Biting
 

Does anyone know how to get a Yorkie to stop biting. Nala is now 4 months old. If Nala is in my lap or in my arms, she'll start really going hard biting my hands. So I figure she wants to be down, so I put her down on the floor but then she starts biting my feet. I then give her a toy - she'll sniff it play with it for a little while, but then run over to where I go and start all over again. I tried the coins in the can technique and even growling, the pinning down and even grabbing her by the extra skin on her neck and nothing...I just feel like now I'm making her an aggressive dog. And yea I tried just not playing with her, walking away puting her in her cage, but then it seems like I'm locking her up all day...anybody have any suggestions??? I think I've exhausted all of my options...

That's just a yorkie puppy for you. She's teething and needs something to chew on. Do you have any bully sticks for her? It's important for them to chew so they can get their new teeth through those gums. Don't worry. I think we all, or most of us, have been on the receiving end when ours were puppies.:D

Ok now try ignore it and her.. she got a boat load or attention for doing the wrong thing and it does not matter if it is negative it is attention and you have reinforced the wrong thing... It ok we all do it cause that what we got taught.. so now instead of her leaving or taking any notice... you leave, quite calm and gentle walk out.... she may follow but she not allow on or near you if she is biting at all. a sipmle hands up and turn your back may work.

If she wants your attention she will figure it out that every time and I me every time those teeth touch you to rough your gone.

What happens is that we tend to also try to many things at once to control the problem and we see a behaviour burst... more of the what we do not want just before it stops so we give up and therefore teach the dog if they keep at it we will give in. So we build up the dog to know if they hang in long enough we give up so they keep trying go to a burst and we cave like cookies... keep going.
You have to keep going with one thing to the other side of the behaiour burst. with going gentle it is easier on the human then being a hard case all the time takes less energy that cans shaking or putting them away.

JL

if her biting seems to becomming agressive, you need to nip it in the butt right now, before she gets too dominate.

When they bite, the best thing to do is ignore it- walk away, turn your back to her, or even just walk away. You can also push their toungue down their throat.....

Fiona hasn't really done that, but ignoring her really niped it in the butt.

good luck!

biting boy
 

Hi I had a male yorkie almost nine months old, we got him when he was seven months old. He is quite a biter and gets nasty when I take things away that he should not have. Not sure how to handle this situation. Also he constantly barks if the both of us leave the room and he is leashed or in the crate and the barking is getting on my nerves. Any suggestions?

ohhh boy!!!! This can be handled! If you are crating him at night or while your in the house, I would tell you to put the crate somewhere where he cant see you. If you have the crate in your bedroom, move him. You could even put the crate in the basement if you have too- the less they see you, the less they will freak out and bark. my aunt also taught me to prevent barking you can sorta pinch their side of their neck and make a loud noise. this has helped with fiona's barking outbursts....good luck....

Wow baby he's got an attitude.
First I put him on Nothing in life is free. He wants his supper, dinner, a pat or go pee he earns it. A simple sit or down or back or off and he can have it.
Second when you take something he knows he is not getting it back and if he loves it he gets upset. What would happen to you if everyday someone came by and took your first morning coffee.. me I bite the bum.
But if the person came by and took my coffee and gave my a donut and then gave me back my coffee I be less upset and less likely to bite.

Now it that person took my coffee gave me a donut and gave me back a bigger coffee now they got my attention.

So what you do is play trades.. I want what you got and switch straight across for something just the same but slip in a treat and switch the toy or if it is something he should not have give extra treats and a good toy.

Do not just go up and tackle something that is stealing and it is his and it in his mouth even if he not to have it ask.

So he got to take a breath at some point in that bark toss a treat and say not a thing in that breath even if it out of sight to trigger the barking.
Do that till he figures out that the treat comes in the calm then extend the calm little steps by little steps till you get a quite.
Also in the minutes he not barking just toss a treat out and do not say anything... we want a brain working on were did that come from and why.
Once he had that for a little while then you toss the treat out of the blue and say Quite.. good boy... your teaching what you want not trying to stop a behavior in progress.

JL

Tissue in his mouth
 

So if he has a tissue in his mouth that he took off the table I should trade him with a toy, I will try that the next time, but he is a smart dude. His biting is kind of scary, I am hoping this is part of puppyhood? Also, his barking is so loud when we leave the room, is that separation anxiety? I use quiet in a low voice and he still barks.

