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  #31  
Old May 5th, 2012, 08:31 PM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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You say you don't want to take her for a walk so does that mean this behaviour only happens on walks? In that case, easy answer. 11 week old puppies don't really need walks. Play they need but that can be off leash in a safe place. However, I'm going to go ahead and assume that's not what you meant and she bites anytime, not just on walks.

Some rules of thumb for walks. Not out in public till safely vaccinated is one many of us follow. You can find other ways to socialize and habituate to loud noises etc.

Another rule of thumb. Forced exercise of 5 minutes per month of age allowed twice a day. Forced is anything on leash, compelled to keep up to you, in a straight line, on a hard surface. Consider any or all to be something to be wary of for fear of straining young joints.

Off leash play on a soft surface allows puppy to stop or change direction when she feels like it. This kind of play unlimited. This is what is better for tiring them out.

It sounds as if you might unintentionally be giving her too much exercise. She's just a baby. Know how small children get antsy, nasty and unpleasant when over tired? Puppies do too.

The above I got from a U.K. dog site and I followed it loosely.

Distracting with a toy is good but it must come BEFORE the bad behaviour. You want to prevent it, not redirect it, at best. At worst re-directing, if poorly timed, can seem like a reward or participation on your part. Try to throw a toy when you see her getting worked up and thinking about a bite, before she actually bites. This takes a bit of observation but I found a sense of self preservation developed my observation skills in reading puppy body language improved pretty quickly. LOL

Ome method I've seen endorsed but never tried myself is to remove puppy from your leg and fold a bit of her lip over one of her own sharp little teeth and saying No. No is probably pretty meaningless for her right now unless you have associated it with something negative.

This is an old thread but if you read through some of the answers above you may find some good ideas.
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  #32  
Old May 7th, 2012, 11:33 PM
dsmolik dsmolik is offline
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puppy nipping legs

Thanks so much for your reply. Yes. I believe you are right regarding walk vs play time. For the last couple of days my husband and I have been playing fetch with her in the yard - she is tireless when it comes to play - however, when she slows down a bit we resort to less active play. At these times she is no problem.

The reason for the" walk" is the actual walk to the beach across the road. We have a long driveway and then there is a short trail to the lake - her favourite destination. Once there she is pre-occupied and is fine. However, sometimes on the way down she gets excited and starts nipping at my ankle and pulling at my pant leg. I REALLY like your idea about observing the behaviour and catching it before it happens .. not always easy to do, but certainly more effective.

My dog's Vet suggested the "yelp & ignore" and then if it doesn't work to isolate her for a few minutes, letting her associate the behaviour with the consequence.

Well keep trying
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  #33  
Old July 7th, 2012, 05:11 AM
Annbo Annbo is offline
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Hi All,

I am new to this website and new to the world of dogs also. I am having a similar problem with my 11 week old labrador. I have only had her for a week. Two days ago she started biting my trousers and growling angrily. I have tried all that you guys mentioned. I started with the yelps and moving away immediately but these only but seem to excite her and encourage her to bite me even more. Maybe my yelp/s is not producing the right sound???

The 'mother dog technique' sounds good but I find it hard to agree to sit down and get bitten and attacked until she stops.

Exercising does work though she also growls and bits me whilst exercising. I have kept my clicker and some food to encourage her to sit down when she starts attacking me. Is this wrong? I don't want to make her think that by biting me I will play with her but whilst in the garden I have little choice and as soon as i start running she will attack!

I have placed her in her room and ignored her for a while. At the moment it is ok to pick her up and close the door but she is getting heavier by the day!

Am I doing the right things? When will it stop?

Please help! I don't want my dog to be vicious towards me coz she is my pride and joy




Quote:
Originally Posted by Miss Mille View Post
Dear everyone,
Am new here - so pleased to meet you. I've had lot's of luck using Jan Fennels method (the book: Doglistener) who kindly uses what the wolves and leader of the pack use to calm their flock down.

You can read the book - esecialle i'd love to give you her 48 hours when you get a puppy in the house from her new book - seven ages of a dog. but if you want to try the method out quickly here's a start:

Jan fennels point is to show he puppy you are the new and gentle leader - in the most calm and quiet way, like a big leader og mother dog does (notice older dogs how they react to you puppy by putting thei nose up in the air and looking away - this is their way of saying calm down little one - no need to worry - we're bigger older and higher and we're not worried)
Take you and your puppy into a room with nothing on the floor (the hall or anywhere). No distractions i mean.

