Help..She won't stop biting me!

[jcxena]

I have read through a lot of the discussions on puppy biting and I have tried several of the suggestions. I have screamed OWW, said no bite, said no, tried the dominance down, and nothing seems to work. Xena is now 5 months old and it is getting worse. I have been forced to buy a zap collar. I have only had to zap her once and now I just use the tone and she will stop behaving badly. The collar seems to be the only thing that works...when it is on.
She never bites my boyfriend, but she always wants to bite on me. I am the one who feeds her, plays with her, takes her for walks, vet visits, etc., but she still insists on attacking me. When she wants affection she will come to me.

I think she does it because she wants to play and she acts the same way with my parents German Shepard. I guess she sees me as her playmate when she doesn't have her dog playmate.

Does anyone have any other suggestions? Besides this is she is a great companion with a lot of personality and I love her to death. It just doesn't make any sense to me.

Thanks for your help.

[Mojave's Mom]

Your 5 month old puppy should NOT be on an electric collar! She's teething, and this is all normal. Definetely does NOT warrant a shock!

You have to just be consistent in teaching her "no bite", redirecting her to a toy, and doing whatever you need to do to keep her teeth off of human skin. Keep a toy in your back pocket at all times. When you want to pet her, stuff the toy in her mouth and let her chew away. If she transitions onto your hands, tell her "no bite!" and hold her muzzle closed, GENTLY, for a second. Tell her good girl and redirect to a toy.

If you're consistent in your training, once those teeth are out and she's through the teething stage, the biting will stop. Also keep in mind that some puppies bite more, chew more, and are more persistant than others. Some will get through the teething stage faster than others. YOU have to be patient!

[moondog]

Your list of solutions include everything but the one thing that would have, and will, work........REDIRECTION. Puppies use their mouths to communicate and explore, just like little kids use their fingers.

If you don't want your puppy to chew on you, show her what she CAN chew on. When she goes after you, say "Ah! Ah!" and REDIRECT her to a toy she CAN go after! And PRAISE her for going after it! Putting a shock collar on a 5 month old puppy is completely uncalled for and unnecessary.

[Cane Corso21]

Originally Posted by jcxena

\
She never bites my boyfriend, but she always wants to bite on me. I am the one who feeds her, plays with her, takes her for walks, vet visits, etc., \

How did you play with her? Didn't you toy with your hands with her since she was a puppy? If you did, you must quit using your hands as a toy. If you did this, you taught her that your hands are fun toys. Now you are tired of her biting your hands. Next puppy you bring home, DO NOT play with your hands. Like poke her or play hit on her face or on her other side of the body. Have her learn how to play with a toy not your hands. Buy her toys and play with it. If she decided to stop playing with her toys and go after your hands, you put her in the crate right away. Let her calm down for a few mintues and let her out. When she gets so excited and started to use her mouth, she needs to be calm down. You must hold her down for a long time until she stops MOVING! No more moving, if she kepts moving, hold her down longer than usual.

Don't give up doing this, you have to remind her everyday that she is not allowed to play bite with your hands ANYMORE. It means, you can not play with your hands with her either.

[jcxena]

I have and still do try to redirect her, but she doesn't want the toys she wants to chew on me. I have bones, toys, everything a puppy would need to chew on and she does, but her favorite is my arm. It can't just be teething b/c she doesn't do it to anyone else. The collar is for small dogs way under her weight and I don't even shock her. After the first small shock she learned that when she heard that tone she better stop what she is doing.

I do appreciate your responses and I will keep trying to redirect and all of the other things b/c believe me I feel bad even when I have to yell at her, so the collar was a neccessity for right now even though I ate using it. I only use when she goes through one of her biting rampages and jumps at me and bites and rips my clothes.

Thank you for the advice.

[Mojave's Mom]

You should enlist the help of a trainer, ASAP. Your puppy should not be on that collar, period.

If she's not interested in her toys, you need to make her interested. Make the toys interesting. Play with her and engage her on them.

And I don't agree with Cane Corso on the holding her down and putting her in her crate for the biting. This is not going to help. You have to teach her what you want, not confuse her through the process.

[Cane Corso21]

Originally Posted by Mojave's Mom

You should enlist the help of a trainer, ASAP. Your puppy should not be on that collar, period.

If she's not interested in her toys, you need to make her interested. Make the toys interesting. Play with her and engage her on them.

And I don't agree with Cane Corso on the holding her down and putting her in her crate for the biting. This is not going to help. You have to teach her what you want, not confuse her through the process.

You may not agree with what I suggested, but 9 out of 10 I know that puppies who are mouthy would go after people's hands when they are excited or demand an attention. They hardly do this when they are calm.

