My cute puppy won't stop biting me during play!

I have gotten such good advice from others on potty training that I thought I would introduce another issue I am having. You can tell I am a first time mom to a puppy. I am the master at raising cats!

My sweet, pretty puppy who is 4 months old loves to play but during play time, she would rather bite and chew on me than her toys. She loves her toys but when I am in the picture, I become the chew toy.

I have heard to get up and walk away when she does this and then come back and try it later, but so far no luck. Some tell me to pop her on the nose, some say don't do that!

I tell her No or Ouch! in a firm voice and she just comes back for more. Sometimes there are some growls with it. Is she just playing? Is she mad at me?

Any advice?

Thanks!
Vy

some people say the best thing to do is to sit on your hands and ignore her when she starts doing that. To prevent that I never play with my puppy with my hands. I always use a toy.
you will get some better advice later, im sure. Some people say you should "yelp" at her to show her it hurts too.

No she's not mad at you...she's just playing! A loud yelp to stun her, and then totally ignore her until she calms down. This will teach her that when it gets too hard, play time stops.

Also encourage her to play bite her toys. We use the "easy" command for Katie when she starts getting too rough. In the beginning though it was the "yelp and ignore" method. And when I say ignore, I mean really really ignore. She is not even in the room. No eye contact, no petting, nothing. She just *poof* disappeared.

It will get better. But just like potty training, you have to be consistent.

I like this article by Ian Dunbar on bite inhibition -- it talks about training the puppy to understand that humans are fragile and teeth on skin causes pain.

It says to allow soft mouthing, then say "ouch" when the bites become so hard as to be painful. Eventually, use "ouch" when the bites aren't really painful. Keep lowering your pretend pain threshold until the puppy is giving you sweet little soft bites (SO cute.)

If your pup continues as if you didn't say anything when you say ouch, you'll need to teach the pup what the word "ouch" means. Emphasize the ouch and immediately withdraw all attention and contact. Ouch means end of play. Either leave the room or, if that's impossible or ineffective, put the puppy in his pen or puppy-proofed room for one or two minutes, then resume play. Don't march him to his room as if it's a big punishment, try to make it immediate but matter-of-fact, calm, and cool. It only needs to be a minute or two to be effective, then let the pup out and play again. Repeat as needed (it shouldn't be needed for too long!)

One more thing, my puppy would get really cranky and bite really hard and act really excited just before crashing into a long nap. Just like a tired toddler who doesn't want to go to sleep! If your pup is really being difficult, encourage sleepy time by putting him in his crate with a nice treat or chew toy he enjoys. Hopefully he'll munch for a minute, then curl up and go to sleep. He may whine for a minute, then curl up and go to sleep. I'd let him out if he didn't go to sleep in a couple minutes, he'd usually at least be calmer.

With Wrigley

With Wrigley if he were to nip we could pick him up by the scruff say no sternly then give him something he IS allowed to chew on and ignore him. I'd say we only had to do this 10 times maybe but he wasn't a very mouthy puppy though.

This made my puppy very defensive and would bite out of defense rather than just out of play. This doesn't work with all puppies. The method of removing attention will work with all puppies, since all puppies are social animals and love attention from their owners.

Though she has a soft bite, Tosca does that Collie herding snap at thin air sometimes when she's really excited. It's really kind of laughable sometimes, but if I let it go, she will nip at my shirt or any loose clothing. If I let it go more, she will move right into play biting with my hands. The growling firm NO works well for me. She knows it means NO I don't like this and the fun is over if you don't stop it now. Then I firmly make her sit till she calms down, which doesn't take long because she wants to play some more. This seems to work well. She has gotten to know that if she starts biting at me, even softly, the game is done. I guess all dogs are different but this is what works for us.

I guess

I guess Wrigley is different then--he has never gotten defensive because of picking him up by the scruff--I even pick him up by the scruff with his hind feet still on the ground to bathe him. I have also grabbed him a couple of times this way when he was about to get in trouble--it's like he doesn't even notice.

Bite her back. Just kidding.

The Ian Dunbar article has the right idea.

Thanks! I am going to try the Ian Dunbar article....I think that may work best for my pup.....

