A mouthy pup
Last night while I was playing tug of war/fetch with Baxter, we both went for his toy and he accidentally bit my finger. Hard. Too hard. I have worked with him in the past on making sure he is a careful around human fingers when playing with toys. He is generally really good about holding back his bites (if he's rough housing with daddy) and making sure that the toy goes in the mouth, not the fingers. He also seems to grasp the different play levels well. Rough housing is something I do not do and he never tries to rough house with me.
He is 9 months old now and we had worked hard on this issue while he was a puppy and until he lost his little shark-sharp puppy teeth. I know it was an accident, I just want to make sure it doesn't happen again. Do you have any suggestions on ways to work with him on this issue?
Thanks!
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Kevin and Buddy! on
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My trainer had us freeze a stick of butter, then peel off the end of the wrapper then rub the butter on the top of our hands. When we would approach Buddy or play with him, we would reward him for licking our hands. It has taught him that hands are for licking, not biting. I have to say it is a work in progress though, as he is 6 months old now and he still has a tendancy to get a little nipy when we are playing with him. I have also been told to spray Bitter Apple on your hands when you play.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Well, I know there are trainers/behaviorists who say you should never correct a dog. The huge majority of my training is very positive and upbeat. My dogs love training sessions. I give my commands in quiet, ordinary tones. My dogs hear "good" more times a day than I can count. I almost never raise my voice to my dogs.
However, there are a few cardinal rules I have once a pup is old enough to understand, and "no teeth on me" is one of them. I too worked very hard with Jack to not be nippy. He knew leave it and he knew not to bite, and then one day when he was coming up on a year old he bit me, hard, going for a toy in my hand. After shrieking "OUCH!!!!" at him, I did something that some positive trainers will say you should never do: I held him by the loose skin on his neck (my dogs go collarless in the house) and in my deepest, growliest voice I told him that if he ever, ever bit me again, I would have his head. He wasn't a baby anymore and I figured he was old enough to know where his teeth are. He did not get hit, shaken, or lifted off the ground, but the interaction was definitely physical and definitely negative, as he put his ears back and tried to lick me (he's not submissive and never puts his ears back at me).
For a dog that never gets yelled at, it sure made an impression and he's never "forgotten" where his teeth are since. I know there are people who will disagree with this, but there are a very small handful of behaviors that in my mind warrant a strong immediate correction, and an almost-grown dog biting a person hard, even in play, is one of those behaviors. Dogs know where there teeth are. It was an "accident" in the sense that he was not concerned enough with it to pay attention to the fact it was your hand and not the toy that he was biting. Dogs bite each other in play quite hard, and they really need to understand that playing with people that way is not at all acceptable.
A younger puppy is another matter entirely, and I give a lot of leeway to bad behavior in a puppy who is still developing and learning the rules.
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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on
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I do a lot of positive reinforcement with Baxter for training and he responds well to it. My boyfriend, who does rough houses with him, did something similar when Baxter would bite too hard during their play time. When Baxter was a puppy and he would accidentially bite me, I would say "no biting," stop playing immediately and ignore him for awhile. He seemed to get that biting me meant no playing, so he started being careful.
After Baxter got my finger yesterday, I let out a loud shriek and then went into "no more play time/ignore mode." I also got up clean off my finger and get a bandaid. I had shut the bathroom door and when I opened it, Baxter was laying by the door frame looking sad. I sat down on the floor next to him and came over and licked my hands for several minutes.
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I also did what you did and would give a "time out" in the form of turning my back or walking away when Jack was little. I truly believe it is the most effective way to train a puppy not to nip. I would never give a stern correction to a puppy who was still learning.
When I reacted the way I did when Jack bit me, it wasn't something I'd decided to do beforehand, as it had never been a problem beforehand. He hadn't given me any puppy play nips in months, and we'd played tug frequently before. He bit so hard and it hurt so much that my only thought was to impress upon him that he must never, ever do that again. He's only gotten really yelled at maybe two times in his life, so as I said it made a very big impression on him.
Based on how you say he responded to your shriek of pain and walking away and closing the door, I would guess he's probably learned his lesson and it won't be a problem in the future.
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I'm hoping so. Thanks for sharing your story! It's definitely surprising when they actually cause more pain than just a nip.
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