She Wont Stop Biting!!

[gracielove]

A Yokrie pup thinks of biting as play. They were bred to kill rodents. They still maintain that instinct. Never try to play with your puppy by using only your hand. Much like a cat the movement of your hand means play to them. Don't play tug or any game that incites the play instinct if your puppy is an avid biter. Keep the pup calm. Give it lots of exercise to help get rid of that excess play energy. When the pup is old enough start teaching it things like sit, stay, come. Obedience lessons help the pup to realize you are in charge. Teaching the pup to play fetch will also help to run off some excess energy. Always redirect the pup's attention when it tries to bite or go for your hand. Replace your hand with a toy. Bully sticks or other healthy chew toys help the pup to get rid of some of that mouth energy.

Pups that are taken from the mom and litter mates too soon often never learn how to play without hurting others. The social structure of the littler helps the pup to learn boundaries. However, with a terrier we have the added genetic predisposition to bite and shake things. When a terrier grabs a rodent they bite hard and shake the life out of it. When your pup latches onto your hand it also wants to shake it. So when you try to move your hand away that causes the pup to bite harder. It's an inborn instinct for them. They are babies and do not understand their play is hurting you. The best solution is to let your hand go limp. This way the pup is less likely to biter harder or continue to bite. Use your other hand to remove the pup's mouth from your body part. This takes the fun of the game out of it and you are less likely to incur further damage. If you try to pull your hand away it just incites the pup to continue the game.

Gracie was a terror of a terrier as a puppy. She wanted to bite and boss everything in sight. Well, she is still quite bossy but she only fights her toys now. She knows her teeth hurt people and she knows only to bite her toys and chew sticks.(she growls at and shakes the daylights out of her toys) It took time and consistent training but she turned out to be a great little girl.... although she had me worried at first.

[chloekorryn22]

I understand that my baby girl Rue is only 4 months, however, she is hurting terribly, and I have tried to get her toys that is made for teething dogs and she still only wants to chew on me!

[dawn27]

There should be no type of play that involves biting or wrestling with them. That just reinforces the biting. Make sure they have lots of toys to chew on. Hard ones, soft ones, squeaky ones. Ones that take their attention off of your toes and onto the toys. Try Kong toys filled with frozen peanut butter, ice or a doggy biscuit. They will keep your pup busy for a while and redirect them to something other than you.

When they are biting, you need to give quick, to the point corrections the moment that it happens and every time it happens. (Name & No Bite) or (Ahh Ahh & NO) If it continues a time out for a short time will work. Just be sure to give them something to chew on while they are in their cage.

Everyone in the house must follow the same method of correction and discipline. Including the children. If the biting gets too out of hand and the toys and the time out its working. Try the squirt bottle and if that fails. I have found that if you wrap your fingers around their mussel and say Ahh ahh / No bite works. Sometimes I would even flick their nose (gently) with my finger while saying it just to let them know that I mean business and it will not be tolerated any more.

[yorkietalkjilly]

I haven't read through the whole thread so I don't know if this has been suggested before and if it has, I apologize.

I do rough play with dogs - especially terriers - and they love it. But I teach them boundaries for what is allowed during that play and they are smart and learn how to rough-play. One of the quickest ways to get a message through to a nipping, play-biting dog is to get up and walk away from them the moment you feel a hard bite. In time, they learn exactly what it is that caused all play to stop - a hard bite. Young dogs would rather play than eat so removing yourself and your attention from them is a huge statement from you that hard bite = stopping all play. I know it is tiresome to keep doing this but in time the puppy "gets it" and starts to connect a hard bite with your stopping all play. Amazing how fast - within weeks to a month - even a young puppy can learn to get a soft mouth. But remember, to keep teaching - dogs forget and revert to their old ways if you don't keep up the teaching until they have committed the lesson to their permanent memory. And still, because they are dogs, one will occasionally playfully hard-bite as an adult during rough play or very exciting play. Just say "no", stand up and walk off. Always remain a teacher with your dog.

Redirecting them with other toys, saying "uh oh" or "no", pushing your hand or arm further back into their mouth than is comfortable for them and takes control from them, squealing out in pain are all effective, too, with some dogs. Other dogs get excited by the squealing and bite harder - I had one of those! Tibbe loved the squeal. I personally don't recommend squirting them with water or scents, etc., as it can cause some nervous dogs to become fearful of you and/or sprayed things or water but works for others.

By the length of this thread, it looks like you've gotten loads of good advice so use what works for you and your dog and change it up as necessary. Eventually all obedient dogs do get soft-mouthed and only those with no clear teaching in this area or perhaps with an owner who isn't a strong authority figure to them will keep up hard-biting as an adult.

[Catherine M]

Thank you for the information, Yorkies are truly a special breed. I have actually been
told by a dog trainer to, not to make quick movements while Bella is sleeping along
side me but to talk to her so she doesn't get startled by a quick movement. She still
bites when I pick her up most of the time, but we are working on that. Yorkie talk
is a great source of information, Thank You all for your postings.

