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Archived Message

ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
by Jon

My Baby is a very loving 4 month old male. He loves to held and cuddled but shows his affection by "biting gently on your hand or fingers. It is not so bad at first but his nibbles start to become slightly painful after awhile. What is the best way to stop this type of affection?

DISCUSSION:

When my babies bite, I yelp like a puppy that has been hurt. They will stop and look at me, and eventually stop biting completely. This has always worked well for me.
-Marsha A.

This seems to be a natural thing for all pups, and something they must learn not to do. Taffy did it as well and we would say ouch! It took some time, but she outgrew it or started listening to us, at any rate when she reached about 6 months she became very careful while playing with us. Good luck!
-Robin K.

Hello John, we had a similar problem with our little Maltese, Fonzie. (he's sooooo sweet, he's been quietly sleeping on my lap as I read through these dialogues) We read many dog training books which we've found have very contradictory suggestions in all areas of training. However, they all seems to say that this nipping/biting is natural for them to do. They're teething and will bite at anything that is near their mouth such as hands, flapping pant legs, etc. They all so say that stopping the biting early is recommended. Some suggest the "yelping" idea which does sometimes work for us as long as he isn't too excited. Others have suggested saying "NO" in a firm tone of voice when he bites (or places his teeth on your skin AT ALL...I don't think a little puppy can tell how much pressure is actually a bite) then, when he stops, say "Good Boy" This worked some of the time, except when he was too excited. What worked the best for us was to squirt just a little squirt of water from a squirt bottle at him when he bites and also say "NO" and then "Good Boy" as above. Now, I just say "No" and "Good boy". That usually does the trick, since we started using the squirt bottle (we only had to do it a few times) he nips much much less often (he's 5 months) If he seems to be forgetting, all we do is put the squirt bottle in his sight and he stops right away even without a squirt. I've also heard that they tend to stop this after they're about 6 months. Good luck to you and your Baby! I hope this helps.
-Donna