Most of them grow out of it but you have to stay firm on not allowing biting or chewing. I just made sure that Roxie had her own toy box full of lotsssss of toys and chewies. Whenever she'd go to something she shouldn't she'd get a firm no and then I'd hand her a toy of her own. For biting...some might not agree with this...but a light flick on the nose and a firm "no bite" command works well. Or you can hide your hands and say no biting. The ignoring technique works well too. Funny thing is once they learn not to do it it's amazing how soon we forget they even went through that phase!!

I'm sorry, I really don't mean to sound negitive, but Why have a dog if you're just going to put them in a crate in the basement or somewhere out of sight? How are they ever going to bond & feel safe by being with you if their are kept isolated in a crate somewhere?

Example - There was a dog, isolated & ignored in his yard behind me and he barked most of the time, trying to get those people to pay some attention to him & he started scratching a hole in the house! He couldn't see his people!!!

Very true they are soical beings and just want to be with thier family and it stresses them and causes aggression to form if not allowed.

Good call.

JL

Don't feel bad. My dog is 7 weeks old and totally turns into a possessed animal at times. Her biting is Waaay out of control. I can't do anything with her. Like you, i've tried the can, i've popped her nose (which makes her worse) and now I'm trying ignoring her. But it's REALLY hard to ignore her while she's trying to detatch my baby toe.

Expand that do a double trade.... treat food then toy and tuck away the thing he should not have.... if you give it up you get a treat and also something else to have...No words non.. you can not train the word before the action you have to get quite before you teach the word.
You could make a dog sit on the word red not sit or stand on green... they do not understand the words.... Teach quite. catch it when he is quite or in the breath between reward that breath and you will see more then and only then when he starts to offer the quite do you use the word and give it a human cue.

JL

You have reinforced the wrong thing the bad thing you do not want.
Ignore it and only reward with love attention and food when her teeth are not on you.

JL

The only time her teeth are not on me is when she is asleep

Then I suggest that you put it on a cue... "chew" and teach the dog only do it when the cue is given. When you never use the cue it will extinguish the behavior and you have a dog not shewing on you.
Or the other suggestion is that if biting is a risk that habituate the dog to a muzzle and have that on when playing with you. Never leave a muzzle on in the heat or when alone and a dog can get hurt and or die.
Or teach it you are not a chew toy.
or call a trainer and get help... hands on or eyes on by a trainer may help find away to get it stopped.


JL

Here's a link on puppies biting. Maybe it will help I don't know but it's worth a try. Dog Owner's Guide: "No bite!"

I do not agree with putting the crate out of your site. The trick is not to reward the bad behavior by talking to them or letting them out when they are barking.

As for the biting, you need to let the dog know that you are the pack leader, and when he bites, instantly, snap and snal at him, if he continues, pick him up and place him on the floor, on his back, this can take some doing because he will fight it, then hold him there and growl. You can let him up when he relaxes. This is not mean a cruel and it does not hurt them. It is the language that they understand. they do not understand human language, and they do not understand "time outs". They do not hold grudges and will not fear you. They will just simply learn who is the pack leader.

I also suggest that you watch the Dog Whispere on the National Geographic channel, and/or get the EBook How to train my puppy at
How To Train My Puppy Fast Track System

Biting should never be allowed at any age.It is not a normal part of dog behavior, it is bad behavior from a dog that has not been properly socialized.

You don't ignore her. First try yelping, and if that does not stop her, then give her a growl and a nip, just like her mother would do. Watch mother dogs with their bsbies, they don't allow the puppies to chew on them, and neither do the other puppies. If you want to communicatre with your dog, learn to speak their language. "NO Bite" is not part of their vocabulary.

Ignoring them just tells them that it's OK to do it.

That is just rewarding the dog for taking things. Everytime they want a treat they will take something they shouldn't have. They are a lot smarter than you think.

Teach them to give you things. when they have a toy make them give it to you, then give it back to them. They should be taught to release when you tell them to.

The first few times, you might have to give them a low growl, but soon they will learn to give it up when you put your hand on it.

If they view you as the pack leader they will not argue with you.

Very nice article well writen andwell thought out.


