Help! My 4months old yorkie won't stop bitting

[Laleh]

Hi
I have a beautiful 4 months old female Yorkshire Terrier.
She loves kissing and licking her mummy BUT she enjoys bitting and nipping me too. When I say stop/ off she sometimes listens but after a second she starts again. I think she's playing but I need to stop her.any advice on how to stop her?

[Teresamag]

Puppies play with each other by nipping and biting - putting things in their mouths is how puppies learn. It's your job to teach her that biting you is not acceptable. When she does this tell her no and give her a chance to stop. If she continues to put her teeth on you (in any way) you can do one of two things. #1 get up and leave - turn your back on her & totally ignore her or put her in the crate if you can do it within 15 seconds (any longer and she will forget why you are putting her there). Puppies hate being ignored - you took her fun away but she will learn if she puts her teeth on you the playtime is over. The #2 thing you could try is to always have a chew toy at hand and when she nibbles on you immediately tell her no and then hand her the chew toy. If she takes the chew toy tell her "good girl". She will start to understand that she can not chew on you - if she wants to chew she has to use something appropriate.
Good luck
Teresa

[kjcmsw]

Originally Posted by Teresamag

Puppies play with each other by nipping and biting - putting things in their mouths is how puppies learn. It's your job to teach her that biting you is not acceptable. When she does this tell her no and give her a chance to stop. If she continues to put her teeth on you (in any way) you can do one of two things. #1 get up and leave - turn your back on her & totally ignore her or put her in the crate if you can do it within 15 seconds (any longer and she will forget why you are putting her there). Puppies hate being ignored - you took her fun away but she will learn if she puts her teeth on you the playtime is over. The #2 thing you could try is to always have a chew toy at hand and when she nibbles on you immediately tell her no and then hand her the chew toy. If she takes the chew toy tell her "good girl". She will start to understand that she can not chew on you - if she wants to chew she has to use something appropriate.
Good luck
Teresa

both good advice, I found #2 worked good at our house

[Myleerose]

I am having the same problem with my 4 month old female yorkie. Sometimes, particularly at night, she seems a little aggressive. It seems like she loses control, growls and bites pretty hard. I have tried the above suggestions, but it's still occurring often. I'm scared she is going to be mean!

[Laleh]

Originally Posted by Myleerose

I am having the same problem with my 4 month old female yorkie. Sometimes, particularly at night, she seems a little aggressive. It seems like she loses control, growls and bites pretty hard. I have tried the above suggestions, but it's still occurring often. I'm scared she is going to be mean!

My Mercy does exactly the same as yours
she is like running around attacking her toys and making scary noises and all these happen night time.

Teresa thank you for the advice I have tried both of them but with leaving- her method as soon as I get up she nips my ankle so have to sometimes drag her or give her a water spray to let go. With the replacing toy method she doesn't accept the toy and ignor it.
I hope she doesn't delevop the I-am-dog-so-I-bite habit or turn into a mean dog

[KEEKIE J]

Thanks for the advice! My 5mon yorkie does the same thing, so i'll have to try these methods!

[yorkiegal2]

My Gracey May does the same thing and is 3 1/2 months. She can be so lovable and then turn around and be biting at your nose, ears, fingers, ankles and whatever else she can grab onto. My husband has tried putting his thumb on her tongue and forefinger under her chin and holding it for a couple seconds while saying "No". It has seemed to work at times as they do not like that. He read it online.

[Laleh]

Yes I have been advised in a puppy traing school to put my thumb on her mouth, I tried it once or twice and she doesn't like it but she is too fragile that I am afraid to hurt her.

[Yeiden]

I have the same problem. When Yeiden bites me, I make you cry and then begins to give kisses.

Sorry my English.

[Suze225]

Maybe Jett is weird, but he is almost 4 months old, and he has NEVER bitten at all!!! He will chew on his chewies, but has never even mouthed a person!! Maybe its because he was with his mom and litter mates for almost 14 weeks, not sure. Bella still likes to chew occasionally, but we taught her from a pretty young age what was appropriate to bite on and what wasn't. It just takes time and patience!!! (She still will do the 'sock attacks' though any chance she gets.) LOL

[Darlene68]

When Bailey was a puppy and going through the biting phase I would let out a high pitched yelp as loud as I could, he would stop biting immediately, I continued to do this until he finally got the message. When we play, even has an adult he still play bites, but it is always very gentle and it never hurts now.

[bad987]

My Yorkie used to do that to. You fix it by hitting them on thier mouth gently, i know you probaly dont want to do this but it works in about 3-6 days

[dawn27]

You just need to give them a little flick on the nose and say NO in stern but unthreatening manner. With all puppies, putting a stop to the unwanted behavior right away is the most important thing you will need to do.

I've had dogs my whole life and have great sucesss in training them with some proven training tips that I have on my site. Please feel free to take a look.... hope they help.

[FlDebra]

I don't like to use their kennel for punishment since they need to be put there at times when it has nothing to do with punishment and it could get very confusing to them. Especially if you are kennel training them for housebreaking -- that could be a real problem, if they start equating the kennel with punishment.

I do like redirection -- getting them something that is appropriate to chew and bite on. If they continue, I stop playing with them for a period of time. It does not have to be long -- 10 minutes is enough to get your point across to them. After that, they will have forgotten why you aren't playing with them. Some pups may do this no matter what, but many times it is the result of leaving their mom & siblings too soon as that is where they usually learn bite inhibition. If you think they did not learn well enough from their momma, you can act as a surrogate. I had to raise a litter of pups who lost their momma so I had to do this. I would gently pinch a little skin at the nape of their neck. Do NOT hurt them, (it is an attention getter not a physical punishment) and say sharply "No Bite." Do it EVERY time, consistency is a big thing with puppy training of any kind. Stop playing with them after that for a few minutes. They will get the idea that biting you, brings on a harsh word and no more playing. They will want interaction with you, so they will learn not to bite. Some chewing is okay and part of their normal play -- as long as they are not breaking the skin or hurting you, I would not mind it. That is just something puppies do. But they do need to learn the boundaries and not to bear down too hard.

[kjc]

Originally Posted by Laleh

Hi
I have a beautiful 4 months old female Yorkshire Terrier.
She loves kissing and licking her mummy BUT she enjoys bitting and nipping me too. When I say stop/ off she sometimes listens but after a second she starts again. I think she's playing but I need to stop her.any advice on how to stop her?

Young puppies may not know English, or whatever language one may be training them in. They do know dog. I had to 'growl' at my first pup, she just wasn't 'getting it'. As I hit the right tone of growl, she immediately stopped and quieted down. Then I said in English too, so she would learn what the words meant. They are like 'Kids gone wild' at times!