8 week old yorkie biting - Pit Bull strength!
 

So I'm the happy "father" of an 8 week old little girl. I've had her for 4 days now, and she seems to be adjusting extremely well. I get lots of kisses when I get home, she never shies from me, and she LOVES to play. She seems extremely happy and she never wants to leave my side.

The only problem is though, is she seems to be biting EXTREMELY hard when we play. She loves her toys and I've made an effort to find toys that are fairly tough and squishy at the same time (she loves her nylabone), in an attempt to find toys that feel like my hands.

My concern is that she's taking it pretty far, to the point of drawing blood at one point. She doesn't do this with any of my friends or anyone else, and I'm trying to tell myself that she doesn't hate me, but it's getting tough. We play a lot and I don't mind her playing rough and biting me, but I don't want it to continue after she's a puppy. I'm worried that she will think this is ok and do this with other people or a child or something later.

I don't want to stop her from playing, because that's what it seems like she's doing, but it really does seem like she's trying with all of her being to bite as hard as she can.

Has anyone else had this happen? Should I do my best to keep her from doing it at all, so it doesn't last until later? Is it possible she's just really into the playing? I hope she isn't upset with me or something!

Welcome to YT! :) I am in Annapolis, so not too far from DC. I'm glad to see a daddy of a Yorkie on here, there's a few on this site, but not enough. :) Nice to meet you!

Most Yorkie breeders will keep the pups with their moms until 12 weeks old or older. 8-12 weeks is when they learn about bite inhibition so now you have the job of teaching your pup! Another older dog will also teach a young pup about it too by yelping. That's one thing you can do (as silly as it sounds) when the pup bites you too hard, you have to yelp in a high pitched voice, to startle them. That's what their mama dog would do! Or you could replace your finger with a toy or a chew bone, etc and show her what is okay to chew on.

But don't worry, biting is a very normal behavior in puppies especially as young as 8 weeks, so it will get better! Just keep up with the training :)

Congrats on your new puppy! Nice to have another male in the yorkie forums. :)

Anyway, the reason she is biting is because no one taught her any different. It is recommended that yorkie babies stay with their mom and litter until they reach 12 weeks of age. In fact, the YTCA pretty much has it as a rule all of it's members must follow. The reasoning behind that is mom and litter mates teach the puppies proper doggy etiquete, one of which is bite inhibition.

Misha is home now, so you have to step in and fill that role that mommy and her litter mates were suppose to. Yelp, squeal or say ouch when she bites and stop all play. If you continue to engage her after she bites, she'll think biting is an acceptable form of play.

HAHA! Brit you beat me by a min!

you both beat me to it...but some will still bite, but it will stop. NO...and focus her attention elsewhere. Went went thru it with the Yorkie for a bit and she was 12 weeks, and we went thru it with the Cane Corso who was almost 10 weeks, and he was a little beat, over 20 pounds at the time....he got the hint, but it took some effort and training.

Haha well thank you for the welcome! My friends have made it all but too obvious that a yorkie isn't stereotypically the dog of choice for a 25 year old straight guy. Haha. But I love em, and Misha is a great dog, regardless of her size!

Well I'm glad to hear that it's more or less just a puppy/learning thing. I have a lot of people around me, and some of them have kids so I'd hate it for her to ever feel like it was ok to play that rough with any of them. But like I said, she's extremely nice with everyone else. I have just been trying to tell myself she's just that much more comfortable with me.

But I will try the yelping and stopping play. The yelping will be easy, the stopping play will be tough. Haha. I want her happy all the time!

I have 3 words for your friends....
CHICKS LOVE YORKIES. :D

I have found, taking both Carlo and Maxine everywhere, that Chicks prefer Carlo 7 to 10, and guys perfer Carlo 10 to 10. We can;t walk down Michigan Ave with Carlo without getting stopped every 10 feet by someone wanting to pet him or ask about him. Yes, Mazine gets jealous and reminds us when we get home on the RUG that she did not care for it!

But that's because Carlo is extremely handsome. Who can say no to that face?

Welcome to the wonderful world of Yorkies. I hope I'm not the first one to break the news but she's only tiny on the outside LOL. On the inside I guarantee she thinks she's 10 feet tall, 200 pounds and totally bulletproof. And we wouldn't have them any other way.

