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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on April 15, 2011 at 2:49pm

Corgis are not a good dog to rough house with. I would put a stop to that right away. My husband likes to mess with the dogs too and after I encouraged him to try something else he taught them tricks (shake, roll over etc) and that worked great. Corgis have a very strong bite so I think they should not be encouraged to play rough. As for biting the legs, I always stop moving immediately say a firm no and if it continues either pick him up away from your body until he settles down or give him a time out in a puppy proofed boring room for a few minutes. Classes will help a lot.

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Permalink Reply by Jane on April 15, 2011 at 3:04pm

I think almost everyone has issues with their puppy being bitey when they're little. You can try making a loud YELP! noise when he bites, and then turn your back on him. With my pem the yelping actually excited him more, so totally ignoring him or putting him on a 5 minute time-out in another room was more effective.

With the pants biting, I would just stop dead in my tracks and not move a muscle until he lost interest. If he continues I would pick him up and put him on a time out. If I can pry open my adult dog's jaws when they have something yucky, you can definitely get an 11 week old off of your pants with some work. :)

Not all dogs are big into toys. Henry's favorite thing is a squeaky tennis ball, Luke likes fleece ropes. It may just be a matter of finding something he really likes.

Most importantly you need to make sure everyone in the house is being consistent with him. Tell your father and boyfriend they need to follow your rules or don't play with the puppy at all. Classes will definitely help as well.

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Permalink Reply by Candace Rogers on April 23, 2011 at 11:37am

Oh my God!  Mine does the same thing!  He's 10 weeks old and a complete terror.  The first few days were great, but after that the biting started.  We've tried so many different things and nothing seems to help.  The apple spray just makes him angry, and he starts growling at whatever we put it on.  He just bites EVERYTHING. Our vet thinks we gave him too much freedom when we first got him, by not putting him in the crate enough.  We tried to leave him out with us all the time.  My husband played rough with him too in the beginning, and that was probably not a good idea.  I want to get him into training as well, because we're hoping that will save us!  We need all the help we can get, because it's starting to get overwhelming, and that's not good for him or us.  He does like his toys, but they don't keep his interest for very long.  As soon as one of us gets up to walk somewhere, he's right at our pants legs or shoes.

 

I hope the training helps in your situation!  Let us know what happens.  Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Jessica & Johann on April 26, 2011 at 12:15pm

he was a terror at 10-12 weeks but I have really seen a difference in his behavior over the last 5-6 days.  He's gotten better with not biting hands, but he's become 10x more interested in ankles and feet.  I keep the Bitter Apple in my back pocket when we are together just in case... But this is how I get him to stop biting:

1. Say "no biting".  if he keeps doing it...

2. Hold his muzzle shut in your hand and repeat "no biting". If he grabs for you again...

3. I do a small squirt of the Bitter Apple onto his mouth/lip area while he is still biting me.  It's very important to do it while he's still in the act... don't pull him off and then squirt it.  And again, I say "no biting" when I spray.

 

If that doesn't work, just walk away like the others have suggested.  If you can't walk away because he is clamped onto your pants... just get on top of the nearest chair/couch and ignore him if he tries to jump up there with you.  He will eventually stop and find something else to do.

 

I know how overwhelming it is.. just remember to be consistent in showing him what "good" and "bad" manners are and he will soon catch on :)

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Permalink Reply by Bax & Zigs & Rosie on April 23, 2011 at 3:42pm

I did exactly what Jane described with the yelping. Ignoring or completely stopping play is also a great idea when your puppy starts playing too rough. My boyfriend continues to rough house with Baxter, while I do not. This has lead to Baxter playing appropriately with me, while my boy will occasionally get a "violence kiss" from Baxter.

We also taught him the "kisses" command when he was little. When he would start biting, I'd take my hand away and say "No!" I'd give it back to him and if he licked it, I would say, "Good! Kisses!" Eventually he learned the only "mouthing" allowed would be licks.

A word of caution on the biting of pants. Baxter was very into biting pants when he was tiny. One night, he bit my boyfriend's cargo shorts and got his tooth stuck in the pocket. My boyfriend did not feel him right away and took a step, breaking Baxter's puppy canine tooth in half! Thankfully it broke across horizontally and not vertically. It still had to be removed though. Had Baxter not been getting neutered that week, the vet would have needed to put him under in order to extract the tooth, which would made the procedure very expensive. The neuter bill showed a $1.00 fee of tooth extraction.

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Permalink Reply by LG on April 24, 2011 at 3:46pm

We're going through the same thing, but she likes her toys (she's 17 wks)... she also likes biting your hands before/instead of the toys. The "yelp" technique wasn't working for us. What's seemed to help is having a toy to replace instead of your hands, feet, etc. If she continues we put her in her crate for a minute time out. We're in a small apartment so it' not hard to do this pretty quickly. She's still learning what 'good playing' is, but I think she's picking up in it since she's not going after our pants or hands as much.

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Permalink Reply by Jessica & Johann on April 26, 2011 at 12:05pm

Thanks for all the great advice!  He's now 13 weeks and has calmed down a bit.  He still likes to bite my hands but is learning to stop when I say "no".  My boyfriend and dad have stopped the roughhousing altogether and it has made a huge difference... if he starts to bite hands or feet, I just slide a toy across the tile floor and he chases after it. Although we still have a long way to go, I think he is finally starting to understand and respect the boundaries during playtime. :)

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