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Permalink Reply by Ludi on May 16, 2012 at 8:13pm

Hey! It sounds like Appa is being a pretty good girl overall, but may need some help going in the right direction. :)

For starters, I would limit the level of play allowed between her and children for the time being. Like puppies, kids need to learn how to behave with the rest of the world, and that includes animals. It's possible that they do not fully comprehend at what point they need to back off, and relax a little. It may be overwhelming for Appa to be played with and handled past the point of petting and stroking, for now. You don't want the kids or Appa to come away with a negative reaction to their meeting - if everything ends on a good note, then both parties look forward to it more often! If possible, try to inform the children (if they are of the age) to not play too roughly with your pup as she's still a baby.

Ace has never chewed on a "toy" in his life. He's now 1 year of age, and shows zero signs of doing so any time in the near future. On the other hand, what he does like to chew are: bully sticks, knotted rawhide, and plastic bottles (he LOVES them). While I know you want to keep Appa occupied while you are away, or busy with something else, it is important to realize your own dog's preferences. I tried really, really hard to make Kongs and other chew toys interesting. I bought the flashiest ones, the ones with all sorts of different textures, ones that squeaked and ones that mooed. Ace never bit. Since Appa is so young, it may just be too early to tell. But in case she really prefers chewing on other things, I suggest trying out other "edibles" apart from bully sticks and rawhides. There's a whole gamut of products for dogs like ours. :)

As for teaching inhibition itself, it will come with time and being consistent. ANY time she nips you, or applies pressure to you with her mouth, you must tell her that it's unacceptable. But how? By doing it how puppies do, when they are learning this behavior amongst themselves - by yelping. Have you ever seen two dogs playing rough and tumble, and then you suddenly hear a sharp squeal and everything stops? That's the noise that tells the offending party that what they just did was over the line, and that it needs to stop. It can be difficult to make the high-pitched yelp for men, but it is worth trying. But do not raise your voice - you don't want to seem big and scary. She just needs to realize that teeth + human skin = I better stop!

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Permalink Reply by Appa and Iroh on May 16, 2012 at 9:16pm

Awesome--thank you for the response! I will look into other "edibles" for sure and see what she thinks of them. I've tried the yelping actually, seems like sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Lol, my husband couldn't tell if it was me or her yelping and asked if she got hurt--guess that's a good sign I'm doing it right ;). Guess I need to try doing it every time she puts the teeth on me and see if that'll get the point across.

Thanks again! I appreciate the advice!

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Permalink Reply by Bev Levy on May 17, 2012 at 7:53am

9 weeks is an infant! She will grow into her interest in these things. At this point she should always be supervised when out of a puppy proof room. That should help save the chair legs!

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