alright, things are well with the foster dog. so far, we have taught him to sit, shake, come, lay down, and fetch!! its amazing how fast hes learning since he had NO idea what sit meant when he got here


however, i need help on this one...


hes playfully biting everyone in the house and i dont know the correct way to stop it. when we are all here with him, he will be playing with someone, and he opens his mouth to put it around your arm - somewhat biting, but not meaning to. except the problem is that he is very strong, and his jaws are incredible. his mouth is HUGE and if you get him away from your arm, he will move on to your leg, your side, your HEAD

i know hes not trying to be mean, he only thinks hes playing. i think i may have over reacted when he put his mouth over my daughters head but that freaked me out!!

what is the 'right' way to correct this problem to let him know that he is not to play like that and that he can really cause damage like that

Biting is most common in young puppies and new dogs
in the household especially in play and while teething. It's up to you to teach your puppy or dog what is acceptable and what is not. Most dogs and puppies are generally loving, sweet, adorable, affectionate and wonderful 99% of the time. Only 1% of the time does something specific happen that makes the dog bite. This article will discuss the causes of biting and what you can do to prevent your dog from biting.

Dogs and Puppies Must Learn to Inhibit Biting
First of all, dogs must learn to inhibit their bite before they are 4 months old. Normally, they would learn this from their mother, their littermates and other members of the pack. But, because we take them away from this environment before this learning is completed, we must take over the training.

Socialization Prevents Biting
By allowing your puppy to socialize with other puppies and socialized dogs they can pick up where they left off. Puppies need to roll, tumble and play with each other. When they play, they bite each other everywhere and anywhere. This is where they learn to inhibit their biting. This is where they learn to control themselves. If they are too rough or rambunctious, they will find out because of how the other dogs and puppies react and interact with them. This is something that happens naturally and it is something we cannot accomplish. It can only be learned from trial and error. There is nothing you can say or do to educate them in this realm. They must learn from their own experience.




that sounds like what he is doing

wow, i read that again in another article. wonder if this is true.

i adopted a dog a few months ago and she still has this problem. hoping to get some answers!

madartista said:

how old is your pup?

Buddy is now about a year and a half i believe he didnt live with people in a home environment, so i'm sure he has no idea why this is unacceptable.


hopefully we will get some answers, there are a lot of smart animal people here

its a play thing...just dont let him hump because thats trying to show that he's dominant..

madartista said:

http://www.scribd.com/doc...g-Behavior


again with the 'take the dog out with other dogs' thing

i guess this is something we could definately try!

IAintTheOne said:

isnt that true with ALL men???

nakedpianoplayer said:

Reading is just over a year. She also had no home training! Grew up mostly in the shelters.

madartista said:

AWWWWW, she is a cutie!!!
wonderful of you to get her out of the shelter how long have you had her with you?

nakedpianoplayer said:

she came home on March 1.

What I did with mine when they were getting nippy is gently grab their muzzle kinda closing their mouth and saying NO firmly. Not yelling or hysterical but with bass in my voice so they know I'm serious. Then I'd let 'em go. If they repeated the behavior I did it again the same way. When training dogs, especially puppies, it's important to be consistent. So whatever intervention you use you must do it EVERY time. On the flip side, if they're playing well you give lot's of "Good boy!" reinforcement so they recognize the difference between the happy voice and the I'ma put a foot in ya ass voice (even though you never do ) Same as with kids. After awhile they catch on because they don't like the mean voice and they aim to please. I don't know how helpful this is since you've got such a big dog but if he's not aggressive you should have no problem breaking the habit. Good luck!

OK, my dog is doing this also (he is only 12 weeks old though) in the beginning he was biting just softly, but as he got up his confidence he was biting harder and harder. I read in a book that if you yelp loudly, like a puppy, very high pitched and loud, he will realise it hurts you - do that even when it DOESN'T hurt you.

The first time I did it, Moppy looked shocked and started to lick my hand instead. I'm getting my kids to do the same. It has really helped! He doesn't bite me at all any more.

Also gently flipping him onto his back with a hand on his stomach when it's chill out time makes him calm down and you are letting him know who's boss.

ZombieKitten said:

I also did the laying them on their back and holding them down gently to teach them you're the alpha dog.

The flipping/pinning thing, along with the firm "NO!", is good.