Sit down and leave you wonderful pup alone. Since your dog doesn't understand humanlanguage you can copy the signal of a mother/leader by telling it - you can go to sleep - don't worr about a thing - i'm you boss and I take care of you.
You must do this by taking you chin up and eyes away from the dog. This might take anything from 2 minutes to 3 hours. Probably around 30-40 minutes if your pup has gotten a bit worried about who's taking care of things in the house (lifting them up shows them that they DO have something to worry about - it enforces their anxiety, growling etc)

Puppy reaction:
Probably first sniffing around
Then trying to jump up at you (DONT SAY A WORD - SHOW THE PUP EVERYTHING IS COOL BY GENTLY PUSHING IT AWAY THE SECOND IT TRIES TO TOUCH YOU - NO TALK - NO EYE CONTACT - CHIN UP)
Your pup might now start to whine - what's going on (DONT SAY A WORD DONT LOOK - A MOTHER SHOWS LOVE BY REASSURING THIS WAY)
THen it might start to growl and even bark at you (OK THIS IS WHERE I CANT HELP GIGGLE - THIS MEANS YOU HAVE A STRONG WILLED PUP WHO ACTUALLY THINKS HE's THE BOSS)
You pup may lie down (THIS IS OFTEN A FIRST TRICK - IF YOU TOUCH NOW ITMIGHT JUMP UP AND START AGAIN)
Your pup might get up and down 1-9 nine times
Suddenly your pup will give up and lie down - completely flat with its whole body from tail to head. (THIS IS IT - HE/SHE HAS GIVEN UP)
Wait five minutes.
Call and have a cuddle. Your puppy is now happy and relaxed and not growling or biting.

If youwant the full benefit of this there are more steps and things you do every day - all the dogs life. But you get so used to doing them - that it just seems so easy - in my opinion.

I'm really interested to hear how it goes - i did it with my pup and its six siblings when they were 7 weeks old. Some took ten minutes. Others - the alfa maile - took 45 minutes. They all slept for hours afterwards and the house became calm and happy. The point is to repeat the process, but the first time you do it is by far the most important.

Also this proces saved my last dogs life - a rescue dog with severe anxiety problems. It would have had to be pt down as a 1 year old if it hadn't been for Jan Fennel. It made it to three - and this was all Jan Fennels doing.
As we say in Denmark - good wind - meaning - may the luck follow your moves.
BEST Miss Mille (my wonderful new 9 month dogs name - a dog who does alle the doggy annoying things, but isn't at all a problem like my last one)
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  #34  
Old July 7th, 2012, 06:04 AM
Longblades Longblades is offline
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WElcome Annbo. Please read all the answers all ready given. Your puppy is not being vicious or abnormal. She is playing inappropiately. The best way to prevent her biting and growling and grabbing your pants is to anticipate this behaviour BEFORE it happens and direct her to a toy. You should be able to see this when it is about to happen.

I am heartened to see she was only 10 weeks old when you got her. Hopefully she was with her Mom and littermates till then where she should have learned good bite inhibition. If taken from them sooner than 8 weeks, the usual age for placing Labs, she may have a harder time learning to control the strength of her bite but she can learn.

How long will it take? Could be months. My Lab puppy did. I only got to cuddle him when he was asleep. Little devil. Adorable little devil.
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  #35  
Old July 18th, 2012, 05:35 PM
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Isla'sMudder Isla'sMudder is offline
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Puppy growling and nipping...

I'm so glad to have found this forum as well. At least I see that I am not the only one. Everyone says when the puppy is biting that you should get up and leave the room, but she follows me or is hanging off my pants. Often this behavior is on walks. She bites on her leash and growls and that and me. She's 10.5 weeks now. She was 6 weeks when she left her mother, definitely too young, but they were unwanted and dumped off at the SPCA. I'm hoping that all my patience will pay off eventually. That she will grow out of it. She ripped a new pair of pants the other day with those sharp teeth. I love her so much and feel like I'm not doing things right.
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  #36  
Old July 18th, 2012, 07:48 PM
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hazelrunpack hazelrunpack is offline
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Patience and consistency will pay off, Isla'sMudder. Our pups had tricks like jumping up and grabbing the sleeve of our shirts--can't tell you how many times my arms were pinched and how many shirts had sleeves ripped (sometimes completely off ). But eventually they got over that high-jinx stage and settled into a more sane adulthood.
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  #37  
Old July 18th, 2012, 08:53 PM
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tenderfoot tenderfoot is offline
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Attention getting behavior can be fixed in a few ways.

1. Ignore it and the pup will learn that its efforts are fruitless and will stop. But this can take way too long to fix with patience, especially when you are being pinched and clothes are being torn. Walking away can actually empower the pup because he just moved you out of his space. In the animal world its all about who moves whose feet.

