GWHayduke

This is the only issue I have with my dog. She's not a rescue, and she's still a puppy, essentially. I have no problems with other areas of obedience ("come, "sit," "down," "off"), but still, she seems to enjoy taking my entire forearm or my feet into her mouth. I admit, she doesn't hurt me, and it seems to be more play than aggression, but the nips are still a little bit painful. My husband has been able to curb her biting of HIM, because he has a scary voice, but sadly, mine is of a weaker quality, so I am not in any way intimidating.

I've tried grabbing her mouth with my hands when she bites (trying hard to do it right as she's doing it, since I know timing is of essence...right?) and telling her, "NO biting!"

However, she still thinks it's fun. I won't hit her...I've tried to poke her with my fingers on her neck when she does it, with no luck. I just really, really would rather not whack her.

Is this something that she'll grow out of? We've refrained from teaching her the Tug game, and we don't play games with her that involve biting. We curb any games with her at all if the teeth come out and make her lie down for a while--usually in the kennel.

I've thought about the dynamics of our house, if maybe she views me as a weaker person, and it's possible, but I can't explain why she and I have a good bond in every other way of Leader/Follower except in this one instance. My husband also has a good relationship with her in which he is always the leader, and she obeys him without question.

Riagogogo

Are or have you been thru any obedience training?

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LapDog

I think the best thing you can do is Say NO!!!! and then Stop exposing your hands to her. Puppies sometimes think hands are toys...I mean to them a hand flying around and moving about and touching then and then not touching them is like a toy that teases alot. I would avoid using your hands around her if she gets like that.
you can also teach "settle" when she gets too rambuncious and starts nipping etc...you can firmly rest her so she is laying on her side and put one hand gently holding her head down and one hand holding her hips down and tell her "settle" until she stops moving. and only when she is calm and stops fidgeting can you release her. then maybe give her a bone or actual toy to play with again avoiding exposure of hands.

when she bites your hand...the natural reaction is to pull back fast to get it away...but I think if she is going after your hands try your best to move them slowly as to not to tempt her more.

also dont allow her to jump. so maybe do "settle" when she tries to jump on you.

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GWHayduke

No, we have not. My husband's mother's German Shepard has been through extensive, successful training with my MIL, so we've been getting tons of tips from her. She has been working with Ari often, as well. I haven't been sure if it was worth the money/effort if Ari has been doing well in every other area.

GWHayduke

I've never heard the "settle" command. Do you ever use the training tool of "no" with the command? As in, you first say the command, like "sit" or "settle" and if they don't do it right away, you repeat, only this time saying, "NO, settle" over and over again until she does it?

I am going to try this. I really feel quite fortunate that she's teachable, but I've been very frustrated in why the training tools I've been using for the biting/nipping weren't working. Bah!

LapDog

yeah you can say NO! and then put her in her "settle" position if she doesnt listen to "No!" ....if she continues to fidget while in her settle position you can say no just try not to over do it and just continue holding her there. Eventually they give up and get the idea.

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micdobe

She is a puppy, and as such, she wants and needs to play. She also needs to chew, it's what dogs do. You should play tug with her, you should let her have toys to chew on, etc. What you should not do is let her chew on humans. She needs to chew. So she needs to learn what she is allowed to chew on and what she is not, instead of trying to deprive her of chewin at all. When you play tug, teach her to let go when you say so. If she won't, play the game with two toys and throw the second one for her, she has to let go of the first one to get it. Then add a release command with it, and eventually she will get it.

For grabbing your arm or feet, shriek as loudly as you can, in as high pitched a voice as you can manage, as if she is torturing you. This should make her startle and relase, if only for a second. Have an appropriate chew toy ready so that when she release you can immediately give her toy in place of your body part.

Telling her no as a correction when she doesn't understand what it is she is supposed to do usually doesn't work well. She nees to know what it *is* that you *do* want her to do first, before she can learn what the "no" correction oeans. Also, the word no isn't a very good correction sound as it doesn't seem to have much interruption value to a dog. A sharp "AAAACH" sound seems to work better. But you shouldn't need to get to that yet. First teach her TO play the way you want her to. She should never be "whacked", that is unneccessary and unfair to the puppy. She is only playing and doesn't understand it's in appropriate.

Molari

I agree with micdobe completly. Play her out of the habit. Your husband has obviously taught her the rules that he will deal with her on, now its your turn. Good luck. Pick a toy you like. You will have to play with it for a long time hopefully.

Chaz

Any time Mensa chewed on something she wasn't supposed to, whether it was her bed or my hand, I would replace it with something she could chew on. It seemed to work.

Luvbirds59

We are having the same problem with Petey and he is 7 months old....well not "we" hubby and I don't have any problems, it is my 4 teenage sons that allow Petey to play that way and then suddenly....don't like it when they are trying to do something else or nap on the couch. I really come down hard on the kids now...they have to be 100% consistent with Petey or nothing works. We also use 2 minute time outs in the crate when he won't settle down and stop, they work. He hates being put in the crate when people are at home, so he usually stops the behavior. It is hard work to deal with this in the positive right way...but I know it will be worth it.

Carol

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