HELP!My pup likes to chew on me - YorkieTalk.com Forums

Kati945 · 02-09-2005, 06:10 PM

Hello! I'm new to this site. I have a 4 month old yorkie named Aidan (got the name from Aidan on Sex & The City).

My puppy LOVES to chew on me or anyone else who is near him or touches him. If I try to hold him or pet him, he almost always chews on my fingers. He does this ALL the time! And if I'm walking he tries to chew on my toes! The weird part is, I haven't been having a hard time potty training him and I'm not having any major problems with him chewing on anything else....

Has anyone else had this problem or do you know what I could do to fix it?

I feel like I can never hold him or love on him without him trying to chew on me and sometimes it does hurt!
Thanks!
Katie

Oscar's Mom · 02-09-2005, 10:33 PM

I have a 4.5 month old named Oscar who also loves to chew on me...I think it is normal Yorkie behavior from what I have read here on the board. Oscar does respond pretty well to "no bite, kisses" but it took lightly thumping his nose when he bit and telling him "no bite" to get thru to him. He knows what "kisses" are or as we call them "tisses". I think they are just so excited they chew on us. When Oscar calms down, he is a much sweeter puppy! Like you Aiden, Oscar is also house broken for the most part. He tells us when he needs to go and if he does have a poop accident in the house, it was because we did not listen to him. When I walk, Oscar grabs the hem of my jeans or sweats...whatever I am wearing...I drag him all over the house...he just won't let go! I hear they calm down...at about a year and a half! Enjoy your baby...they grow so fast! And by the way, Welcome To Yorkie Talk!!! You will love it here!

<'///>< Oscar's mom

bettyeanne · 02-10-2005, 02:54 AM

Welcome to YorkieTalk, Katie & Aidan! When our Toto bites and nibbles us we tell her [sternly] "No" and make eye contact with her! We let her nibble for a while until she gets too aggressive and then change her "game" to something else ... I think she just wants to play whether it's nibbling us or playing "tug" with a toy ... she really doesn't care which! When she first started doing this, we tried the painful "yelp" and now we just tell her "No" and she stops ... I think, especially when you are correcting them, it is very important to look them in the eye.

debi_s · 02-10-2005, 04:52 AM

Ditto...I agree. A firm "No Bite" or I have even had to 'thump' her nose on several occasions. But I noticed she has really began responding to the "NO Bite" because she knows the thump 'kinda hurts'.

But paper training......not just yet. She does go to the paper approx 30% of the time......but i do agree I HAVE to watch her.....she gives very distinct signals when it is time to go!

But she is just 3 months and I have only had her 1 week!!! Still soooooo cute!

luvdorkyyorkies · 02-10-2005, 04:59 AM

A yorkie who chews?............Unheard of.........LOL, kidding of course.
Its a sign of affection, puppies just like human babies are very oral. I have one dog who outgrew it and now is a licker instead. But I have another dog I never corrected and she is a nipper and it hurts! If it becomes painful start early and try to correct it, or you will have a "cartoon" yorkie who hangs off any part of your body or clothes when excited and stays there! She is a nice dog, not a mean bone at all but I allowed this bad behaviour and the older they are the harder it is to break.

zuzismom · 02-10-2005, 08:36 AM

My Yorkie was a notorious nipper. It would drive us crazy. Now she is very gentle and is bit inhibited, which means that when she does go to agressively nip someone, she doesn't make contact or it is very light. She has never injured anyone.

The way we broke her was through Tabasco sauce. The trainer told us to put some in a eye dropper, like the kind you get with contact eyedrops. Give a drop if the dog nips. It worked, slowly.

I think I would rather do things the way the "Dog Listener" suggests. In a pack, if a dog nips the other dog will yelp and turn away and ignore the nipper. So the next time your dog nips you, yelp and turn away from your dog and ignore it. It will soon learn that it won't be able to play with you if it bites. It will also learn good bite inhabition.

I would recommend "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell. It is an excellent book.

zuzismom · 02-10-2005, 08:42 AM

I mentioned the book "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell. My husband and I started using her techniques about 3 weeks ago. It is truly amazing that after 11 years of me thinking I was a pack leader I found out it was my dog. LOL

After using Jan's techniques, my yorkie is so much calmer and well behaved. It's AMAZING!!! I only wish I knew about this years ago. We treat our dogs like people and they thing they are the boss. Once we tell them that WE are the pack leader, they are much more calm and happy. I think the first week of working with her was harder on me than on my dog. Now when I come home, she says hello calmly and happily for me, noiselessly.

