[Opus]

Bitey Bad habit

Winston's been a bitey, nippy puppy since day one. I have been adamant about NO BITE since day one as well, but he continues to the point that it is hard to enjoy him sometimes. His mouth is always open ready to chomp.
He even jumps up on me to bite. Sometimes he nips a teeny weeny nip that hurts like H*LL.
I'll take any and all suggestions PLEASE!

 

[Sephly]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

walk away. my pup was def. like that for like a month an half. We ended up doing a victoria stilwell and yell NO and walk away, out of the room or just turn around and ignore him for a good five ten minutes. repeat as necessary. believe me once he understands that playing stops with biting he wont do it. Just be patient he'll grow out of it.

 

[Opus]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

Believe me, I have tried that endlessly. It hasn't worked. I have even put him out of the room and shut the door. He has also followed me and jumped up to bite. He just goes right back at it.
I even tried a water bottle, but he just wants to drink from that like it's a fountain now.
I'm scared he's going to bite a visitor that doesn't expect it or bite them too hard. I try to warn people, but they don't seem to 'get it'.

 

[Sephly]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

Have you tried spraying your hands with icky tasting things? hot sauce, bitter apple spray? vinegar? just temporarily while you play so he doesnt like it.

I'd also try victoria's other method which is to make a highpitch squeeking noise like a puppy who's hurt would make and stop the game, it would startle him into stopping.
Also when he nips try no and then maybe sticking a chew toy into his mouth. so that he understands that he's supposed to chew that not ur fingers.
Personally i've also taugh the slow command when giving treats so that finger tips dont get inadvertantly bitten, show him a treat if he lunges take it away quickly and say no, show it to him again and he should try to slowly get it if he's gentle let him have it. He needs to learn to be careful with his teeth.

if its bad i'd go ahead and buy a citronella collar, one with a remote and when he bites spray him, he should pick up quickly that biting means icky smell in my face.

I wish i could offer better advice but i dont really know how to address it if the going away isn't working.

 

[Murphys Dad]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

We had a problem getting Jersey to stop biting too. Mike did like Sephly suggested and always gave her a toy when she got crazy. He taught her to fetch and then we'd tell her to go fetch when she got crazy while playing and tried biting us. Eventually she learned that when she got that excited she needed to go and get a toy to chew. She still goes and gets a toy whenever she gets excited now.

 

[beagletails]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

We have always just wrapped our hand around the snout and said a firm no. We would then quit playing with them for a few minutes. I don't remember if it cured the problem, but we have managed to live through that stage without too many lasting memories of nips/bites.

 

[deedeebee]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

Zelda still bites, but not as much. She still isn't a year old yet, so I'm hoping she'll still grow out of it.

There's been countless times where she makes me bleed and I start making crying noises that sounds like a dogs cry and something flips in her head, she has to lick my face endlessly... but 5 minutes later she wants to bite again. If you take something away from her, she bites you.

We've tried the give them a toy instead tactic, but Zelda can chew through black kongs, so we don't really have many toys for her that she enjoys.

Maybe you need to show Winston that he isn't the alpha in the house because that's what he might be thinking. Hold his jaw shut with your hand and hold the rest of him down as well. Keep it there for a minute and slowly let go.. if it seems like he wants to bite right away, go right back to holding him down.

We also hold Zelda's mouth shut, and slap our hand. It almost seems like we're hitting her but we're obviously not, and suddeness of it shocks her out of her biting crazyness.

 

[Brien]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

What we did from day one is say No Bite, get up and walk away. After a minute or two we'd come back and resume play. If he did it again, we'd go through the same process. As time has gone on the bitting has significantly declined.

It will take time. Sometimes a beagle's excitement over powers them and they don't hear anything during those spastic puppy moments. But if you're consistent, in time you should see an improvement, and isn't that what we're all hoping for anyway.

 

[Brisen]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

We pretty much did what Brien did with Bodie..say No Bite and get up and walk away. If she started up again, we'd squirt her with the water bottle and again say, No Bite. Now that Maggie's a year old, the biting is pretty much a thing of the past.

 

[Smeagle]

Re: Bitey Bad habit

Originally Posted By: Sephly
if its bad i'd go ahead and buy a citronella collar, one with a remote and when he bites spray him, he should pick up quickly that biting means icky smell in my face.

I have to respectfully disagree here. Citronella collars have a low success rate, because it uses the smell of citronella to mark corrections - it is a strong smell that can stay on the dogs coat for hours thus the correction/aversion is there long after the undesirable behaviour has been distinguished. This can be very confusing to the dog and makes it hard for the dog to connect biting with the smell of citronella, as the smell is there long after they have bitten.

I also agree with encouraging the dog to bite a toy instead - I bet he has a high prey drive and would do very well on a tug toy. I train my beagle using a tug and she loves it! Make a game out of it, if he starts nipping, re direct him to the toy and encourage him to tug with you. Use the word 'ok' to signal he can grab the toy, move it around etc. You can also use this to teach him give - when you want the toy back, bring it in close to you knees and hold it very still and say give in a calm, slow voice. Praise when the dog releases

This might give him an outlet to get rid of his energy!