Biting
 

Hi! I'm new, and just got my baby last week. Holly is 10 weeks old, so she's teething, but it seems like she will bite anything and everything she can get her paws on, including doorways. My boyfriend and I have bought her several chew toys, and will give them to her when she starts to bite. She's starting to bite hands now too, so we are trying to nip this in the bud before it gets worse. When she starts biting my boyfriend he will scold her and leave the room for about a minute. She's daddy's girl so she does not like this at all! Sometimes he will also hold her mouth shut and scold her as well, but none of these methods are working. We have also bought the spray, Bitter Yuck to stop her from biting the edge of the bed and doorways. It works best mostly for the blankets. Have any of you experienced this as well? How long did it last for your little one? Thank you!

Holding her mouth shut will not work. She doesn't know what she's doing is wrong. Play with her and every time she bites lay her on her side flat on the floor say NO biting when you bring her up give her the chew toy to play with. You will have to repeat it as many times as you need too. Be patient. Poor baby is teething she can't help it but she will want to please you.

Thanks! I think part of the problem is she left her litter too early. Her owner wanted to get rid of her, so she wasn't able to learn socializing skills yet from her mom/siblings. I should have done my research, but if I didn't take her I know someone else was in line for her. I'm not even sure if the owner still had her other siblings left, because she only mentioned this one. I know it must be hard for her to be teething :-(

Teddy was a little piranha too. He would bite my arms with the grip of a pit bull. It was so bad I had a trainer come to the house to help me. Anyway her advice was when he starts to bite you or objects that are off limits, you redirect him with chew toys he can have - she suggested those rope toys but mine never liked it so we bought those flexible nylabones (they look like gummy bones). He would chomp away on that and that seemed to keep him off my arms, legs, toes, etc. I would just say "no bite" in a mean tone and give him the toys. His attention on the toys would last all of 1 second. You can also make a yelp noise, high pitch, but I never mastered that.

It takes a while, but they do stop eventually. Just be consistent.

I'd also sign her up for a puppy class. That helps them to learn some manners and get over their fears and socialize. Teddy had to attend twice, along with doggie daycare a couple of times to "get it"

I feel your pain!!

Rolling her on her side will NOT work either, try YIPPING like her litter mates would do if she hurt them , also EVERY time she tries to bite replace with a toy, she obviously is a chewer.. GET BULLYSTICKS, or Himilayan chews they are great for chewers... dont use rawhide....Bullysticks will also tire her out ... You have to make sure your boyfriend doesnt play fight with her and allow her to bite for fun too!! It cant be okay sometimes and not others...
Yipping like a puppy in a high tone really does work... also saying NO in a firm tone ~ you dont have to yell will work too.. she is bored if she is chewing.. give her an alternative to chew on.. teething hurts just like a baby.. Bullysticks are great , you can even put them in the freezer.. I used to wipe a tiny bit of peanut butter on them and freeze them she would chew on them for ever..

Great advise...doing the alpha roll only escalates the problem or makes them fear the person doing this...

I've noticed that my six month old Yorkie goes after my fingers when she's tired. What I do is walk away or offer her an alternative. I do NOT allow her to bite my fingers, but for some reason, she's not understanding this. She was chewing the Bully sticks but she's had stomach issues these past three weeks so we've put her on a very restricted diet. As I've said in a different post, Yorkies are certainly a different breed! Some days I feel like just giving up, but then she looks up at me...and I melt.

Thanks for all the suggestions. We bought her rawhide chews, but she doesn't seem all that interested in them, so I guess we'll get rid of them. I'll try the bullysticks, but we always give her a chew toy when she starts biting everything. Maybe it's a matter of finding the right chew toy? We're going to sign up for puppy training today, and get her in a socialization puppy class too at our vet. I guess it's only a matter of time!

If she is only 10 weeks, has she had all her shots yet? If not, is it a good idea to put her in a puppy class? Just wondering.

Good catch...No way should anyone be taking a 10 week old puppy to training classes...

We signed up for the classes at the end of March. She still needs a few shots, and there's no way she'll learn anything now.

Welcome to YT. :) Holly is such a pretty name for a little Christmas puppy. Don't worry about her being taken too soon from her littermates~really that is in the past and you need to work on now. You have been given good advice to distract her with a chew toy. She is just a baby and really does not know any better. It will all come with time. It isn't too early to work on basic things like sit. You will be amazed at how quickly she will catch on~and she will be the star of your puppy training class at the end of March. ;)

When she is biting inappropriately you need to distract her with a chew toy. If she is acting inappropriately you need to turn your back to her and ignore her. Another thing that you can try are the Himalayan Chews. They are very hard and will keep her busy for hours. Everyone on YT is just raving about them.

My Doodlebug was doing tricks at a very early age. My suggestion would be to use Cheerios for a treat. All you need to do is move the Cheerio from in front of her to above her head in a backward motion. She will sit. This will also help to distract her from her biting. There is a fine line between playing and over stimulating your puppy. Try to keep the rough play to a minimum. Good luck with your new little girl. She is just adorable :p

Thank you so much megansmomma! I do worry that she was taken away too soon, but I also know we love her so much and take good care of her. The cheerio trick is a very good suggestion, we'll definitely try it that way. I've read that yorkies are very good at tricks.

We do ignore her and stop play when she bites, and she hates it! She'll run in front of us and bark (the only time she actually ever barks). We bought her the bullysticks, and that seems to keep her the most busy.

If she barks and tries to get in front of you turn again. Just keep ignoring her and do NOT let her initiate play. You and your boyfriend should always be the ones that start the play with her. If she brings you toys ignore her. When you want to initiate the play that is when she should play. If she starts to bite ignore. Treat for good~ignore for bad. Never ever roll her over onto her back as a way to control her! This is not the way to teach her manner. It would be the same as smacking her with a newspaper to get her to obey you~its old school.

