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The nipping (more like biting)

825 views 10 replies 9 participants last post by  170564  
#1 ·
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Hey everyone, our doberman turns 12 weeks tomorrow. He has been nipping constantly since we got him a month ago. It’s starting to get harder (I assume he is starting to teathe). However, my entire body is getting torn up. I mean bloody marks on both ankles and arms. We have tried everything from redirecting, holding his muzzle, flicking his nose, to quick time outs in the crate. The timeouts work the best but not sure my body can handle more cuts for much longer. Is this normal? Do I just need to tough it out a bit?
 
#3 ·
Have you tried finding something he might like to tug or interactive play with? Vs just giving him teething toys? The pup mouths are so small they don’t prefer a lot of the toys out there. Pup I have right now, just gone through leg biting, likes tug with a piece of cardboard! I cross my legs and sit on them, offer him something else. And a few toys on the floor too. Also keep it novel. Switch out the toys he has laying around, put some away for a few days and take new ones out. Don’t let him bite your legs. Crate time is fine if he is unhappy with anything else and determined to bite only your legs. Might be delirious. Work on calm and focused engagement with him like training sit and down and come, basic commands
 
#4 ·
Yeah it’s part of puppy hood pups need a lot of sleep so they don’t become brats
what’s your reaction when he nips. Don’t send a false approval sign This age everything is a game and taken as approval silence ignore is best get up away from him

take wash cloth soak in water tie in a knot freeze it let him play with that have several ready
this shall pass lol
 
#5 ·
Basically the nipping (or biting--it amounts to the same thing) is a byeproduct of how puppies first learn to play--a quick nip is a puppy signal to play--as they get bigger and stronger the nips (bites) become harder and thier companion puppies if they get bitten too hard will stop playing with the biter and refuse to respond the the "nip" invitation.

I can stop puppy biting in two weeks or less--if a pup lays a tooth on me--I stop playing or even paying attention--I walk out the nearest door and shut it in the puppy's face. I don't stay gone very long (otherwise the puppy will forget what just happened. If, when I come out, the puppy starts trying to bite again--then I figure he's just too wound up and he goes into his crate--and go away--often when I come back (in 3 to 5 minutes)--the puppy is sound asleep--what he needed most was a nap.

There is is Thread (I think it's in the puppy forum--which is saved)--you should go and read it--"Help, my puppy is biting me" It has many suggestions to stop the biting. I hate being bitten or even mouthed and found the fastest, most effective way to stop it was the method I described above. Don't talk to the puppy about it (any attention will assumed to be approval)--so just do whatever you decide to do--but the most effective way I've found is to remove yourself as the target of the bitiing.

It does get better as the puppy gets older and teething actually takes place but you can also stop it before you are covered with holes and scabs from the biting.

dobebug
 
#6 ·
Wear shoes and pants until puppy gets older.
Prevent is the key at this age.
Playtime ….long sleeves or a toy that prevents your hands from getting close to the razor blade teeth.
It’s important for you to understand how pups and their litters mates have existed together so far to date.
They have not been taught yet …so we must teach over time.
My husband and I work with puppies (lots of puppies) frequently at an organization called Dogs Inc. ,.
From the time they leave the whelping box to 14 weeks.
This is an organization that raises hero dogs to assist those handicapped.
We work in Puppy Kindergarten so our pups are hell on wheels.
They play very rough with their litter mates (Biting each others tails, ears, sneaking up and pouncing one another,running across the playground and raming into one another. So this is what they have learned so far….
Sometimes when I look my husbands way in the puppy playground he can have 4 or 5 pups hanging onto each pant leg.
Everything is new …everything is exciting……no formal training from humans exists.
Shoot at 8 weeks even their Mama dog runs from their own puppies.
So now…….its time to go to the forever home…..hummmmmm
Now the littermates are gone and all the puppy has as a mate is YOU…..puppy continues to interact as it always has before.
So as humans we must prevent the bites …..and teach when the situations arise.
As I am around puppies that are energized I do not let my fingers hang low….anything swinging around is very interesting to them at this age.
Shoes with shoelaces…..NOPE….puppies will chase these things all day.
They are hell on wheels at this age so just stay away from those teeth.
Leaving the room ……whatever it takes to keep away from those teeth.
Long gardening gloves work great ……wink wink….
For now….just teach.
Do not let puppy mouth your hands …even if its easy chomping…..
Pups love icy cold toys …..when we have are puppy party’s we will pour a lot of ice in a kiddy wading poop and the pups love it……they love to stand in the pool and flip all the ice around…..real funny to watch…..as we keep our hands in our pockets.
Pup will get better over time…..they just need to be trained first regarding their new humans expectations.
 
