# Help! He won't stop BITING!



## Barb West

I am desperate for help with biting. Our 9 month old Havanese Bijou loves to bite at our pant legs and has the strongest set of teeth at it really hurts. We have stood like trees, walked backwards to avoid him biting us from behind and said "NO BITE" until we are blue in the face and legs are all bruised up. He acts like it's a part of his playing but not fun for us.:crying:


----------



## hlang

Maybe try bitter apple spray on the pants legs? Hope someone is able to help you with this behavior


----------



## krandall

Gently, but firmly, pick him up and put him in his pen for a minute or two... just until he settles down. Bring him out, but do exactly the same thing if he nips again... even lightly. Any teeth at all, and back he goes! Don't say anything, just do it. It may take a NUMBER of repetitions, buttoner or later, he will learn that all fun stops as soon as the teeth come out.


----------



## ShamaMama

We were exasperated by Shama too, but she did get through the biting phase. Giving her a pig's ear to chew on saved our sanity. We stopped giving them to her after a while, though, because they're too fattening for adult dogs. Also, be sure she gets a lot of play/exercise/mental stimulation so that she has other outlets for her energy.

Nice name, BTW. (Bijou = jewel, for those forum members who don't know.) Shama also has a French name. Chamallow Brûlé means burnt marshmallow. Shama is short for that.


----------



## Barb West

Thanks KRandall! We have tried the timeout routine but I honestly think we’ve been doing it all wrong. We keep him in a pen in our kitchen when we are not at home and he sleeps in a kennel in our room at night. We’ve used the pen for time out but realize that he also has his toys his bed all the luxuries that he needs in it. I got his travel kennel out and I’m going to work on using that for timeout purposes. Hopefully that will be the trick.


----------



## Barb West

ShamaMama one of Bijou's favorite things is Smart Bones and Bully Sticks. I make sure that we have lots of them on hand so that he always has something to chew on. I tried the timeout idea using the hard travel kennel he arrived in and so far it appears to have worked. Will keep trying this and hope for the Best.


----------



## krandall

Barb West said:


> Thanks KRandall! We have tried the timeout routine but I honestly think we've been doing it all wrong. We keep him in a pen in our kitchen when we are not at home and he sleeps in a kennel in our room at night. We've used the pen for time out but realize that he also has his toys his bed all the luxuries that he needs in it. I got his travel kennel out and I'm going to work on using that for timeout purposes. Hopefully that will be the trick.


It's fine for it to have toys in it.... he doesn't have to be in "solitary".  The point is that he can't play with YOU, (which is what he REALLY wants) unless he play politely... keeping his teeth too himself.


----------



## davetgabby

yeah it's not the crate or expen that is meant to be punishing. It's the removal of play /attention that is meant to punish.  Here's more on timeouts. Time Out - Dogs and Negative Punishment here is more on teaching bite inhibition https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/teaching-bite-inhibition


----------



## Marni

I just want to say that when Zoey was biting too hard, I would say "ouch" in a shriek and then move her away to an expen, coming beck to get her in a couple minutes. Zoey responded by beginning to run away from me as soon as I shrieked "ouch", so she would not get the result from biting of being put away from us into the expen. So, I had inadvertently taught her with timeouts the new problem: running away from me. I did not like the new problem, because it makes it difficult to get my dog into a crate for nap time, and just makes life with my dog difficult. Who wants a pet that runs from you?

I stopped the time outs, and time passed with just the yelping on my part as a response to biting and time took care of the biting. Before she stopped biting she started licking my hand after the "ouch". So, time outs did not work for my puppy. Zoey was at around four months with the biting hard during play issue.

Kosmo at one year old recently started herding me. When let out of his crate after nap time he would walk behind and bite my calf through my jeans, I started turning around and walking into him, gently, going back towards the crate and he stopped the herding shortly after. I think he enthusiastically wanted me going toward the food dish or the outdoors, not towards the nap place/mud room. 

What I am trying to say here is time out didn't work for Zoey and myself, and giving Kosmo the opposite of what he wanted with the herding worked on him.


----------



## alopera

If it happens to us, we don't say anything, just get silent and walk away or stop playing altogether. She has learned that biting hands = no playing/attention. Saying "ouch" wasn't working for us because she tends to view all talking as positive. We're still working on it with guests, however, because sometimes they think it's cute and tell me they don't care.


