Biting problem
Just wondering if anyone has any new ideas to try and teach Yume to stop biting. We have tried yelping, ignoring here, bitter apple (she loves the flavor!!), but nothing is working. I know she is still a pup (4.5 months) but it is getting really bad. When she is excited to see me she grabs my wrist with her mouth but bites too hard or she bites my hand when I try to pet or take something away from her. I don't think she does it it be aggressive but today she drew blood three times today. I am really out of ideas on this. Again, I know she is teething ect., but there must be a way for me to teach her to stop this behaviour. Any outside the box ideas would be most appreciated.
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Anyway- biting. Matsu was very bitey at that age, too- his nickname was "Mighty Bitey"- though he did not draw blood ever. Really toning down the excitement level, and shoving a toy in his mouth to bite (bite THIS, not me!) helped (eventually). I also do a lot of mouth handling with my young dogs when they are calm, and I teach "gentle" and "kisses" and "take it" and "drop it" mouth control activities. I hold a chew for them to bite- my hand is there, but they chew the bully stick/nylabone, etc. I guess my school of thought is to embrace and direct the mouth, not shut it down.
The removal of your attention is good- if thats what you meanby ignoring. Stick with it!
I think we need to separate the behaviors of chewing and biting. Chewing on your hand because she's teething shoudl be directed onto an appropriate item, and sitting with her while she chews allows her to be with you and chewing- if you find that she wants to chew your hand , you give her a toy and she doesnt want it, try holding it for her.
Biting/mouthing when she is excited is different- she needs to learn acceptable ways to get your attention. Teahcing her fetch is good - use two balls so she has to drop one to get you to throw the other. Teach her to 'get the ball' and bring it to you. I can ask a dog that;s getting pushy and annoying to go find a toy, and send him off and he'll come back with something and press it on me, instead of trying to mouth my arm/hand. With this habit established she may learn to get your attention by pushing a toy on you instead.
Play TUG- say Hey, you! Wanna play? Bite this! I use fur tugs that only come out for tug- they arent in the toy box. The dog cant resist the fur tugs, and they are thrilled that you want them to play a Biting game. Its giving them a YES!
maybe some of this will help! The good news is that it doesnt go away like switch - it goes away gradually, but it does reduce and then stop as she gets older. Just stick with the plan, educate, direct the biting- she has to bite something, so give her THiS/Not THAT, and she'll get it.
This link helped incredibly well with Kaylee. we still have issues sometimes when she goes what we call "puppy crazy" and runs around the couch, jumping on and off and into the rooms. then her mouth can get out of control, but at those times a ferm 'UGH-UH' will usually work (also I'll put a toy or nylabone in her mouth if its real bad).
anyway, hope it gets better and that this method helps at least : )
Of course, we also do tons of redirecting to toys, and often give her a toy to chew on while we pet her. And a long walk is the best way to drain all that energy.
There are lots of good advices here, and I will probably repeat, but I'll give my 2 cents anyway.
When you first come home, don't enter with lots of excitement. Enter the house like it's no big deal, quietly, don't look at her, don't give her any attention. After you settle down, and have ignored her for maybe 5 minutes, you can approach her, again with low key attitude and greet her. As soon as her mouth touches your hand, you should remove your hand and turn your entire body away from her. It's like an indicator that as soon as she does that, she doesn't get what she wants. It'll take time and require patience.
You can also train Yume, to "go get something" as soon as you come in, and direct her mouth to a toy and play tug of war and stuff.
When it was really bad, we fed him ice cubes and he would stop biting us. It was the nipping that hurt the most. He would nip my legs and my bum!
Ice cubes froze up his gums and no biting!
Then for his bite inhibition, whenever he'd bite, we'd say "ouch" really loud and give a look of disapproval, stop playing and walk into the other room and ignore him. Soon he figured out that when he bites, playing stops. It took him a few days to figure that out and now he only mouths with the slightest of pressure
Luckily Meitou isn't as bitey as Yume seems to be. The things other have described above usually work pretty well for him and he stops fairly easily with just an "ouch!". He does bite pretty hard when he gets really excited/has to be restrained (hasn't drawn blood yet in either case), so that's still a work in progress. Having a pig nose and some tendons on hand to cram into his face when he gets bitey works. Timeouts have worked pretty well, too.
The ice cubes are a good idea. Meitou loves to play with ice.
@whobitme Yume was born in the middle of January. She is slowly shedding but hasn't "blown her coat" yet. I am guessing that is due to the colder temperatures here. She is a beautiful dog, but she is very stubborn. I have also noticed over the past few weeks that her nose has really kicked in and now she goes crazy when she can smell rabbits and squirrels. Last night on our walk we must have ran into 3 or 4 rabbits who got really close and Yume just goes nuts. She lets out a whine that seems to be saying "PLEASE let me go and kill that!" The other morning while Kazuko was walking her off leash at the park she took after a few deer, but returned about 5 minutes later.
Hmn, as for the biting thing, maybe teach her to lick instead? Seems like I'd heard of people putting a little peanut butter or something on their hands and teaching a licking behavior versus the biting. Something like that. Meitou loves to lick, it's crazy (said the person who owns a border collie who has always refused to give licks or kisses).