help! my yorkie bites!
 

my yorkie bites sometimes when she is playing or when i hold her and give her a belly rub, its not a hard vicious bite, but she likes to put her teeth onto the skin, i keep telling her NO! but she still does it, im afraid if i let her get away with it, she will think its okay to bite on human skin, and of course i wouldnt want them to take her away from me

does any1 else have this problem? does your yorkie bite or nip at you during play? and any solutions?

oooh and shes 5 months old right now...

thanks! :confused:

Biting
 

Hi, My Yorkie Is 4 Mths Old And He Bites While Playing Or Petting The Only Time He Don't Bite Is When He's Tired. I Don't Know For Sure But I Think It Cause He Still A Puppy I Hope It Stops When Older Out Of Puppy Stage. I Know One Thing It Does Hurt.he Gets Told No Every Time I Hold Him.but He Still Does It

Do you watch "The Dog Whisperer"?! :p In a nutshell, he advocates training dogs by being the ALPHA dog yourself. Well, I guess all dog training is about establishing your authority over them, but he's good at really simply making you see things from a dog's eyes.

And when a puppy is playing too hard, and gets carried away with the biting, the mother or bigger/older dog will put him in his place with a bite of their own, usually to the neck, and pinning him down firmly until he gets the point to "settle down, pip-squeak". :p

So, to translate that to us....Cesar says to use your HAND to apply a firm "bite" hold. I'll do that, and say calmly but firmly, "NO BITE", and hold her until I feel her go limp in submission. Sometimes this takes longer than others, depending on how worked up she is :p, but it really is amazing actually how well this works.

I see the difference when my husband is playing with her, and says, "OUCH, don't bite daddy; you're hurting me; why are you biting so hard", etc etc. Why do we think dogs will understand that?! Even if you pick one term, like "No Biting"---why do we automatically expect them to understand what that means?! We have to speak THEIR language first, and then they can LEARN to associate the words with what we want. So that eventually saying "No bite" in my no nonsense tone will be good enough, and I won't have to actually apply the pinch. :p

Boy, I'm really sleeping typing this, and I know I'm totally rambling. Sorry....hope it made some sense!

Hi, first of all Welcome to YT to you and the other posting here as I see you both are new to YT. Great site this is. Does your yorkies have chew toys,
it's really important for the teething problem, sounds like it might be that they could be cutting teeth and then maybe not shedding the ones they are suppose to loose. Has the vet checked their teeth. The next phase is tons and tons of puppy kisses, you have lots to look forward to, hope you have many, many happy years with your babies. Yorkies really are wonderfull. They really win our hearts and are so much fun. Baby Blessing has begun to act more grown up and really thinks she's in charge of things. Enjoy your babies, Patti ~~Baby Blessing~~

Not to be disrespectful but this is not always the best approach to the situation. This can actually cause a dog to be more aggressive. I know alot of people believe in the alpha dog rule, I do but only to a certain point and only on certain things. I also do not believe in holding the dog down on his back like some would do to establish a leader role. It might work on some dogs but I have seen firsthand how many dogs can turn more aggressive with using this method. I do believe puppies don't understand words only tones and pitches. They will be able to recognize words or phrases as an adult by paying attention to our tone, pitch and length of phrase.

Instead, when your puppy bites you simply yelp in a high pitch like a puppy would or say yipe in a high pitch. If you watch puppies when they are playing they are practicing and testing their skills out on each other. When one puppy gets to rough the other puppy will yelp and the one that is too rough will back off otherwise the other puppy would refuse to play with him because he is just too rough. So yelp the first time and then the second time move away from him and ignore him or if need be put him in a time out for a couple of minutes. What you want him to understand is that if he wants to play or be around you (which naturally he will want to do) that he has to be gentle with you in order to do so and no biting is want you want. Also, if his teeth happen to brush the skin, even if it does not hurt, do the same as if he bit you hard. This will teach him to have a soft mouth. When he barely touches you and you react in the same way he will realize that wow humans are really sensitive and will control his biting to have a soft mouth. This is especially important if you have kids or if they are around kids.

Take this for example. A kid is being rough with your dog and even though your dog is the sweetest thing in the world and is use to this, he could bite if he is hurt, it is a natural response. However, when he bites the child he will not hurt the child because he was taught to have a soft mouth with everyone no matter what the situation is.

