I can't do it
 

I have been trying to train my little girl for 3 weeks. I have gotten NOWHERE. I've taken advice from here with biting, using anti-chew spray on my hands, breaking eye contact and walking away, closing her mouth, tapping her on the nose, even biting back! And of course, then showing her what she can chew. She'll walk right past that and bite my hand. Barking is starting to be a problem. She knows it gets my attention, so she barks a few times until I look at her and she runs away. I know she wants to play but as soon as I get on the floor she bites me! I'm working on the word "toy" right now, since "sit" and "stay" just won't work for me yet. So everytime she plays with her toys, i say it and praise her and if I throw her toy and say "get the toy!" and she gets it I praise her and give her a treat. So then I do it again and she doesn't go after the toy, just sniffs around my hands and jumps on me looking for a treat! I don't expect her to get it right away, but I have trained 2 dogs before (not yorkies) and I expected at least SOME progress in 3 weeks! Layla is 3 months old. How long did it take you guys to make progress with training? Am I doing something wrong?

I watched a dog training video a few weeks ago that said: When they play bit say "OUCH!", stand up, and turn your back on them for 10 seconds. Don't look at them, fold your arms, and stand totally still. They'll wonder what's up. Then after the 10 seconds, turn back around again to play, smile and be really happy. Repeat, until your puppy gets it, that the fun will STOP if any teeth touch human skin. They suggested that if your puppy gets out of control and is just playing way too rough, put him/her in their crate for a little time out. I tried it with Zoe and she doesn't play bite anymore.... after just one day of doing this technique. GOOD LUCK!

A rolled up newspaper on her behind will also work wonders! It doesn't hurt just scares the beejesus out of them. I assure you the learning curve will be pretty quick!

I also believe in a firm hand on children as well. NOT ABUSE...this is out of love.

A poorly behaved dog is WORSE than a bad child!!!!

Cali was always biting our hands and nothing seemed to work. I would put her in her crate when she would get to wild, just for a few minutes to calm her down. With Cali the only thing that has worked is time. Once she hit 5 1/2 months she has gotten so much better. Doesn't bite at us, plays more with her toys and snuggles more. I know i was getting at my wits end with her, I have had 3 other yorkies and a pom and i honestly didn't remember them being so difficult. But she is 100% better now. So hang in there!

I would tell you to give her some time...she is only 3 months old and has ALOT of puppy still in her. Keep working with her and as she gets older she will start realizing what she is suppose to do. Be patient as yorkies tend to be very stubborn!!!

There are better ways to train a dog than this. :thumbdown

When she bites you yell ouch then turn your back on her and don't look at her at all for a few seconds. For other things you can try a water bottle. When she does something bad give her a little squirt. If that doesn't work you can put a few pennies in a soda can and shake it. Hope that helps. :)

Ditto. She's only three months old. She isn't biting you to be mean. It's something we all go through, but it passes. Striking your little yorkie is wrong. I'm sure you don't want your little yorkie to quiver in fear whenever you go near her. That approach will not only give you a little doggie that is fearful of you, but you will never have the wonderful bond and trust that you will need in the future to train her. Just remember that she is very, very young. I've been through it many times. Just do your best to discourage it. Pennies in a can will work, at least, for awhile. :D A spray bottle filled with water will help. Nose tapping works sometimes, but you have to be careful with that one, too.

puppy
 

Take a good look at her photo in your avatar. SHe is full of Yorkie attitude!!
They are self-willed and stubborn terriers..and sh eis very young. You are not going to see much co-operation for a few months. She is a baby..about all you can is be patient. Make her free play area smaller, so she can not bark and run. Work on one thing at a time right now.

Good luck

She is young , you just have to have patience!! She'll get it, some (most) yorkies take longer!!Good Luck

Double ditto I would spank my dog for pottying in the house and he started flinching. I didnt solve the pottying problem either. They respond to positve reinforcement.

Sorry Bottom Line, but YT does not accept hitting of an animal exceptable in any form. There are many positive ways to train an animal so it is a positive experience for the dog.