----------



## Marni

alopera said:


> We're still working on it with guests, however, because sometimes they think it's cute and tell me they don't care.


Oh boy! Do I ever feel you on this issue. A friend or relative would perhaps never undermine you with a child's training, but yet won't hesitate to take over on a dog.

I used to get, "You need to let him know you are the alpha. He/she needs to be shown dominance." Sure, if this were 1984. Domesticated dogs are not wolves. And, we know very little about wolves at that. Kindness, patience and rewarding good behavior are the modern way of training a pet.

Use the words "kindness" and "patience" on your interferers and see how fast they back pedal.


----------



## davetgabby

Marni said:


> Oh boy! Do I ever feel you on this issue. A friend or relative would perhaps never undermine you with a child's training, but yet won't hesitate to take over on a dog.
> 
> I used to get, "You need to let him know you are the alpha. He/she needs to be shown dominance." Sure, if this were 1984. Domesticated dogs are not wolves. And, we know very little about wolves at that. Kindness, patience and rewarding good behavior are the modern way of training a pet.
> 
> Use the words "kindness" and "patience" on your interferers and see how fast they back pedal.


RIGHT ON. :thumb:


----------



## krandall

Marni said:


> Oh boy! Do I ever feel you on this issue. A friend or relative would perhaps never undermine you with a child's training, but yet won't hesitate to take over on a dog.
> 
> I used to get, "You need to let him know you are the alpha. He/she needs to be shown dominance." Sure, if this were 1984. Domesticated dogs are not wolves. And, we know very little about wolves at that. Kindness, patience and rewarding good behavior are the modern way of training a pet.
> 
> Use the words "kindness" and "patience" on your interferers and see how fast they back pedal.


If I don't KNOW for sure that the guests in the house will follow my directions for interacting with my dogs, My dogs are upstairs, safely in their crates in our bedroom before the guests enter the house. I will NOT let my good training be undermined by others.


----------



## Mikki

We are experiencing biting, lunging and challenging episodes. Our pup is 13 weeks. It seems to be when she’s tired or after an epiosode of play. Evening seems to be rather worst time. Otherwise she’s sweet although a little mouthy. We are doing time outs but she’s becoming overly aggressive if we pull away our hands, walk away and say no. I think she’s playing but her lunging and snapping is dangerous to adults and kids. We just started puppy training. So will be discussing how to stop this behavior. I hope it’s just a horrible puppy stage.


----------



## ShamaMama

It's a stage. Pig's ears got us through it.


----------



## Mikki

shamamama thanks for the encouragement. Apple Bitter worked this morning on the bottom of pant legs and shoes. I put Pig ears on my shopping list.


----------



## ShamaMama

Just be sure that you stop buying pig's ears when you can as they're too fatty for an adult dog. I vividly remember wondering why our puppy was so bitey! Hang in there!

Also, Dave mentioned these scent games in another thread . . .

https://suzanneclothier.com/article/...ing-dogs-nose/

Good way to tire out puppy so she's less bitey without putting her physical development in danger.


----------



## Mikki

Helpful to know others experience the same thing and the issue wasn’t a lasting one. Thank you! I’ll see if I can find scent games and I purchased pig ears and reduced their size.


----------



## Henry&Kate

The nipping stage isn't fun at. all. I can't remember exactly when it stopped but it more or less disappeared on its own. I think it was about 17 18 weeks.

I've posted this article on labs (one of the worst of the mouthy dogs) a couple of times but I did find it very helpful and it gave me hope that yes it would stop.

Good luck. And it will get better.


----------



## Mikki

Thanks!! For the helpful & reassuring article. It’s good to know when the demon possessed dog comes out in my angelic looking puppy the snarling and growling is only PLAY 👹


----------



## cishepard

I have looked at puppy biting from another point of view. It is a natural drive/instinct, and I don’t see the need to curtail it completely.
Bingo is 8 mo. and we play bite games together. I have a fleece shawl that I put over my arms and we ‘wrestle’ in an exuberant game where he is allowed to bite. If he bites too hard I let out a yelp and he has learned to have a softer mouth. We mix in a ball throw and retrieve and he then gets to wrestle as a ‘reward’, he enjoys this game immensely and it really tires him out!
Now he will not bite at other times or with other people. In fact we just visited relatives who have children, 11 mo., 2 yrs and 10 yrs. Bingo played with all of them in the most gentle manner. 
It is like having an outlet to express this instinctive behaviour helps to contain it for the rest of daily life. Getting him to play with a tug toy may help similarly. Just something to consider ...