If that doesn't work, the next time he does it, say NO and separate yourself from him. Leaving him by himself quickly when he does bad behavior. Though that's hard to do if a crate is involved at all. You don't want the crate or dogspace to become a negative place.

Yeah, don't listen to me.

SCNDLS said:

ah, i read that and tried it a couple of times. this morning she did stop and start licking instead. i need to do that consistently.

SCNDLS said:

this goes along with what i've been reading i guess i could try the yelping thing

but, as far as flipping the dog, hes really big, that would be hard to pull off....
[Edited 5/4/08 19:41pm]

nakedpianoplayer said:

do it just to see what his reaction is - maybe it works better when the dog is still very young. I swear Moppy looked really sorry he hurt me after I yelped!!!

ZombieKitten said:

cool, it cant hurt - and i'm trying hard to have this end up a successful dog despite his beginnings....

tomorrow i'm a yelper

thanks

nakedpianoplayer said:

you'll figure it out you're doing an important thing

Basically what most have already said, give him a little bump on the snout (not one that hurts of course, one that annoys though) and say NO! really deep. If he keeps going put him outside or alone in a room somewhere for a while (doggy timeout )

And make sure you stop the whole growling/biting thing while they're eating too. When they eat a bone, try to take it away and if they start to growl say NO!! REALLY loudly, has worked every time with my dogs.

Sometimes it takes 2-3 sessions of that but it works and makes it safer for kids.

purplesweat said:

yup the RSPCA training book says that

On a dog related note, anyones dog ever attack other dogs whilst on walks? Mine sometimes does (yet my old dog never did?), and I reckon it might be a protection thing (him protecting me).

Its annoying and at one point, even had to muzzle him (which he didn't seem to mind, and infact, I use to tease him ocasionally by throwing sticks for him, knowing full well he could not pick the stick up LOL), but if I catch him early, and really shout at him before he gallops up to the innocent victim, I can stop him. Its embarassing and I think my dog has a bad ass rep around our field LOL

Anyone know what to do about it?

ZombieKitten said:

Works a charm. Can't stand it when I go to someone else's house and they haven't taught their dog that - makes the dog seem so primal And I feel scared too.

purplesweat said:

My old dog would bite your hand off if you tried to take away its food. Not a proper bite, but a quick snarly sorta "fuck off" bite LOL. So loving, good tempered and good natured in pretty much everything else, but food wise, she was dangerous. She wold steal our other dogs food aswell LOL, and go through peoples garbage. Funny, but annoying.

I also found it odd when we had 2 dogs, one died, and the other showed no remorse whatsoever . Not that I would want it to, but still, he didn't seem to notice anything different LOL

I don't think you're supposed to feed dogs bones anymore. Most vets advise against that because bones dry out and can splinter getting caught in their throat. However, you can also try taking away his food bowl while he's eating. Tell him to sit, before giving the bowl back. Do it a few times a day. This further reinforces that you're the alpha dog and ensures that the dog will not be food competitive or aggressive when feeding. I actually put my hand in their bowl from time to time just to remind them I can take it away.

thesexofit said:

Yeah, once they reach a certain age, it's hard to stop them growling or biting - we always did it when they were puppies.

As for your remorse-less dawg, they mustn't have been very close? Or maybe he hid it well

SCNDLS said:

My current dog doesn't even slightly growl at you if you take away his food. If he starts eating his food and I pick up his bowl for example, he doesn't seemed fussed at all LOL. Completely different to our other dog.

Current dog also nudges you like a cat would. I guess he picked it up from our cats LOL. Cute, but odd. Also, he never barks to come in, but instead scratches the door. Our dog has been around cats far too much LOL.

Not related, but if one of our cats is sitting on a chair and you walk past, she will try and playfully grab you with its paw (like a kitten, but our cat is old ). She does it to the dog aswell, which is a sign of affection, but our dog doesn't care LOL. Infact, she gets her claws stuck in his fur whilst she is trying to bat him LOL. Its quite cute.

SCNDLS said:

I've heard about the splintering but I think there's particular bones that don't do that. We usually take the bone away from our dog once it's small enough for her to possibly choke on it. She loves it when we do that! I swear she glares at us -_-

thesexofit said:

I love cats but I'm deathly allergic. I bet a house with dogs AND cats encounters all kinds of wacky interactions.