Check out the book, I highly recommend it. All this is done with possitive reinforcement and not punishment. Who likes to punish a cute yorkie anyhow?

bettyeanne · 02-23-2005, 04:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zuzismom

I mentioned the book "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell. My husband and I started using her techniques about 3 weeks ago. It is truly amazing that after 11 years of me thinking I was a pack leader I found out it was my dog. LOL

After using Jan's techniques, my yorkie is so much calmer and well behaved. It's AMAZING!!! I only wish I knew about this years ago. We treat our dogs like people and they thing they are the boss. Once we tell them that WE are the pack leader, they are much more calm and happy. I think the first week of working with her was harder on me than on my dog. Now when I come home, she says hello calmly and happily for me, noiselessly.

Check out the book, I highly recommend it. All this is done with possitive reinforcement and not punishment. Who likes to punish a cute yorkie anyhow?

Thank you!!!!! I just got this book and can't put it down!! It's absolutely fascinating! I called Patrick at his office and told him how to respond to Toto's "attack" when he got home ... he did it and I couldn't believe it! She was like she was totally transformed! The wonderful thing is, it all makes sense! It also explains why in some instances she responds entirely different to me than to Patrick! For instance ... she never "begs" me for food! She leaves me totally alone while I eat ... she looks kinda out of the corner of her eye at me when she is "begging" Patrick for food, trying to not make eye contact with me!! She knows she hasn't been given a single "tidbit" from me and that he is a "pushover"!!

We never, ever punish her anyway but this method is going to make things much, much better!! Thanks again!

Chelsey · 02-23-2005, 04:28 AM

those little teeth r like needles... this is what i learnt and it does seem to help.... when he puts his teeth in u, shout with a high tone voice "ouch" that will teach him that hes hurting u and its not what he wants, give him his toy or a baby kong toy to chew on instead of ur fingers

puppy hugs and kisses Chelsey

Mandy

StewiesMom · 02-23-2005, 08:11 AM

I know exactly what you mean. Stewie does exactly the same thing -- biting my socks, pants, hands, whatever we can get his mouth on. I usually make a loud noise to scare him when he bites me. It startles him, he backs off and he realizes what he is doing. I sometimes tap him on the nose and tell him no. The most effective thing I've found, however, is to just quickly replace whatever he is chewing on with one of his toys. Soon, if it's in close proximity, he'll go after the toy right away instead of your hand.

zuzismom · 02-23-2005, 08:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bettyeanne

Thank you!!!!! I just got this book and can't put it down!! It's absolutely fascinating! I called Patrick at his office and told him how to respond to Toto's "attack" when he got home ... he did it and I couldn't believe it! She was like she was totally transformed! The wonderful thing is, it all makes sense! It also explains why in some instances she responds entirely different to me than to Patrick! For instance ... she never "begs" me for food! She leaves me totally alone while I eat ... she looks kinda out of the corner of her eye at me when she is "begging" Patrick for food, trying to not make eye contact with me!! She knows she hasn't been given a single "tidbit" from me and that he is a "pushover"!!

We never, ever punish her anyway but this method is going to make things much, much better!! Thanks again!

I'm so glad you like the book. I'm constantly impressed by Zuzi when I am calm so is she. (Well most of the time) We are still working on some barking issues at the evil toaster and coffee grinder but she has even improved with that.

We are picking up a new puppy, a Labradoodle (1/2 lab - 1/2 standard poodle) this Friday. That is how we learned about this type of training. Now I only hope it works as well on the puppy as it did my sweet Yorkie.

Shelley

02-09-2005, 06:10 PM	#1
Kati945 BANNED! Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Jacksonville, FL Posts: 1	HELP!My pup likes to chew on me Hello! I'm new to this site. I have a 4 month old yorkie named Aidan (got the name from Aidan on Sex & The City). My puppy LOVES to chew on me or anyone else who is near him or touches him. If I try to hold him or pet him, he almost always chews on my fingers. He does this ALL the time! And if I'm walking he tries to chew on my toes! The weird part is, I haven't been having a hard time potty training him and I'm not having any major problems with him chewing on anything else.... Has anyone else had this problem or do you know what I could do to fix it? I feel like I can never hold him or love on him without him trying to chew on me and sometimes it does hurt! Thanks! Katie

02-10-2005, 02:54 AM	#3
bettyeanne Donating YT 7000 Club Member Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Alabama, etc. Posts: 9,031	Welcome to YorkieTalk, Katie & Aidan! When our Toto bites and nibbles us we tell her [sternly] "No" and make eye contact with her! We let her nibble for a while until she gets too aggressive and then change her "game" to something else ... I think she just wants to play whether it's nibbling us or playing "tug" with a toy ... she really doesn't care which! When she first started doing this, we tried the painful "yelp" and now we just tell her "No" and she stops ... I think, especially when you are correcting them, it is very important to look them in the eye. __________________ Toto's Mom - http://www.dogster.com/?206581 Yorkie Rescue Colorado - http://www.yorkierescuecolorado.com/ "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has limits." -- Albert Einstein