2. You have a right and obligation to teach this puppy some manners and let him know it has to stop. If he is permitted to abuse you like this then what will stop him from doing it to children or your grandmother? You need to claim your space - just as you would teach an obnoxious child not to jump on your lap repeatedly. Then you have to take the time to teach him how to play with people, and how to get the good attention he wants.

3. He is bored and trying to engage you. So get his brain busy and work on his drills and skills. A busy brain doesn't have time to be creating mischief.
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  #38  
Old July 18th, 2012, 11:51 PM
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erykah1310 erykah1310 is offline
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I have no advice at all for any one who has posted to this but I couldn't help but chuckle over the fact I encourage bites then redirect them and look at achieving full mouth solid grips.
Just found it neat how different people in different venues or sports see various "problems"
Best of luck with your pup.
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  #39  
Old July 22nd, 2012, 04:56 AM
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Isla'sMudder Isla'sMudder is offline
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[QUOTE=tenderfoot;1043294]Attention getting behavior can be fixed in a few ways.

1. Ignore it and the pup will learn that its efforts are fruitless and will stop. But this can take way too long to fix with patience, especially when you are being pinched and <a class="inlineAdmedialink" href="#">clothes</a> are being torn. Walking away can actually empower the pup because he just moved you out of his space. In the animal world its all about who moves whose feet.

I totally agree and try ignoring, until I feel those sharp teeth. I'm going to try puppy classes. She is such a smart dog. At 8 weeks she knew sit, down, paw, and speak. She comes, but only when she wants to. I would love to teach her more, as I think she's very eager and quick to pick up on things. She also brings the ball back to me when I throw it for her. Must be the lab in her.
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  #40  
Old July 22nd, 2012, 06:43 AM
BenMax BenMax is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tenderfoot View Post
Attention getting behavior can be fixed in a few ways.

1. Ignore it and the pup will learn that its efforts are fruitless and will stop. But this can take way too long to fix with patience, especially when you are being pinched and clothes are being torn. Walking away can actually empower the pup because he just moved you out of his space. In the animal world its all about who moves whose feet.

2. You have a right and obligation to teach this puppy some manners and let him know it has to stop. If he is permitted to abuse you like this then what will stop him from doing it to children or your grandmother? You need to claim your space - just as you would teach an obnoxious child not to jump on your lap repeatedly. Then you have to take the time to teach him how to play with people, and how to get the good attention he wants.

3. He is bored and trying to engage you. So get his brain busy and work on his drills and skills. A busy brain doesn't have time to be creating mischief.
As always - excellent advice.
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  #41  
Old July 25th, 2012, 12:26 AM
Dopeycrackers Dopeycrackers is offline
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I had the same problem with my aussiedoodle. I had tried everything possible. I was in tears thinking that I had an aggressive puppy. Long story short ....... I put some pennies in an empties pop can and the next time he did it I shook the can and sad no. To my amazment it worked. This truly was an instant fix. I still carry the can around with me but I rarely have to use it. Good luck to everyone having this problem. Keep trying different things and if something doesn't work then try something else.
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  #42  
Old July 27th, 2012, 01:25 PM
Niall Niall is offline
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Thumbs up

Quote:
Originally Posted by jessi76 View Post
all typical and very normal behavior. a 7 wk old pup doesn't know bite inhibition yet. 7 wks is IMO too soon to leave the litter, so now YOU will need to teach her how to play appropriately.

when she bites - let out a loud YELP (just as another pup would do) and get up and walk away. ignore the pup. play is over when biting happens. she will learn, but it will take time, and repetition.

yelp and leave. yelp and leave.

if she is coming after you (or pant legs) gently scoop her up (do not say a word) and place her in a safe spot - i.e. a crate, or a confined area (x-pen) or a gated room. leave her for a min or 2, and let her out when she is NOT whining.

no need to hold her muzzle at all. it may have an opposite effect and make her scared of you, or scared of you touching her head which could lead to problems down the road.

try the yelp! and ignore first. try gentle and calm "time outs". praise her good behavior. give rewards for not biting and only using toys. and sign up for a puppy behavior class for socializing skills. it's worth every penny IMO.
Perfect advice!
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  #43  
Old March 9th, 2013, 09:32 AM
cajohoffman cajohoffman is offline
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Go to the search feature for growling puppy and read what miss millie had to say in jan 2008 . I tried it with my 7 wk old and it worked the first time for about 5 hrs, then he reverted back to it, i did it again and it worked for awhile so i will keep doing it until he stops.......the first time i did it he was like a completely different puppy...calm & relaxed...good luck
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