I was so sure she'd be easier to train! She came to me pee-pad trained at 10 weeks! She's only had a couple accidents, and I know that's the biggest problem most people have with their yorkies

Ditto big time.never ever ever hit!!!!


Joy

Lindsey,

This may sound brutal, but I have to ask you this. When you say "I can't do this", have you given up? If so, that's fine, contact the breeder and see if they will take her back. No need to prolong the agony if you've decided it's hopeless.

If you really want help with this, reread Princess Zoe's post. That's exactly how her biting should be handled if she's biting you hard enought that it hurts. If she's just mouthing you (lightly chewing on you), simply substitute a toy or some rawhide.

If she bites you everytime you get on the floor, DON'T GET ON THE FLOOR! There's no reason why you can't play with her while sitting in a chair.

I'm not surprised that yelling, tapping her on the nose, or biting her back :eek: didn't work. She acted aggressively, then you acted aggressively. She thought you were playing a fun game.

The way to stop this is to teach her that bite me = loss of attention. It will take MANY repetitions.

Hitting a Yorkie (even "out of love") is abuse. Period.

it took me a good 6 weeks to get bunjee to minimize his biting and even now at 16 weeks, bunjee still bites/chews my hands every so often, but he's getting more responsive to the "no bite" command and he chews a lot more lightly now. princesseszoe's advice is good. it works. it just takes time.

as for the barking. bunjee used to bark a lot for attention, especially at night. he'd much rather sleep with me than to sleep in his crate. i did a combination of ignoring him and use of a spray bottle. in the daytime, i'd just ignore him. in the evening, when he starts to bark excessively, i'd say "NO WHINING" in a firm, threatening voice and follow up with a spray, and then walk away. i did this since he was 9 weeks old and *just* started to see it working recently. nowadays, when he whines too much or barks for attention, i'll walk over and just say "NO WHINING" and he'll stop and stay quiet.

there's several commands i started to use with him when i got him at 8 weeks old and i'm just starting see the commands being followed without too much fussing in the last two weeks or so. patient and consistent training works and it feels great when it does work. my husband thinks it's really neat that bunjee's following commands and bunjee must be a genius, as if everything happened overnight. of course he doesn't see the hardwork of my constant and consistent training. :rolleyes:

so it'll happen you just need to give her more time and more patience.

I have definitely not given up on her! I love her way too much to let her leave me! I was just very frustrated yesterday. Actually, last night for the first time she played nicely!! I think she realized how I felt lol... She was jumping around at her rope toy i was wiggling in the air, and when she caught it we would both tug on it until she got it and chewed on it for a bit, then she would come to me and set it at her feet until I picked it up again! I was so proud! No hand biting except a couple times by accident when she was trying to get the toy, which of course was okay with me!

It seems very frustrating when you have a little one going thrrough that phase of biting and chewing all the time but they do outgrow that. I have a 11 month old and a 12 month old and went through it with both of them they dont do it anymore and havent for a while now.

Well I'm glad to hear I have something to look forward to! My other dogs were never this bad, so I'm not used to it, and my poor hands are definitly not used to it!

Yoshi would love to chew on hands and feet too when I first got him. He has only very recently started to not do it, and I have only seen him go after hands once in the past week when he got a little overexcited with a stranger. The thing that worked best with me is when we were playing or anything if he started chewing on my hands I would put him in a timeout in his crate for 30 seconds, then let him out. The if he did it again he'd go right back in for another minute w/ me sitting there ignoring him. By the 4th or 5th time of doing that and saying "no bite" as soon as he put his teeth on me, he seemed to get the idea a liiiiiiiiiittle better. It seems that time has had the greatest impact so far, and I hope it does for you too.

That's great. But when she does start biting you again (and she will, she's just a puppy), can you try to deal with it Princess Zoe's way?

How's the barking and chewing up things?

