# Puppy biting



## mom2bijou (Oct 19, 2006)

Benny has started having what i call his little temper tantrums. It happens at night when we have our play time. (only at night does he do this). We play fetch and he comes back and bites my hands, pulls on my clothes, just a lot of nipping. i have tried to put him in a submissive posistion and yell "ouch" and say no...but he doesn't stop! 

what is this all about? his lil razors hurt!


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## Tallulah's Mom (Jan 8, 2007)

My Tallulah does that too! She does it in the morning and at night too. She races around nipping at my feet and especially my kids too. (Not so much my husband though!) We find that we all have to be consistent with our response to it. We usually say "NO" firmly and "No biting!" Usually that works. We used to over talk to her about it ("Be a nice girl Tallulah, you don't want to bite us etc. etc.") Then we realized that she probably has a short attention span for scolding or it might be the English language she has a problem with!







I think you have a good idea that you have to show him that your the boss by putting him in the submission position. 

Anyway, just be consistent that it's not pleasant to get nipped at (although I do think it's more a play thing with them and not aggression), and hopefully he will get the message.


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## mom2bijou (Oct 19, 2006)

first of all..love the name Tallulah. too cute! 

i agree...it's not out of aggression. he is only playing. funny though, how your dog also has his "episodes" at night. i just read another post that said to try time outs. hard to believe how tough it is to gain dominance over a 3 1/2 lb puppy. these little ones sure put up a fight!


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## Deanna (Jan 14, 2005)

I hear ya sister! Molly is 10 months old now and she is finally starting to be less bitey. My husband and I always say a line from the SImpson's "I call the little one bitey"! Their little teeth are like razors!

With Molly it was when she was all wound up during play time. I would put her in a submissive position by placing my hand under her belly and sort of holding her out so her feet hung to either side of my hand- that is supposed to simulate their mother holding them by the scruff of the neck- Molly is so tiny I didn't feel comfortable rolling her to the side. It would calm her down for a few minutes, but it never lasted long. I yelped, said no, yelled ouch, touched the tip of my finger to her snout and said stop- that seemed to work the best. I also curled my hand into fists and stopped playing- but I don't think she really understood. Now if I yelp or say ouch she stops biting me and licks my hand.









I think for the most part its just a puppy phase that they grow out of- Wilson never ever play bites with me. He will, sort of with Molly, he actually just has his mouth open making noises and never even soft bites her.


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## Tallulah's Mom (Jan 8, 2007)

Thank you!









I know it's like that get a burst of energy at night. We do sometimes use time-outs with her. We put her behind a baby gate in the kitchen. We only use it as a last resort though, because she wails and whines like she's being tortured!







(plus I feel so sorry for her) Try to go with the no's and show him that you're not pleased with getting bit, and I would give him a time-out if he continues misbehaving as a last resort.


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## Elly B. (Oct 27, 2006)

My puppy class instructor suggested a sharp 'ouch' to let them know they hurt you, but I didn't find that to work. Nick does well with commands but he doesn't do well with generic behavior modification.

Nick learned both 'NO TEETH' and 'YOU HURT MOMMY' mean that playing stops. I just stopped and got up and ignored him when he was getting too mouthy. He was always so sorry that he backed off. He still gets a little nippy sometimes when he's really excited, but 'no teeth' or 'you hurt mommy' still back him right off.

I prefer to use commands that don't sound like normal phrases around my house, I find Nick picks them out of conversation better. I see Nick sit every time my fiancee fires off one particular curse word at the cabinet doors and so I picked 'no teeth' for this one. I know dogs are supposed to relate more to tone of voice than actual phrase, but Nick seems to listen closely to the actual command. Maybe he's weird.

Anyway, if you're having trouble then a command might be the way to go. That way also you can reward good behavior (response to the command) and it's sometimes hard to reward behavior that is the absence of a bad behavior.


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## louis' mom (Jul 7, 2006)

Louis used to do that too at that age. They are testing you and trying to see how much they can get away with. This might be a bit tough but it worked for me - when they nip (everytime), hold their mouth shut and say "NO" with a firm, long, deep voice. This lets them know that it is not ok to bite. 

You might also try dominance training at that time. Let me know if you need some dominance positions. This lets them know that you are the leader of the pack and it calms them down. Good luck.


