Play Biting

[happyhev]

Help! we have a 4 month old whippet pup. On the whole he is very good. However when he gets excited/playful, he has a tendency to bite. He does this particularly with my youngest daughter. The main strategy we've used is to stop playing with him if he gets over excited. Is he likely to get calmer as he gets older. He is better than he used to be, but it's still a worry.

 

[senga]

my wee pup does that sometimes but what i did was bought bahls rescue remedy and put a few drops on her tongue this calmed her down. -_- not on race days.lol. apart from that cant think of much else hope it helps you :thumbsup: good luck :luck: :luck:

 

[kim & Tilly]

My whippet Bean (4months) has been doing this and if remember so did my other whippet Tilly whos 13 months, but she has calmed down and doesnt do it anymore, cant remember when it stopped about 6 or 7 months i think.

Bean gets very excited and when she bites i say No and put her on the floor and ignore her, if she still jumps up biting i put her outside the room on her own....this usually works, If not she goes in her cage or outside....

They just get wound up like kids i guess, and need to take some time out

editted to say...give him lots of things to chew...it may be his teeth

 

[fallenangel]

Indys was terrabel at it at that age and every time she did it we did a high pitched screach and stoped playing and tottaly ignored her for 10 mins. it worked well and shes stoped pritty quck but I think its just a puppy thing that need traning like tolet traning

 

[Millie]

Think I have posted this before .........

But I hope it helps :thumbsup:

MOUTHING (puppy biting)

If you watch a litter of puppies playing, you will notice that they spend much of their time biting and grabbing each other with their mouths. This is normal puppy behavior. When you take a puppy from the litter and into your home, the puppy will play bite and mouth you. This is normal behavior, but needs to be modified so you and the puppy will be happy.

The first thing to teach your new puppy is that human flesh is much more sensitive than other puppies and that it really hurts us when they bite. This is called bite inhibition. A puppy has very sharp teeth and a weak jaw. This means that the puppy can cause you to be uncomfortable when mouthing or puppy biting you, but can not cause severe damage. An adult dog has duller teeth and a powerful jaw. This means that an adult dog can cause significant damage when biting. ANY DOG WILL BITE GIVEN THE RIGHT OR WRONG CIRCUMSTANCES ! If a small child falls on your adult dog and sticks a finger in the dog's eye, you should not be surprised if the dog bites. If you do a good job teaching your puppy bite inhibition, you should get a grab and release without damage. If you don't, you may get a hard bite with significant damage.

It is simple to teach a puppy bite inhibition. Every time the puppy touches you with its teeth, say "OUCH!" in a harsh tone of voice. This will probably not stop the puppy from mouthing, but over time should result in softer and gentler puppy biting.

The commands necessary to teach a puppy NOT to mouth, are easy and fun. Hold a small handful of the puppy's dry food, say "take it" in a sweet tone of voice, and give the puppy one piece of food. Then close the rest of the food in your hand and say "off" in that same sweet tone of voice. When the puppy has not touched your hand for 3 to 5 seconds, say "take it" and give the puppy one piece of food. We are teaching the puppy that "off" means not to touch. You should do this with the puppy before every meal for at least 5 minutes.

After a couple of weeks of the above training, here is how you are going to handle puppy biting or mouthing:

a. Unexpected mouthing (you don't know the puppy is going to mouth,

until you feel the puppy's teeth):

"OUCH!"

b. Expected mouthing (you see the puppy getting ready to mouth you):

You say "OFF" before the puppy can mouth you.

c. The puppy is mouthing you because of a desire to play. You have

to answer the question, "Do I have time to play with the puppy now ?"

If you do, then do "sit", "down", "stand" or other positive 'lure and

reward' training.

If the answer is "No, I don't have time for the puppy, right now." then you need to do a time out (crate, or otherwise confine the puppy, so the puppy can't continue to mouth you and get in trouble.

I believe, you will find the above much more humane than yelling at the puppy all of the time.

The above training methods have been modified from information from Dr. Ian Dunbar in his puppy training seminars and from his excellent video 'Sirius Puppy Training'.

 

[OEH]

That is really helpful Wendy- so clearly put, and lots of excellent ideas. Luckily we haven't had any problems with Esme biting, but I'll save it on my computer for the future. Thank you :cheers:

 

[happyhev]

thanks for all the tips, ~I'll give them A try ) )

 

[freefaller]

Try squirting him with a water pistol evertime he nips this worked for a fox terrier my parents had. Only if it happens there and then though not 20 mins later. You might want a holster for your gun to save you carrying it.

 

[masta]

Try squirting him with a water pistol evertime he nips this worked for a fox terrier my parents had. Only if it happens there and then though not 20 mins later. You might want a holster for your gun to save you carrying it.

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and a stetson

(w00t) :blink:

 

[sophie]

Try squirting him with a water pistol evertime he nips this worked for a fox terrier my parents had. Only if it happens there and then though not 20 mins later. You might want a holster for your gun to save you carrying it.

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and a stetson

(w00t) :blink:

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I've a 6 month puppy and an 11 year old daughter... Our puppy play bites too - rarely with me, often with her - but it has got a lot better over the past month. One thing she kept doing was RUNNING when he did it - which he took as a joke. It was hard to get her to stand still - but her finally mustering the courage to stand still, hand held firmly out - did work. Today we had younger kids round, and I noticed he was doing it again - especially to the little boy who ran and squealed...