[gracielove]

I found that bully sticks really helped us with Gracie when she was going through her terrible terrier puppy days. They have such an inborn desire to bite and the bully sticks helped her to wear off some of that mouth energy. Lots of exercise helped, too.Teaching her to play fetch used up energy in play that did not involve biting my hand. These dogs have tons of energy that needs to be run off a couple of times a day at least. A tired puppy does not bite....usually.

I did have to keep her calm as a puppy. At least we never played tug or anything with our hands. Moving a hand in front of a young terrier is asking for trouble. you

Once Gracie learned her boundries we were able to do things we could not even attempt when she was "Jaws." Terriers just have that genetic instinct to bite and shake so keep your hands from being the victim of a play rodent attack. I think Yorkies should come with a written terrier warning. They have brains programed to bite and shake.

Now that Gracie is an adult she will sometimes bring one of her stuffed toys to me and I then have to shake the toy so she can attack it and have some sparing practice. After a couple of minutes she will take the toy in her mouth and shake it so hard I can't believe her neck can tolerate such force. She will spend a little while "killing" the toy with scary sounding growling going on the whole time. It's kind of funny to see a little 5 pound dog acting so violent. After she is done she goes back to being her sweet little self. She just has those terrier urges that have to be let out now and then I guess.

Just remember you don't have an ordinary dog. You have a rodent killer.

[Catherine M]

Thank you for the information, Yorkie's are special. Bella is high strung.

[GrammyNina]

My girl is 9 weeks today and is vicious at times, I call her the demon dog when she acts nuts. It isnt my hands as much as my feet that she is bitting all the time, you have to keep your feet up or she will not stop. I have tried almost everything mentioned in this feed and can only hope and pray that she grows out of some of it. It is just me and my husband at home, it was so bad last night that I felt myself get aggravated so I put her in her pen and she was fine and fell asleep. I just dont know what to do ???

[kjc]

For young pups, growling like a Momma dog may work. They don't understand English yet, lol, but they all understand Momma!

[kim watson]

My Dakota is 3 months old and she bites me every where.if I'm sitting on the floor she jumps in my lap and jumps up and bites my lips, breast, fingers and toes . it's to the point where she's breaking the skin.it hurts.i put her in her puppy playpen and just walk away from her until she gets the point.if she's on the bed I put her on the floor and ignore her . it seems to work.

[LunarBerry]

ugh, I'm glad my girl so far is hardly biting hard (I let her gnaw on me a tad ^^;; only cause I feel it comforts her..). Of course it helps to have a bunch of toys she can really chew on. When she had a few times bitten a bit hard, I'll make a sharp yelp sound and she pauses to look at me like... o_o
I also make hand gestures (like a mouth gently or barely biting back) at her while she's trying to bit me. I also go slow, gentle and easy when handling her so as to not get her too excitable. So far I'm very lucky that she's taken the hint. But that could change at anytime ^^;;

[Lookingforone]

Bitter apple spray!

[dawn27]

Originally Posted by LunarBerry

ugh, I'm glad my girl so far is hardly biting hard (I let her gnaw on me a tad ^^;; only cause I feel it comforts her..). Of course it helps to have a bunch of toys she can really chew on. When she had a few times bitten a bit hard, I'll make a sharp yelp sound and she pauses to look at me like... o_o
I also make hand gestures (like a mouth gently or barely biting back) at her while she's trying to bit me. I also go slow, gentle and easy when handling her so as to not get her too excitable. So far I'm very lucky that she's taken the hint. But that could change at anytime ^^;;

I am no expert but I have been raising dogs for 12 years and before that as a young adult and child in my parents home and this is just something that is unheard of in the world of training. This to me is the worse thing that anyone could ever do. I fell that biting should never ever be allowed. By you allowing her to bite/gnaw on you, you are reinforcing the behavior and I fear that it is going to cause some major issues in the future.

[gracielove]

Originally Posted by dawn27

I am no expert but I have been raising dogs for 12 years and before that as a young adult and child in my parents home and this is just something that is unheard of in the world of training. This to me is the worse thing that anyone could ever do. I fell that biting should never ever be allowed. By you allowing her to bite/gnaw on you, you are reinforcing the behavior and I fear that it is going to cause some major issues in the future.

I agree. Dogs don't know the difference between a little bit and harder bites. If you give them permission to chew a little you will then have to retrain that dog not to do it when they start biting harder. Hands and other body parts should be off limits.

Get an all natural chew for the puppy to cut her teeth on. No body parts. Just never leave your pup unattended with a chew product.

[kjc]

Originally Posted by gracielove

I agree. Dogs don't know the difference between a little bit and harder bites. If you give them permission to chew a little you will then have to retrain that dog not to do it when they start biting harder. Hands and other body parts should be off limits.

Get an all natural chew for the puppy to cut her teeth on. No body parts. Just never leave your pup unattended with a chew product.

They can be taught the difference between a hard and a soft bite. Tink was a hard biter at age two when I first got her. I researched training methods and opted to teach her 'Bite Inhibition', as it was the better option for us. This article explains it:


Puppy Bite Inhibition | Teach puppy not to bite