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Originally Posted by Mistressfreeze  My little Xena is about 16 weeks old now, and though she's adorable and fearless she's starting to become a bad little puppy. I still love her but she has grown into that stage where she is chewing alot. Two weeks ago I came home and even though both Xena and my other puppy Trixie stays in two different rooms, they both began chewing holes in their puppy pee pads. I come in the room and it looks like it snowed. I am not sure how to get them to stop if I can't catch them in the act.
Besides that, I thought I had Xena under control where she would mouth without really applying pressure when she chewed on your hands but now she's starting to nip harder and when she gets too hyper it start to hurt. Telling her no bite isn't really working. I tried giving her toys, but sometimes she wants my hands no matter what, and I end up having to get up and step out the room. I've looked at tons of articles and sites on teaching puppies not to bite or progressively teaching them to reduce the pressure to nothing, but these methods don't seem to be working.
I have her gated in the kitchen to keep her potty trained, which she is, and in a safe place when i can't watch her. She chews on shoe strings when we are in the kitchen which is fine, once she's out of the puppy stage she'll grow out of it I've had relatives dogs do the same. But now she is starting to bite ankles which is becoming a problem. I tried the walking away method for both nipping and biting ankles but she just does it when I go back in. Yelping or yelling ouch only stuns her to look up at me before she goes back at it. Yelling 'No' doesn't seem to phase her. I even at last resort tried poping her nose but she reflexivly sort of snaps her mouth and then nips at my ankles and hands even harder like Im playing with her. Then yesterday she figured out if she gets a hold of my shoe or pants when I'm trying to leave then I can't go over the gate to leave the kitchen. She just sits and stares at me when I tell her to 'drop it'.
Either she does not comprehend fully what the word no means or she just doesn't want to listen. Either way I'm not sure what I can do or teach her to get her to stop and listen. Can anyone please shed some helpful advice or guide me in the right direction. |
I would suggest enrolling in a puppy kindergarten basic obedience class and start from there. Puppies are extremly eager to learn at this age and its a erfect time for mommy and daddy or other family members to get involoved and be "trained" as well.
16 weeks is is still a verrry young baby and this behavior is normal puppy behavior.
I would also NOT let her chew on shoelaces, as this just tells her its ok to chew on your things and she wont be able to understand why she can chew on those but not on puppy pads, they dont differentiate at this age
I forgot to add that there are no bad puppies, only bad (or untrained, lack of knowledge, etc) owners. when the puppy makes a mistake, it is usually our fault, not theirs. not saying you are a bad owner, just a general defenition