My 6 month old Lucy loves to play. When she is playing though, she gets really riled up and starts to bite my hands, arms, and feet. It was cute when she was 2 months old, but she has some strong jaw muscles now. How would I need to go about stopping this behavior. I have tried telling her no and pulling away and hiding my hands, and it stops it, but as soon as I show my hands again, she is trying to bite again. Then on top of that, unless she is tired, she will try to nip at your hands when you try to pet her. I need to get this taken care of soon because when she gets a lot bigger, it will hurt a lot more.
Biting when playing
- Thread starter suprdav95
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It may be cute when they are liitle, but as you said it's not anymore.
When she bites I would yelp loudly. If she persists, end playtime and leave. I would check out this section on puppy biting. http://www.boxerworld.com/puppy/biting/
Good luck!
When she bites I would yelp loudly. If she persists, end playtime and leave. I would check out this section on puppy biting. http://www.boxerworld.com/puppy/biting/
Good luck!
Biting
I have a 6 month old female that does the same thing. A trick we learned at obedients training was to get a empty soda can and insert 13 pennies and slide the tab around so pennies don't fall out and whenever your dog does something you prefer the little angels not to do just shake it real quick. The noise definitely gets their attention. I keep a few scattered around the house. My Ruby will stop doing anyting as soon as she see's me grab the can. Good luck, I was concerned I'ld run out of blood before the dog made it pased this stage. Ha Ha
I have a 6 month old female that does the same thing. A trick we learned at obedients training was to get a empty soda can and insert 13 pennies and slide the tab around so pennies don't fall out and whenever your dog does something you prefer the little angels not to do just shake it real quick. The noise definitely gets their attention. I keep a few scattered around the house. My Ruby will stop doing anyting as soon as she see's me grab the can. Good luck, I was concerned I'ld run out of blood before the dog made it pased this stage. Ha Ha
lulup722
Boxer Pal
Hi I solved this issue by this method, whenever I wanted to play with my dog I would use the word playtime, Ekim and I would roll on the floor roughhouse or play with toys. The minute he got to rough or would get to nippy I would say the word DONE, I would then immediately stop playing, stand up and turn my back to him. he got the message quickly, now when I say done at playtime he stops playing goes into a sit position and waits for play to resme.Now he won't even play rough until I say playtime. Hope this helps.
sandy's mom
Boxer Insane
I had that problem with both of mine when they were younger.
Napoleon was 1 year old in December, he did not want to learn to play nice.
it took him a while to get it. The more you yelped, the harder he would bite. Getting away from him was the only thing that worked with him too. It takes a lot of patience and persistance.
The bitter apple spray worked really good with Sandy but did not phase Napoleon. It is worth a try, at least until they get the idea.
Good Luck!
Debbie
Napoleon was 1 year old in December, he did not want to learn to play nice.
it took him a while to get it. The more you yelped, the harder he would bite. Getting away from him was the only thing that worked with him too. It takes a lot of patience and persistance.
The bitter apple spray worked really good with Sandy but did not phase Napoleon. It is worth a try, at least until they get the idea.
Good Luck!
Debbie
This sounds so much like the problem I am facing. I detailed it in the following post: http://www.boxerworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69949
We seem to have rectified this problem with a behaviorist. I tried everything else that I was recommended and it just did not work with Lola.
We seem to have rectified this problem with a behaviorist. I tried everything else that I was recommended and it just did not work with Lola.
Debbies Dogs
Boxer Pal
Sometimes using a noise aversive (like a penny can), can backfire and make a puppy frightened of anything resembling a can. Using something like a penny can or a spray bottle also relies on us having those items the exact second we want to interupt our puppies. An 'interupter' that is always available is our voice. If we use a verbal reprimand like "No." or "ah, ah!" we must realize that it's JUST an interupter. It doesn't really install any kind of knowledge in our puppies. They don't really know what "no!" means. Anymore than we would know what "Blah, blah, blah!" means if someone came up to us and yelled that. We would probably stop what we were doing at the moment. But we have no idea what that means. It would work to 'interupt' behavior. The best thing we can do when using an 'interupter' is to then redirect our puppies. Think... interupt, redirect, reward. or... interupt and time-out.
