Crazy Puppy!

wilky44

Hello all

We've just got our first ever dog - a 9 week old Minitaure Schnauzer. We've never had a dog before as I'm allergic to most pets, but not him.

Anyway, as we've never had a puppy before, we're struggling with his biting/nipping. I know he's only playing, but his teeth are very sharp, and they can hurt.

I've read around, and we've tried the usual things - water spray, yelping, stones in a can, gently grabbing him by the scruff of his neck etc, but he thinks it's all just a game!

Does anybody have any other suggestions before I lose a toe or finger?!

Mark

tizerbelle

Blimey, how long have you had him? That's a lot of different techniques to try on one little pup. I would suggest select just one and sticking to it consistently - ensure everyone does it the same. At the moment there is no consistency in your behaviour so no pattern for him to be able to understand what you mean/want.

ddebski_us

Congrats on the pup - they're a handful aren't they!

You need to be consistent - choose one thing and stick to it - you also then need to completely disengage with the pup - no playing, attention or anything until he is calm. Soon enough he'll learn that nipping = no more fun.

Our pup did this to start with but it soon stopped once she realised there were no more games!

I'd recommend buying "The Perfect Puppy" book by Gwen Bailey - it takes you through all sorts of things pups get up to!

Good luck

xDx

sarabe

wilky44 wrote: »

Hello all

We've just got our first ever dog - a 9 week old Minitaure Schnauzer. We've never had a dog before as I'm allergic to most pets, but not him.

Anyway, as we've never had a puppy before, we're struggling with his biting/nipping. I know he's only playing, but his teeth are very sharp, and they can hurt.

I've read around, and we've tried the usual things - water spray, yelping, stones in a can, gently grabbing him by the scruff of his neck etc, but he thinks it's all just a game!

Does anybody have any other suggestions before I lose a toe or finger?!

Mark

You are right in your assumption that he is only playing but it is a BIG mistake to use aversives or punishment in an attempt to stop your puppy biting you.

He needs to bite. He has no hands. He will use his mouth and teeth to play and you need to teach him how to play with humans. So far he has only learned how to play with other dogs.

If you punish the biting your pup will eventually be reluctant to play with you even when you invite him to. This means that in a few weeks time when you are at the park with him he will look for other dogs to play with and then you will have another problem.

Just teach him what to bite and when to bite it and when to stop biting it.

Use a tug toy, tie some rope to it so that it is long enough to reach the ground when you are standing. This is so that you are not encouraging him to jump up to play and you are putting distance between his teeth and your hand.

Make the toy really exciting and use a cue word such as 'getit' to encourage him to grab and bite and tug. If he gets over excited just let go of the toy and stop the game. He will immediately calm down and either bring the toy back and ask you to play again or drop it because it's boring now in which case you can pick it up and start again. If he runs off with it then just produce a second identical toy and make your toy more fun than his. Not so important when playing indoors but when you take it on the road and are playing at the park with him you need him to stay with you and not go off with the toy and make his own entertainment.


To teach him to let go on command.... actually I wouldn't worry about this for a couple of weeks, just do lots of fun play and if he's biting a toy he isn't biting you.

Use various toys to keep it interesting and keep these toys just for this, don't leave them with him to play with on his own or they will have no value.

I recommend that you do this just until he understands the game and then no more playing indoors. All exciting games happen outside and indoors we just relax. Do you have a crate? He needs to rest in his crate with something to chew as well.

foreign_correspondent

Agree with Sarabe - using aversives is likely to create more problems long term.

Re: the allergies - I hope you have spent a lot of time with adult schnauzers? Lots of pups do not cause allergies in sensitive people until they become mature at about a year old, give or take a few months.

buddys_mum

My friends dog nips, so when he holds my hand/arm with his teeth i 'blow a rasberry sound' and he quickly lets go.

wilky44

Thank you for the replies.

Yes I am fine with adults, I spent time with the mother and father prior to getting him so no allergy worries

We don't want to make him hate us - we know he needs to bite, and we aren't cruel, just looking for ideas. It's our first time, so it's a bit difficult to know what might work and what won't

There are so many different opinions out there - some say do this, some say don't. We are just looking to see what has worked for people previously.

We are sticking to the "yip" and turn away and ignore when he nips, but when you aren't expecting it (like when he nips your toes or ankles when sitting down), it's a touch more difficult!

Jojaykay

Hi, We've just had our first ever puppy too. A little border terrier called Bella, she's now 10 wks old. We've had her two weeks & have been experiencing the same thing.
I totally understand your concern. I worried that we had got an aggressive puppy! But after two weeks of being consistent with us saying a loud 'ow' noise when she went for our feet or trousers the human nibble has become a lot less frequent.
I have read heaps of stuff including the perfect puppy book & there is lots of conflicting advice out there so it's no wonder we are confused never mind the poor puppies!
I've spoke to friends who have said it's just a natural phase that will pass (fingers crossed!!) so in the mean time I've just brough Bella plenty of doggy toys to chew to her hearts content!
Good luck.