Monday, January 28, 2008

playful pup

No socks are safe in our house, they are always in danger of being pounced on and subdued. Even if you are wearing them. The best thing to do is to keep your shoes on!



Luckily he wears himself out pretty quickly. He does like his kennel. We put him in there when he falls asleep or even when we think he is tired and he will go to sleep on his own. When he wakes up he plays with his stuffed buddy for a while and when he is ready to get out he goes to the door and puts his paw on it.

Things aren't all roses though, he is becoming quite the biter. We are struggling with ways to get him to stop biting our fingers and toes. He gets himself all wound up and starts growling and biting. We do not want him to continue with this aggressive behaviour. He bites me the least so I pick him up and wait for him to calm down. We have also started putting him in a laundry basket for a little time out. I don't want to use his kennel or bed as a place to punish him. I would welcome any suggestions on how to deal with this problem...


5 comments:

Tiki, Kirby, and StanLee said...

Kesey was quite the biter when he was little. We would sharply yell OW!!! whenever he bit us. He didn't like the noise, so he got the message. We praised him when he started using his teeth more gently.

RTK Mom

Anonymous said...

Licorice loved socks as well. Labs are real big on chewing, she even chewed the end of my mattress off. I found that if I got rawhides or toys to keep her busy she did better. All puppies chew though, its kind of like babies when they are teething. Just give him encouragement and I'm sure he will be just fine.

Anonymous said...

Don't pick him up when he is biting, this just rewards him. Say, "No" sharply and tap him lightly on the nose. If he continues, say it again and offer him something that is okay to chew on. As Chrissie said, it is a stage he should grow out of. We also have used clapping our hands near the face which distracts them and then give him a toy.

Unknown said...

Playing tug of war can confuse a puppy about when it's appropriate to bite and when it's not. I'd avoid tug games at this age. With big dogs, I always avoid tug of war. Wrestling with a little pup is also not a good idea - it gets them all riled up.

What I would do is a sharp OW with the first bite. If he doesn't stop, then I "growl" at my puppies - it's not really a true growl, but a low, throaty, negative sound. Hmm...hard to describe in words. You know how sometimes you will say "nuh uh" instead of "no" - take the "nuh" part and say it really deeply in your throat. That'd probably as close as I could describe. That's my NO NO sound and my dogs STOP whatever they are doing when I make that noise. It makes you sound much meaner than you really are. :^)

If he still doesn't stop biting, roll him over on his back, making the growly sound at him, looking him in the eye, and hold him there until he stops struggling and is no longer making eye contact with you.

How old is puppy? Pups usually learn when not to bite from there mothers from 5-8 weeks of age. If he's younger than 8 weeks, you need to take the place of the mother in this learning experience. :^)

Shammickite said...

Your other commenters beat me to it.... my son always yells a hig pitched OW when the puppy bites, then she knows she is hurting and she learns to stop. The teeth are so sharp when they are babies.