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## mom2bijou (Oct 19, 2006)

> Louis used to do that too at that age. They are testing you and trying to see how much they can get away with. This might be a bit tough but it worked for me - when they nip (everytime), hold their mouth shut and say "NO" with a firm, long, deep voice. This lets them know that it is not ok to bite.
> 
> You might also try dominance training at that time. Let me know if you need some dominance positions. This lets them know that you are the leader of the pack and it calms them down. Good luck.
> 
> ...


i would love to know some dominance positions. if i hold him down he'll just keep on squiggling. and then when he calms down, i'll let go, and he'll resume w/the biting. there is something wrong with what i do...so anything helps!!

even when i ignore benny during the tantrums, he'll grab onto my pants leg and get dragged around growling. he can turn into such a gremlin! 

it makes me wonder where my sweet angel went. haha


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## coco (Sep 20, 2006)

He sure is an adorable little biter.


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## wagirl98665 (Jan 5, 2006)

It's just a temp puppy thing usually. Mine all did it when they were excited and wanted my attention, "All Day" but stopped after they got a little older.


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## Deanna (Jan 14, 2005)

One dominance position is like I described above- hold them with your hand under their belly and their legs/feet hangig down on either side of your hand, this simulates their mom holding them by the scruff of their neck. It's the only way I can get Molly "the spaz" to calm down sometimes.


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## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

When you're in the middle of it it seems like it will never end...but I can tell you that in the last few days I've noticed a small change in Ollie's nippiness. Cetain times when he used to do it, it's all but gone. But he still does do it. It's just nice to know that there's light at the end of the tunnel...

When you say NO BITING use a very firm, somewhat loud voice. As females, I think even our loud is not very loud or firm sometimes. I have to really feel like I'm overdoing it just to sound firm, lol. But the tone does make a difference. And if he keeps it up, I say one last NO BITING and I turn my back on him and go the couch (where he can't reach me) or I leave the room. 

I have only put him in a submission position in the first few weeks I had him because there was a clear difference in his nippy playing and he would get agressive. He's kind of a boisterous guy in general and I have learned over time that he does try to dominate in new situations and I think that's what he was doing with me, too. I think I've established who is boss now. In the future if he challenges me again I will make him submit, but I don't think that is necessary with a puppy who is just playing and nipping. There's a difference between playing and agression and you'll know when it's time to lay down the law. If you make him submit too much too often when he doesn't need to be I can imagine that would not be healthy for his growing disposition.

Good luck!







We're all in this together!


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## louis' mom (Jul 7, 2006)

> One dominance position is like I described above- hold them with your hand under their belly and their legs/feet hangig down on either side of your hand, this simulates their mom holding them by the scruff of their neck. It's the only way I can get Molly "the spaz" to calm down sometimes.[/B]


Here are a couple more:

1. Hold your puppy under his arms in front of you but slightly below you - don't allow paws to touch anything - look "down" at him for a few seconds - varying between 15 and 45 seconds. 

2. "Stand" over your puppy (like your third picture) but literally stand over him - only allowing 2 back paws to be on the ground - standing him up from behind, under his arms.

3. Craddle him like a baby with your other hand on his belly - you are totally in control of his body.

In all these positions, hold puppy until puppy stops wiggling and for varying periods between 15 and 45 seconds. The book I read, said to have others do this to your puppy so that the puppy learns that "all" humans are the boss. I had trouble with this - most people didn't like to do it and Louis sensed it and was their boss! Let us know how it goes. Good luck.


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## Elly B. (Oct 27, 2006)

"3. Cradle him like a baby with your other hand on his belly - you are totally in control of his body."

I do this one to Nick all the time. I rub his tummy and tell him he's a good boy (regardless of whether he was being one or not) and he goes out like a light. He wakes up if I put him down, but I can pick him up mid barking fit and he's counting sheep in 45 seconds flat. I didn't know it was really a dominance position though.

My mom laughs herself purple every time she sees it, apparently you could do EXACTLY the same thing to me when I was a baby.