[Cane Corso21]

Originally Posted by jcxena

I do appreciate your responses and I will keep trying to redirect and all of the other things b/c believe me I feel bad even when I have to yell at her, so the collar was a neccessity for right now even though I ate using it. I only use when she goes through one of her biting rampages and jumps at me and bites and rips my clothes.

Thank you for the advice.

No one likes to yell at their dogs, but sometimes that work or not. Many times I hardly yell at my dogs because they know when to stop when I want them to stop doing whatever. The only thing I need to do is stare at them and they will back off immediately. They know not to mess around because they know who is the pack leader. All dogs need is a pack leader in their house.

I am curoius have you done obedience/puppy class with him yet? What things have you taught him?

[Mojave's Mom]

Originally Posted by Cane Corso21

I know that puppies who are mouthy would go after people's hands when they are excited or demand an attention. They hardly do this when they are calm.

Agreed on the above.

However, I do not think that holding them down and putting them in their crate is going to TEACH them anything. Settling them down and teaching them what you want, patiently, will.

That said, to the OP, there is nothing wrong with putting the pup away when YOU need a break, but make sure you do so quietly...otherwise the puppy associates this as punishment.

[SWEETBREW]

The thing that worked great with me for Brew as saying ouch seemed to get him more riled up, was to turn away from him or shut a door between us for like 10 seconds. Then redirect play to a toy, this taught him that when he bit the play ended, but I always wen tback to play afterwards with appropriate toys, please take the e-collar off your pup.

[AngelBunny]

Get rid of the collar.

I see no mention of the most important thing you can do--and that is to take your puppy to class. You must sign yourself and your puppy up for obed classes. The trainer will train you how to train your puppy.

If you don't know where to find classes, call your local humane society and ask if they can make recommendations for a trainer with working dog experience who uses positive reinforcement. Go to the AKC's website and do a search on kennel clubs local to you. Call them up and find out when the next series of obed classes start. You could also contact your local Rottie rescue group--my group has a list of trainers on our site with whom people who've adopted dogs from us have worked and liked.

Start practicing NILIF.

And, up the level of physical exercise your puppy is getting.

Your puppy is directionless and has too much energy. Taking her to class, giving her a job to do, and physically exercising her will turn her into a new dog.

[jcxena]

Thank you for all of the great advice. I have gone through puppy training before with my German Shepard so I have been working on those things. She does great with the commands of come, sit, down, look, and walk. She is really a great puppy because she doesn't chew on any of my furniture so I am thankful for that.

Starting next month she will be able to attend doggie daycare which should help with her excess energy during the day and allow her to play with other dogs. Yesterday she met a new friend while we were out walking and they played for a little while. Then she was nice and calm all night.

I will continue to try the all of the things you have suggested and again thank you for the support.

[Mojave's Mom]

I wouldn't recommend doggie daycare...especially to someone with a Rottweiler. Your puppy is bound to learn more negatives than positives in such a place. Socialize her with other dogs under your supervision and get into a good puppy kindergarten class.

You should be exercising her yourself....not sending her off during the day to have a party, learn bad manners, and bring those home to you.

[llwaxan]

JC, PLEASE throw the shock collar away. It is not appropriate for use on a puppy. It is like shocking a crying baby, in other words, it is cruel.

I have 2 Rottie pups. Ella is 4 months and Satchmo is close to 6 months. I totally understand your frustration as Satchmo tore me up for awhile. He is very stubborn and didn't take to redirection etc.

BUT, I kept trying and one day he just stopped. He is a wonderful boy now.Your pup will stop too as long as your consistant with the redirection and training.

This is a phase she is going through and it will end. I also realized that this breed tends to be more of a challenge to redirect than other dogs I have had. But I love this breed because of the challenges and eventual great rewards of training and ownership. If you want an easy pup, get a Golden Retriever.

Xena will grow out of this and will develop into a eager to please companion based upon love and respect for your leadership and love---NOT based upon fear. Make the training fun and wear socks and long pants until her teething phase passes.

[Nyla's Mom]

There is a lot of great advice from everyone whose responded here. Don't give up on your little girl & definently get rid of that collar. They are in a testing you stage as well right now, seeing how much they can get away with and your right she most likely does see you as her playmate since you are the one whose around her the most. As long as you are consistent and repetitive with her it will stop. Nyla was like this with me as well, & let me tell you there were several days I was at my wits end. Try the leaving the room for 1 minute as suggested above, this will tell her that if she treats you this way, the playing is going to stop. Occassionally I still do this when Nyla starts to get a little too excited while playing. Also it sounds as though she may be an agressive chewer (ie. toys as you mentioned she's very good with your furniture, as is Nyla but when it came to her stuffed toys that was a different story.) What was a godsend was the BULLY STICK! You can buy these in any pet store and Nyla absolutely loves them and it helped with her wanting to bite at me. You can use this as a redirection method and it keeps their mouth busy for hours. Good Luck!