This is something that really happened. A family had a small dog who was use to being around children, after all they had a 6 year old child. The dog was the sweetest dog and loved by everyone and even use to the child being rough and pulling on it. Well, one day the dog was sleeping and the child accidentaly stepped on the dog's tail, biting being a natural response, the dog bit the child very hard doing severe damage. The dog was never taught to control his bite and have a soft mouth.

I have also seen it where a dog was taught to control his bite and to have a soft mouth. And that dog did no damage to the child.

Sorry, I know this is really long but it is very important that every puppy is taught this and that every owner realizes the importance of it.
I wish the best of luck :) with your puppy and your training.:thumbup: :thumbup:

No offense taken; sounds like lots more good information here. I'm certainly no expert---though I do consider Cesar to be. ;)

We saw this on the dog whisperer too and do that with chachi and it works for us

Georgie bites when he is playing, but he has calmed down as he has gotten older. When he starts to bite I usually grab a toy and give it to him to bite it. It's funny though because he has never bitten someone other than my fiance' and I when we are playing with him. I think it's a puppy thing, but I would give him a toy each time to show him when he bites he should bite his toy not you. Good luck

My yorkie used to bite me too when she was around 3 months. It started off with soft bites, but I never let her know it was bad so soon, it turned into hard bites. That's when I was like oh no, I should've taught her that it's not right. So I read somewhere that if they do something they shouldn't do, you tell them no and show them and then leave them alone. Soon they get the idea that when they do that you're going to ignore them. So that's pretty much what I did, if she'd bite me I would say "OW! No biting." And then I would put her down and walk away. She doesn't bite me anymore. :)

Some books I've seen at the library are very informational, for example this is the latest one I read and it was very good. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/cus...283155&s=books

Cesar is not an expert, he is a TV star. The true *experts* in the field say that the alpha roll does not work (and can make things worse) and neither does his ridiculous "use your hand as a mouth" technique. Yes a mother dog will put a puppy in it's place. But we are not dogs.

When your dog bites, make a high pitched OUCH noise and fold your arms, turn your back and look at the ceiling for a few seconds. Do this several times and your dog will figure out that you don't want to play if she bites. Be consistent. If you ignore her, she will do whatever it takes to get your attention back, like not biting! Also, if she bites your hand say NO or OUCH and then place a bone in her mouth and praise her when she bites the bone. You need to teach her what is acceptable to chew on.

I agree with the "soft mouth" thing too. Dogs need to be taught they don't need to bite hard to make their point. What you have to understand is that biting is perfectly acceptable to a dog. In their eyes, it is the correct response to the situation. Obviously that is not acceptable to humans. So we need to teach them the correct way to use that instinct.

In your case though, I'm sure the issue is teething. Give her lots of cold or frozen things to chew on!!!

The trainer at my puppy class gave me some tips and they have worked wonders...

When Keeley would bite my hand I'd keep my hand in his mouth but spread out my fingers just enough that it wasn't comfortable for him. But in no way hurting him. And I'd say "no bite!" (in a regular voice tone). And I would leave my hand in their for a few seconds.

He learned that when he bites it is uncomfortable for him, and therefore he doesn't do it. It only took a few times for him to learn what no bite means.

wow...thank you for all the replies....i will try these methods on my yorkie when she bites....

this site is the greatest!

yorkie lovers unite! haha :D

My yorkie is 11 weeks old and he does the same thing i tell him no but he keeps on and he also dosent bite when he's tired so i guess it's cause their still little and have their baby teeth.

Biting
 

My yorkie Gracie is almost three months old and bites all the time too. Its not hard but still she doesnt stop with just a "no" She just starts biting again. Any ideas ?

Now Mitzi is an older dog (9 y.o.) and when we play she also uses her teeth to touch my skin but never ever bites. I also 'bite' her a little by pinching her very gently or pull her ears or beard. It's our night time game before we go to bed. My husband told that when she was little she also tried to bite harder but it was enough when he just made a high pitched noise to make her stop.:aimeeyork

Yorkie Bites Everyone!
 

