my puppy's playful biting is getting out of hand. how can i stop this behavior?

Question

i just got a chihuahua pup for xmas. he is 8 weeks old. hes very playful and has started biting and snipping at us when were playing with him. he has toys that he loves to chew on, but when we get close and he snips our nose or lips and it hurts!! i have 2 children (ages 9 and 7) and I'm afraid hes going to get bigger and contiune playing roughly and hurt them or me. what can i do to discouarge this behavior now?? keep in mind he is Very little and im scared popping him will hurt him. he weighs maybe 2 lbs. thanks!

Answer 1

When he trys to bite at you, say no or enh or what noise thats sharp enough to really grab the pups attention also, I used to put my arm i(in your case hand)n my puppies mouth and push back on her jaw until she become uncomfortable and tried to get it out on her own, and hand him a toy, occupy his mouth with things you want him to play with. As far as nipping your nose just try ot keep your face far from the puppies.

Answer 2

It's cute for puppies but not so good when they learn it's ok to bite. Never hit. If you do your are just teaching fear, encouraging aggression, and diminishing loyalty. When your puppy nips forcefully shout "NO", "STOP", "BAD", etc. But always use the same command so the pup will learn what it means. And, this is most important, immediately withdraw your attention until the pup settles down. What the pup wants is to play with you but never reward the biting. You can also try a spray bottle full of water (it works on dogs too). A gentle spray on the nose is humane but they don't really like it. It never seems to fail to get a puppies attention.

Also, make sure your pup has plenty of "right" things to chew on. Puppies teethe and dogs just love to chew. When they try to nip, after you have disciplined them, start a game of tug-of-war with an appropriate toy.

Good luck!!

Answer 3

Redirection..... when your pup bites or nips you grab his muzzle firmly and look into his eyes and say NO firmly in a stern tone of voice, then give him a toy he is allowed to bite and tell him Good! in a happy and joyful tone of voice. He will soon learn what to bite INSTEAD of your hand. If you need to you can reinforce the NO command with a squirt bottle filled with water only... but make sure to always follow up by redirecting his attention to the proper behaviour which is chewing and biting his own toys.

Simply telling him no doesnt show him what IS acceptable behaviour, you should always redirect him towards the acceptable behaviour and praise him for it. Also your puppy may not have learned "Bite Inhibition" from his littermates, basically bite inhibition is learned when puppies play with one another.. when one pup bites another if they bite hard the victim yelps and reacts to the pain, which usually causes the biter to learn what kind of bites are playful and which are painful. You can encourage this learning process by "yelping" like a dog would when your puppy bites you .... and then follow it with the NO command, redirection to a chew toy and subsequent praise.

If you would like to learn more about how to take control and become your dogs leader I suggest reading these articles about dog training, good knowledge of dog training techniques can help eliminate any future training problems...
I know your dog has not displayed any real aggressive tendencies but your underlying fear of the dog turning aggressive with age makes me want to suggest starting these training methods at a young age to eliminate any future problems,
http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-dog_nilf.htm
http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-alphadog.htm
http://www.pets.ca/articles/article-dogsocial.htm

Answer 4

I got my Bichonpoo at 12 weeks and she had a nipping and biting problem too. I told her every time "no bite" firmly without yelling and without hitting her. When she would chew something that she shouldn't I would tell her "no bite" and "switch" as I gave her a toy or bone to chew. She quickly learned what "no bite" and "switch" meant and I had no problem with biting, nipping or chewing. The key is be consistent, be persistent, don't yell and don't hit. My puppy is now 5 months old and I have no problem with biting or chewing. This works if you really are persistent with him early on.

Answer 5

Okay, if you are playing with a puppy sometimes they get rough. I really don't think he is being aggressive he just doesn't realize he is hurting you. And with puppies they have those little baby razor teeth and that doesn't help. When you play with him don't get mad if he gets a little rough, but if he is biting aggressively when you get near his toys you need to take the toy away from him to show him you are the boss. If he bites just flick his nose not to hard just hard enough he knows you are not playing. Animals are like children, they have to be taught boundaries. After about 5 minutes let him take it from your hand. But this has to be done on a regular basis to get him used to you handling his toys. It is also a good idea to pet him while he is eating. And if you give him scraps or little chew bones you need to handle the food just so in case you have a little child around and he or she gets a little brave you don't have to worry about him biting them if they do take his bone.

Answer 6

This one is easy. Place your hand in its mouth holding its bottom jaw. Apply slight pressure. Holding its jaw until it makes a noise (sounds like a whimper). Saying no no as you are holding it. Then release. I have never had to repeat this more than twice with any of my dogs or puppies. They learn very quickly. The breed you have will become very attached to one person in your house. Right now it is playing with each of you making its choice. But they make great family pets. They are high strung. And will bark at a cat passing gas in the front yard. They hear everything going on. As with any young one if it gets mileage they will do it again. If it was trying to get someone attention and got it that way, it will happen again. They are so smart, ain't they... lol

Answer 7

No you cannot hit him!!!
You have to teach him the meaining of NO and you do it with your tone of voice. YOu do not yell at all.
You say no as soon as he does it in a very stern voice and stop playing with him completely.
You have to have lots of patience and be very consistent until he realizes what no means and that you don't want him to bite.

Never hit a dog! They become scared of you andyour hands. It is not a way to train them anyway.

You train a dog with tone of your voice only. They can understand whenyour voice turns stern and you stop suddenly playing. Walk away immeditaely after saying no firmly. Do it every single time he bites or nips, no exceptions. If done properly it should only take a day or two to teach him not to bite.
Take him to obedience school. I would not want to live with an untrained dog.

Answer 8

when he does this behavior say no in a firm voice, not yelling not angry and scruff him, grab the extra skin between his shoulders with your thumb and forefinger since he's so small and flip him on his back. hold him there until he doesn't fight you. he may scream and yell, it's because he doesn't like being told no, like most children as you probably already know. once he relaxes let him up and repeat what you were doing when he bit. keep repeating this everytime he does something he shouldn't. he will learn to respect you and will not bite. aslo when older and vaccinated take him to training classes, this will strengthn your bond, build his confidence and keep you and your household a happy one with a great pet. good luck.

Answer 9

Don't play. I have a 1 yr old 4 lb chi. She is very playful and can get that little biting thing going...so we stop and tell her no and stop playing with her, we also give her her toy that is she can do whatever she wants with it. It takes time to train your doggy to listen and get used to what is right to do and what is wrong. Please take the time to do that so your dog can have a very lovely home to stay with. There are many dogs out there that get taken to the dog pound or dumped due to poor training.

Answer 10

we have a small pup about 11 weeks old also small- everytime he bites we walk away from him-no attention- he has come to the realization that biting means no attention just keep doing this and soon he will get the idea-be patient they get so excited. and will learn in time!