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## Aarianne (Jul 22, 2005)

When I first got my puppies, one already had a bit of a nipping problem as the breeder was encouraging it by playing nippy hand games with her. It was playful, not aggressive, but an awful habit to develop for obvious reasons. I wasn't about to have a nippy dog, so I responded to any nippy behavior (even if teeth touched me but it didn't hurt at all) in the following manner and it tapered off very quickly while she was still a young pup:

1. I immediately yelped "ow!" in a slightly annoyed, slightly angry manner--whether or not it hurt, while I yanked my hand away, trying not to make it playful at all.
2. I then quickly placed my hand around her mouth so I was holding it firmly shut, looked at her, and gave a neutral, but firm command--something like "no bite!".... There's no need to be really mean, but absolutely no friendly tone to it--just firm, like you mean business. 
3. I'd hold the mouth shut like that for a few seconds only and then I'd release my hand, by sliding it up towards the top of her head to give her a pat/stroke to let her know it's over and I'm not still upset with her. She'd usually try to give a submissive "sorry lick" at that point.

Then I'd get up and resume what I was doing... though if I was playing with her, I'd try to direct her attention elsewhere to something that wouldn't encourage her to nip me again. If she did it again (which at first, she did, right away), I'd repeat the steps, only this time I'd remove all attention towards her for a good period of time when done the steps (at the very least a couple minutes would probably be best). No playing, no talking to her, no looking at her... no attention.

You might want to try that. However, she didn't nip my ankles or pants... so I didn't have to deal with that as I walked away from her. If your dog would do that and it would keep you from ignoring him, I would put him in a contained area (like a playpen or gated room) instead of just ignoring him. 

That's all I did and it worked fast for me and Tiffy... I don't remember the exact timing of it now, but she seemed to catch on after a few tries, then she tested a couple times in the following week or two, then it completely stopped. 

You have to remember to not give any sort of reward for the nipping and you can't make it a game. What I did, I think was loosely based on what I saw in an episode of "Good Dog!"--Stanley Coren's show--which I just realized you American's may not be familiar with. (I believe the show only airs in Canada, New Zealand and Australia only.) Stanley Coren is like a 10x more effective, insightful, and calmer version of Cesar Millan, without the celebrity links. I believe he indicated that holding the jaw shut mimics the way the mother dog would teach the puppies in her litter to quit nipping her.... by placing her mouth over the puppies' muzzles. (I may have read that elsewhere though... I forget now what was in the episode I watched and what I've picked up from reading.)

Edit: Oh boy, I wrote a lot... again. Sorry!


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## NYC Neighborhood Dogs (Nov 12, 2006)

> Nick learned both 'NO TEETH' and 'YOU HURT MOMMY' mean that playing stops. I just stopped and got up and ignored him when he was getting too mouthy.[/B]


DING DING DING DING! We have a winner









Exactly the way to deal with it in the way that actually teaches the puppy that biting is the least rewarding behavior he can exhibit, rather than just overwhelming a poor widdle puppy with dominance and punishment!

Thumbs up!


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## louis' mom (Jul 7, 2006)

> "3. Cradle him like a baby with your other hand on his belly - you are totally in control of his body."
> 
> I do this one to Nick all the time. I rub his tummy and tell him he's a good boy (regardless of whether he was being one or not) and he goes out like a light. He wakes up if I put him down, but I can pick him up mid barking fit and he's counting sheep in 45 seconds flat. I didn't know it was really a dominance position though.
> 
> ...










no wonder he falls asleep - this position may not work for you as a dominate position since he obviously associates the position was nap time







-- my husband ALWAYS says that Louis naughty because when he holds Louis in the baby position, Louis hangs his head over my husband's arms and looks around the room - and it annoys (in a ha ha way) hubby because he gets NO respect from Louis! 

i'll see if i can find the book that talks about all the dominate positions. FYI - i still get bit in the a$$ by louis if he wants my attention and i don't give it right away - usually when i just return home after being away for several hours


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## mom2bijou (Oct 19, 2006)

thanks for all the feedback. i'm happy to know that others have gone or are going through something similar. i am looking forward to putting some of your advice to work. i'll keep u all updated w/our progress!


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## Tallulah's Mom (Jan 8, 2007)

Good luck!







And by the way he is just adorable!


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## Lacie's Mom (Oct 11, 2006)

It's a puppy thing.









And he's just playing.









Yes - the razor sharp teeth are deadly, but he will soon have his adult teeth and it won't hurt as much.


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