Mouthing
My puppy, Theo, is 3 1/2 months old and is biting me like crazy! It's only in play, of course, nothing aggressive. But it's to the point where his jaws are so strong and his teeth are so sharp that I can't play with him as much because when he plays...he bites...and it hurts! He's drawn blood a couple of times (through scratching, not puncturing).
When we first got him, I let him bite on my hands a little because I wanted to teach him to have a soft mouth, so I would say ouch when gentle when he bit too hard. It apparently didn't work because now he just bites harder. As I said, it's only in play. He just wants to nip at his humans, like he nipped at his brothers and sisters, I'm sure. And yes, he's teething, but he did this before the teething, so I'm not going to blame that. He is just a very mouth-centric dog that has to experience everything through chewing...and I'm ready for him to be done chewing my hand (and face and feet!).
I've started trying to teach him "no bite". So every time I pet him and he goes for my hand (which is every time), I say "ugh ugh, no bite". When he doesn't bite, I give him a treat. It's been very slow going and I'm not sure he's really getting it...or at least I'm not sure if he's accepting it. Hehe.
I'm curious if anyone else has had this nipping/mouthing/biting problem with their corgis and what they did squelch it. So far this hasn't been something he's growing out of and I'm not willing to wait because it's costing me play time with my puppy!
When we first got him, I let him bite on my hands a little because I wanted to teach him to have a soft mouth, so I would say ouch when gentle when he bit too hard. It apparently didn't work because now he just bites harder. As I said, it's only in play. He just wants to nip at his humans, like he nipped at his brothers and sisters, I'm sure. And yes, he's teething, but he did this before the teething, so I'm not going to blame that. He is just a very mouth-centric dog that has to experience everything through chewing...and I'm ready for him to be done chewing my hand (and face and feet!).
I've started trying to teach him "no bite". So every time I pet him and he goes for my hand (which is every time), I say "ugh ugh, no bite". When he doesn't bite, I give him a treat. It's been very slow going and I'm not sure he's really getting it...or at least I'm not sure if he's accepting it. Hehe.
I'm curious if anyone else has had this nipping/mouthing/biting problem with their corgis and what they did squelch it. So far this hasn't been something he's growing out of and I'm not willing to wait because it's costing me play time with my puppy!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on
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Hey Julo! you're on the right track, the only thing that I would modify is when he bites you next time, YELP!!! and stand up, ignore him. because the way you say "no bite" didn't work and he hasn't got it. If you watch corgis or other dogs play, when one pup bit too hard, the other immediate "YELP" and it was loud and clear that he/she was hurt, the other immediate let go and back off. It is normal for pups to use their mouth in all things, it's their tools after all :) Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Ju Lo on
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I tried the yelping thing for weeks, actually. Theo only gets excited and bites harder! I couldn't believe it, but he acts like I'm egging him on, rather than screaming in pain. I plan to mix in a bit of the ignoring, but if I can say a quick "uh uh, no bite" instead of interrupting my play time with him, I'd prefer it. Thanks for the advice!
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Permalink Reply by Charlie on
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Charlie did the same thing (bit harder) if I didn't follow through with ignoring him after the "Yoooww!". The herding breed dogs are harder to teach bite inhibition as their method of moving livestock is to nip. He's practicing on you with play nipping.
Think about two puppies playing. If one bites too hard the other Yelps, but if he yelps then immediately comes back to play, the the nippy dog thinks "Oh, I didn't hurt you that badly." so he comes back as hard or harder. When the other puppy is seriously tired of being bitten too hard, he will walk away and ignore the pup who is being too rambuncious.
You don't need too ignore him for several minutes. Just Yelp, then stand up and turn your back to him, or walk out of the room, for 10-20 seconds. You'll have to be consistent and repeat the whole process numerous times, but take the same action every time he puts his teeth on you, even lightly.
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Hmm, what you say make sense. :) Sometimes it can be hard to think from the perspective of a dog.
I've heard that I should leave the room for 5-10 minutes, which I consider to be way too long. I've been leaving the room for 2 minutes, and he cries most of the time I'm gone, which to me means it's kinda working. Of course, he usually goes back to nipping as soon as I come back in. I'll try the yelping and leaving thing some more.
Thanks!
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You can probably just count slowly backwards from 10 for the "ignore time", before going back to him, but do expect him to start nipping again and repeat the whole process. In 5 minutes, you can do a lot of repetitions. Puppies memory is very, very short, so after 2 minutes he's not even associating you being gone with the nipping.
Corgis can be stubborn little critters, and I think sometimes they take longer to really understand what you want from them. So you have to repeat, repeat, repeat, repeat, and repeat one more time. LOL Once the light bulb goes on, they're very good.
It took weeks for Charlie to figure out, "Oh, you really don't want me to put my teeth on you at all, ever. Well ok, why didn't you say so?" ...sigh... I was his favorite chew toy for awhile.
Don't worry. Keep working on it, and he'll learn.
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LOL!!! Yes, hopefully that lightbulb will go off for Theo very soon! The real challenge is keeping my temper in check. I don't like being chewed on, but it's so hard to keep perspective sometimes. I think your way of looking at it really helps. Thanks! I'm going to go home and try it with Theo right now. ;)
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Good luck! It won't happen overnight, but Theo will get it with a little practice.
Keeping out temper in check is one reason we usually recommend a 2-3 minute time outs. The puppy doesn't need that much time to realize he did something wrong...we humans need the time to regain perspective! : )
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Hahaha! So true. I went home at lunchtime today and had a really great play session with Theo. He was mellow and still a little mouthy, but he wasn't too bad, and he was gentle. Of course, I also got him a new toy, so that occupied most of his time. I guess I just need to invest a small fortune in toys to always keep his interest on them rather than my hands! Hehe. It'll be worth the cost. :)
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