Dog Bitting

Dillonb3

Hi all looking for a bit of advice here. I recently got a new pup, only 20 weeks old, and he's recently developed an annoying habit of bitting everything including people clothes etc. Is there any way to stop him or is this a phase he's going through. I've tried ignoring him but his bitting is getting worse

SuperInfinity

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Hi all looking for a bit of advice here. I recently got a new pup, only 20 weeks old, and he's recently developed an annoying habit of bitting everything including people clothes etc. Is there any way to stop him or is this a phase he's going through. I've tried ignoring him but his bitting is getting worse

I would try and discourage it, but don't be too mean about it. I used to like having a dog that I know would attack strangers if they came into the home without me there, and even that I myself would be afraid to piss off too much.

Some people in such a situation beat their dogs to make them extremely terrorized by them for the rest of their lives, I think that's disgusting and wrong. I don't believe anyone should take the "above" or "master" position to their dog, for me a dog and its companion should be for the main part as equals.

Lyra Fangs

For most dogs it is just a phase, puppies generally are mad to bite everything around them usually because they're playing or they're teething. The best thing you can do is tip him on the nose when he does it to teach him that's it's not acceptable and maybe get him a small chew toy that he can work his teeth on instead.

IvySlayer

Give out to him when he does it! He needs a word that he knows that he's doing something bold! A firm No! and then pull him away from whatever he's biting.

If he bites skin, say No! and stop playing with him. Act like he hurt you. Maybe a little yelp. All pups go through this stage.

If he's chewing furniture during the night, you can get these sprays. Anything sprayed then has a very bitter taste which dogs hate!

Zapperzy

Do not tap him on the nose. When he starts biting you stop playing with him immediately and remove him from the room for a few minutes, being removed from his family is punishment enough without hitting/tapping him with anything. He could be teething so give him something that he is allowed to chew, roll up and knot a wet tea towel and freeze it, it will provide him with hours of happy chewing. Nylabones are good for chewers too.

Tootle

What we were thought at the dog obedience is that this is a phase the dog needs to go through to learn pressure (thats not the correct word). But basically its a part of their development to learn how to be tactile with their mouth. We were told up to 6 months of age, to encourage them to bite at your hands and if they bite too hard, yelp or shout 'no no no no' while you put them out of the room. Give them 20 secs (any longer and they'll forget why they are there). Repeat the same thing, let them play bite and if too hard 'no no no no' and put them out at the same time. Keep repeating and they'll soon learn that too much pressure = out of the room.
After 6 months no biting is acceptable, so if they bite at all shout/yelp and put either them (or if you cant catch them like my guy) then leave the room yourself for 20 secs and repeat until they work it out.
The trainer told us we'd have to be able to hit the pup really hard if we were going down the physical punishment route, for them to take any notice and she doubted any of us would want to do that to our pups. So the punishment is they have to leave the room. Guess its like the naughty step with kids.

Dillonb3

Just an update I tried hitting him on the nose but all it seems to have done is spur him on and he's starting to bite harder and its a bit hard to ignore him when he's bitting my arm/leg. Another problem is we keep him outside so I can't remove him unless I go back inside

SuperInfinity

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Just an update I tried hitting him on the nose but all it seems to have done is spur him on and he's starting to bite harder and its a bit hard to ignore him when he's bitting my arm/leg. Another problem is we keep him outside so I can't remove him unless I go back inside

Please don't hit your dog. Try to understand his behaviour and find some other way to deal with it. I admit when I was younger I had this idea of hitting a dog when he got out of line, just a small hit on the head. I always tried to doing it sparingly, but one day when he did something wrong and I went to hit him I saw hit crouch really low and close his eyes and I felt really guilty and sorry for him and I never did it again.

I don't know why he never liked me as much as my sister or my mother no matter how hard I tried for years after, but that could have been the reason for it. He liked me, but he always preferred my sister and especially my mom no matter how much time I spent with him. Once he attacked me when me and my mom were trying to put him in his house for the night, my mom called me out to help her and as soon as I went out (although it was night time) he attacked. He gave me scabs all over my back that lasted for weeks, but I never blamed him for that or showed anyone else the wounds. After all it was us that were trying to tie him down.

Other times he was such a lovely dog... I could put my fingers in his mouth even between his furthest back teeth and he would never bite them, he would even open up his mouth further just especially so as not to bite them (I was worried I might hit a bad tooth or something and then he might bite down hard!!!!). I think your relationship with your dog is a lot more meaningful when you're on an even keel with him. He can't fight back when you hit him.

Tootle

Dillonb3 wrote: »

Just an update I tried hitting him on the nose but all it seems to have done is spur him on and he's starting to bite harder and its a bit hard to ignore him when he's bitting my arm/leg. Another problem is we keep him outside so I can't remove him unless I go back inside

Hitting doesn't work unless you want to end up with an aggressive or nervous dog. So yelp and run inside. Count to 20 and then go outside again and repeat as necessary. I've a similar problem with my little fella in that I can't catch him to put him out so I leave.