I lost a momma dog and had to hand raise a litter. To try to immulate a momma dog, I would take forefinger and thumb and gently pinch a small bit of skin right at the nape of the neck approximating a momma's bite to reprimand the pup. I also used the sharp "NO" as the momma dog would give a warning bark. You don't need to hurt them -- combining the sharp "NO" with the nip using your fingers will be enough for them to realize it is a negative warning. Then I'd replace my hand with an appropriate chew toy, but not allow any more hand contact for several minutes (5-10 is enough, more than that and they have forgotten why). I would reward gentle biting when it was obvious they were holding back full strength hurt, by praising with the gentle voice they like and petting extra, adding in a belly rub or ear rub. Be consistent.

I ONLY did this because the momma was gone -- no breeder should sell a toy-size puppy before 12 weeks. That gives them the advantage of getting mom's teachings, along with sibling socialization skills and allows a more stable health situation before all contact with mom is stopped. You would be surprised at the emotional/social differences in pups allowed at least 12 weeks with the litter & mom VS pups taken away too soon. If you are in a situation that you could return the pup for another month with mom, that would be great. But usually people don't want to hear that -- so I will just give the info for future reference.

Umph well I think ppl can't see the wee one by the big one! lol. Very few "chicks" come up to Magic, and about 50% of guys do, but I'm with you all the guys love Magic. Walking Razz our Yorkie on my own, 100% of the "chics" approach us and ooh and aawh over that scamp. Most guys ignore Razzle.

Unfortunately her momma is 4.5 hours away and I don't own a car :(

I just talked to someone on here who lives a couple blocks away, with one that is a little older...could be a good idea to get them together, yes?

Welcome to YT. You've got a bit of chewing and biting to go through yet. They don't start teething until they're around 4 months old.:D

After your pup has all of its shots I think any socialization would be great. But not until fully vaccinated.

I will admit, I'd probably ooh and awe over Carlo first, but I'm a sucker for big dogs.
I will say, I had more people running up to pet the pit bull I fostered than I've ever had anyone run up to see Rizzo. Then again if anyone approaches us Rizzo barks and I give them a warning glare...I think we come off as being anti-social, oh well less weirdo's touching my cutie pie and trying to make small talk.:cool:

:thumbup::thumbup:

I have watched my mothers train their puppies and this is the manner in which they do it. They will also growl a very low growl as awarning before they nip at them. She will take each puppy and roll them onto their back and hold them there. All of this is part of socializing them into the pack and teaching them to be submissive.

Here is a link to some exercises that you can do to help with the training.

More Information

Hello, I have a 10week old Yorkie and she does the same thing, now she is not biting where I bleed, but she has biten us pretty hard. I do get onto her for that. I am thinking its just a puppy thing and that she will grow out of it. I know this probably is not much help to you, but just thought I would let you know that my Izzy is doing the same thing. Have a great day!

Hi Curtis and Misha,
Zoe is my first yorkie, but I've had many other dogs. A couple things come to mind I thought I'd add:
I always make a point of not letting my puppies do anything that I wouldn't want them to do as a grown dog...it seems like the earlier they learn something the better.
With biting I do a triple combination, at the same time, of 1) the high-pitched "ow" yelp, 2) kind of push my finger agains their mouth/cheeks (not in a way that hurts them at all, just so it's annoying...my finger is parallel to their open mouth and I just push it back a bit until it runs into their "lips" at the back...does this make sense?) and also immediately hand them a bone. It seems to have worked so far. :xfingers:Enjoy Misha! (And the chicks that are apparently soon to appear.)

No they do not outgrow it. they have to be taught. My puppies who are taught by their mothers, do not bite on us. I suggest that you follow the same advice that is given here. If you do not correct it, it will get worse.

might sound silly..but with my past yorkies i would always say owwww in a pouty type tone (without raising my voice)...after a week or so when they would try do it and i would say it again but now they would have this look of im sorry after.
everyonce in while i swear they would do it just to hear me say it! lol

My Yorkie Zach is 9 months old and he's still bites at times. When he bites I yell ow and then I say "No Bite" and he stops I also have a 8 1/2 week old Shih Tzu. When we first got him he only had one tooth now he's gotten a whole bunch and he's teething very hard. So far he doesn't even know the word no but usually a replace myfinger with a frozen teething ring.

Welcome to YT Curtis! I went through the same thing last year, and also got Rocco at only 8 weeks, not knowing any better. I had tried a lot of things to tame Rocco's biting, and the only thing that worked were time-outs. Here's my thread, which had excellent advice: http://www.yorkietalk.com/forums/gen...ve-biting.html I'm happy to say that I now have one of the sweetest little mush-faces on the planet :D

Good luck with Misha, your little chick magnet :p. And by all means, stay glued to this site as much as possible for the best information you'll find anywhere. Looking forward to baby pics!