puppy won't stop biting/nipping
- Thread starter cosmo'smom
- Start date
Its true that puppies learn bite inhibition from their siblings but they also need to learn bite inhibition from humans. A bite that would be considered "appropriate" between two playing puppies would likely to be quite painful when applied on human skin. Our skin is more sensitive to sharp puppy teeth so now the puppy needs to learn to inhibit its bites when dealing with us overly sensitive humans.
oriondw said:
If you dont believe in using negative reinforcement, fine. I fail to see how you tell the pup the behavior is undesirable by simply avoiding it. I have little experience with small dogs, but dogs with already low to non-existant bite inhibition have to learn early on that biting is NOT ok. If you dont teach them you're just asking for more trouble later on.
Australian Shepards have a major herding instinct though. Even as a pup they want to herd. As an adult they will try to herd everything (you, your children, other animals). My childhood friend had an Aussie and it would nip and bark and herd us all over the place. Maybe try obedience and agility to get your pup interested in other things (and tire him out more too).
Any good breeder starts the "no bite" on humans when it begins. I started when grooming the young pups every day. When they started to get "mouthy" I'd do the puppy yelps.... if that didn't work , I'd move on to lip bite.... when they released I'd hold muzzle gently and say " no bite" ..... then praise. This was before 8 weeks old. I really feel sorry for the pups and owners who didn't have this very early training. It takes weeks to undo what could have been solved in a day or two .
Different dogs respond differently, DoggyDaddy. Rocky licking you is kind of a funny halfway between "I'm sorry if I hurt you" and "I really, really, really, want your attention and it's SOOOOOO hard not to nip!"
Been there, done that, lol! Shiva was the WORST! She's channeled her desire to nip into grooming . . . okay, but every now and then she accidentally (I think) pinches the bejeebers out of you
Been there, done that, lol! Shiva was the WORST! She's channeled her desire to nip into grooming . . . okay, but every now and then she accidentally (I think) pinches the bejeebers out of you
We're talking about puppy nipping, not another behavior problem of an older dog challenging his owner. Let's not make a mountain out of a mole hill. I'm quite sure that the poster has every intention of handling her dog in a sensible way, otherwise she wouldn't have come here and asked for help.
If we catch a cold, do we all run around like a chicken with our heads off, frantically worrying that we've got a cold, but now we're destined to have pneumonia? Ok....rotten analogy. How 'bout this? We have a pup who peed on the carpet once or twice. Do we think, "Oh no! This pup is going to be an adult who will be peeing all over the carpet."(?) No, we figure that by the time the pup is older and we've had time to show it, it's had time to learn, that it will be peeing outside. Why else would anyone ever get a puppy?
Pretty much all puppies nip. Do they all turn out to be vicious, challenging rejects? And the ones that do bite, growl or challenge their owner, I can almost guarantee that simply not teaching bite inhibition in and of itself wasn't the cause. There are multitudes of reasons...a whole underlying thing, an attitude and handling of the dog. One facet in and of itself isn't usually the culprit. I have every confidence that this puppy will learn just fine how to stop nipping. It really isn't a monumental problem. It's normal and shouldn't be made into such a big deal.
I really don't think freaking out the original poster by putting worry into her head that her normal, nipping puppy is soon going to be backing her into a corner, viciously growling and controlling the household is productive. That's kind of.....way out there.
If we catch a cold, do we all run around like a chicken with our heads off, frantically worrying that we've got a cold, but now we're destined to have pneumonia? Ok....rotten analogy. How 'bout this? We have a pup who peed on the carpet once or twice. Do we think, "Oh no! This pup is going to be an adult who will be peeing all over the carpet."(?) No, we figure that by the time the pup is older and we've had time to show it, it's had time to learn, that it will be peeing outside. Why else would anyone ever get a puppy?
Pretty much all puppies nip. Do they all turn out to be vicious, challenging rejects? And the ones that do bite, growl or challenge their owner, I can almost guarantee that simply not teaching bite inhibition in and of itself wasn't the cause. There are multitudes of reasons...a whole underlying thing, an attitude and handling of the dog. One facet in and of itself isn't usually the culprit. I have every confidence that this puppy will learn just fine how to stop nipping. It really isn't a monumental problem. It's normal and shouldn't be made into such a big deal.
I really don't think freaking out the original poster by putting worry into her head that her normal, nipping puppy is soon going to be backing her into a corner, viciously growling and controlling the household is productive. That's kind of.....way out there.