JL

I am not a dog nor am I anyones pack leader... my dog/s are smart enough to tell I speak act and think like a human and they understand me far better most times then I them... yes but I have taken the time to learn them on their terms.... and work with not against them makes for more fun and good learning.
Although I am ok with my dogs talking in their language and telling in grr that they are not ok with what I am doing, I tend to not grr back a them as it can be seen as an challenge with some dogs I work with.... I like my face on my face not in its mouth.
I'd rather give calming signals and lip lick or yawn and calm it all down and play nice and ask.

True wild Dogs are not pack animals any way they are social network moving in and out of groups of ones and twos as resources allow and only get in large groups in dumps where they feed that is not a pack that is a mob and it mob mentality at work.
Your everyday get out of the house run at large groups of dogs are not packs either just mobs as well a band of dog that join kill hunt and terroirise at will and not a leader in sight.

What I had suggested is the start of give it to me... you should know you to teach the action before the word as well as dogs do not speak or understand in words like we do. We tend to over word our dogs.
Sit is not sit till we teach it and give it meaning we can teach the sit action on roll ove. green or cup dogs do not care.... they do it ti be with us.
.... I tend to use hand signs and word back up cause you never know when a dog may go blind or deaf.

When we get wrapped up in the words we think our dog are not listening and are rude and ignoring us or dominating use yeah teach the action and see it works.

If you teach trade me you teach give it as well after trade and you can even stop at trade. Once you got the dog on trade me you can put it on random reinforcement and do two trades for one treat then three , then one then five, make the skill you are teaching set in with a great reliability.

Makes for a long long post when you get all the inner works down but if you teach trade you got the job done in a nice short post...


JL

Dogs do learn words. They understand sit, come, treat, stay etc. When you let them know biting is not exceptable with a no bite command they learn it. My cats even know what be nice and no bite means. Roxie knows no bite. When I used to have to tell her that she'd instantly stop or just start licking my hand.

They learn the word after the action not before.

You can name the sit action rump roast or the off action sit, or the down action jump.. it is in the learning of the action then the naming of it you get understanding of a word. Oh should we add dogs do not generalize either so the word sit in the kitchen does not mean sit in the bathroom or bedroom or outside..... you have to teach it a ton of times in a ton of places for then to generalize what sit means and that you mean it every time.

You get into trouble when you rap fire sit, sit , sit ,sit at a dog cause they do not understand what sit you mean sit on.

You get into trouble when you say sit in a sentence when it been taught as a single word action.

They do not understand words until meaning and an action is taught first.
The do not have English or Spanish or any form of verbal understanding at first.... but dogs do tend to understand our body language better and read us better that is why we get away with things we really should not.


JL

YES I agree , :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

I know the Yelping is what the best Dog trainers Do to train . That is why it is so important not to take A yorkie Pup away too early from it's littermates/mother. They need to learn these importat social skill cues. when it is missed, then there are problems that could have been easily avoided.
:aimeeyork

Dealing with possesion aggresion in a formal way.

Possession Aggression

Dealing with teething and yelping in pain to stop or using NO

ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- Insights into Puppy Mouthing

How to teach bite control

ClickerSolutions Training Articles --

Generalization

ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- Generalization

Four stages of learning
ClickerSolutions Training Articles -- Stages of Learning

JL

I feel like I started a war. We're gonna be okay. Everyone has great ideas. I appreciate all of them. We'll try them all and go with what works!

I just started a thread almost just like this, I didn't see your thread before I posted. I have almost the same situation

I disagree with that. If you fear that the dog will bite you then it is clear that ethe dog sees you as submissive, and licking when they are behaving aggressive is what a subordinate dog would do.

The readers can make up thier own minds on what to do, and i doubt that I will change your mind. But you should never fear your pets. Now if you are working wsith strnage dogs, the advice would be totally different.f

But this person was asking about a yorkie puppy, not a full grown pitt bull. They do not understand human talk until they have been taught commands. But if they are biting you, you do not have the luxury of asking them kindly to trade a forbidden item for a treat.

And for the person who says her dog understands NO Bite and will start to lick her. Your dog should not be biting your hand in the first place. I never allowed mine to chew on me when they were puppies and they learned from the very beginning that they could not bite me in play or in anger.