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Originally Posted by daschmo  We adopted our male Yorkie, Torrey, at 9 weeks old. He is now 12 1/2 weeks of age and teething madly on his teething toys, our fingers, toes and pantlegs, area rugs, whatever is in his path. When we found him under the beds chewing the bottom and corners of the box springs and the bedskirts, we started closing the bedroom doors to further restrict his range. How long does teething last? How can we stop him from biting on us? He seems to do it "playfully" and no manner of correction works. Putting him in his crate for time out, a strong NO or OUCH or BAD DOG only makes him wag his tail, bark and nip at us even more. I swatted his nose a couple times and said BAD but he appeared unphased. I hated doing that but my frustration was off the charts. I want a well adjusted dog who isn't living in fear from constant correction and fear we may be doing all the wrong things to help Torrey through teething. Is he more aggressive than a teething puppy should be? How should we properly correct him? He's doing so much right--well, sort of--as we make small strides with potty training but the chewing and biting and aggression are frightening us, while it seems like all play time to Torrey. |
I don't want to scare you, and don't know if my experience was common, but Princess was very destructive from time to time until about 8-10 months. I also got her at 9 weeks which is the time her mom starts to teach bite inhibition so we really have to do it. My vet suggested putting her down and/or standing up after either saying "no" or "owe" and ignoring her 100% for a minute or two. That really helped for her and rather quickly. I think a nose tap or yelling, though I know it's frustrating doesn't get the message we want across.
As for chewing everything else I completely puppy proofed the house & she still chewed coffee tables, venetian blinds, cords, carpet, whatever I couldn't remove until the 8-10 mo. mark. I think the only thing you can do is give chew toys, exercise, playtime & be vigilant Contain them whenever you can't be. I never had an ex-pen until recently and I can see it would've been a great investment for when I couldn't be around.
Good luck!
It takes time but the payoff is well worth it.