The Puppy Mouthiness Issue

Doggish.Obsession

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#1
It's obvious that your pup is having bite inhibition problems (just like we warned you might happen). It is not normal for an 8-week-old maltese to bite hard enough to draw blood, even in play. A dog that small must seriously be biting down to do that amount of damage; that is not a normal play bite.

With a pup like that, I think it might be best to try and teach him that it is not acceptable to lay a tooth on you at all, even in play. When your pup gets excited, offer a stuffed toy to bite and wrestle with. Whenever your pup tries to mouth you, no matter how roughly or gently, yelp loudly and stop the play. Walk away for a moment or two and let the pup calm down. Then try again.
Okay so I stuck to this rule, except... yes mouthing. I just cant- Hm. *Thinks*

'Cause the thing is, I watch him EXTREMELY closely nowadays, and I noticed two things.

1. Yelping does NOT work. I tried screaming, (I have huge lungs so when I scream its for 5 hours. :D ) and no effect. So I SCREAM, and he just cocks his head and leaps back, and gives me this look like, "Oh shurrup, just play, ya wimpy!" and bounces back and snap on my hand leaving a huge red mark, and I get mad and stomp up the stairs and ditch him. :p (I cannot deny that I have the temper of a seven year old. Just kidding, just kidding.)

EDIT: If I walk away, he SCREAMS. I walk to the stairs where he cant TOUCH me, but see me. I Just hide out on the stairs.... Yeah. I hide out on the stairs and he SCREAMS and just begs for me to come back. And the downstair's neighbor probably thinks I'm like killing him or something, but back to the point, I doubt he understands that I'm leaving because he bit too hard. (He doesnt understand what yelping is. I think.)

2. Okay. One day my mom was eating food, and my puppy just kept coming up to her. She gives my puppy this look, and my puppy yaps at her. Mom returns to eating food. "YAP!" Mom turns slowly towards pup... and... LUNGES at him, managing to make him bump into the wall and convince him that my mother has somehow hit him. He literally, BOUNCES back to my mom, and just does it all over again. So basically- The second thing I noticed is that if you threaten him, he thinks its a game.

*rips hair out*
This puppy is like... PSYCHOTIC! LOL! But the little darlin is still just a puppy so I know.... TT_TT
I've been killing his energy alot nowadays. I let him loose in the backyard and he runs laps around the place. Lol. Oh yeah oh yeah I'm rambling. Sorry.

So he figures that if I'm on the couch, and raise my feet up so he cant chew on me, he can just kind of bark like a mad dog and get me down. The only way to make him shush is to stay as still as a statue until he totally forgets that you're there and thinks that you're just some illusion or something.So anyways I put my hand down to make him SHUSH, and he just mouthes it gently. but while we're playing he goes- *TACKLE FROM ONE SIDE* *TACKLE FROM THE OTHER* *POP UP IN OWNER'S LAP AND BIT HER LIP SO TAHT SHE BLEEDS!* (that actually happened, I started bleeding. It was not enjoyable. :mad: ) And so on. So basically he only gets wild when I play with him.

He does sometimes snuggle up to me and chew on me, which in that case I yank my hand out, only to have his snout wander back towards my hand and have it in his mouth. Every two seconds I have to yank it out of my mouth. (I seriously have to consider getting millions of chew toys that are cheap and fit in your pocket without discomfort.) The frustration just makes me forget all of everyone's lecturing about getting a toy and replacing my hand with it.

Um... Basically thats it. If I remember anythign else that can be helpful I'll post it, but for now I'm writing everythign that I noticed about this little fluffball. ^^
 

bubbatd

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#2
Wow !!! I'm glad I raised Goldens !! Whats with these small breeds !? What's wrong with the owners ?!
 

Julie

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#3
If I remember correctly this particular pup was brought home very early. The pup probably didn't learn bite inhibition from its mother and littermates.

I won't comment on what I think is happening because everything seems too chaotic already.:)
 

laneyandme

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#4
we had a big biting problem with our puppy too. she's a dausch/austrialian shephard mix. we were seriously thinking of giving her back to the person we got her from. it was just to much. and we tried EVERYTHING. nothing worked, UNTIL i started yelping AND walking away. that worked. when i yelped and stayed with her she lunged (poor wounded animal-easy kill! ahhhh!)
so i don't know what you could do.it might just take some time.
you might try letting her cry. let me know what happens.
take care
ps. my puppy just nailed me again! ahhh! ;)
 

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