----------



## davetgabby

yes what you're talking about is teaching bite inhibition ... https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/teaching-bite-inhibition


----------



## cishepard

davetgabby said:


> yes what you're talking about is teaching bite inhibition ... https://www.dogstardaily.com/training/teaching-bite-inhibition


Words of wisdom from Dr. Dunbar.


----------



## Marni

Mikki said:


> We are experiencing biting, lunging and challenging episodes. Our pup is 13 weeks. It seems to be when she's tired or after an epiosode of play. Evening seems to be rather worst time. Otherwise she's sweet although a little mouthy. We are doing time outs but she's becoming overly aggressive if we pull away our hands, walk away and say no. I think she's playing but her lunging and snapping is dangerous to adults and kids. We just started puppy training. So will be discussing how to stop this behavior. I hope it's just a horrible puppy stage.


Most of the time, with a well socialized pup, the disappointing things they do are a phase. Zoey growled a lot during her first few months, and last night they both started barking at 4 am. This never happens so I went to them, took them out and then into my bed. Kosmo went to the foot of bed and chewed on a chew. Zoey came up near my shoulder and went "grrrr.", and a few moments later "grrr", again. I laughed both times. I was reminded of my 3 pound dragon from several months ago.:fear:


----------



## Barb West

Mikki I feel your pain and our Bijou is a year old now. I have talked to several trainers and just had one of them make the most sense of all of them. I spoke with her over the phone and after explaining what Bijou does she feels that he has all the tendencies of a herding breed. It’s so true. When he tries to nip at our ankles he runs around us in circles. We just had a lot of family visiting and I started to notice that he started listening to us when we said “leave it” when he started to get the idea to nip at them. He would stop and turn his attention to something else. He does get excited and starts to make a growling noise that sounds aggressive to others. There are some days that I think he’s turning the corner on all of this bad behavior and the next day he will prove me wrong. So we just continue to work with him and pray that he grows out of it some day soon.


----------



## Melissa Brill

Perry growls all the time, but most of those times it's not an aggressive growl - it sounds like it, but it's just him talking... sometimes expressing a little unease, but he does it even when whatever he's doing is his choice. For example, every morning after we go outside we go back to bed and snuggle for a few minutes. I recline on the bed and invite him onto my lap. He bounds across the bed and leaps onto my chest, growling as he settles down. He does the same thing when he will climb onto my lap at other times too.

Other times he'll rumble a little bit when you're doing something that he's not totally comfortable with - like touching his front feet, but it's just a soft rumble. I've gotten to the point that i just ignore him but I know that it sounds aggressive to other people.


----------



## Mikki

Patti is 16 weeks & 6.5lbs of cuteness and orneriness. Nicked named Cujo. We are getting tired of Cujo when he appears. Cujo has learned if she is nipping at shoes, ankles, calves or pants legs she’s going to end up in her ex-pen for a cooling off period. Now when we lean over to pick her up, she backs up snarling, growling, doing pirouettes and darting away like a bullet - often times ending up in a wiggling, wrestling match. I’m keeping her harness on so we can grab her when she passes by. She does return from the ex-pen more sedate after a few minutes. But the calm doesn’t usually last. 

She will sit and lay down and come to her name .... if she’s not excited and Cujo has not appeared. So, I haven’t been able to calm her when she is in puppy biting play mode. 

We have a Golden-doodle and they rough house in the evening out in the yard. Rather the Golden-doodle lets Cujo play rough and she just nudges Patti around with her paws or head. Patti’s puppy play with us seems to reflect her play with her 60lb playmate. We have to keep Cujo - I mean Patti - separate from the Golden-doodle because she’s so obnoxious and won’t stop jumping on and biting her 7 year-old elder. Eventually I think that will work itself out.

How many pigs ears can I give her a day? I’ve been cutting those gross things in half. Are you sure this is a phase and we don’t have a future permanent Cujo?


----------



## StarrLhasa

I would not give her the pig ears (just my opinion). Can you give her a stuffed Kong instead?

She is still such a baby. she will calm down and not attack your Goldendoodle so much as she gets older? Have you seen Dave's post with the article by Dr. Dunbar about teaching bite inhibition? He posted a couple of weeks ago in this thread.


