Biting problem

[RobertaHuber]

I am a 70year old widow living alone with a 7 mo old Maltese mix puppy. I got her at 8 wks of age. She is so smart and knows lots of tricks also know a lot of commands but doesn’t know how to stop biting on me. She is fine with other people but always bites my hands, my feet, jumps up and bites my clothing. You get the picture I am sure. I really am at the end of my patience. I have tried ignoring, yelling ouch, stop, don’t, off etc. I walk away to another room, I put her in her pen when I have had enough but nothing works. I do the same every single day. It is getting so old. I really need all the help I can get. Some days I don’t want to get out of bed to have this start the minute I take her out of her crate. PLEASE HELP

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Roberta Huber,

I hear you! Puppies can be a handful when they are nippy. At 7 months, your pup is at the peak stage of the beginning of doggy adolescence. This is the teenager phase, a midway stage between puppy-hood and adulthood. Physically, your pup has her adult teeth, but she still has a strong urge to chew on everything. It sounds like you have become her favorite human impersonation of a tug toy. In other words, I feel she is having a blast in "activating" you every time she nips. It's likely all a great game to her!

 

At 7 months, dogs also are full of energy. They are in perpetual-motion and although you own a smaller sized dog, it may feel like it takes lots of stamina to wear her out. If you haven't done already, it might be a good idea to get her walking first thing in the morning when you take her out of the crate. Have her sit, put the leash on and go on a nice walk to tire her out. This should help take the edge off.

 

Then, once back inside, you can have breakfast while you provide her with a mentally stimulating activity. No more food bowl. From now on, a portion of her meals will be served in a Kong Wobbler (if feeding kibble) or a Kong (if she eats canned food). Leave the remaining portion of her meals to reward desirable behaviors that do not involve biting you throughout the day.

 

Basically, offer opportunities for alternative behaviors that will keep her focus off of you. Make these activities very reinforcing so that she'll pick them over nipping you. Try training her to target your hands rather than nipping. You can find how to train this in the main course: how to train targeting. Every time she targets your hand, toss a piece of kibble across the room so that she gets a workout. You can also introduce a target stick to keep her focus off your hands.

 

Other great activities may include the Airplane Game where she learns to look at you and focus on you rather than the tasty cookies you'll be holding and Jazzle Up and Settle down where she gets to learn more impulse control.

 

You also want to teach her to engage in activities that do not involve you, but rather encourage independent games such as the Muffin Game, Bottle Game and Bobbing For Treats. In other words, you want to encourage independent play away from you but also teach her that all interactions with you should involve non-nipping activities that are highly reinforcing. Hands are to target rather than nipping, when she's interested in biting your clothing, stop walking in your tracks, ask her to sit (or maybe perform a cute trick), praise and toss a piece of kibble across the room. You can even try a flirt pole to redirect her and encourage her to play. Basically, you'll be enticing her to play with a toy dangling off a rope instead of with your clothing/feet.

 

There are many options to keep her focus off of you. It may feel tiring the first days to provide all these alternate behaviors, but as the days go by, she'll be more and more eager to engage in these activities and will pick them over you because they have attained a strong reinforcement history. I hope this helps, let me know if I can be of any further assistance.

Adrienne

Edited March 11, 2018 by Adrienne Farricelli

[DavidVanDenburgh]

Adrienne, it sounds like it’s going to be a long time before Roberta is going to be able to walk across the room without being attacked by her dog. Since I have a similar problem with my 10 week old GSD, I’m hoping there is some other answer than “train your dog completely and you won’t have this problem." Isn’t there some way to stop a pup from attacking clothing and ankles quickly, or must we bleed until the dog has been exercised, tired out, brain-trained, distracted, etc.?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

Actually no, the methods suggested above work fairly quickly! Targeting can be taught in just a few brief sessions. To avoid bending down too much you can use a target stick or long wooden spoon. It's all about making the desired action far more reinforcing than attacking clothing/feet by using high-value treats. Dogs are smart and opportunists, so they will engage more in behaviors that yield the highest rewards. It should be a no-brainer choice when you have tasty treats and incorporate a fun game of "catch the kibble."

 

After a few trials, the puppy should start walking towards you, but this time in hopes of repeating the exercise and being rewarded because behaviors that are rewarded, strengthen and repeat. That's the law of reinforcement. Puppy learns to make good choices this way. It took me just barely 3 days of short sessions to get one of the most nippy German shepherds to stop nipping hands and legs. Here are some games I especially recommend for nippy pups:https://www.braintraining4dogs.com/members/archive/bite-inhibition-games/

 

 

At 10 weeks, your dog is just a puppy and all he wants to do is play. Ask the dog to sit or target your hand, and then toss a piece of kibble far away from you. Skip feeding from the food bowl, from now on, all rewards come from you in response to desired behaviors. If you want to keep your pup busy, for some time, ask your pup to sit or target your hand and provide a Kong Wobbler filled up with a portion of his food. Watch him them have fun getting the food out.

 

A tug toy can also offer a diversion to grabbing clothes if you want to skip the training for now. Some dogs are obsessed about tug-toys that are made of rabbit fur. They will want to tug that way more than any clothing because it has an enticing smell. Another option is a flirt pole. This is something you can try and no training may be needed at this point although I still find it important to implement sooner than later. As you notice your puppy approaching to grab your clothing, let him play with the tug toy and provide lots of great feedback for playing with it (praise, praise, praise) instead of with your clothes. If he ever grabs your clothing, stop walking in your tracks and entice him to play again with the tug toy.