#7 · (Edited)
Here is a video I made from one of our open houses….

Watch these puppies …..you will notice some puppies sitting real nice.
.From the time they are 8 weeks old we humans have treat pouches on our hips….these puppies learn real fast the only time they get a piece of kibble is when they follow the command of “four on the floor”….when we feed them in their kennels…no food until “four on the floor”. Sitting comes later …but we do not reward a jumpy puppy.

Take a look at some of the behavior with their littermates in this video…..look familiar ?? LOL …..at this age they are little thugs at any given moment!!

As I look at your ankles….you are hairy…I suspect fuzzy legs would become very interesting to a young puppy.
Pups love soft stuffy toys…..tag you are it human!!! Ba ha ha

Just teasing ya…..good luck with your sharky! Stay in touch.

 
#8 ·
I'm all for environmental control when possible. Which is to say @LadyDi's advice to wear long pants and shoes, also long sleeves. Pants shouldn't be loose enough to be tempting targets, although that only helps, not stops. I could drag my first Rottie puppy all over the yard when she attached to a pant leg, and walking had no effect, she'd just let me drag her along. No doors to shut in the face outside, I did have to use a squirt bottle on her sometimes. She was tough and persistent.

Other than that, @dobebug's advice of walking away and shutting a door in their face is all that's ever worked for me. My puppies never redirected. A live target is a lot more fun than an inanimate one. They took the squeal loudly advice as an invitation to bite harder.
 
#10 · (Edited)
Here's a link to the thread referenced above:


And a little more--
Be CONSISTENT. Every single time your pup puts his mouth on you, leave, but only for a minute or two or he will forget why you left. Give him another chance. If he goes right back to the nipping, leave again or put him in his crate.

Don't grin and bear it thinking he will stop soon. All that teaches him is that sometimes he can get away with nipping, and since he's doing it for attention and a chance to play (in his little puppy mind) he'll keep it up.

The hardest habit to break is one that is rewarded irregularly. It's like gambling--"A couple of hands ago I got a big jackpot. Even though last time didn't work, maybe this time, I'll win again."
 
#11 · (Edited)
Rolex …….lots of good advice in the preceding threads. Problem is sometimes with relentless nipping and the 'personality' of the offending pup then it goes without saying that there is underlying innate need to bite — prey drive— that requires it to be inducively channeled to offer any relief. Read 'off-switch'. The pup needs be 'used-up' in blunt terms IMHO.

A flirt pole with a bite accommodating stimulus of fabric/rope/linen-bite-roll offers an inducive means for a mouthy bite-frenzied pup to 'spend' its prey drive. Five to ten +- minutes of play engagement offers a controlled outlet to satiate prey drive. Satiation literally is the operative word. Duration will be governed by the innate genetic degree of drive. Ranging from none to high. Dobermans per-se fall within the spectrum of mid to high by Doberman default. One fact holds certain — at some point drive will diminish and ultimately be extinguished for the time being. Recovery of drive might be hours or into tomorrow when the cycle repeats all over again.

Incorporate the play, chase , bite, tug and culminating in victory tug win into basic OB of sit, stay, down, here/recall. Detach the bite lure from the flirt pole line as becomes a stimulus trigger in continuation of inciting drive. Use food to lure/INDUCE the posture being sought. +Reinforce the compliant response with the luring food reward. Non compliance is -Negative Punished by withholding food reward until compliance occurs. No more and no less during this vitally important formative period of learning. To add another level of intensity/enthusiasm for compliant behaviour then incorporate tug as reward/+positive reinforcement using the fore-mentioned bite-toy drive inciting stimuli. A long line and smooth collar are required to direct and contain the pup when allowing a victory lap with tug toy clenched in mouth.

A short duration regimen as outlined above multi times daily instructs the pup what it is permitted to sink its teeth into a what it cannot — thus alleviating ankle and hand biting that in essence is remotely prey and motion inspired.

OR visit Elizabeth Barrett's DT thread and test those waters.
HERE

Refrain from measure 5 — similar to what you described doing with no resolve — in the linked video lest hand shyness and defensive awareness of unpredictable hand movement will evolve. Read:- handler directed aggression if heavy handed leash correction is errantly and unfairly used.

In the common bond of Dobermans…….Mikel