----------



## Mikki

StarrLhasa said:


> I would not give her the pig ears (just my opinion). Can you give her a stuffed Kong instead?
> 
> She is still such a baby. she will calm down and not attack your Goldendoodle so much as she gets older? Have you seen Dave's post with the article by Dr. Dunbar about teaching bite inhibition? He posted a couple of weeks ago in this thread.


 I haven't found a way to stuff Kong's that last. Her puppy food is so small it falls out within a couple of minutes. If I added filler like non-dry dog food to the dry, her mouth isn't strong enough to bite down and push it out and she looses interest. I have a wheel which works better than a funnel. I could go back to the wheel. Stopped it because of the added calories but ... pig ears are fattening and I worry about her chocking, which has happened before.

Dr Dunbar's recommendations for Kong's and Havanese or toy dogs ....IMO I don't think it works for these small dogs like larger puppies.


----------



## Barb West

Mikki I feel your pain. Bijou is now 13 months old and it is a constant battle at our house. The growling happens when he really gets going and if a stranger showed up they would be scared to death. We know it's a part of his play, but we still hate it. I recovering from so many bruises from his bites. It does appear for us to be worse early morning and around 6pm at night. I have had many discussions with trainers and some interesting ideas have come up. When I have described exactly what Bijou does they assume he's a herding breed. To them our little fur babies are acting like a herding breed does when they nip at our ankles and circle around us. Makes sense to me.


----------



## Mikki

Barb West said:


> Mikki I feel your pain. Bijou is now 13 months old and it is a constant battle at our house. The growling happens when he really gets going and if a stranger showed up they would be scared to death. We know it's a part of his play, but we still hate it. I recovering from so many bruises from his bites. It does appear for us to be worse early morning and around 6pm at night. I have had many discussions with trainers and some interesting ideas have come up. When I have described exactly what Bijou does they assume he's a herding breed. To them our little fur babies are acting like a herding breed does when they nip at our ankles and circle around us. Makes sense to me.


Yikes! Barb, that is not good news. I can't have a dog that continues this type of behavior long term. Seriously, find another trainer take Bijou to them and stimulate his behavior to show them what he's doing. They can correct that behavior. The trainer I went to told us to not put up with biting behavior after 5 months.

I went back and reread this thread and Googled info on puppy biting and decided to *changed our behavior* *and response* when Cujo appeared. We had become frustrated and started verbally trying to correct the biting by saying No! No Biting. Patti's reaction was to become more aggressive by lunging, growling, nipping, running in circles and then from us when we finally had enough and tried to pick her up to put her in the ex-pen.

So...I told the human adults to stop verbally correcting. When Patti started bitting feet, shoes, pants or any part of the body or showing teeth to quickly pick her up without saying a word and place her in the ex-pen. I left her there for a minute or two and then let her out. I was amazed this stopped the bitting relatively quickly in 30 minutes or less. For the rest of the evening Patti was quite pleasant, as well as, this morning. Giving puppy kisses and snuggling. In the evening she gets to rough-house outside with a *very patient *Golden-doodle.

Today, she's nosed my legs but not tried to bite. She's mouthed a little bit when picked up. While playing tug of war, I saw warning signs she was wanting to become aggressive and started to bite. I stopped the game and placed her in the ex-pen. Letting her out in a few minutes. She settled down and gave me puppy kisses.

I think by verbally correcting and physically trying to stop Patti by moving our feet and hands around, was stimulating the aggressive puppy play behavior turning her into Cujo. Once we stopped our behavior and quickly but quietly removed and placed her in the ex-pen it changed the dynamics. Patti got the message - no biting. Will see how this goes moving forward.

Good Luck with Bijou ...


----------



## Barb West

Mikki it’s funny but I think every day is a different day with Havanese. Today I implemented something completely different. Because I feel that the biting is an attention thing when he was trying to bite me this morning as I put my makeup on I got down to his level and we had a nice chat. Once he got bored with me talking to him in a very soft kind voice he took off and went and got his toys and played with his toys. So if it’s attention he wants he’s going to get it in a kind and discussion way until he is bored with me and goes to play with his toys. Today was groomer day.


