never be allowed. Also this needs to be done by everyone in the household. They don't understand that they can play rough with one person and not another. Just be patient. She is a baby and it takes a little while. You will be a lot happier if you can get it under control early. |
ckkkmk wrote: Daisy is 7 weeks old. Seven weeks is a little young..isn't it?? They are still learning social skills with their mom at that age...and you said you have had her 1 week--so you got Daisy at 6 weeks old????? Oh, MY.....that is sooo young... We have a lot of toys for her to chew on but she seems to prefer us over them. Again...till they are about 8 weeks, ready to leave mom...pups will gnaw on each other and mom too..when it hurts the other puppies will yelp and growl to teach what is acceptable and what is not...your puppy is missing this and the only one to "teeth" on is you.... Is there a certain method that any of you have found that worked well with your puppies? Patience...patience...patience...and let her know by the sound of your voice that is hurts..OWWWW....calmly..NO BITE...and then ignore her....when she nuzzles or licks ....say...good to kiss...good girl...(light,happy, and singsongy) We've heard hitting her on the nose, which I can't do. NO.............PLEASE................NO.................... Some say hold her mouth shut. NO.............PLEASE............NO................... There must be some better ways than these two. (see above)...but NO hitting....NO holding her mouth...NO NEGATIVE ACTIONS---ONLY POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT!!!!! |
ckkkmk wrote: We've heard hitting her on the nose, which I can't do. Some say hold her mouth shut. There must be some better ways than these two.
Please do not use your hands to restrain her or punish her. Sh eis doign what comes naturally to her. At this point your hands should only be used for patting, treats, and massages. You do not want her to feel defensive when you hands come close, or she will feel she has to bite you to protect herself. Puppies bite. That is what they do. You need to re-direct her to appropriate things to bite, without hurting or scaring her. |
| Thanks everyone. We have tried walking away to ignore her (which I had read on another site) and she'll sometimes follow us while biting our ankles.
Any suggestions what to do when she does this? |
| We did and still do the ignoring with oliver,
it took a while for him to understand,but now works wonders, When he was really young and maybe a little to rough with our little boy we used the rolled up newspaper bang down on furniture or onto your hand, just the noise stops them, But please never hit you dog it gives BAD vibes.. |
| Blue was bad for the ankle biting. I just turn and shouted (not to loud, more firm just different voice) ouch my fast movement wwas enough to stop him. |
| we had similar problems; here is what I have read...
in the litter, the puppies will learn alot of their social skills; thats why they suggest not letting your pup leave its litter until AT LEAST 8 weeks of age. You got yours early, so she missed some skill-learning, and this might be at the root of your dilema. Puppies learn what is "too hard" by biting thier litter mates. If they bite a litter mate, and it hurt, that litter mate will yelp. The puppy will adjust the pressure of its bite next time, and continue to do so until its playmate doesn't yelp. My boyfreind and I did the same thing. If one of our 2 pups bit while playing with us, we yelped (loudly; it has to be enough to startle them), and then all play stopped and we walked away. The puppy learns "that was too hard, I've hurt my friend" and also that fun stops when play is too rough. Our girls stopped the biting while playing within a couple of weeks. It worked out very well for us. I hope it works for you too! |
| Thank you everyone for all of the great advice. Today starts the ignoring process. I'm feeling really confident that this will help my adorable little Daisy stop biting.
I'll post some pictures when I figure out how to do it. lol. I'm a bit dippy when it comes to this kind of stuff on the computer. I hope you all have a great weekend Thanks again  |
Darth Snuggle wrote: in the litter, the puppies will learn alot of their social skills; thats why they suggest not letting your pup leave its litter until AT LEAST 8 weeks of age. You got yours early, so she missed some skill-learning, and this might be at the root of your dilema.
Puppies learn what is "too hard" by biting thier litter mates. If they bite a litter mate, and it hurt, that litter mate will yelp. The puppy will adjust the pressure of its bite next time, and continue to do so until its playmate doesn't yelp. Bingo. You've got your work cut out for you because the puppy will be missing many weeks of socials skills that would have been gained naturally by staying with mom and the litter mates. As soon as you safely can, find a good puppy class and/or attend puppy parties so you can at least make up for some of that. Not just for the biting issues, but to ward off potential "other dog" issues down the line. Pups that leave their dam too early tend to end up socially retarded by canine standards. You still have a chance to make some of that up, but have to balance that against protecting against communicable diseases and making sure you find the right play mates. I still see this in performance dogs pretty regularly, though typically not our breed. People think they need to get the puppy as early as possible to ensure proper bonding and getting a good training start. Seven weeks old seemed to be the magic number based on an old study of dog development. Then, unless they have a comprable pack to bring the puppy into and a clue what they're doing, they end up with a well-trained dog who can't be trusted with other dogs or has just plain bad manners around other dogs. Not fun for the rest of us. You have a chance to rectify some of that. Dogs are much better teachers than mere humans anyway. Good luck with the ignoring. They are quick studies at that age, for better and worse
Kristine |
| Hi,
