Question:I have a 8 week old puppy that is very mouthy and nippy. He tries to nip no matter what you do or where you touch him. I say "NO" and i give him a toy to chew on , but i dont think that is deterring him from biting, its just giving him another outlet in which to get out his nippy nature. Is this ok?? Should i be doing something else?? Are there any other suggestions that are better suited to this. Thank you!!
Answers:
He's still a baby, so he just wants to play. That will stop with time. If he doesn't understand what "no" is yet, he's going to keep doing it. Clap your hands really loud and say "no" in a very firm voice while looking him in the eyes. ( I adopted a 9 month old puppy from a shelter, he didn't listen to anything until I started this )This tells him you are the leader. Dogs are "pack animals" so from the beginning they are going to try to become leader. You need to show him, he isn't. Also, by giving him chew TOYS, your telling him it is OKAY to chew on things, which isn't good because he will be teething soon and will love your nice furniture and anything else you don't want chewed on. Yes he will need something to chew on though when he starts teething. Try getting a " KONG " you put a treat in it. It will help him to know what is ok to chew on and what isnt.
Clicker training method. You might also want to go to Petsmart and ask them for a clicker. They use it in training and it's very effective for $1.50!
Good Luck.
The puppy is very young and it will take time to stop him from nipping people. I did the exact same thing that you are doing and it took a few months but she is no longer nipping and if she does all I have to do is tell her no and she will stop. You can also try saying no then ignore him until he stops biting you when you pet him. Take away his attention and he might shape up.
He's probably teething. I had 8 week old foster puppies that bit at me every time I touched them. Just play with him a lot, throw toys, take him on walks, if you have a trampoline try bouncing around with him on that (my fosters LOVED the trampoline). Just give him lots of exercise and let him sleep a lot. And by all means - keep giving him toys! My pups loved rawhide chewies and shirts and socks. They also liked the cat balls with bells inside and the 'hamster' that vibrates. Good luck and I hope this helps!
What your doing seems alright. I guess another thing you could do, is as soon as your puppy gets very nippy you could tell him "no" and stop playing with him and ignore him for 10 minutes and then play with him again. Good luck!
first things first training for this puppy should begin straight away, try a puppy pre-school they are lots of fun. second the biting depending on the type of dog and why and when he is biting depends on the way to train him out of it. first thing is to pick up all hiss toys and only give him three for the nxt three days then swap them to keep his mind busy cause he gets different toys each week. you could then try
*a water spray and spray him when he bites
*bitter taste eg lemon on your hands so he doesnt like to bite them
*a rolled up newspaper and when he bites hit the floor with the paper and say no he will then reckonise the loud scary noise with biting and stop
* you could also look into a product called a husher it is a elastic muzzle and works grat for biting (and barking)
Its normal all three of my dogs went through that stage,its just teething like a baby does when growing up. my dog lost his two teeth before he stopped teething,before i didn't think they lost teeth at all, but they loose one tooth on the side and another on the other side. this is very normal just play with him hes very active at 8 weeks.
I like answering this question, because there is a very effective method that I learned with my dog... and it gives tremendous insight into how puppies and dogs think:
You want to teach your pup Bite Inhibition:
Bite Inhibition
Puppies are very energetic and playful. You want to teach them to be obedient as young as possible. In this case, teach him bite inhibition:
1. When he nips you, then yelp ! This will startle him and he will back off. Pet him for stopping.
2. If he nips you a second time, then yelp again, and pet him if he backs off.
3. If he bites you a third time, then yelp, and turn your back for 15 seconds. Then turn and pet him. If he comes around before you turn and he licks you or barks, then he is apologizing. Accept this and pet him.
4. If he nips a fourth time (they can be hard headed), then yelp, and turn around for 2 minutes. Again accept the apology, if offered. If not, then turn around and pet him.
5. Finally, after the fifth nip, yelp, then get up and leave him alone. Don't move him or put him in the crate. Instead, you move to somewhere that he can't follow. After 5 - 10 minutes, you can return to him, or just leave him alone.
6. The next time you pet him, repeat the sequence, he should respond a little faster, and learn not to nip you after a week.
7. You can fine tune the process so that he mouths you or only touches you with his lips. I taught my dog to mouth me... I didn't have the patience to go further.
The reason for doing this is to train the puppy how fragile human skin is. When puppies are in the litter, they bite each other to play. If one puppy bites too hard the sibling will yelp. If the biter doesn't back off, then the injured puppy will not play, and all the puppies will treat hard biting in this way.
Most puppies want attention and will learn anything so that they don't lose your attention. If you learn this method, you will have a powerful training tool.
On a different topic, also socialize your pup with as many friendly people as possible, right now. Then, after you complete the third set of shots, socialize him with as many puppies and friendly dogs as possible. You have a 3 mos window to do this, and if you take this opportunity, you can create an amazingly calm and friendly dog.
And you can start teaching sit, down, stay, and come... at this young age.
Unfortunately, puppies are going to nip and mouth while they are young. It's how they learn. There's a few things that you can try. I've learned in puppy training that you can use the command "leave it" with this. Any time the puppy starts to bite or nip, take a treat and put it at the puppy's nose. Lead it away from what it's biting and say leave it! Once the puppy follows the treat, give them the treat. If you do this consistently, the puppy will start to just look at you when you say leave it. Another thing to try is whenever the puppy bites at you, do a high pitched yelp like a dog. I know it sounds ridiculous, but the dog will stop because they think they have hurt you. Hopefully one of these will help you out. Good luck!
This is an ideal time to train the dog to have a "soft mouth." It is probably the most important thing you can do!
First off, you need to regulate the pup's treats. What reccommend is taking out half her total food (dry) for the day, and using it to hand feed her for rewards. This means she eats less at meal times but eats the parts of her meals she misses throughout the day for doing "good" things (sitting, relaxing, fetching, etc.) When she does something good say "good boy!" and give her a piece of dry food.
If he nips or overbites say "ouch!" and take the food away, then try again. When he takes it from you gentley say "good boy" and let him have it. He may give up at first and go away - that's OK. Since he'll be getting less during his meal he will be very quick to try to figure out how to take the food from you. Keep this up throughout his puppyhood.
You can suppliment that exercise by having people just leave the room anytime he nips. If he nips, make a big deal of it, say "ouch!" and storm off and ignore him for awhile. If he tries to nip for attention leave the room and close the door behind you. He'll get the notion that people don't play that way.
Remember, 8 weeks is very young, so you have plenty of time to work this out. I would advice you to hire a trainer who can go over these protocols in more detail and work with you a couple times to show you exactly what to do.
Hi
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