Quote:
Originally Posted by cherry14  Oh, and she chews EVERYTHING…so maybe the teething is playing a part in the biting, too? |
Yes but at 14wks old she is a tad early on the teething business. But you are correct to want to nip this bad behaviour in the bud.
And it takes many many many repetitions to do so. Now have I repeated myself enough
And lots and lots of patience on your part.
My Yorkie never chewed my feet or my hands or anything, but my big working dog did or tried to all, and I mean all the time. So there are many many tricks and training tools, when it is a very real must, to teach a large dog not to nibble on the hand that will feed them.
alright one great "trick" beyond what you have heard from others. And do this when they are young like your dog is. This is the closed fist/finger treat giving. THis works wonderfully well with a food motivated dog.
You take a treat and first give to them after doing an obedience command sit/stay/come etc, like you would normally do. Then you place your closed fingers as any fist is too large for a Yorkie mouth into their mouth after your obedience command. If they nibble on your fingers, they don't get the treat. You say a firm no nonsense No, and remove your hand. If they have (which they usually will have broken the first command) you restate the command, and when they obey the command again offer the two finger enclosed treat to their mouth. If they nibble (which they will) remove your hand and say again a firm no Nonsense No. Then immediately release them from their command of sit/stay come. Let them play a bit. Again do a command, and they obey, offer them your closed fingers/fist. Repeat a maximum of 5 times in a row. If by the fourth repetition they are still mouthing on your finger, and you feel that the fifth time it will be more of the same, and they obey your obedience command, reward them by placing the treat on the floor and saying okay take it! or some other way of offering the treat, and close on a reward for this mini training session. In other words do NOT offer them your closed fist, but do reward for a good obedience response. WHy is this particular technique important? Okay you know young children go around with a candy or a bit of cookie that gets enclosed in their fists, they go up to pet the dog, and inadvertently or deliberately place their wee fist in the dogs mouth, you do NOT want a large breed to bite down on the fist. Instead you want a soft open mouth that does NOT chow down on a yummy smelly bit of food that is inadvertently put in their mouth. Ditto for seniors, and clueless other aged folks
It takes so much longer to type out than to explain in person.
But truly the key is to constantly until your head spins, repeat and repeat and repeat ad infinitum again.
Essentially you are training a combo of two things, gentle mouth, and no reward for nibbling.