----------



## krandall

Mikki said:


> Yikes! Barb, that is not good news. I can't have a dog that continues this type of behavior long term. Seriously, find another trainer take Bijou to them and stimulate his behavior to show them what he's doing. They can correct that behavior. The trainer I went to told us to not put up with biting behavior after 5 months.
> 
> I went back and reread this thread and Googled info on puppy biting and decided to *changed our behavior* *and response* when Cujo appeared. We had become frustrated and started verbally trying to correct the biting by saying No! No Biting. Patti's reaction was to become more aggressive by lunging, growling, nipping, running in circles and then from us when we finally had enough and tried to pick her up to put her in the ex-pen.
> 
> So...I told the human adults to stop verbally correcting. When Patti started bitting feet, shoes, pants or any part of the body or showing teeth to quickly pick her up without saying a word and place her in the ex-pen. I left her there for a minute or two and then let her out. I was amazed this stopped the bitting relatively quickly in 30 minutes or less. For the rest of the evening Patti was quite pleasant, as well as, this morning. Giving puppy kisses and snuggling. In the evening she gets to rough-house outside with a *very patient *Golden-doodle.
> 
> Today, she's nosed my legs but not tried to bite. She's mouthed a little bit when picked up. While playing tug of war, I saw warning signs she was wanting to become aggressive and started to bite. I stopped the game and placed her in the ex-pen. Letting her out in a few minutes. She settled down and gave me puppy kisses.
> 
> I think by verbally correcting and physically trying to stop Patti by moving our feet and hands around, was stimulating the aggressive puppy play behavior turning her into Cujo. Once we stopped our behavior and quickly but quietly removed and placed her in the ex-pen it changed the dynamics. Patti got the message - no biting. Will see how this goes moving forward.
> 
> Good Luck with Bijou ...


This is the correct way to handle puppy nipping.


----------



## Mikki

Barb West said:


> Mikki it's funny but I think every day is a different day with Havanese. Today I implemented something completely different. Because I feel that the biting is an attention thing when he was trying to bite me this morning as I put my makeup on I got down to his level and we had a nice chat. Once he got bored with me talking to him in a very soft kind voice he took off and went and got his toys and played with his toys. So if it's attention he wants he's going to get it in a kind and discussion way until he is bored with me and goes to play with his toys. Today was groomer day.


I want a well mannered dog and our change in behavior is changing the nipping and aggressive behavior. I want the nipping at pants, legs and feet to permanently stop, along with other teething behaviors. People need to be able to walk into a room without worrying about Patti attacking their feet or tripping over her. She's going to learn nipping or biting is not going to get her attention. I'll put up with a little mouthing (but not biting) on the hands or arms. This morning Patti was better but tested her nipping instincts several times. In the ex-pen she went. Out came a better behaved puppy. This is working. :tea:

Post pics after the grooming. He's gorgeous.


----------



## PinkMellow

Something that people don’t understand with dogs is that they don’t understand talking and yelling. To them it’s just barking and dogs can bark for any reason. Picture someone yelling at you in a strange language you have no idea what they’re trying to tell you!

You should try communicating in the dog’s language for example making a loud “yelp” noise or if that’s to embarrassing use a very high pitched LOUD ow. This is how dogs communicate to say you’re playing too rough! Then you can try giving him something appropriate to take out that biting, chewing urges on like a toy or bone and praise him when he chews that instead. The goal of this is when he sees your pants and gets excited, he will instead learn to go chew a toy instead of accidentally on your leg. He needs to learn that your pants are a part of you, and when he bites them it hurts you!


----------



## pting619

Well this text was timely....my 15 week old Havanese thinks it’s a fun game. She bites and nips at your toes as you walk. No amount of “NO”, “no biting” or “stop” has helped. In fact, it seems to make the game more exciting. I am definitely implementing the “no communication, into the ex-pen you go” procedure! She probably will have no idea why she is in the pen, but she does quiet down right away. That alone redirects the situation...she is on to a new game when she is let out. I hope it works cause her little teeth are sharp and she’s bound to trip us up to boot!

On another note, how do you handle when she has something in her mouth she shouldn’t have? She comes bounding in with a rock, leaf, stick, whatever. When you approach her, her front goes down on the ground..she watches which way you might go, then darts away. Stop doesn’t help, come is a joke cause she makes sure not to come in range. This is a most fun game to her....unfortunately, I’m afraid whatever is in her mouth she may swollow or choke on....how do I calm her down so I can approach her?


