Nipping
by Teri
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
This is my first time to post to this site...I have enjoyed and learned a great deal just from reading the postings each day. My furbaby is called "Flip", he will be 16 weeks old tomorrow. This is my first experience with a Maltese and I beleive he is the most adorable and one of the brightest dogs I have ever seen.
My question is that I was having a big problem with him nipping ankles, toes, fingers, faces and anything else that he could walk up to or jump up to. None of this was done aggresively, just in play, but as his teeth and he became stronger it was beginning to hurt. I was also afraid of him running up to the little girl next door (she is three) and jumping up and getting her in the face. I have been working with telling him firmly "no bite" and pushing him away at the same time. I thought this was working perfectly because the nipping had totally stopped. I was still reenforcing it each time he walked up to lick my toes or when I was holding him and he was licking my face, because about each lick he would just open his mouth and put his teeth on you, but didn't bite. Well last night it was like he had totally forgotten that biting was not acceptable and while he was giving me my welcome home kissed got me good under the eye. The remainder of the evening was spent telling him "no bite" as he walked up and got my ankles and calfs everytime he walked by.
I finally decided that the verbal repremand was not working so I stopped and held him down on his side and told him "no bite". This worked for about 10 minutes and them he started up again. I ended up putting him back into the bathroom behind his child gate for about 15 minutes (I guess this is puppy time out). It was neccessary to do this twice during the evening.
What I need to know is should I put him into the place where he stays during the day when he is in trouble? I don't want him to associate his area with something bad, but I also don't want him to continue to nip. Maybe putting him in time out is not the best thing for him either, anyone with ideas let me know.
Flip has been the so easy to house train (we have only had a couple of accidents in the last 10 days). He even barks to let me know when it is time to go outside. Teri & Flip
DISCUSSION:
I read in a book "Monks Of New Skeet" (I think), dog training book, that a child is often sent to his room as punishment, as a result the child doesn't hate his room, so it is ok to send them to their beds. Actually that is where Quigley chooses to go when he is told "timeout" or "you're in trouble now!" Also when a puppy does something the mother dog doesn't like she puts her paw on the puppy's back and holds it down for a second or two. This is basically what you did when holding him on his side. I did this to Quig when he was chewing on the throw rug fringe, one day was all it took - he has never done it since. Nipping at heels is another story, good luck.
Gloria
Teri, please don't use his daytime area as punishment. When Flip nips (hey, that rhymes) yell very, very, VERY loudly, "OUCH!!!" and jump back. That should get his attention. If he does it again, you yell again. If he does it again, yell then walk away from him and leave him alone for a few minutes or just ignore him if he follows you. He will soon get the message that he is not to nip.
Marie
Terri - Anne Hudson has an absolutely fabulous post about this very topic! If it's no long among the current discussion topics, check the archives and look up Snappy Dog. I always print out her replies to keep for future reference. Good Luck and keep us posted.
Tracy B.
Hi Terri- This behaviour is called being *mouthy*. Next time he *nips*--immediately cry out like another puppy would (should sort of sound like *aarp!) -- then at THE very moment he stops & looks (you've gotten his attention!) ---offer him a favorite toy & encourage him to nip or mouth (if you will) the toy, (then of course praise him). What you are describing is simply puppy behaviour.......it will take some time, but this should teach him not to be so *mouthy* He just hasn't learned manners yet, but like all else, they come in good time. Good luck----(he will come around :)
Debra
They're teething around this age. Keep reinforcing the command "no bite" and also provide him with a lot of chew toys to redirect his urge to bite on it.
RC
Hello Terri, Marie and Debra (et al) have given some good advice here. I would drop the "no bite" since puppies really don't understand negatives. Just "no" is okay, but I prefer a sound like the mama dog uses, such as "off" of whatever Bebra said. A loud "Ahem" is good, too. You really want to ignore after that ...for a few moments. When you push him away, you're indirectly reinforcing his behavior by touching him. I only say
ouch or off or whatever when it hurts me, not for every time he mouthes. Why? Because you want to teach bite inhibition the way his littermates do. You want to teach him to have a GENTLE mouth. I also suggest feeding cooked rice from a fork ....three or four bites a day...to help teach this (along with the other).
When he no longer bites hard or with much pressure, you can stop
with the rice! Have fun....
anneh
Patience and consistency are key with this problem, it is normal puppy behavior, but they do need to learn that it is totally unacceptable. I went through this with Phoebe and between using the NO and giving her the cold shoulder she learned that this was strictly not allowed! Establishing the Alpha order early on in the relationship is very important. Anne Hudson has wonderful advice on this topic - as well as others.
Leslie R
If you yell "ouch!" really loud and pretend like you're REALLY hurt and withdraw from him, he should get the message. I remember Maya had the same problem, and she was so sad that she had hurt me. She never did it again!
Isabel
A simple little trick I also had success with no matter the breed was to take hold of the puppys shoulder with my left hand and very gently cup my right hand over his muzzle every time the baby put his teeth on human skin. They hate that but can't back away because you have hold. You don't have to say anything just do it like "'Oh, look what happens when you play bite', isn't that interesting!" After a few times it gets the pup thinking on it's own and you end up with a wriggley licking tonged puppy instead of a biting puppy. Dogs really learn quickly when they learn to think for themselves and solve a problem. This works best with the very young pup.
Mary Lou
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