As for Barking.... that is very difficult to train. I read a yorkshire terrier book that recommended using a spray bottle filled with part water/ part vinegar. Yorkie noses are sensitive to the smell of vinegar and they don't like it. So it says to put a spray bottle on "mist" mode and mist it at them. Some other trainers recommend spraying them, but making sure they don't see where the spray is coming from. That way they associate the bark with the spray, and not YOU with the spray. I haven't had any success with this. They always see me and then I just laugh and it turns into a game. :) Like everyone else has said, patience is a wonderful thing. It will all come in time. In my opinion, the training is all part of the FUN! When they begin catching on to things that you have been struggling to teach them, you will be SO proud, and I think that's where alot of deep bonding comes from, with you and your dog. The old saying "you love what you sacrifice for". I think that the more you go through together, the more bonded you'll be in the end. So try to have FUN with your pup and not worry so much about "when" he/she will be trained. Just live each day knowing that some day, with consistency, it will happen, and try to be patient and have FUN together!!! :)

Yes, that's the way I've been dealing with it lately, but i think i'm going to start putting her in her crate as well when she continues to do it because I haven't tried that yet. The barking isn't too bad, she barks in the morning when I'm in the shower, or when i've been ignoring her a lot and she wants to play. She hasn't been chewing on things too much. Thankfully I've gotten her to stay away from electrical cords, and sometimes she chews on my desk but nothing else. Any no-bite spray doesn't deter her at all, she licks it. So I think I'm going to try a little hot sauce and hopefully she'll stop that too.

Yeah, putting them in the crate was part of Princess Zoe's advice, too.

As far as a chewing deterrent, someone on the board mentioned clear deodorant and it has been a God-send for us! It works extremely well. Wish I knew who to credit for that suggestion!

I have never heard that expression, but I think that it is sooo true! I realized this when my boys were babies: that by saving my husband from the aggravation of dealing with colic in the evenings and night-time feedings, that I was depriving him of a chance to feel closer/more invested in his sons.

I also have the theory that you love what you spend money on. When I spend time picking out clothes or toys for my sons, I feel closer to them. When I buy things for my puppy, I feel closer to him.

But, as far as barking, that can be tough one. I wonder, Lindsey, what you do when your pup barks. How do you react? That is, if you want more suggestions on how to deal with it. If not, just ignore my question...

[QUOTE=FirstYorkie]
I also have the theory that you love what you spend money on. When I spend time picking out clothes or toys for my sons, I feel closer to them. When I buy things for my puppy, I feel closer to him.QUOTE]

Spending Money on someone or something is definately a sacrifice, and goes right along with "you love what you sacrifice for". Whether you sacrifice your time, or energy, or money, or SLEEP (with a newborn, collicky or sick child..... or new PUPPY :) ), whatever.... you love it and value it, that much more!!! :) SO true

I'll take any suggestion that comes my way! I usually just say "NO" or "NO BARKING" in a stern voice and sometimes she stops. She understands it enough to stop doing other things like chewing things she shouldn't (but not my hands!) For example, as I'm typing this she picked up the corner of her pee pad and came ripping through the living room! I said NO and she immediately dropped it. But besides that I honestly don't know what to do. I was looking at things like the high-pitched noise thingy but I don't want her to be scared to bark at all. I just don't want her to bark everytime she wants attention!

Well I find that offensive on both a trainer of dogs level and as a Nanny of 22 years. Fear training and Bully boy behavior is still abuse and not OK.
I am sure you would not like someone intimidating you and scaring you to get you to do as they wanted. Never hit never unless in self defense.


Joy

Above does not makes sence anymore as what I was responding to was removed.

Joy

My little Zoe is almost 5 months old. She was quite a biter. Started as playful nibbles and became hard and painful. She'd also jump at our noses and try to bite. Fortunately firm no's, loud ouch's and abrupt loss of attention has finally gotten her out of it. Now she will mouth my hands, but not bite hard. Also, about the barking. When she just turned 4 months, she suddenly discovered her voice and barked at everything. She drove us all nuts the first couple of days. This just lasted a couple of weeks, and now she barks at strange dogs or sometimes when she's playing with her other dogs, and that's about all. Your baby may outgrow this as well.

Wishing you the best!!!!!!

Thanks, I hope she outgrows the barking! I've noticed now that when she barks and I look at her and say NO she wags her tail and barks more! If I ignore it for awhile and don't look at her, she'll go find a toy to play with!