----------



## krandall

pting619 said:


> Well this text was timely....my 15 week old Havanese thinks it's a fun game. She bites and nips at your toes as you walk. No amount of "NO", "no biting" or "stop" has helped. In fact, it seems to make the game more exciting. I am definitely implementing the "no communication, into the ex-pen you go" procedure! She probably will have no idea why she is in the pen, but she does quiet down right away. That alone redirects the situation...she is on to a new game when she is let out. I hope it works cause her little teeth are sharp and she's bound to trip us up to boot!
> 
> On another note, how do you handle when she has something in her mouth she shouldn't have? She comes bounding in with a rock, leaf, stick, whatever. When you approach her, her front goes down on the ground..she watches which way you might go, then darts away. Stop doesn't help, come is a joke cause she makes sure not to come in range. This is the most fun game to her....unfortunately, I'm afraid whatever is in her mouth she may swallow or choke on....how do I calm her down so I can approach her?


The problem is, she hasn't learned any of those words you are using with her. So they mean absolutely nothing to her. For now, you need to supervise her more carefully. When outside in a place she can pick up things that could harm her, she needs to be on leash so, as much as possible, you can keep her from getting the things, and if she DOES get something, you can get it away from her.

The end goal should be to teach her to "drop it" and "leave it" on command. (Kikopup has good videos on YouTube for this) But those have to be taught in a calm situation, not when she already has something she shouldn't. Ideally, you never force a dog to give something up... so if possible, see if she will "trade" what she has for a yummy treat. If she really won't give it up, and you HAVE to get it away from her because it's dangerous, take it, but make sure you don't sound angry or upset, and IMMEDIATELY give her something yummy and tell her she was a good girl for giving it to you.


----------



## PinkMellow

pting619 said:


> Well this text was timely....my 15 week old Havanese thinks it's a fun game. She bites and nips at your toes as you walk. No amount of "NO", "no biting" or "stop" has helped. In fact, it seems to make the game more exciting. I am definitely implementing the "no communication, into the ex-pen you go" procedure! She probably will have no idea why she is in the pen, but she does quiet down right away. That alone redirects the situation...she is on to a new game when she is let out. I hope it works cause her little teeth are sharp and she's bound to trip us up to boot!
> 
> On another note, how do you handle when she has something in her mouth she shouldn't have? She comes bounding in with a rock, leaf, stick, whatever. When you approach her, her front goes down on the ground..she watches which way you might go, then darts away. Stop doesn't help, come is a joke cause she makes sure not to come in range. This is a most fun game to her....unfortunately, I'm afraid whatever is in her mouth she may swollow or choke on....how do I calm her down so I can approach her?


I learned that you can fix this issue by always doing a trade and never just taking. Think about it if every time you found something cool, someone came and took it away from you, you would start to run away from that person when you saw them coming right?? (In some dogs it even creates aggression & they will bite you if you try to take it!) Whenever I take something from my puppy I always give her a toy in return. Note you should never trade a "toy" for a treat because this is an unequal trade and some dogs learn to steal things like shoes because they get a treat for it! Instead if puppy has a piece of bark, take it and give her her favorite toy or bone to chew instead. This has been working very well for me.

Now if your dog has food they shouldn't have, then you can trade for more appropriate food like a treat because again you want the trade to be equal.


----------



## krandall

It is ALWAYS appropriate to trade food for a coveted item you need to get away from a dog. I know very few that will trade what they have for a toy that they aren't interested in right now. If a dog is stealing things JUST to get a treat, this hasn't been done properly, and the dog is not being properly supervised. it all gets back to supervision and controlling the environment so that the puppy has many more chance to be right than wrong. Humans with a puppy in the house should put their shoes away.


----------



## Mikki

This thread was started Feb 2018. I sought advice in June when Patti was 13 weeks. She's now 6 months plus a week. Lots of improvement. Moving her into the ex-pen to settle down helped a lot. Patti soft mouths a bit but not all the time. She seems to moving out of that chewing and biting stage. Our newest issue has been aggressive play jumping and snapping, which is not only annoying because she only gets more wound up if you try to stop her but is dangerous to young and old. She's now out in other areas of the home or outdoors, far away from the ex-pen where it use to be easy to move her to settle her down. Standing still, telling her to lay down doesn't always work. After exhausting other methods and reluctantly I've resorted to spritzing her in the face with water. That got her attention and stopped it...so far. She's smart and typically a quick learner. Maybe she's gotten the message and will quit that excitable jumping and snapping behavior. Fine if she's excited and jumping, it's the snapping that had to stop.