I'd go with Ian too. The thing about trying different things is that its confusing. Up to now, this behavior has been reinforced or it wouldn't continue. In other words, its been working for her. You need to stick with something consistantly for a few weeks until she realizes that what she did before isn't working anymore. (working to get playtime and attention)

If the bite is the slightest bit too much pressure, abruptly end all playtime for a little bit. Walk away and give no attention. If she is very gentle, continue patting her calmly. Stick with it. When she is becoming gentle quite regularily, start adding a cue word, like, "gennnntle." Then later you can use it as a reminder ahead of time. Don't use the word while she's biting hard or she'll think that's what the word means. LOL. Wait till she's gentle so it can be associated with the behavior.

Scruffing, yelling, frightening IMO doesn't teach. It just subdues the dog and makes them distrustful of you, some dogs mildly, some more so. I think its best to reinforce the behavior you do like and manage the behavior you don't.

My Dobe puppy was unbelieveable. My goodness, could he ever bite! He learned and I didn't have to be harsh with him by scruffing or any terrifically dramatic cures. He learned what kind of mouthing kept the affection and fun going and what kind of biting made all the good stuff go away. Dogs, like any living organism want to keep the good things happening. Some dogs take longer than others. Puppies are just babies and they need time to mature and learn these lessons. No need to get too riled up about it at this point.

Thanks Doberluv! I feel much better. I forget sometimes that she is just a puppy and I have to be patient and teach! I just don't how much longer my hands and arms can take it!

Vy

1) dogs do not get mad. they simply react. if you are making it a game, the game will escalate and continue. make sure you are not encouraging the behavior.
2) when it occurs, say NO in a stern and assertive voice. not yelling!
3) redirect your dog to a toy, when the toy is bit, PRAISE the dog and let him know how good he is.
4) if he return to bite you, redirect again AFTER a stern NO, or whatever verbal correction you choose. its best to use 1 word and not OUCH or YELP. this is because we want the dog EARLY on to understand NO or again, whatever verbal correction you like. yelping is not a verbal correction.
5) dogs do what works. if you allow the bahavior to continue, it will. if you must, remove yourself and ignore the dog if the redirection isnt working.

The trouble with "No" can be that if it has not been paired with a strong aversive, (and there is no place for that in training dogs, especially babies) it doesn't mean anything in particular to a young dog. They don't understand English the way we do. Some dogs who are not very sensative can take this talking to them to be attention...even if its not very fun attention. Just like with kids, any attention is better than none. So when you want to remove the payoff of attention, playtime, affection, your presence, that includes speaking, looking at, touching....every attention. Social isoloation for about 3 minutes and then try again. Giving a suitable chew toy is good to show what works for chewing. Give it time. These things don't happen overnight.

the only issue i have with this approach is
1) the dog needs to learn a verbal correction. regardless of what that word is.
2) in nature, the higher/stronger dog would correct the behavior, not run away and give a time out. time out are for kids, not animals.

i do agree even neg attention is attention, that is why if you issue a stern NO followed by redirection, the dog learns 1) that no means stop doing what youre doing and 2) biting this toy is a good thing.

Time outs are social isolation, the ultimate rotten thing for a pup. LOL. They have worked for me for years for certain situations.

I don't buy the pack approach where it comes to humans and domestic dogs....so it doesn't do any good to use that argument with me. Sorry about that. ROFLOL.

Hmm...are you a dog? Do you crawl around on the floor and wag your butt? Do you randomly sniff other's body parts or pee in your back yard to stake your claim? If not, how can you justify this apporach. You're saying you need to be the top dog...the top dog does all of these things, do they not?

There is a difference between human and canine for a reason.

I agree Alex. It's simply a ridiculous notion that a) dogs relate to humans the way that they do to other dogs and b) old wolf studies (ancient and misinterpreted) often referred to as relevant, have anything at all to do with training domestic canines.

I agree with Dr2little who agrees with Alex.

well its good that there is a sense of community here!!

so i can see that you three are all of the same mind. thats totally cool. what works for you you should continue to do. and what works for me i will continue to do.

i think some people here need a little wake up call to politness. i think you guys need to be more openminded to all training techniques. obviously, if things didnt work for me and my clients, i wouldnt be a trainer.

everyone has different approaches and see things differently. if you guys are above continual learning that then i feel sorry for you. i guess you have all learned all there is to know. must be lonely.

i for one, listen to everyone and never tell someone they are wrong. after all, who am i? even the best REALLY dont know. only the dogs know. and they will tell you when you are wrong and when you are right. not 3 anonymous members of a forum. not that i dont value your years of wisdom.