Nothing seems to make this little guy stop, we try holding his nose, we try shaking a can of pennies, keys, tried putting him in his pen for a time out, yelling no, bad boy, nothing. He thinks its part of the game. Not really sure where to go from here. He bites ALL the time and I just dont want it to continue after he is out of his puppy stage. He's 14 weeks right now. So I know hes teething.. Just worried about it being a lifetime thing.
puppy biting and barking
- Thread starter Skrodlada
- Start date
So, I'm not sure if this works or not, but I read somewhere a technique for stopping overly mouthy puppies from biting.
Try putting butter on your hand, your children's hands, etc. and letting the puppy lick you. The butter heavily encourages licking, not biting. Reward and praise for the licking. I think the point was that the puppy learns that people should not be chewed on, and giving kisses is a better alternative.
Because your pup is teething, providing plenty of acceptable things for him to chew on is also a must. Try freezing some of his toys and giving them to him to help the pain of the teething.
Best of luck.
Try putting butter on your hand, your children's hands, etc. and letting the puppy lick you. The butter heavily encourages licking, not biting. Reward and praise for the licking. I think the point was that the puppy learns that people should not be chewed on, and giving kisses is a better alternative.
Because your pup is teething, providing plenty of acceptable things for him to chew on is also a must. Try freezing some of his toys and giving them to him to help the pain of the teething.
Best of luck.
romeosangiovese
Forums Enthusiast
Romeo mouthed ALOT and my hands had bruises while I figured out what worked best to train him to stop.
I took a 2 pronged approach to mouthing which I found worked.
1. When the pup mouths, say "ouch!" or whatever word you want, then get up and walk away. Don't make eye contact, go somewhere where the pup can't get to you. Sit on the couch and ignore the dog. Count to 10 then go back to the pup again and play. If the pup mouths you again, repeat! It's horribly tedious but I found it was necessary to return to the pup because they figure out what exactly it is that's making you go away alot faster. If you get up and go and never return, and only start play again hours later, the pup's going to have a hard time pin pointing why you walked away.
2. Praise when the pup is playing with appropriate toys. Because they are teething they WILL need to chew SOMETHING. But pups aren't born knowing that it's ok to chew on toys but not your hands. So, while you teach your pup not to chew on your hand (see 1 above), you have to tell the pup what is appropriate to chew. Hence, praise whenever you see the pup playing with a toy on its own.
Hope that helps!
I took a 2 pronged approach to mouthing which I found worked.
1. When the pup mouths, say "ouch!" or whatever word you want, then get up and walk away. Don't make eye contact, go somewhere where the pup can't get to you. Sit on the couch and ignore the dog. Count to 10 then go back to the pup again and play. If the pup mouths you again, repeat! It's horribly tedious but I found it was necessary to return to the pup because they figure out what exactly it is that's making you go away alot faster. If you get up and go and never return, and only start play again hours later, the pup's going to have a hard time pin pointing why you walked away.
2. Praise when the pup is playing with appropriate toys. Because they are teething they WILL need to chew SOMETHING. But pups aren't born knowing that it's ok to chew on toys but not your hands. So, while you teach your pup not to chew on your hand (see 1 above), you have to tell the pup what is appropriate to chew. Hence, praise whenever you see the pup playing with a toy on its own.
Hope that helps!
labgirl
Forums Sage
I would remove my hand and stop whatever I was doing with Merlin, either playing or fussing - he loves attention so that worked well. However if he was doing it during grooming I told him 'no' and carried on, else he would have learned he could get out of grooming by mouthing.
Chris
Premium Member
This is positively the best way to manage the problem. Biting must equal ignoring must equal no fun!
I think those are all awesome tips! Here are a few things that helped us with Kyara's mouthing and play barking.
1. To reinforce that we want him to not chew on your fingers:
One thing that helped a lot with Kyara's mouthing was a little exercise I would do using the clicker (if you don't have one just either say a YES to mark the behavior you like).
The exercise goes like this:
If he starts to mouth move down a step by leaving your hand in front of him for a shorter amount of time. Also when he mouth use the yelping or ouch sound you use when he bites on other occasions.
Do a few of these sessions each day for only a couple of minutes each time. Always end the session on a good note, if he bites, move down a step where he didn't bite and then stop the session maybe play a bit with him after with a toy or something to associate that after this exercise it's fun time!
2. To direct the mouthing to something else:
Whenever Kyara was chewing on something she wasn't supposed to we would say a firm NO (or a yelp if it was our hands) and then we would give her one of her chew toys and praise her if she started mouthing it.
