Bathing, brushing, biting advice
 Making sure I'm going about things the right way, etc. General mummy paranoia 
Bathing: Bally had his second bath today (or rather, I did judging by who was the wettest). He stands very calmly while I pour the first lot of water over him, then he becomes a bit agitated by the time I shampoo him, but when it comes too the rinse down he starts acting like I'm trying to murder him and squeals at the top of his voice. All the trauma is gone as soon as we start the towel down, but his cries are still heart breaking. Is there anyway to make it easier on him? The first bath was in the laundry sink but I read somewhere that this can make them feel a bit trapped, so today it was outside on the concrete. Brushing: This is linked to the biting. Bally treats brushing time like play time, and the only way to trick him into being groomed is to tempt him with a rope toy and basically pull him into whichever direction you need to and brush in between cuddling him and stuffing the toy back into his mouth. If he doesn't have something to chew on, then he will substitute your hand for a toy. Nonetheless, this method is still getting him brushed fairly well, my only concern is that this might be teaching him bad habits for the future and that I will never be able to have a calm grooming time. What do you think? Biting: Bally is a nipping, chewing machine! I know this is normal in pups, but I've never had one quite so bitey (or perhaps it's just my rose-coloured memories?). I've managed to stop him from nipping me with a command and by distracting him with a toy, but he often forgets that people are off limits. The thing is that Bally never has non-biting calm time. Even when he's half asleep, he will still go for your arm out of habit. My question here is how much biting is normal in a puppy? And when, oh when, do they grow out of it? 
Thanks for your help and reassurance!  |
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| Bathing, I don't bother with Archie very often, it would take to long to actually get him wet, if very mucky he gets a quick hosing off outside!
Brushing, He is still young so everything is fun fun fun, just try to reassure him that nothing is wrong, and maybe when he is biting the brush reinforce a firm NO (obviously not a fear inducing one) and stop doing it for a few minutes so that the fun has stopped, each and every day that this is a normal thing and eventually he'll more than likely lie there and enjoy it (while it's a matt free experience that is) Biting, it'll be the sheepie nipping (instintual behaviour), our lad got returned to the breeders by his original owners because he was biting, when we had him he wanted to nip but it was nothing he was just being a young pup, we picked him up at 4 months of age, I played with his mouth with my hands when he went to nip and he was very gentleand he seemed to get the message that biting evrything wasn't wanted and I was happy for him to chew my hand/fingers, he still occasionally when he is going ballistic take a crafty nip of my backside when running past, but he only does this with me as he seems to know that I see it as play, he never bites/nips anyone else in our house - he seems to know that I am the fun guy! |
| Bathing try your bath, put a rubber anti slip mat down, you can get them easily at a shop, it has suction caps underneath and sticks to the bottom of the bath and gives them traction and security while bathing. Get a plastic spray hose that attaches to the tap to spray and rinse him. Both are available at those $2.00 shops, supermarket etc.
Being in the bigger bath and bathing him in warm water will be more soothing for him and you will have more controll on bathing him. Biting while brushing, well normal for his age and he will be teething too so everything is fair game. It is training and patients with a pupper, start when he is relaxed in the house, just lay him on his side and get the brush and start, 5 mins each day to just calmly brush him and when he starts to get fidgety stop. Have treats handy too, as he lays there and accepts being brushed reward him for his calm behaviour. Eventually he will come to accept this is part of his routine and will lay there longer for you to groom him. By the time the coat is longer a good weekly groom through is all that is needed and by then he will accept that as he will be use to the brushes etc on his coat. Another thing I do with my youngsters is touchy feely all the time, I cuddle and nurse them, stick my fingers into there pads and squish the paws, lift the ear flaps, squish them all over, roll them over rub there belly etc etc so they get use to me touching them everywhere. Paws are really important so you can trim the hair between the pads and round off the feet without them kicking up a fuss. Same with the undercarriage for cleanliness and around the outlet pipe under the tail for no Gum Nuts hanging off the butt later when the hair grows longer. So if you get them use to you feeling them all over makes it easier then when you have to Trim certain areas. 
So most important Bally get use to you touchy feely all over. Only a bubba you will get there, but give him the right start and a little bit of a routine every day while the puppy coat is not such a big deal and by the time it is he will be accepting of a good grooming routine with you being able to trim him anywhere and brush anywhere without too much fuss from him. Also get him use to a hairdryer, they freak out the first time with the noise, don't blow it over him, just turn it on then gradually with reassurance from you just give him a little puff of warm air on him then turn it off. Do this a few times and don't scare him till he gets use to it. Leaving a sheepie wet to air dry on their own leads to skin problems from the double coats, they stay damp at skin level so they do need to be dried off throughly eventually.
Biting you well make a loud sound of Ouch or Squeal and re-direct that to a chew toy, if you see a litter of pups this is how they behave when one is getting too rough with another so they associate that squeal sound with them being too rough. It should settle when the rotten teething stage is over. Been there recently and squeals and a firm "NO BITE" then shoving something else that they can chew into their mouths they soon learnt mummys fingers, shoes, tracky daks, clothes etc etc OH and Earrings are off limits.  I also teach them the "DOWN" command also very early, especially a male as they grow in weight and size so any jumping up on me, I Place my hands on them and push them down with a firm "DOWN" as I don't want to be sent flying when they are larger and bigger. Now they listen at 7 months of age and the male we kept is now 34 kg's and still growing so I don't want him bouncing off me and sending me flying,  when excited I only have to say "DOWN" now to stop them jumping up on me. |
| Thanks for all your advice It helps to know I'm n the right track and not doing anything drastically wrong. I'm also glad that I'm not the only one who sits around poking and prodding my poor sheepie all day to get him used to it |
| Owen does more biting than he does not biting. Like Lisa said, everything is fair game to a puppy. Our house looks like a plane crashed in our living room full of puppy toys. I try to give him plenty to do as well as have a toy nearby for the times that he decides my foot needs a good hard bite. I like to do my cuddling with him when he's tired and relaxed and then I praise and pet like crazy.
Thankfully, his breeder has been doing baths and grooming on him the whole time he was with her so he has a pretty good tolerance for brushing but, of course, he still bites the brush. I think I'd have to have him checked out by a vet if he didn't, lol! He just wouldn't be a puppy if he didn't! The true test will be his first bath. I plan to rinse him off this weekend to get some of the slobber off of him so we'll see how he does... |
| Kaye shared this tip for tubby time... her husband would gently cup each puppy's chin in the palm of his hand if the puppy started to become afraid. Not sure if it works for all puppies but it has for the past 4 we've had. I also have tiny, super good treats like cooked meat near by to reward and distract as they get used to the process. I figure if good things happen during the process, it won't be such a scary thing. Once they figure out you're not going to drown them and they'll survive the process, they become more tolerant
When it's time to brush them out, I give him a Nylabone or a stuffed toy (or maybe a kong with a little food in it?) to distract him. If you can keep the mouth busy, it won't always be on the brush. You might also try grooming after he's been outdoors to play... when he's more tired. I totally agree with handling ALL puppy parts. Everything on an OES needs to be brushed, trimmed, shaved or de-gooed at some point. If you get them used to all this handling at a young age, they will be much easier to handle when they get older. Our vets have commented before on how easy Emma, Darby and Kaytee are to handle so this pays off. A 10-20 pound puppy will be easier to coax than a 60-100 pound dog so we try to get past any issues early on. So we're always fiddling with Bumble He's never going to flinch when someone checks out his back end because of the number of times I've checked to see if the other "one" has dropped |
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