puppy biting and barking

[Toffee's Mom]

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.

I did the same thing and it works to this day, three years later he still can't wait for me to leave to go to work, because he knows there will be liver treats to hunt, lol

 

[OntarioSheltie]

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!

This is more or less the technique that I used with my two. Depending on how bad it was, some times just ignoring the wrong behaviour and redirecting them to appropriate chew toys and praising them was enough. I found that often they just needed something to teethe on and would forget themselves.

 

[BarbV]

I did the same thing and it works to this day, three years later he still can't wait for me to leave to go to work, because he knows there will be liver treats to hunt, lol

I'm laughing out loud here, because this is Indy to a "T". Every morning he starts to circle around the dog treat jar, just waiting for me to leave so that he gets his treat. I have to laugh at him on those mornings when I don't leave at all! Too bad, Indy, no treat for you! Aw, Mom! Just go out for a little bit so I can have my cookie! Funny creatures!

All to say, that I dealt with the barking on leaving by them getting a treat when I leave the house. At the cottage, Indy will bark when I shut them in the sunroom if we are going boating, but he stops after about 30 seconds. I just don't give him any attention. I'm leaving, so just get over it.

Mouthing and biting is very typical. The advice that you've received so far is bang on. I had this problem until Bacca was 10 months old. It finally went away when I brought home Indy, and they mouthed each other instead. That being said, if you don't encourage it, it should go away on its own.

It's instinctive for Shelties to bite and mouth. At 3.5 years, Bacca suddenly decided that he wanted to start herding me again. Fortunately, he's trained enough now, that a sharp "ah-ah" shuts him down. But he does try sometimes still.