This truly worked like a charm. Like romeosangiovese mentionned, puppies don't know what is Ok to chew on so you must teach them. I can now leave anything on the ground without worrying that she'll chew on it. She understands what toys are hers.
3. For the play barking (note: not for the barking on a walk, we are still working on that lol):
What worked for us was simply stop the playing and ignore the barking. At first it would take a little while for her to give up but slowly the barking started to disappear.
1. To reinforce that we want him to not chew on your fingers:
One thing that helped a lot with Kyara's mouthing was a little exercise I would do using the clicker (if you don't have one just either say a YES to mark the behavior you like).
The exercise goes like this:
When the puppy is calm, sit in front of him with plenty of treats and your clicker.
- Put you hand in front of his nose and as he looks at it click and give him a treat.
- At the beginning you click the simplest behavior (looking at your hand could be sufficient, then touching it with nose - basically anything except mouthing or biting) just to try to associate not biting your hand = puppy gets treat.
- And then you move on by letting your hand in front of him longer before clicking and treating.
If he starts to mouth move down a step by leaving your hand in front of him for a shorter amount of time. Also when he mouth use the yelping or ouch sound you use when he bites on other occasions.
Do a few of these sessions each day for only a couple of minutes each time. Always end the session on a good note, if he bites, move down a step where he didn't bite and then stop the session maybe play a bit with him after with a toy or something to associate that after this exercise it's fun time!
2. To direct the mouthing to something else:
Whenever Kyara was chewing on something she wasn't supposed to we would say a firm NO (or a yelp if it was our hands) and then we would give her one of her chew toys and praise her if she started mouthing it.
This truly worked like a charm. Like romeosangiovese mentionned, puppies don't know what is Ok to chew on so you must teach them. I can now leave anything on the ground without worrying that she'll chew on it. She understands what toys are hers.
3. For the play barking (note: not for the barking on a walk, we are still working on that lol):
What worked for us was simply stop the playing and ignore the barking. At first it would take a little while for her to give up but slowly the barking started to disappear.
Thanks guys! We found he only bites now when there is two of us in the room, which is weird its like hes showing off. So we are still working on that. His barking starts really late at night when we get off work... And with him being a puppy its so high pitched >.< Trying to get him to stop that has been a little harder.. I heard water works as well.
Is the barking when he is in a crate or when you play with him?
More information could be helpful.
What is the trigger? Does he start barking when you give him attention, or to play, or when he ears noises?
Also is he in a crate during the day?
This could be helpful to give more specific tips. Barking out of insecurity may not require the same techniques as barking out of play.
I truly don't recommend spraying the pup with water.
Not only might it make him insecure and not really understand what you want but you don't want to make bad associations with sprays because you might eventually want to use water sprays for when you will brush the dogs fur when he has a full coat (helps a bunch with the shedding).
In my opinion, reinforcing and encouraging the behavior you want (in this case silence) always works better with pups instead of punishing the behavior you do not want.
More information could be helpful.
What is the trigger? Does he start barking when you give him attention, or to play, or when he ears noises?
Also is he in a crate during the day?
This could be helpful to give more specific tips. Barking out of insecurity may not require the same techniques as barking out of play.
I truly don't recommend spraying the pup with water.
Not only might it make him insecure and not really understand what you want but you don't want to make bad associations with sprays because you might eventually want to use water sprays for when you will brush the dogs fur when he has a full coat (helps a bunch with the shedding).
In my opinion, reinforcing and encouraging the behavior you want (in this case silence) always works better with pups instead of punishing the behavior you do not want.
Toffee's Mom
Forums Sage
I completely agree, you are going to end up making your sensitive Sheltie puppy hand-shy with things like spraying or startling him...
http://drsophiayin.com/blog/entry/excessive-barking-why-some-dogs-bark-and-how-to-fix-it
Dr Sphia Yin recommends: "The simplest solution is to keep dogs inside if they bark only when they're out, and to increase their exercise if they're bored. Instead, many people reach for a behavioral band-aid such as citronella or an electronic anti-bark collar. Both can work wonders initially, but often the great response is short-lived."
I recommend a different training approach, especially the ignore one, which doesn't include a spray or physical correction.
Mind you Shelties are always a tad more verbal than average dogs, I tend to not hear it so much anymore, LOL
Caro
Moderator
If he is barking when you are leaving the house think about giving him something to keep him occupied - like a Kong. When I go out I give my dogs a treasure hunt (leave food around the house) so they are quite content when I leave and once they have finished their treasure hunt they settle down and have a nap.