02-10-2005, 08:36 AM	#6
zuzismom Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 44	nipping yorkie My Yorkie was a notorious nipper. It would drive us crazy. Now she is very gentle and is bit inhibited, which means that when she does go to agressively nip someone, she doesn't make contact or it is very light. She has never injured anyone. The way we broke her was through Tabasco sauce. The trainer told us to put some in a eye dropper, like the kind you get with contact eyedrops. Give a drop if the dog nips. It worked, slowly. I think I would rather do things the way the "Dog Listener" suggests. In a pack, if a dog nips the other dog will yelp and turn away and ignore the nipper. So the next time your dog nips you, yelp and turn away from your dog and ignore it. It will soon learn that it won't be able to play with you if it bites. It will also learn good bite inhabition. I would recommend "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell. It is an excellent book.

02-10-2005, 08:42 AM	#7
zuzismom Yorkie Yakker Join Date: Feb 2005 Posts: 44	One more thing I mentioned the book "The Dog Listener" by Jan Fennell. My husband and I started using her techniques about 3 weeks ago. It is truly amazing that after 11 years of me thinking I was a pack leader I found out it was my dog. LOL After using Jan's techniques, my yorkie is so much calmer and well behaved. It's AMAZING!!! I only wish I knew about this years ago. We treat our dogs like people and they thing they are the boss. Once we tell them that WE are the pack leader, they are much more calm and happy. I think the first week of working with her was harder on me than on my dog. Now when I come home, she says hello calmly and happily for me, noiselessly. Check out the book, I highly recommend it. All this is done with possitive reinforcement and not punishment. Who likes to punish a cute yorkie anyhow?

02-23-2005, 08:11 AM	#10
StewiesMom Stewie Rox the Sox Donating Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Chicago Posts: 6,306	I know exactly what you mean. Stewie does exactly the same thing -- biting my socks, pants, hands, whatever we can get his mouth on. I usually make a loud noise to scare him when he bites me. It startles him, he backs off and he realizes what he is doing. I sometimes tap him on the nose and tell him no. The most effective thing I've found, however, is to just quickly replace whatever he is chewing on with one of his toys. Soon, if it's in close proximity, he'll go after the toy right away instead of your hand. __________________ Kristy & Stewie

02-09-2005, 10:33 PM	#2
Oscar's Mom My Little Biker Dude Donating Member Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Alabama Posts: 2,065	I have a 4.5 month old named Oscar who also loves to chew on me...I think it is normal Yorkie behavior from what I have read here on the board. Oscar does respond pretty well to "no bite, kisses" but it took lightly thumping his nose when he bit and telling him "no bite" to get thru to him. He knows what "kisses" are or as we call them "tisses". I think they are just so excited they chew on us. When Oscar calms down, he is a much sweeter puppy! Like you Aiden, Oscar is also house broken for the most part. He tells us when he needs to go and if he does have a poop accident in the house, it was because we did not listen to him. When I walk, Oscar grabs the hem of my jeans or sweats...whatever I am wearing...I drag him all over the house...he just won't let go! I hear they calm down...at about a year and a half! Enjoy your baby...they grow so fast! And by the way, Welcome To Yorkie Talk!!! You will love it here! <'///>< Oscar's mom

02-10-2005, 04:52 AM	#4
debi_s YT Addict Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: Upstate S.C. Posts: 309	Ditto...I agree. A firm "No Bite" or I have even had to 'thump' her nose on several occasions. But I noticed she has really began responding to the "NO Bite" because she knows the thump 'kinda hurts'. But paper training......not just yet. She does go to the paper approx 30% of the time......but i do agree I HAVE to watch her.....she gives very distinct signals when it is time to go! But she is just 3 months and I have only had her 1 week!!! Still soooooo cute!

02-10-2005, 04:59 AM	#5
luvdorkyyorkies BANNED! Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Illinois Posts: 1,681	A yorkie who chews?............Unheard of.........LOL, kidding of course. Its a sign of affection, puppies just like human babies are very oral. I have one dog who outgrew it and now is a licker instead. But I have another dog I never corrected and she is a nipper and it hurts! If it becomes painful start early and try to correct it, or you will have a "cartoon" yorkie who hangs off any part of your body or clothes when excited and stays there! She is a nice dog, not a mean bone at all but I allowed this bad behaviour and the older they are the harder it is to break.

02-23-2005, 04:28 AM	#9
Chelsey My2Pearls Chelsey & Chanel YT Donator Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: N Posts: 4,097	those little teeth r like needles... this is what i learnt and it does seem to help.... when he puts his teeth in u, shout with a high tone voice "ouch" that will teach him that hes hurting u and its not what he wants, give him his toy or a baby kong toy to chew on instead of ur fingers puppy hugs and kisses Chelsey Mandy