It's nearly impossible to train the 'absence' of a behavior. Especially one that our puppies are so hard-wired to do. Biting is so natural for them. Whenever there's a behavior that I want to get rid of, (like play-biting), I don't focus on "how do I punish this behavior", but rather... what would I rather have my puppy do right now. I'll help my puppy do THAT behavior and make it very rewarding for him so he wants to repeat it. So maybe my boxer likes to attack my ankles or hands. It's my job to think of a 'game' he can play that will help get rid of his pent up energy, and that doesn't entail putting his mouth on me. Like, attack the squeeky squirrel. Or fetch the ball. or play a structured game of tug or war. Any time he makes a mistake and does something I deem unacceptable (bite my clothes, or skin, claw at me, jump on me.. etc... ) I will immediately END the game. period. His behavior... biting my hand for example, caused an immediate consequence... END of FUN. In essence we're saying, "guess what puppy... you bite me, you play ALONE". And because WE are the reward when our puppies are play biting us, the removal of that reward is a clear and meaningful consequence.
I encorporate lots of fun games in our training. And some even get my puppy riled up... but it's an awsome way to teach our puppies the rules of engagement. If you want to play with people... you MUST keep your teeth OFF. Boy if your puppy loves his training games, they very quickly learn the rules.
Also, we really have to admit to ourselves that if we do have to 'punish' our dogs for breaking 'our' rules, it's really just an admission by us that we have not yet trained the puppy. They don't come knowing the rules. Nor do they understand that virtually all naturally dog behavior is unaccepteble to us! Poor pups. It's really hard for them!
It's nearly impossible to train the 'absence' of a behavior. Especially one that our puppies are so hard-wired to do. Biting is so natural for them. Whenever there's a behavior that I want to get rid of, (like play-biting), I don't focus on "how do I punish this behavior", but rather... what would I rather have my puppy do right now. I'll help my puppy do THAT behavior and make it very rewarding for him so he wants to repeat it. So maybe my boxer likes to attack my ankles or hands. It's my job to think of a 'game' he can play that will help get rid of his pent up energy, and that doesn't entail putting his mouth on me. Like, attack the squeeky squirrel. Or fetch the ball. or play a structured game of tug or war. Any time he makes a mistake and does something I deem unacceptable (bite my clothes, or skin, claw at me, jump on me.. etc... ) I will immediately END the game. period. His behavior... biting my hand for example, caused an immediate consequence... END of FUN. In essence we're saying, "guess what puppy... you bite me, you play ALONE". And because WE are the reward when our puppies are play biting us, the removal of that reward is a clear and meaningful consequence.
I encorporate lots of fun games in our training. And some even get my puppy riled up... but it's an awsome way to teach our puppies the rules of engagement. If you want to play with people... you MUST keep your teeth OFF. Boy if your puppy loves his training games, they very quickly learn the rules.
Also, we really have to admit to ourselves that if we do have to 'punish' our dogs for breaking 'our' rules, it's really just an admission by us that we have not yet trained the puppy. They don't come knowing the rules. Nor do they understand that virtually all naturally dog behavior is unaccepteble to us! Poor pups. It's really hard for them!
Boxer&Scott
Boxer Booster
Bennington had the same problem. I tried just ignoring him when he would bite, but then he would just go play with our other dog. He didn't seem to care that I wasn't paying attention to him since he had someone else to play with. We decided to put him in the bathroom by himself when he would bite. Of course had to remove the trash can and TP first
We only left him in there for about 30 seconds, but he got the idea real quick. He is doing much better now.
We only left him in there for about 30 seconds, but he got the idea real quick. He is doing much better now.
Smith&Wesson
Boxer Pal
I have a 7 week old and a 9 week old. When they bite, we try clappind saying "no" first, if that doesn't work we squirt them with water ad say "no" at the same time. That always works. They do not like being squirted. All you have to do is squirt once. I've found if you squirt them more than once they will become afraid of the water, which we do not want. Then, when they go to bite adn you say "no", they associate the word "no" with getting squirted with the water, and they usually stop.
Ignoring them also works most of the time, but they are so cute it's hard to ignore them sometimes.
Ignoring them also works most of the time, but they are so cute it's hard to ignore them sometimes.
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apollosdad
Boxer Insane
you might want to try telling them "no bite" and ignoring them and ending play time as soon as they start to nip or bite, or behave in any undesired way. after a few minutes, resume playing with them but end it as soon as they begin nipping or biting, etc. eventually they should grasp the concept that play time ends when they do something that they shouldn't be. i don't necessarily agree with the "shaking the can" method because it tends to have negative associations along with it. also, hiding your hands for a few seconds, as you mentioned you were doing, is not working because your dog thinks that it is a form of playing with them. when you stop something, such as their playtime, be sure to ignore them completely and give them enough time to grasp the concept, such as five to ten minutes. you don't necessarily have to put them back in their crate, but just make sure to not have any eye contact or give them any attention. that also means not correcting them by telling them "no" after the act. that would be giving them attention, although negative, and would make them think it was still playtime. just act as if they are no longer in the room and when you want to resume playtime with them repeat the process.
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