Great advice from everyone so far! I agree with Mad Dog's post that I've seen many pups that experience problems due being adopted out far sooner than the norm. The things that Darth Snuggle mentioned concerning pups learn to regulate their bites as often if the play gets too rough - mom dog will also come over and investigate or put a stop to it. They learn this form of play especially during the ages of 6-8 wks so you will have to step in and intitiate things that mom dog and siblings will have taught the pup to be a good canine buddy in the future. However, now that you are aware of this you will know things to work on -lots of socialization with others. Daisy is still a baby and many times these little tykes are learning play and are teething as well. It's not enough to tell them what you don't want them to do, but also show them what you want them to do. The yelp as littermates would do if pup played too rough is one suggestion, a firm NO (but no hitting) then IMMEDIATELY place chew toy in her mouth with lots of good girl!! Some folks find the back turning or ignoring works too but I like to follow up immediately with what I find acceptable so prefer the yelp, NO and toy in mouth with praise. Positive praise. She'll eventually view hands are off limits - but toys are good to chew. Means having chew toys in strategic places where you can always grab them immediately or have them in your pocket. Be consistent and the first few times she may not take the toy or grab it. If she comes near it - again lots of praise. If it's not successful walk away and try it again if she starts nipping. She will eventually learn what you are trying to teach her. If you have a friend that has a friendly dog and make sure the dog has had all their shots and is healthy, encourage them to come over and play with your pup. Do Not interfere if the dog corrects your pup. Your pup may yelp but the other dog is only teaching it proper canine doggie manners. It may tug on your heartstrings but don't pick her up - let her learn. Trust me and the advice Mad Dog gave - this is her best interest. Don't pick up your pup or react - dogs need to learn the correction early in life and yours has missed out on this crutial time frame. Before you put your pup down on the floor with the other, just make sure by body language that the other dog is going to be fine with yours. Only in rare cases will you find a dog will actually hurt a pup as it goes against the "dogs code of law" to attack a pup. But, that's another story. Dogs follow that rule 99% of the time and only the rare dog will truly harm a pup. Most correct their annoying behavior such a ear tugging or sharp nips and in most cases the little tyke has his/her feelings hurt when corrected by the older dog. When I used to bring Merlin to the offleash (after he had all his shots) you would have thought the other dogs were killing him as sometimes he cried and yelped after correction by others). I didn't pick him up as hard as it was or run to his defence, as I knew he was just learning good social rules and he was an annoying little bugger that insisted other dogs ears were chew toys. He learned. I viewed others at the park that insisted the other dogs were "aggressive" with their pups if their little tyke yelped but they were not aware of dog body language or canine social rules. Taking your pup to puppy classes after her shots is an excellent way of teaching socialization as well. Dogs that don't play with others is in my opinion the hardest thing to deal with as they age. I know as I've got another one, old fellow of 19 at home that was isolated in someone's yard for the first year of his life. He missed out on that crutial time frame and has never truly recovered regarding issues with other dogs, although better with time. Whatever work you put in now , no matter how exhausting will pay off in years to come. Best wishes and good luck! Belly rubs to Daisy and welcome to the forum! Marianne and the boys |
| Fantastic post, Marianne.
It reminded me of one thing I forgot to mention. Like Marianne said, safe visiting dogs are a wonderful antidote and you have to read them and let them correct the puppy. Every so often you will run into a dog who does NOT want to be a nanny. You can tell when the dog flees for his or her life with ten pounds of puppy in hot pursuit. Let the adult dog off the hook in this case. Not only should s/he not be forced to babysit, the puppy gets the wrong idea about how to terrorize older dogs (and potentially the inflated head to go with it). You don't want that EITHER. To be honest, a bitch who has successfully raised a litter is often your best bet. Belle sees puppies and can't wait to get to them. Sunny's Luca was a singleton (only one puppy in the "litter") and boy did he drive home the function of littermates. By seven weeks old he was so obnoxious I didn't think his mom had enough bitch power on her own, so I threw his aunt Belle in there with her. Still no luck in taming the beast so I threw his older sister Mad Dog into the fray. Nope, not cutting it. Finally I threw his cousin Lizzie into the mix. Four tough, but fair bitches, two already mothers, two who would go on to raise wonderful litters and they all ran for their lives. It's not that he DOES anything. Oh, no, he LOVES them all. They just see him swagger in and collectively go: "uh-uh, no thanks, I'm outta here!"
Dog grew up to be an outstanding show dog who firmly believes his you-know-what doesn't stink, but the girls still run for their lives when they see him 
I'm sorry, Sunny. Clearly we failed you
Kristine |
| On the other end...I got Rosie at 6 months...she had been only with her breeder and 13 other tibetan terriers(her mother, father, aunts, brothers, sisters etc...) and she so suffered anxiety when we took her home even though I had a 11 yr. old OES. We weren't sure we would be able to keep her after the first week...first day I left her with Daisy on the screened porch with the door opened she had dragged Daisy's big bed outside and Daisy was hiding under a bush, she had dug under the gate and was sitting by the garage when I drove up. Tried keeping her in screened porch next day...she chewed 2 doors up...tried bathroom and chewed doorways up...vet recommended a crate as I had never used them with my OES's. Luckily it calmed her and worked. It took over a year to just leave her in the house. She is 8 now and when she sees other dogs she charges with a high pitch sound making them all defensive and wanting to bite her. She loves other dogs but doesn't know how to approach. We have had several dogs stay with us and she is great with them and calms down after a few minutes. I know she'll be great with the puppy when we get her but I can't just take Rosie for a walk with other dogs around. I will have to take the puppy without her. She's is so loving and sweet and a great dog in every way except I can't take her in public anywhere with me which is sad. She had plenty of time with the litter...too much and only 1 human for 6 months. I plan to socialize my new OES puppy from 8-12 weeks around lots of humans and hopefully other dogs as I really miss being able to take a nice walk with my puppy or even let her out at a rest stop on a trip. |
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