If you want to learn other really good ideas watch It's Me or the Dog. Love Victoria Stillwell! But if you are consistent NOW you will not need VS in your future ;)

BTW~I just love your name! :p

You know I have great respect for you but I am about to say..what??

The old standard was that no going anywhere until the pup had all its shots but I know you know that is to late for soical skills work. 100 peole , places ,things and dogs by 16 weeks for good mental health.
So a good clean puppy class after first possible second shots and a vet ok... covering my butt here and go.
I had and will continue to take pups out on first shots but it has to be the owners comfort and understaqnding that a lot must get done by 16 weeks not to have fear and aggression concerns come up later.

JL

I understand what you are saying...I was thinking more in line with Petco and I do get nervous because it is a lot of new pet owners and new instructors...and I am not sure just how clean they really are. You are the trainer so I bow to your experience...

Puppy classes, here in the States, will not take a dog before they have had all their shots; you have to have a written record before they will enroll you. There is no way a person could be sure a class was clean. It is certainly not too late to learn social skills, if you say this, people are going to give up, and think it's too late. This is one of the reasons that the YTCA recommends a breeder keep the puppy a minimum of 12 week because mother and littermates socialize the puppy.

The other thing to consider is teaching bite inhibition. The idea is to teach the dog how to have a soft mouth as opposed to biting hard.

When the dog bites while playing you pull your hand away, make a yelp sound, and get up and walk away. Then come back and resume playing. If the bite is soft simply pull your hand away and yelp, then resume playing. Ideally by 16 weeks the pup should be very soft and only mouth you. If you watch two puppies who know each other play you will see they actually very rarely bite each other.

If the pup bites hard get up and walk out of the room. Nobody like to lose their playmate, and this is how puppies react with their litter mates. It takes time and consistency, but it's fun when the dog can play with you with a soft mouth.

:thumbup::thumbup:

That sounds like great advice.

I would have to agree on petco unless it is a seprate room or area and I could pack pup in and out. But anything sometimes is better then nothing.

JL

I am not sure where you got your education on dog develpoment but it is a fact that the develpomental window for soical skills and learning about things and not having fear issues at the best it can be closes at 16 weeks. You are behind the game after that. Yes you can work through it unti lthey are 3 years of age by why on earth would you want to go through the tough fight to do it if you can make it good to start.

Developmental Stages

Think that you need to look at the work done by Fuller and Scott which was done in the 40s and has not changed and is accepted across the board as it was that deep and long of a study. It in all these years has not been disproved.

As to your comment on pups under 4 months not being allowed to go to class in the states

I got this For Aloffs site ONLY PUPPIES 4 MONTHS OR YOUNGER AS OF THE FIRST CLASS DATE
From Ian Dunbars site Pups must be between 10 and 18 weeks of age at the start date of class with 2 DHLPP vaccinations
Both are USA trainers, I can sneak pups in younger up here cause they know me and they know the breed I work with needs extreme soical skills. I have had one in class at the ripe young age of 8 weeks and she one stinkking amazing calm and well ajusted mellow sweet heart and her breed is not know for calm, sweet or easy.

As for 12 weeks and pups going home why do you think so many yorkies have mental health concerns..you got 2 weeks to get 100 places, people, things and sounds covered. It is not possible. One reason although I love Yorkeis heart body and soul there will not be a pup unless it comes home at 8 weeks or it is a rescue and I know I am working clean up. Unless I know the breeder has done or will do what we do for our pups.

JL

Sorry you have 4 weeks to cover 100 people, places, sounds and dogs.
Soical skills is not what the litter mates and mothers can teach that should be done at around 8 to 10 weeks. It is getting out in the world and facing what they will see for the rest of thier lives and learning to cope with it.

It not just being ok with your Mother and litter mates it is being ok with big dogs, little dogs, long tail dogs, short tail dogs, white dogs, black dogs, dogs with hair over thier face and smoe without. And unless a breeders got that in their reach to have a pup see all them and more there is no way they can cover it.

You add in needing to see people of all differnt shapes sizes colours, hats no hats and on and on.

Then you add seeing cars and trucks and motercycles, boats tress and on and on.

Up next to kids and cats and horses.

There is no way a breeder can do it all if they have a large litter and life outside raising pups.

As I spent a great deal of my time in life doing clean up with dogs that have not been well soicalzed and get them to thier CGNs or even to feel ok in their skins.

JL

Sorry, I may be missing some of your points, but you cannot get a dog in puppy classes, until they've had all their shots, and you have to show proof of this. I took Joey to a puppy class, and even though he was older than most of the dogs, he was so much smaller. They switched us to an adult class, because an enthusiastic/clumsy large puppy can really be dangerous to a yorkie puppy. He did much better with the older dogs who weren't trampling him. While I believe that their mental/social health is important, I believe that their physical health is even more important. One breeder suggested, on another thread of socializing in the home of families who had other yorkies, and who you knew had their shots. As she said, if you buy from a reputable breeder, who knows the importance of early socialization, the dog should have experienced many things safely before you even have taken it home.

Nancy

Yet again you are wrong. You can take pups to class on their second set of
2 DHLPP vaccinations.
You may want to look into what is actually recomend by professionals in the field in Behaviour.

JL

I was told to do this and it worked on my oldest baby and I know she doesn't fear me. But I'm glad I have more input/info so I won't do it to my younger one. Shees, I wonder what else I have done wrong; actually I think I can come up with a few :rolleyes:.

Actually PetSmart said we can bring her to class as long as she has had her second set of vaccines, which she has already had. She will be 12 weeks on monday, and they said we can bring her to the training class that starts on Sunday if we have her vaccine records-which we do- and she is getting her third set at the vet on Wed.