a lover and a bitter

[evil_soma]

Im trying to train my yorkie that biting toys is ok but biting people is a no-no, but it doesnt seem to be working. Sometimes even when im walking he'll suddenly attack my foot or my pants, i mean i know he's playing but he has those razor sharp puppy teeth and it can really hurt sometimes, ill be sitting on the couch and he'll bite my hand. I've been trying to teach him to not do that but he just keeps on biting, any one have any suggestions about how to maybe get him to stop?

[Rae Rae]

Don't play tug-of-war style games with him. That encourages them to bite. When he bites you grab his mouth and tell him NO in a stearn voice.

[evil_soma]

no tug-a-war?? awwww he loves that, but your probably right about it encouraging him to bite, ill stop playing that game for a while. but sometimes when i say no he like...takes it as a challenge and goes for another bite. he's a really sweet puppy but once he gets into that biting mood its hard to snap him out of it.

[mylittletink]

When I took Tink to her puppy Kindergarten they also told me to stay away from the tug'o'war toys...instead throw a ball or other type of throw toy and have him return it to you they LOVE those games too. They also said their is a magic word for negative reinforcement and that is saying Uh-Uh loudly or yelp loudly like another puppy or dog might do when they get hurt. When he stops biting praise him and give him a tiny treat in the beggining of training and when you see he's mastering the no bite command you can stop the treats and give him lots of praise Tink stopped bitting after that and now we can play tug of war games

Rita

[evil_soma]

thank you, ill start working more on it with him, once he gets old enough...and fixed, im gonna start taking him to day camp to play with the other dogs. i work there so it would be bad if he bit a dog or something, i want him to get along with the other pup's

[Rae Rae]

Originally Posted by evil_soma

no tug-a-war?? awwww he loves that, but your probably right about it encouraging him to bite, ill stop playing that game for a while. but sometimes when i say no he like...takes it as a challenge and goes for another bite. he's a really sweet puppy but once he gets into that biting mood its hard to snap him out of it.

Trust me! My boxer is a biter, he's a lover..but weve had more than one incident where someone was petting him and he's find then all of a sudden he snaps (hasnt bitten yet). Weve taken him to school for this, and I think my parents are going to be taking him to a dog psychologist. Anyways, tug of war, laser pointers (he loves chasing them!), those are both games that encourage aggressive behavior. Theres other factors too, such as if they chase after cars or anything w/ wheels. Good luck! I really hope you can break him of that habit, and it's just a puppy thing.

We amost had to put our boxer down because of this, and its really heartbreaking cuz he's a good dog to our family, just not other people. Keep us updated!

[FirstYorkie]

EvilSoma, you don't say how old your Yorkie is, but what you describe sounds like VERY normal puppy behavior. Please understand that puppies are teething and they NEED to chew.

When your puppy bites you, give him something appropirate to chew on. When he bites you hard enough to hurt, yelp or say "Uh Uh" loudly. Break eye contact and move away from him. As soon as he stops trying to bite, all is forgiven; start over. In this manner, besides teaching him not to bite, you teach him "bite inhibition". (Here is what that means. All dogs when sufficiently stressed will bite. It is a fact of life. Dogs who have been taught "bite inhibition" know that there are varying levels of biting - some less severe than others).

The jury is still out on playing tug-of-war. Some trainers say "no, never". Some say it is fine. Use your judgement depending on YOUR dog.

[MyTrixie143]

Originally Posted by FirstYorkie

EvilSoma, you don't say how old your Yorkie is, but what you describe sounds like VERY normal puppy behavior. Please understand that puppies are teething and they NEED to chew.

When your puppy bites you, give him something appropirate to chew on. When he bites you hard enough to hurt, yelp or say "Uh Uh" loudly. Break eye contact and move away from him. As soon as he stops trying to bite, all is forgiven; start over. In this manner, besides teaching him not to bite, you teach him "bite inhibition". (Here is what that means. All dogs when sufficiently stressed will bite. It is a fact of life. Dogs who have been taught "bite inhibition" know that there are varying levels of biting - some less severe than others).

The jury is still out on playing tug-of-war. Some trainers say "no, never". Some say it is fine. Use your judgement depending on YOUR dog.

Great advice the only difference I do is that if their teeth even brush across the skin to where you can feel it but it does not hurt to yelp. This will teach them to have any even softer mouth and in the event of him getting hurt and reacting by biting it will not hurt because he was taught that humans are super sensitive and even the slightest bit could hurt us.

As far as tug of war games, this is my honest opinion. You don't want it to be the game you play most and you have to watch it when you play. You can still play just limit it a bit. When they are playing tug of war they are challenging you so if you let them win all of the time then they will think they are the dominant one and will make biting and everything else worse. So you can play, just make sure that 9 times out of 10 that you win, which should not be hard with a small dog. Its really bad in bigger dogs because they can overpower you and they will win more than you will.

[Dougal&Little]

hi evil soma! if the wee devil gets all bitey and crazy the best thing is 5 min time out in the bathroom or somewhere with few distractions. [making sure it's puppy proof first tho).

He's still a puppy so he's testing his boundaries you've gotta be consistent with what's ok and what's not. He'll get it quickly enough they're clever little blighters!

Hope the advice in my PM this morning helped. Feel free to PM anytime - I'm always happy to help another evil puppy!

[SnowWa]

When my little guy was a puppy and teething - he was chewing (and biting) constantly -----and, yes, his razor-sharp little teeth did hurt a lot. But, he is totally over that now and when he decides to chew on my hand playfully now, he is gentle and never hurts me.

I think you may just be dealing with "puppy behavior" that he'll outgrow. I remember sitting on the davenport and covering my whole body up with a blanket so my pup couldn't get to me......plus doing everything else I could think of the keep his sharp little teeth away from me.

Good luck - and have patience.... it's the only thing that really works.

Carol Jean