Biting

[christensenfarms]

I knew my advice wouldn't be accepted by some because of the attiutde that we are "mothers" rather than leaders. Animal psychology is such that leaders of the pack or herd making it clear what is and what is not acceptable behavior. They don't talk it out and they don't do time outs..they tell the submissive ones in the pack right now NO..usually a growl and/or then a nip. Once a pup learns what is NOT acceptable such as biting with one sharp wack, the problem is solved. You will simply need to raise your hand and say no-..when they back down you praise and love them up. Jumping? Knee to the chest-NO..then when they back down praise. You may think its aggressive but thats how dogs teach each other in a pack which is why it works quickly. At 9 weeks my pup wasn't biting or nipping. I never had a dog that bit or jumped. those manners were instilled at a early age with minimal effort on my part. The same goes with horses- You can either pick on them and have the horse loose respect for you or you can get it settled right now. There is a time for a patient approach but IMO biting ( even for a pup)is not one of them.

[BigBrownDog]

I knew my advice wouldn't be accepted by some because of the attiutde that we are "mothers" rather than leaders. Animal psychology is such that leaders of the pack or herd making it clear what is and what is not acceptable behavior. They don't talk it out and they don't do time outs..they tell the submissive ones in the pack right now NO..usually a growl and/or then a nip. Once a pup learns what is NOT acceptable such as biting with one sharp wack, the problem is solved. You will simply need to raise your hand and say no-..when they back down you praise and love them up. Jumping? Knee to the chest-NO..then when they back down praise. You may think its aggressive but thats how dogs teach each other in a pack which is why it works quickly. At 9 weeks my pup wasn't biting or nipping. I never had a dog that bit or jumped. those manners were instilled at a early age with minimal effort on my part. The same goes with horses- You can either pick on them and have the horse loose respect for you or you can get it settled right now. There is a time for a patient approach but IMO biting ( even for a pup)is not one of them.

LOL! As an actual mother of human children - believe me I know the difference between managing canine behavior and human. I don''t mother my dogs - they are not children.

You are entitled to your opinion. The notions you adhere to are perhaps appropriate when discussing wolves - which dogs are not and which people are not either. People have bigger brains and more in their bag of tricks than lashing out to punish.

It has been favored thought for at least the past 15 years that positive reinforcement is more effective. Some
"popular" trainers cling to pack order and dominance theories - but they are not current with behavioral science. As a matter of fact - the Monks of New Skete - who pioneered the whole dominance theory business have retracted and are now sorry that they put that whole idea out there.

Sorry for your pups!

[Murphy's mom]

Wow, lots of great suggestions but I have been doing most of them, minus the hitting heard not good for hunting dog that relies on their nose for scenting but nothing has worked with our Murphy. He is very mouthy and is now a 100 pound 1 year olds. He doesn't bite it is mouthing, where he will grab your hand or clothes to get you play with him or pet him. I have tried when he was a puppy the finger in the roof of the mouth, at the back of the tongue, I have tried pushing his jowls (cheeks) in so he bites himself, nothing. So I used good old apple bitter, it worked great with my Newfie, but Murphy likes the taste of it!!! Though he does bark at us when we get the bottle out because he knows he is in trouble. My vet says the mouthing he will grow out of ( like when?) and it hasn't effected his hunting, he will retrieve birds without chewing them up, though the first tickled him and he didn't really like it. Any suggestions short of a doggie shrink or maybe a human shrink? My newfie was so much easier to train.

[BigBrownDog]

Wow, lots of great suggestions but I have been doing most of them, minus the hitting heard not good for hunting dog that relies on their nose for scenting but nothing has worked with our Murphy. He is very mouthy and is now a 100 pound 1 year olds. He doesn't bite it is mouthing, where he will grab your hand or clothes to get you play with him or pet him. I have tried when he was a puppy the finger in the roof of the mouth, at the back of the tongue, I have tried pushing his jowls (cheeks) in so he bites himself, nothing. So I used good old apple bitter, it worked great with my Newfie, but Murphy likes the taste of it!!! Though he does bark at us when we get the bottle out because he knows he is in trouble. My vet says the mouthing he will grow out of ( like when?) and it hasn't effected his hunting, he will retrieve birds without chewing them up, though the first tickled him and he didn't really like it. Any suggestions short of a doggie shrink or maybe a human shrink? My newfie was so much easier to train.

