Biting!

[marissa]

We finally got our baby! His name is Ali (named after the boxer Mohammed Ali!). He is so adorable and we already love him so much. He's 10 weeks old and we've had him for 1 week now. Since yesterday he's developed a new habit ... biting! We can't seem to get him to stop. He's biting feet, hands, the couch, slippers ... pretty much anything he can get his mouth on. We keep telling him "no" but he won't stop. We bought him chew toys but those don't seem to be enough. Is this normal behavior for a 10 week old? I'm concerned about the feet and hands as I don't want him to try doing that with my nephews (1 and 2 years old) come over. Are we worrying too much? Will he outgrow this? I read in "Boxers for Dummies" that a coke can with pennies when shaken can be used as a deterrent. We'v been shaking it when he attacks our feet and is not responding to "no". He stops for a few minutes then goes right back to biting. What should we do?

 

[Jan]

All boxer puppies bite. You need to teach that biting loses them their playmate. Yelp loudly every time they bite. Then redirect their attention to an appropriate toy. If they are persistent leave the room. Try not to use the word no. Puppies consider negative attention better than no attention at all. It's much better to praise then when they are chewing on the right toy. Basically it is much better to praise the apprpriate behavior and ignore the bad behavior. Puppies love to get praise, if they get no reaction from you, when they being bad, the behavior will eventually extinguish itself.

I highly reccomend the book "The Culture Clash" by Jean Donaldson. It is an excellent book.

Good luck with your puppy!

 

[marissa]

Amazing! I did not think of it that way at all. We will give it a shot and let you know how it goes. Thanks a mil for the quick response!

 

[rockytide]

One thing for sure all puppies do bite. Our puppy Abbey, who is 11-weeks-old, was biting a lot. We were told to give her a puppy "time out" in her crate when she would start the biting. We tried this and left her in the crate for 1-2 minutes, and when she came out she was more docile. I think she got the hang of biting means no playing time. Now, if she starts to bite, we tell her "No bite" and she now stops. Good Luck with you little baby Ali.

Abbey's Mom