----------



## pting619

Thank you all for your continued support. My little Jessie is a bit of a spit fire. It so much fun for her to dance around when she as something she shouldn’t have! Remarks from “krandall” regarding a trade for a treat is spot on! She’ll initally drop what she has and come for the treat. She might hesitate for a second and go for the stolen treasure, but the treat wins. She’ll drop whatever and come for the treat. So good success with that!

Not so much success with the mouthing my feat when I walk. If I stop and say “no” seems to excite her more. Ive been trying the silent treatment, picking her up and putting her in the expen. The biting, of course, stops because she can’t get to my feet. Don’t think she has a clue why she got put there. When she is out again, doesn’t take too long before she is going for my feet again. Maybe if I just sat still, there would be no problem. But I keep walking around, so the game begins again! Should I just continue using the expen as a solution?


----------



## Mikki

pting619 said:


> Thank you all for your continued support. My little Jessie is a bit of a spit fire. It so much fun for her to dance around when she as something she shouldn't have! Remarks from "krandall" regarding a trade for a treat is spot on! She'll initally drop what she has and come for the treat. She might hesitate for a second and go for the stolen treasure, but the treat wins. She'll drop whatever and come for the treat. So good success with that!
> 
> Not so much success with the mouthing my feat when I walk. If I stop and say "no" seems to excite her more. Ive been trying the silent treatment, picking her up and putting her in the expen. The biting, of course, stops because she can't get to my feet. Don't think she has a clue why she got put there. When she is out again, doesn't take too long before she is going for my feet again. Maybe if I just sat still, there would be no problem. But I keep walking around, so the game begins again! Should I just continue using the expen as a solution?


I'll watch for more tips on biting feet, clothes, jumping, snappy growly playfulness. It's a problem I hope will get better. My puppy is 6 months. Mostly this happens when she's tired. It's no longer easy to just pick her up as she knowingly darts and runs away. She's not always in a harness with a leash when this happens. Correcting was easier when she was younger because she was limited to one area where she has an ex-pen. Although still limited, now she's out more in another room and outside. Out of options ... I have started spritzing her in the face with water but not sure if that's going to work. It does stop her but sometimes it seems to encourage her to play attack with the bottle. She doesn't do this as much with my husband. But, does it with my daughter and grandkids. Jumping and snapping she does sometimes cuts skin with her teeth and leave a bruise.


----------



## EvaE1izabeth

Just out of curiousity, does it happen during playtime or when you’re trying to do other things? i realized when our puppy nipped our feet, he did it because he wanted to play, and it’s much easier to train bite inhibtion and everything during playtime vs. when I’m busy trying to do other things. So as a preemptive measure, I get him to run hard playing fetch for a few minutes in the morning if I know I have a day where I can’t give him a lot of attention and redirection. He stopped puppy biting a while ago, because we worked on it during playtime and he’s done teething now, but it’s still a habit to make sure he has extra exercise if I know I’m going to be preoccupied, and I like to think it makes a difference in keeping him my calm, sweet companion.


----------



## Mikki

Patti does it at various times. Often when she's excited about the grandkids or our daughter coming home or into room. She does it when she wants to play and usually it's when she's getting tired. I do take her out and exercise helps. She needs to learn to stop doing it even if she's bored, tired or excited.


----------



## krandall

pting619 said:


> Thank you all for your continued support. My little Jessie is a bit of a spit fire. It so much fun for her to dance around when she as something she shouldn't have! Remarks from "krandall" regarding a trade for a treat is spot on! She'll initally drop what she has and come for the treat. She might hesitate for a second and go for the stolen treasure, but the treat wins.  She'll drop whatever and come for the treat. So good success with that!


That's great! The next step is to say "Drop it", just BEFORE you show her the treat. You want, eventually, for the treat to become a reward for her doing what you asked, where right now, it's a bit of a bribe. That's OK, because the end result is what you want, But you want to teach her the drop rather than HAVING to have a cookie in your hand. Eventually, what you'd like to see is for her to drop it on command, then you can have a party and run to the cookie jar together to get her reward! 



pting619 said:


> Not so much success with the mouthing my feet when I walk. If I stop and say "no" seems to excite her more. Ive been trying the silent treatment, picking her up and putting her in the expen. The biting, of course, stops because she can't get to my feet. Don't think she has a clue why she got put there. When she is out again, doesn't take too long before she is going for my feet again. Maybe if I just sat still, there would be no problem. But I keep walking around, so the game begins again! Should I just continue using the expen as a solution?


