People chewing and barking.
I'm having a problem with my Leon. He's almost 3 months old and is an avid and aggressive people chewer, or at least he is to me, which I'm trying heavily to discourage. It doesn't seem to be working though and it is beginning to hurt quite a bit. He bites at hands, feet, arms and legs. I think I'm surprised that he hasn't broken the skin yet it's gotten so hard. A few times he's nipped at my face too. That always surprises me quite a bit and causes me to jerk away, not a habit I want to get into since I don't want him to think that he's the dominant one in the house.
I've tried using toys as distractions when he goes and grabs at me or anyone else, yelping or saying ow loudly and walking away and ignoring him. Unfortunately these all have a quite undesired side effect. It causes him to start barking. It's ear peircingly loud and has me afraid that this is going to disturb the next door neighbors since we live in an apartment, or my roommates when they're sleeping upstairs. The only way he will stop barking is if he starts chewing on me or grabbing my clothing again which I never let him do, but sometimes he just refuses to let it go. I know this is extremely bad behavior and am at a loss what to do about it. I also try to take him on at least an hour long walk twice daily. Has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you work with it?
I've tried using toys as distractions when he goes and grabs at me or anyone else, yelping or saying ow loudly and walking away and ignoring him. Unfortunately these all have a quite undesired side effect. It causes him to start barking. It's ear peircingly loud and has me afraid that this is going to disturb the next door neighbors since we live in an apartment, or my roommates when they're sleeping upstairs. The only way he will stop barking is if he starts chewing on me or grabbing my clothing again which I never let him do, but sometimes he just refuses to let it go. I know this is extremely bad behavior and am at a loss what to do about it. I also try to take him on at least an hour long walk twice daily. Has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you work with it?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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You can discourage him by using a squirt bottle or clap your hands really hard in front of him, that should snap him out of it.
Usually around 3-4 months, the pup is growing losing old teeth and growing new teeth, and it is painful for the little pup, he will bite on what ever he can find.
In the doggie world, when a young pup is behaving badly, the mama dog will discipline the pup who bites too hard. However some pups take a while to learn this lesson. And if a pup is taken from her litter too soon, it's possible that she may have never taught this lesson at all.
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Permalink Reply by Cam on
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Thank you. I'll try the squirt bottle thing and see if that deters him any. One of my roommates did end up making a comment about the level of barking he was doing last night so hopefully it will do something.
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Permalink Reply by Megan and Penelope on
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I know what you are going through! I have bites that beld healing as we speak! Almost nothing seems to work for Penelope, she does/did exactly what you have described (some days are better than others). The squirt bottle might work, but just as a caution, they did this to Penelope when she barked in puppy class and it only worked about 4 times. She didn't care after that and began barking again (she refuses to bite when around strangers however). So, for the rest of class she had a dripping wet back! I ended up breaking up treats and giving them to her as she stayed quiet every few minutes (trainer told me to do that, I often do that at home). On the other hand, and some people don't agree with this, but the vet (also a trainer) suggested we do a hold. Essentially, you put the dog in a gentle hold were they are submissive to you, it is very Dog Whisperer, Ceasar Millan-esque. I don't care to really do that, it worked for the vet though. Or you can do bite inhibition where you remove yourself from play and reinforcment. Puppy can't play with you. This can take a while. Some also suggest a short leash with the puppy in an open area where they can be tethered to something, as a time out. I tried that twice and Penny was crazy trying to get loose and barked more than ever. She is right in the middle of 3 and 4 months. It will get better, but expect to keep busy with it and be consistent. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Erin on
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I've also found that popping bubble wrap is a good way to get them to stop biting or misbehaving. My parents used this on their dog (who is now 11 years old) and now the sight of bubble wrap lets her know something is wrong! I tried it on our 8 week old Corgi and it works...sometimes! She tends to ignore me if she's outside exploring, but indoors it works well when it's just me and her in a room.
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Thanks Erin! Another vote for bubble wrap. It got my corgis attention and they would stop whatever they were doing, we kinda discovered it accidently :)
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Permalink Reply by alynne on
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my dog loves bubble wrap haha she gets excited when i unpack things at work because she knows she gets to jump on it and pop it bahaha
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It's just a general thing, I don't want him to think that he's the head of the pack. I've seen that happen with enough friends and family, and it usually ends with them getting rid of the dog. My cousins did it with a dobermin that they had when I was a kid. Got too aggressive or something. We're already having to deal with the occasional dominance spats between him and the cat and it's a real pain in the ass trying to seperate them when the cat refuses to leave and go upstairs.
And I know it's not going to be an overnight thing, but it's just gotten more and more frequent as the days go by. He's even started pulling at the clothing of strangers when he's gotten patted on his walks. So right now I'm looking for preventative things so he knows it's not ok to do that.
Thank you for the advice, I am continuing to do all that I've done before and adding in the other things that have been suggested. :)
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