# Please Help! Play biting and aggressive biting?



## Tongyuen (Dec 3, 2015)

Hi, I’m a new Maltese mom. My boy is 14 weeks old, he loves licking and nipping at feet. Yeah, it’s disgusting but my husband and I let him lick as we know that’s how he explores and shows love and if he does nip, we’d say “ouch” real loud and lift our feet up so he can’t get to them and ignore him for a few seconds, and he doesn’t nip our feet anymore, but now the problem is when we have guest over or going to friends’ house, he’d rush over to the person’s feet and lick and nip at them, we tell our friends not to move and ignore him when he does that, but it’s real hard as most people doesn’t like their feet being licked, and when the person moves he gets even more excited and nip at them. As soon as he’s in that mode he would not listen to anything and go crazy after the feet, I tried interrupting by giving him a chewy toy but he wouldn’t take it, also tried getting close to his face and say no, pointing my finger at him and he'd get aggressive and tried to bite my finger! And I even tried picking him up away from the person and he would try to bite me! I don’t know what I can do, I want to socialize him with people but his behavioral is scaring my guests. I also notice this aggressive biting behavioral when I don't want him to chew on other things (e.g. shoes), I'd give him a chew toy but he'd try to bite my hand.


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## luvsmalts (Oct 21, 2008)

Yikes, it sounds like you've tried everything. Only other thing I would suggest is maybe a time out when he gets too aggressive. Have you enrolled him in any puppy classes that maybe something that could help. He sounds like a handful little stinker, good luck.


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## LovelyLily (Mar 26, 2013)

Hi! From what I understand from the classes I have taken with Lily, it seems you may be having problems because of inconsistent messages you are sending to your dog. 

You have taught that it is proper socialization to lick feet. The dog has been rewarded for that behavior with you. Understandably, the dog then tries to act in this manner with others and is confused when the response is different.

When the confused dog then has the upset owner getting close and saying no in an emotion charged voice the dog feeds off that energy and gets more hyper.

My recommendation is to prohibit the possibility of this scenario with others by keeping the dog on a short lead by you when friends are around until the situation is under control. And consider working with a reputable trainer.


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## LovelyLily (Mar 26, 2013)

Wanted to add... Lily drove me bonkers as a pup with running zoomies around me and coming in to bite my feet and growl after each circle. Lol. Without knowing better, I accidentally rewarded the behavior by giving a stern no or by moving quickly away. Those responses, as well as giving her a timeout, did nothing to get her to drop the pattern of behavior. Became a habit. It took a long long time of completely ignoring behavior to get her to cease doing it. Turning my head away from her and giving no attention worked for her, after consistently doing that for a long time.


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## Smtf773 (Apr 8, 2015)

The only thing that worked with Edward was ignoring him. Saying ouch just fueled him up more! Pretty soon he caught on that all attention stopped when bad behavior began. They are super smart so it doesn't take long for them to understand how to get what they want . Pretty sure in the end Edward was the one in charge I just wasn't smart enough to know he was playing me


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## LovelyLily (Mar 26, 2013)

Also training may help in SO many ways. Obedience training--teaching sit, down, come here, paw, go to mat, heel, paws up, spin, etc.-- helps drain excess energy and creates a more positive bond.

Works wonders with Lily. If I skip a few days she becomes a bit restless and rambunctious, and tries to give me clues to go back to training (pushes the one ball used for training at me, etc. SO cute). : )

These dogs are so smart and I think it helps to keep their minds occupied and focused on positive behaviors.


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## Tongyuen (Dec 3, 2015)

Thanks for all the advise! I'm planning to sign him up for puppy training as soon as he has all the shots  

P.S. How do you all get your fluff so white? Mine doesn't even let me wipe his face with a towel around his eyes.


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