Mushu bites a lot

kevunre

When she's excited like whenever i come home, or family members do, she won't stop biting, she'll bite on their shoes, and whenever i try to play with her she playfully bites my trousers, how do i discourage this effectively?

Hinata23

Puppies bit... They'll grow out of it. I had to teach our Kai pup to give kisses on command so I can get him to stop bitting and lick me for a treat. That helped a bit. The screaming really high pitch (to scream them and let them know it hurts) just excited him and made him run around and come back and bite our legs like a freaking shark... Running away made it worse. lol Hang in there... it'll pass.

WrylyBrindle

Two puppy training tactics:

Go back out the door- jumping = I go away. OR I ignore you till 4 paws are on the floor- then I'll love you all up and I'll pet you in a happy soothing way, not a ramp you up kind of way.

and Soft toy- direct her to hold a stuffed toy in her mouth. This may mean that you slip a small dog toy in your pocket and stick it in her mouth when she goes to bite. I think carrying a toy is pacifying for many dogs naturally, as part of my dogs' greeting is to wag and get all excited when I come home, then look for their toys and come back to greet me again grunting and wagging. They do not want to GIVE me the toy (if I take it, they go find another one, and I have to explain this to guests because they think the dogs are ringing the toy to give to them) They just like to hold something soft in theit mouths and carry it around.

PoetikDragon

Yep, when my dogs get excited, they get toys. I am currently visiting Gojira (yaaaayyy!!) and she keeps showing me all of her wonderful plush toys and arching her back and wagging her whole body.

MapleTwinkie

Soft bones, toys, ice cubes. I found that once saigo had some ice cubes and his gums were numb, he stopped biting.

Dragonfly

@WrylyBrindle - I used the toy method with kiyo and it worked pretty well. Now when he tries to mouth me I tell him 'No' and he goes and finds a toy to play with. Same thing when he attempts to sneak a bite at the furniture, even though he knows he's not suppose to, he'll act all put off and then run for a toy and toss it around some. Goofy dog. But at first I'd keep toys handy and tell him' No' and substitute my arm/hand/leg/foot for a toy instead It just took patience and consistency.

@kevunre - Have you found anything that works for you and Mushu yet?

WrylyBrindle

I m happy to hear that! I found that with my puppies vs my husband and daughter, the best mantras were "Don't just tell the pup No, show them the YES as well" as in "No, dont bite me, YES bite this!" and "Catch them being good"- to notice when they are doing the right thing (ie. chewing their toy, not the remote) on their own and giving them some calm praise and interest for choosing ("chewsing?") to do the right thing you prefer. I still do this with Matsu- "oh, cool! That's a great bone! Good boy!" not so much praise that they stop doing it, just enough so they know you noticed!

PoetikDragon

Chewsing... *groan* XD

CrimsonO2

You're only jealous you didn't think of it first Claire! :P

Jesse

WrylyBrindle

^ truth!

NavyDog

Our kai pup was a very mouthy player too. When she would bite, we would "yelp" or say a "NO BITE" then immediately stop playing and turn away. she's very hard headed though (and it didnt help that shes used to playing rough with our other dog) so this took quite a while for her to get but I cant argue with the results. Now she doesnt even so much as mouth us when we play with her. if she is jumping and biting at people as they come in the best thing i can suggest is that when mushu jumps, your guest should turn away and ignore her. Put her in a sit & only allow guest to greet her once shes seated. Do that with any person who wants to meet her whether in your house or out on walks and she should pick up on it. Yucca goes crazy over meeting people and this really worked for her