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Permalink Reply by Kevan hudson on December 29, 2011 at 7:05am

Hi there, went through the same things with benson, some things I learned about the biting, dogs don't have hands, so they use their mouths. In a pack situation they would be taught how hard and when it was necessary.what I did was,if he bit I would yell "ow" and make a bit of a deal about it, if he bit during play, same thing would yell "ow" ,then would end play until he would calmly sit at my feet,he soon learned that the biting of humans was not acceptable,he still nudges occasionally,this worked for me,I noticed that when he nipped our beagle "abbey",she would turn on him quickly ,and let him know it was unacceptable,he now rarely nips her,anyway good luck,and remember he is a puppy, so patience and be consistent and repetitive with any training.

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Permalink Reply by Yuki & Ellie on December 29, 2011 at 8:34am

There are many discussions on the forum about biting, like this one.  What I did with Ellie was to making avery loud yelping sound.  She responds the way most dogs do, which is to immediately stop and look at me as if to say, "What happened?!"  I then redirected to a proper chew toy.  If he continues to bite/nip (like you describe in your post), then it's time to stop all play and for him to be placed into a puppy-safe area by himself for 5-10 minutes.  This could be an X-pen, a closed off room, etc.  It may take some time, but he'll start to understand that biting means play time is over.

As for fetch, Ellie didn't really get it right until around 3-4 months.  I tried to get her to bring toys back, but more often than not she would either put it down right after picking it up or she would drop it halfway back to me and decide to play with something else.  :)  Eventually she discovered that bringing it back meant that she could chase it all over again.  Now she'll fetch a ball until my arm is ready to fall off!

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Permalink Reply by Beth on December 29, 2011 at 10:17am

Say "ow!" really loud and if he doesn't stop, immediately walk away.  Here's where it helps if you are playing in an area closed off by baby gates, because you can immediately step over the gate and go out of sight.  After  just a minute or two-- no more!  (pups this young have very short attention spans) go back in the room and play again, and repeat.  Just be diligent about it.

First you might want to teach bite inhibition, though, to get him to learn to not bite so hard at things.  It's the same idea, but in this case you spend the first few days encouraging him to bite your hands.  Tolerate the hardest bite you can, one that does not break skin.   If he bites any HARDER than this, do as described above.  He should quickly learn that he can bite this hard but no harder.  Over a period of about two weeks, very gradually tolerate less and less bite pressure from him.  When he's at the point that he mouths very gently so you can hardly feel the teeth, then slowly move to "no teeth on me."

 

The reason I suggest that instead of going straight to no biting is if he's biting so hard he's cutting your skin, he first needs to learn to be more gentle with his mouth before learning to avoid contacting your skin completley, so that if he's ever in a situation as an adult where he feels he has no choice but to nip, he's already learned that he can control how hard he bites. 

 

As for fetching, I honestly would not even work on that with a pup so young.  With a retreiving breed who is selected to bring stuff back, yes.  But with a Corgi you won't likely have much success til he's had some more training under his belt and understands the basic principals of training.

 

Good luck!

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Permalink Reply by Beth on December 29, 2011 at 10:19am

By the way, when you are teaching bite inhibition, he should ONLY be allowed to bite your hands and no other body part.  But while he is learning, do wear shoes around the house.  I could not wear long pants and walk through the kitchen for weeks without Jack hanging off my leg.   Pups instinctively chase anything that moves, so part of it is rearranging your habits to avoit exciting the puppy when you don't want to play.

 

I had to teach Jack bite inhibition because he bit hard enough to hurt.  It took a while and I had sore hands, but it really helped.

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Permalink Reply by Valerie Chan on December 29, 2011 at 12:31pm

Thanks Beth. That was really helpful information :), I'm going to try this as soon as possible!

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Permalink Reply by Vicki/Kurt Pegel on December 30, 2011 at 6:09am

I feel your pain literally.  Our Sophie is now 15 weeks and we still cant get her to stop biting our hands and pulling on our pants legs.  We are trying the time out for the past 3 weeks, it may have helped some but isnt as much as I had hoped for.  Other than her biting she is doing so well and is such a fast learner in everything else.  We are just being patient.  I know it can be frustrating but we know one day she will get better and all the past will be forgotten.   Hold tight things will get better.  My mother in law will not pet her anymore either, cause everytime she does she bites her finger and she is elderly.  So until Sophie gets better no petting from Grandma. 

 

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