puppy biting, help please!

[davidr22]

Hello,

I have a three month old girl rottie and she will not stop play biting, she gets in moods where she wants to play and starts biting, and her little teeth hurt. I have tried everything and im running out of ideas. We tried yelling like the mom would when hurt, we tried putting her on her back, we tried spraying her with a water bottle, and now were trying a coin jar, seems with everything she responds but then gets used to it and continues to bite. We are trying so hard to break her of this habit but are running out of ideas. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks,
Dave

[brunie's mom]

Read all of the stickies in the Puppy Development forum...and it will help you.
You need to redirct puppy...keep a toy or stuffed animal around and put it in puppies mouth when they want to bite. Teach puppy what it is allowed to bite and chew on, and praise, praise, praise. You may have to do this one hundred times per day, but it will eventually get better.

All the methods you are using usually just rile a puppy up...and get them more excited. You can also just ignore and walk away without any attention to the puppy...this also often get's them to stop.

Gina

[MarleysMama]

I agree with brunie's mom 100%. Also, I would start looking into training class for her to take when she finishes up getting her shots. They would be able to help you as well. Spraying her, holding her on her back, are all un-necessary. Rottie do SO much better with positive reinforcement... and a great training class could really show you the very best ways to communicate with your dog what is and isn't acceptable and make life a million times easier. lol

With Marley, we got a chilly bone for him, which worked wonders..as he was so busy licking the thing he forgot all about biting it! ahaha

We also did redirection.. the MOMENT he put his mouth on something he shouldnt have.. he got a sharp NO and then we literally STUFFED a toy in his mouth and then praised the mess outta him. LOL. Soon he learned that chewing on his toys is what he wants to do. Occasionally, I find myself still walking by him when he's playing with toy and praising him...lol

When training a dog, you have to be consistant 100% of the time. Dogs dont understand that they can sometimes do things, so every single time she mouths..be on top of the situation and she will very quikly learn she will not get away with it.

What age was your pup when you got her?

[davidr22]

Thank you both for the good wisdom, we did sign up for puppy training so we can all learn. We got our little girl a little over 8 weeks old. I think she was taking away from her mother to early which might be why she bites hard sometimes. I am going to try both methods you two gave me.

Thanks again!

[Jaboomba]

Hi Dave,

One word --- KONG!!!

Haha

When we raised our older girl (Shellie) she was perfect... No biting, No Chewing, 1 accident house, and stuff like that... On the other hand our younger girl (Sandie) was a terror as a young puppy. Her nickname was Shark and she would bite us none stop when we first got her. After a week of trying to stop her our vet suggested a Kong toy. Every time she opened her mouth to bite anything we replaced it with her Kong toy and did massive praising... After a week no more biting!!! Give it a try.

You have to not only be 100% consistent in your training, but when you have visitors they need to follow your training rules. My mother was really bad about letting the dog jump & bite... Her favorite thing to say was that she was just a puppy!!! Don't let that happen!!! If not your dog will take 2 steps back every time you have a visitor.

I hope this helps.

[davidr22]

Thank you for all your suggestions! We have been working on the redirection technique and praising her like crazy, and today when I let her out during lunch was the first time she processed what "no bite" meant. She immediately sat down and had her mouth open in the air - and I could tell she was thinking about how she was not to bite my hands. I gave her a treat for that and was sooo happy!!

We start Puppy Kindergarden on Wednesday and are on our way!

[moondog]

Originally Posted by davidr22

We tried yelling like the mom would when hurt, we tried putting her on her back, we tried spraying her with a water bottle, and now were trying a coin jar, seems with everything she responds but then gets used to it and continues to bite.

All of these things tell her what NOT to do, but none of them give her any direction towards what TO DO. Puppies bite.....they need to.....so interrupt her when she bites something she's not supposed to, and show her what she CAN bite. Do that a zillion times and she'll figure it out as you go along.

Those puppy teeth do hurt - my hands were sliced up like an abuse case when Chili was a little rascal! Now she dives for a toy when she gets a wild hair.