My yorkie Daisy is 9 months old, she bites everyone.. She bites me in the mornings when I try to get my things together for work, she bites my youngest daughter if she just walks past her too fast, she attacks my cats. She chews up everthing. She is really a sweet dog and will be a great pleasure once we get these few things under control, but nothing seems to work. When I tell her no she barks and bites me. When I try to pick her up to remove her from the situation she barks and bites me. We call her crazy Daisy because she is so crazy. If anyone has any suggestions on how to stop the biting and dragging shoes behind the couch so we can't catch her it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Daisy's mom :eek:

When she bites tell her no bite and put something she can chew on in her mouth. If you dont want your shoes chewed your going to have to put them up untill shes threw with the chewing stage. Any thing left on the floor is fair game to them

I think you are wrong. It does work! He has been the dog business 25-30 yrs. How long have you been training.? It's like kids if you let them run over the top of you they have no respect for anyone or anything! I'm the boss , not my kids or dogs.! Thank you

Well... I'm not one that follows a famous person just b/c he/she is famous. I'm a skeptic but I also like to give things a try when they sound logical.

Watching Caesar Milan for quite some time now I tried to follow some of his methods to get my pack under control and it actually works. For example it was always very chaotic to get all for of them ready for walkies and I was stressed out long before we were actually out of the door. Then it was a struggle and wild "crocheting" with the leads and nobody had really fun.

Now I take my time to get them ready and take a few deep breaths before I start and without me yelling at them to shut up they just wait their time to be lifted up on the counter, brushed out and the harness put on. Then we assemble all at the front door and one by one has to sit down to get the lead on (I started with a treat to make them do it and now they do it by themselves.) Before I open the door they all have to look at me and wait. Then I open the door and go out first. I have them on fairly short leads two on each side. They are not allowed to sniff or stay back or even mark. We walk to the park in a fast pace and then they are let off the leads and can run around for a few minutes before we go back.

It is so much easier now, they don't start barking at every person or dog that comes by and act like a pack of vicious wolfs...

Funny thing they still love their walkies even though they are so restricted and they are more obedient at home too just "calm submissive"...

I know I'm going to get bashed for this post but you know what? I don't care. It works for me and my M&Ms and nothing else counts... :p

i agree that the 'alpha dog' thing does not work.
i have tried this with kayden...and she only gets more aggressive when i do release her. (sometimes i held her down for up to a minute)
i did it about 5 times to see if it would work...with no positive results...and it made me feel like i was being cruel to her :(

i have to say that i haven't been successful at finding a 'cure' for this yet.
i've also tried the 'walk away' thing...but she just follows me...obsessively biting at my ankles...and barking. and boy can she bark.
recently, i've started the 'time out' thing. this works while she's behind the gate, but once i let her out...it's on again.
and i hate doing this...especially if i've been at work all day.

and the water bottle doesn't work for her, either. she loves water...she she would get even more excited when i broke that out.

and...i tried the coins in the can. that just made her want to grab the can to see what was in it.

i'm just hoping she'll grow out of it soon.

Oye! I think we have clones! My Daisy is also very sweet, but toooo hyper, to the point where she gets a little annoying and nasty. When I tell her No Biting, or Drop it, or simply No she barks at my as if I've annoyed her!!! Lately I try to watch my tone and my level of anxiety before correcting her...Even a vet told me my dog was Untrained and too dominant...ugh...I know I should be more stern, but its like...i didnt get a dog to be stern with her!? I dont spoil her, but is it so wrong to just let them live...with some boundaries...:(

This is what I do...

My baby bites me all the time
 

Any tips on teaching my baby to stop biting. Its never in an aggressive way,but its all the time. He is very energetic and is always playful. But he bites hard, and its during play, relaxation, cuddles and well all the time. He has even bitten on the face, nose ears, chin. You cant even pet him with out the bites. I have tried all differant things. Taps on the nose, while saying no bites, holding his bottom jaw just enough to be uncomfortable, also folding my arms and ignoring him. He is 12 weeks old and I have had him for almost a month. We tried to kick the biting to a curb from day 1. He just doesn't seem to get it

You got him at 8 weeks, that's a huge part of the problem. Yorkies do best when they stay with their mothers and litter mates for at least 12 weeks to learn socialization skills and bite inhibition. Since you got him so young, it's up to you to do the teaching.

Do NOT use physical punishment to teach him not to bite. It doesn't work, as you have already found out. It just encourages aggression. You need to be consistent in your methods. Either immediately stop what ever you are doing and put him in a very short 2-3 minute time out or immediately redirect biting on to something appropriate such as a toy. Good luck.