 

Puppies require lots of play to practice life skills and learn about the world around them. It's totally normal for them to want to play with hands, feet and clothing as they move and attract them. It's is up to us dog owners to provide them with acceptable ways to play. Make sure your puppy has access to toys and mentally stimulating activities. Walks in safe places (until the vaccine boosters are completed) and car rides are important as your puppy is at the peak stage of the prime time for socialization. Don't miss out in letting your puppy meet as many people as possible (the socialization window closes at around 16 weeks). Puppy classes are also important for social skills and allow socialization with other pups in a controlled environment.

 

Of course, pups (just like kids!) who are under stimulated and under exercised, will be more likely to engage in undesirable behaviors because they have no outlets. It's important to therefore provide ample of opportunities for play, exercise, socialization and mental stimulation. All puppies regardless need to be trained, this is a must if the goal is a well-adjusted dog for the future. By training, you implement very important skills and use them to your advantage to tackle issues that may become troublesome if not tackled early. It's a win-win situation.

 

Your puppy will not need to be completely trained right now and that's far to be expected at this age. At 10 weeks, puppies lack the ability to stay focused for too long. Just a few basics such as target and sit though can be taught easily as early as 8 weeks and used to one's advantage for redirection.

Edited April 10, 2018 by Adrienne Farricelli

[DavidVanDenburgh]

Thanks. We’re working on it.

 

Is there ever a time to say a firm "NO" and give the pup a motherly shake by the scruff?

[Adrienne Farricelli]

You are very welcome!

 

I personally do not recommend the use of scruff shakes as they risk evoking defensive aggression and dogs risk failing to understand such corrections. In a study of mother-pup behaviors of litters from 190 breeders, 97.2% of breeders never witnessed scruff-shaking administered by the mother to pups (source: Hallgreen 1990) Rather, mother dogs were found to be quite gentle with their mouths when carrying puppies from one place to another. Scruff shakes among animals are carried out as part of predatory drive. A dog bites down and scruff shakes to kill an animal by breaking the neck. Among dogs, having another dog approach the throat area is a very traumatic experience. A scruff shake done by the owner may potentially lead to fear and mistrust in the long run which may evoke defensive biting. The dog would learn to fear hands and may learn to bite hands as a way to defend himself.

 

The word "no" delivered on its own is not a very effective form of communication. As humans, we dedicate a lot of time in conditioning dogs to learn that "sit" means to place the rump on the floor and "down" means to lie on the floor. Yet no time is ever dedicated to conditioning dogs to understand the meaning of no. And this is where things get confusing. What does no exactly mean to a dog? Does it mean to just stop from doing what he is doing? For how long? Unless delivered with cutting-edge timing, how can the dog know exactly what behavior should stop? Also, the fact that "no" is applied to many circumstances (no jumping, no biting, no counter surfing, no pulling, no digging) makes it even more confusing.

 

If no direction follows when one uses the word "no" the dog will often be lost. We are often lulled into the belief that the word "no" works in stopping an unwanted behavior, when in reality it only interrupts it momentarily. Indeed, at a closer insight, more often than not, right after saying "no" the unwanted behavior may repeat in a short period of time, which is proof that “no” was simply an interrupter and provided no guidance on what is expected from the dog. It is more effective to ensure that 1) the dog is provided with legitimate outlets for pent-up energy (under the form of toys, brain games, training, exercise and socialization) and that 2) the dog is taught what to do instead.

 

According to a study "Several confrontational methods such as “hit or kick dog for undesirable behavior” (43%), “growl at dog” (41%), “physically force the release of an item from a dog's mouth” (39%), “alpha roll” (31%), “stare at or stare [dog] down” (30%), “dominance down” (29%), and “grab dog by jowls and shake” (26%) elicited an aggressive response from at least a quarter of the dogs on which they were attempted. Dogs presenting for aggression to familiar people were more likely to respond aggressively to the confrontational techniques “alpha roll” and yelling “no” compared to dogs with other presenting complaints (P

Source: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0168159108003717

 

I hope this helps! Let me know if I can be of further assistance.

Best regards,

Adrienne

Edited April 16, 2018 by Adrienne Farricelli

[DavidVanDenburgh]

Makes sense. Thanks!

Edited April 16, 2018 by DavidVanDenburgh

[DavidVanDenburgh]

After a week, almost all nipping has stopped. Lots of licking instead. When she nipped my legs when I walked, I stopped in my tracks, fixed her with baleful eye contact, said a firm "leave it” and refused to move until she quit. If she nipped my hands, I didn’t say “ouch” and pull them away (which seemed merely to inflame her) but froze, gave her “the look” and a firm “no bite.” She almost always stopped biting and began licking which I rewarded with praise. The few times she didn’t stop, I held her muzzle gently for a minute. We have also spent more time playing. And I’ve given her more leash time in the house. (She is too young to go to public places until she gets the rest of her puppy vaccinations- this week.) I have also been using her kibble as training rewards instead of feeding her allowance in the Kong in the crate. She seems to enjoy that.