My dog play bites?

Question

I recently adopted a 1 year old dog from the Humane Society. We have had her for almost a month now. When she came she really didn't have ANY manners. But she is a great dog now, after some training. She is now house trained, knows many tricks, walks well on a leash, and she is VERY sweet and friendly. The only problem we have is that she play bites. It is not hard, or in an aggressive way at all. But if she gets excited the first thing she does is put our hands in her mouth. When she does this we tell her 'No' and immediately ignore her until she calms down and decides not to use her mouth to play. Well this works for the moment. But it has been a month, and still, the first thing she does is put our hands in her mouth when she is excited. She will stop when we say no, but how do I get it to stick that she can't do this? Am I expecting her to change too soon? I am worried about this because she is a 50 pound dog, I do not want her to accidentally bite too hard. Any other suggestions?

Answer 1

I think you might be expecting results too soon. If she were a little puppy, you might be past this, but at a year, the behavior is a little more engrained. If she has not bit hard and it has only occurred in play, then it sounds like she is using restraint - she is just playing with you like she would another dog. It's not appropriate and she just hasn't learned quite yet.

Since you have not seen much improvement, why not schedule a couple of training sessions with a private trainer that uses gentle training methods? Call the humane society you got her from and ask for some recommendations. They may have some other suggestions for you and can help you with any other training problems you're having. I did a couple of sessions after adopting my last dog even though I have trained dogs several times before. The refresher was good and it gave me some new ideas I hadn't thought of before.

Answer 2

Try beating her to the punch - when you see her getting excited and looking ready for a playful nip, tell her "no biting". This will act as a reminder when she's too excited to think about all the times she got in trouble for biting before. Then, when she plays without biting, praise her.

I have a dog (also adopted from a shelter) that does the same thing, but we've been having success with this method. Best of luck to you and your new best friend!

Answer 3

Try using food rewards and a lot of bright-voiced praise when she DOES do what you want. Once she gets the idea that doing it your way leads to rewards, she may prefer that.

Also, the UH-UH ("no") sound works better than "no" sometimes. It seems to be closer to dog language.

My rescued dog is a compulsive licker and butter-inner and it is not getting better after a year. Some dogs just have a little kennel neurosis and it doesn't go away easily.

Good luck and thank you for being a rescuer.

Answer 4

some books I have read on the subject suggest making a yelping sound when this happens. Dogs recognize this as a sign of distress, and will eventually correct the behavior.

You might also try a mist from a water bottle. Whenever the dog play bites, give her a small mist to the face. Most dogs dislike this, and will correct the behavior.

Answer 5

My dog did the same thing. I adopted her from a Humane Society as well. It took her about 2 months to get over that. (shes almost 40 lbs.)

Answer 6

She's still a puppy, so it may take her awhile. My dog did that and we would give him a twap on the nose if he bit, then we would hold our hand out to "test" to see if he'd try it again. Now he's 3. He still likes to play rough and he always has his mouth open... but he won't bite. If we put our hand in his mouth he backs up and trys to get it out. If you put your hand out flat, he'll lick it.
Give her some time... she'll get it eventually. Remember to praise her when she's not biting.

Answer 7

bite inhibition training...I was taught to do this by my dog trainers..and do it to all of my dogs..it is easy, effective, kind...and quick! ( I promise no dog I have ever had would put any part of any human in their mouths)
when doggie puts your hand in her mouth (or anyones hand..make sure all visitors know to do this..so doggy will know that it applies to ALL people) don't pull away, don't say no..don't say anything..just push your hand inside your dogs mouth..not hard, the training part does not hurt the dog..the training part makes doggy uncomfortable..put your hand back far enough so she can't close her mouth, and just hold your hand there till doggy pulls away.
dogs like to chase things...when you move your hand away...not only do you lose (dominance wise) but it motivates doggy to chase your hand..it is your job as pack leader to make doggy move her mouth away from your hand...This doggy will find not only uncomfortable..but not fun...dogs will seldom continue to do things that are not fun, or uncomfortable..(again, don't do it hard..the object is not to cause pain)...and don't say anything while you are doing it..or afterwords..no praise, no saying no..no scolding..just let things happen and go about your day as usual. Remember the "praise" for the dog is that the uncomfortable part stops.

Answer 8

My pup does the same thing...here's what I've read we're suppose to do....(I've only had my pup for 2 weeks, and she's only 5 months old) so I can't tell you if it works..but, supposedly it does....

Puppies bite eachother when they play...they "yipe" when bitten to let the biter know "it hurts".....if your puppy bites you when playing..."yipe" to let him/her know he's hurting you..then a stern "NO" immediately to follow.

I have noticed that mine immediately stops biting when I "yipe"....but, as you stated...quickly goes back to it. I'm hoping she'll grow out of it....If you've made that much progress with your adopted fur-kid, I'd say your doing quite well....give her time to learn all her new rules...sounds like you've got a great new friend! Good Luck!

Answer 9

my dog does the same we draw a fine line between what is play and what is not.

just imagine you wanted to play with her and had no fingers or thumbs? there is only one thing she has to pick up anything, her mouth.

If it still worries you use toy to play with that she can bite -tug'o'war rope is great

Answer 10

some dogs are harder to train then others. it seems like what ur doing works she does stop when u tell her to stop be patient and consistant and the dog will learn . GOOD LUCK!