Bite question? - Page 1

Our 10 week old pup is starting to bite us. once he starts biting I try to redirect his biting to his toy. I don't want to say no or yell because I don't want to squelch any prey drive but, I have 2 boys 6,8 and they are getting bit too so how do I teach him not to bite us? thanks, Kelli

my boy did the same thing..I like you redirected his biting....when he bit me or someone else I would say "don't bite me" bite your toy! it took awhile but he stopped..then we could just say.."don't bite me" I'm sure there is more you can do, but this worked for us...and yes those little needle teeth will hurt the boys..

Hi Kelster42, You are doing the right thing by redirecting the bite. The mother of the pups when she disciplines, does so by grabbing by the scruff (back) of the neck and giving a small shake and a growl. We have done this with much success and no loss of drive. It has to be done quickly and we give a stearn (stearn does not equal volume)pfui(fooey)admonishment with the quick shake. Do not let your sons do this. After the admonishment, quickly give them something acceptable to grip and PRAISE, PRAISE and PRAISE. Also let a puppy be a puppy. We are teaching manners not trained obedience. Good Luck, Kyle

I have taught all my dogs both mutts and purebred by a quick scruff shake with a clipped 'no bite' and then quickly give them an acceptable object. I have had two dogs which did not respond to this. For those two I got a bottle of Bitter Apple. When they were biting me I would turn so they couldn't see and give my hand or foot a quick spray and let them bite it again. They stopped very quickly. If you can't get Bitter Apple, anything they don't like that can be sprayed on your hand will work.

Thanks all

We two have pups that bite or grab at our clothes. One is 9 months old now - and doing it a lot less -- the other is 12 weeks and starting -- (they are related on their mother's side). The breeder says that the mother of the 9 month old did this as a youngster also -- She is somewhat dominant - I do not give good/proper corrections and I'm sure she considers me barely equal to her - so she grabs me when she wants my attention or when she wants to play. No amount of expressing dissatisfaction works very well with her - You can yell "Ouch" and try to startle her, but she thinks its more fun to do it again. She is not body or sound sensititve so you can smack her on the head and it means nothing !! She does not do this with strangers she meets and is not aggressive to other dogs that she encounters outside. I think it runs in the family, she has a lot of drive, and loves to carry bones, balls, sticks, whatever. It's difficult when pups do this with little kids. It's clear that our new Puppy loves to carry things also, she pee's with a bone in her mouth. and she loves to play tug games with your pants leg -- so we are in for another challenge, but this temperatment is wonderful, and they are smart so the lessons will "stick" and they will grow up into fine dogs !!

The problem with the shaking scruff thing is you might do it to often and get a pup that ducks under or away from your hand. I have a crazy monster here and have been working with him with the same issue. I am now to the point where I play rough with him and when he bites me I slowly push my hand to the back of his mouth until I see he wants my hand out of his mouth. I then start playing like nothing happened and when I get him going strong enough and he bites me very hard again I slowly push to the back of the mouth until he again wants me out of his mouth. I do not say anything or make a big deal about it. Curve the behavior through repetition not a few strong hard shakes. They turn out no worst for the wear... Just not biting any further...

there is a very confusing concept about raising puppies for work and the predominant notion about fear of killing drive -- [ a personally think drive is a hogwash word...people and dogs have motivations , a dog thaty has motive to bite .. will bite !!!] -but nonetheless i would like to state that every working dog owner must know the differentiation between a dog made to made manners and respect vs a dog made to do obedience, which can affect motivation , obedience .. no a dog should not bite you .. or anyone else .. and it should be taught that lesson .. and can be taught that biting is acceptable under certain parameters too .--....naturally in a sensible way help your dog learn correctly and for unaccpetable behaviors/lack of manners correct it /better have the dog correct itself . - have the dog realize that it made the error it and the prevous comment is correct the dog must repect you but careful how you use your hands --the dog should respect you ... not fear you --