This is one you just have to be REALLY consistent and persistent on. As many times as she does it, the IMMEDIATE result is... no more fun, in the pen. Rinse and repeat. Just like human toddlers, they can be MADDENINGLY persistent. You just have to be even MORE persistent. Some of it is also the age. Eventually, a lot of these behaviors also start to wane on their own.


----------



## krandall

Mikki said:


> I'll watch for more tips on biting feet, clothes, jumping, snappy growly playfulness. It's a problem I hope will get better. My puppy is 6 months. Mostly this happens when she's tired. It's no longer easy to just pick her up as she knowingly darts and runs away. She's not always in a harness with a leash when this happens. Correcting was easier when she was younger because she was limited to one area where she has an ex-pen. Although still limited, now she's out more in another room and outside. Out of options ... I have started spritzing her in the face with water but not sure if that's going to work. It does stop her but sometimes it seems to encourage her to play attack with the bottle. She doesn't do this as much with my husband. But, does it with my daughter and grandkids. Jumping and snapping she does sometimes cuts skin with her teeth and leave a bruise.


I'm not a fan of spraying for several reasons. Unless it works immediately, and there is not a repeat of the behavior, positive punishment isn't really doing the job, and you end up having to increase the punisher to get the response you want. Second, MANY puppies might be startled into stopping the first time, then, like your puppy, realize it doesn't hurt, and it's actually pretty fun. Then your "punishment" has turned into a game.

If I had a puppy who was still jumping and biting hard enough to bruise and break the skin at 6 months, ESPECIALLY one who then made a game of catch me if you can, that puppy would be wearing a harness and a leash at ALL times that there was the SLIGHTEST chance of the behavior so I could interrupt the behavior immediately. If necessary, that puppy would be attached to me at those times. Any time the puppy started to get amped up, I would calmly step on the leash with the end goal of the leash being under my foot in a position that the puppy could stand, sit or lie down, but could NOT get its front feet off the floor. Then I would calmly tell the puppy to "settle", and I would not remove my foot until the puppy had herself under control.

If this type of management and enforced "calm down" isn't enough, you need to get a professional, positive based trainer in to see, first hand, what's going on. A 6 month old puppy should NOT be biting and bruising or breaking skin, even in play, at this age.


----------



## krandall

Mikki said:


> Patti does it at various times. Often when she's excited about the grandkids or our daughter coming home or into room. She does it when she wants to play and usually it's when she's getting tired. I do take her out and exercise helps. She needs to learn to stop doing it even if she's bored, tired or excited.


Many dogs, especially puppies, get over excited (over threshold) when someone new comes on scene. It's even MORE likely if it's someone they like, who plays with them. Again, if she were my puppy, she'd be behind a gate or in an ex-pen when they first arrived. When they were in and settled, and SHE was settled down, I'd let her out to join the gathering. And I'd make sure that harness and leash were on her, so if she started to ramp up, you could do what I described above.


----------



## Melissa Brill

*curbing the excitement*



krandall said:


> Many dogs, especially puppies, get over excited (over threshold) when someone new comes on scene. It's even MORE likely if it's someone they like, who plays with them. Again, if she were my puppy, she'd be behind a gate or in an ex-pen when they first arrived. When they were in and settled, and SHE was settled down, I'd let her out to join the gathering. And I'd make sure that harness and leash were on her, so if she started to ramp up, you could do what I described above.


When Perry gets over excited/ upset because there's someone at the door, etc, I will usually do 1 of 2 things (since we don't have an expen and it's not really practical to run him into the bedroom to his crate, both of which I also think are good ideas) (1)I will pick him up (not petting or really reassuring him in any way, just holding him - so it's not reinforcing the fear/ excitement) til I open the door - once he sees that I'm fine with the person then I put him back on the floor and he'll calm down and be fine (almost always) too or (2) I move to stand between him and the door/ person, asking him to be quiet/ telling him it's fine - again, he sees that it's ok and he'll be calm.

I can prevent the over excitement if I hear the person approaching before he does and distract him before they knock. I also ask everyone to completely ignore him and wait for him to approach them - some he will and others he's perfectly happy just watching from a distance.


----------