Some retreivers are going to be mouthy for a longer period. My puppy when he is very excited will do this - but he does not apply any pressure at all.

My rescue (now 4) was mouthy in a bad way as an older puppy when we got him. The best method we found for him was to suddenly and dramatically withdraw attention from him the instant that he put his mouth on a body part. Full change of demeanor - stand and turn away with arms folded. It did not take many repetitions of this for him to get it that mouthiness equaled withdrawal of attention and the end of fun.

[Tanwen]

I buy a magazine about dogs in general and the other month they had a discussion about various training techniques - the NILF (nothing in life is free as advocated by Victoria Stillwell) and 'You are the pack leader' (the Dog Whisperer approach) but like human children you need to find out what works for your puppy. We have been incredibly fortunate with our puppy, Dinozzo, who responded very well to a firm 'No'. We managed to stop him from jumping up by making him 'Sit' when meeting other people - it's becoming his 'default' position. Even our vet says he's going to be a 'big boy' so it was essential that we stopped the jumping up before he knocked someone over.

[myFirstlab]

We managed to stop him from jumping up by making him 'Sit' when meeting other people - it's becoming his 'default' position. Even our vet says he's going to be a 'big boy' so it was essential that we stopped the jumping up before he knocked someone over.

I like that, i will start doing that with my puppy!

[SallyQ]

Well we all know that biting is just a 'puppy thing'. It unfortunately come with the territory. It is a normal part of the puppy play. The way puppies let their siblings know when they have bitten too hard, is they give a high pitched 'yip'. It sounds silly, but works. The puppy isn't meaning to hurt you, just playing.
The other method I've used with my dogs when they were puppies and bit my hand, I gently pushed down. Dogs can't bite when you are pushing their lower jaw down. This also shows you are the leader and in charge, but in a non humiliating way.
Good luck with your puppy!

[myFirstlab]

the high pitch yelp sound when they nip at u actually works from my experience. In my case i was teaching my lil maddy to take a treat gently as she would just go for the treat with no care for hte fingers around it lol. So i started making the yelp sound if she went for the treat too fast or too hard and you can actualy see she feels bad when it happens, so next time she tries to grab it she goes super slow and gentle like she's afraid to hurt me.

[christensenfarms]

Good grief- I am not suggestion beating the crap out of the pup. But there is a differnce between a gentle tap which doesn't get the message through to a pup to something more forceful that tells the pup in no uncertain terms- NO. Its exactly what dogs do in their own social circle. They settle domance issues very quickly( I said no biting and I meant it). Once usually solves your problem and it asserts your position as leader. At 9 weeks my pup knew not to bite...he knew not to jump on me. Not out of fear but respect. All of my dogs never had biting or jumping issues not because I am a great trainer but they knew from day one what was and was not acceptable. The line was drawn and they knew the boundries. As a result, they have all been well behaved and well mannered animals ( both dogs and horses)

[BauersMom]

Its exactly what dogs do in their own social circle.

That is absurd, I have never seen a dog knee another dog in the chest or whack it on the nose. Typically the mom will correct the puppies in stages: if it bites too hard she will walk away and ignore it, if the puppy keeps it up she might growl and show her teeth, if the puppy keeps it up she might bite it back or pin it to the ground . . . either way she sends the message by stopping the play and interaction. Hitting a dog in the face does nothing but makes the dog fearful of human hands, and could cause more biting issues down the road. You said that all you have to do is raise your hand, and the dog stops; yes, because it is afraid of your hands. What if a little kid goes up to the dog, and tries to pet its head? The dog is already fearful of hands, unfamiliar hands are coming towards its head really quickly, and dog reacts to fear and bites. This is the laziest, most uninformed type of "training" I have ever heard. The next time you want to get a puppy, please share your "training" style with the breeder, rescue organization, or shelter . . . I'm guessing you'll end up puppy-free.