Puppy Problems--My Puppy Chews my Shoes--And ME!!

[tx_cowgirl]

After referring many, many puppy owners to Bellapup's blogs(because quite frankly, I've gotten lazy about retyping the same advice over and over again), I've decided to start these "Puppy Problems" threads, this being the first. So, if your puppy(or dog) is chewing inappropriate things or nipping you, here's some tips to curb your pup's habit.

*Remember that there are many ways to teach your dog not to bite or chew inappropriate things. These are the ones I have found most effective.*

Option One:
Your puppy bites you, and you immediately turn around and give him no attention at all until he is calm. Completely ignore--you don't even have to say anything, just leave the situation entirely so that they begin to understand that biting means playtime is OVER and puppy gets no attention whatsoever. The only thing about this that I don't like is that the puppy still wants to chew. Getting him not to chew you(or undesirable item) doesn't cure his need to chew something. But nonetheless, this method is still very effective.

Option Two:
Your puppy bites you, and you give a firm "Ah-ah!" at a low volume. Don't YELL at your puppy--talk in a comfortable speaking voice, just make it sharp. Remove your hand quickly and immediately entice her to play with an acceptable chew toy. Praise her for releasing your hand, and toss the toy in the opposite direction or just wave it around. Tossing it distracts your pup/dog from your yummy hand and entices them to run after the good toy. Lots of praise and play. Consistency is the key! Every time she bites you must do this, and really be enthusiastic(but not SCARY overenthusiastic, lol!) when she plays with the toy instead of your hand.

If she is chewing a shoe for instance, again, "Ah-ah!", remove the shoe and entice her to play with a toy. This method means you need to always have an acceptable chew toy on hand. Place them in all areas of the house or carry one with you all the time. Try to keep unacceptable chew things out of reach anyway, to avoid the incident entirely. Chewing the unacceptable "toy" is very self-rewarding for her. How is she to know that those shoes are for wearing?

How to Properly Take a Bite
Although you don't want your pup to bite at all, the best way to take a bit almost painlessly is with a closed fist. Open fingers are easy to grab onto and yank and gnaw. Lots of pain for you=lots of reward for puppy. Closed fist=nothing to grab, less painful, and easier to remove from sharp puppy teeth.

Remember that your dog or puppy doesn't remember destroying that hat an hour ago. Your pup doesn't remember half-eating that loafer 3 minutes ago. It's a completely insignificant event in her mind--not at the time, but later she really doesn't remember it. She's bound to try it again, but when you get home from work the first thing on her mind is, "YAY Mom's/Dad's home!!! PLAYTIME!" You can hold the half-eaten loafer right in her face and she doesn't have a clue what your intentions are with it. So when you yell and get angry at her when you come home to your destroyed shoes, she's not cowering because she "knows she's in trouble"--she's cowering because she's afraid of YOU and has no clue what you're hollering about. So even though it's infuriating, you are doing no good whatsoever to yell 10 minutes after the event. I constantly hear from puppy/dog owners that their dog, "KNOWS she's in trouble" when they get home and find a poop pile or a destroyed object. They don't have a CLUE what they did wrong. All they know is that your body language is far from happy, and every time you come home that way, they get yelled at. The connection isn't with the poop pile or the shoe, it's with YOU and your body language.

Again, consistency is the only way to get a dog who will not ever mouth. If your dog still bites you or chews inappropriate things, 9 times out of 10 it is only because there is inconsistency in her training. Everyone in the household must use this and copy it to a T--everyone must do everything the same. If the adult in the household is the only one who tries to curb the biting/chewing, then puppy will still be mouthy. If you have a three year old who obviously can't adopt this training, then whoever is with child and pup needs to do the same things. Puppy bites kid="Ah-ah!", toss toy, "Good girl/boy!!!"

So, be consistent and good luck with your puppies/dogs! I hope this is helpful to all you puppy owners or owners of chewing/mouthy dogs. Many more Puppy Problems threads to come!

[lilypup]

i can't remember where i heard this, but i heard if your puppy bites too hard... a high-pitched yelp and then withdrawal/playtime over is how a puppy's littermates would react, and that this is how puppies learn what playing too rough is.

[snooks]

Puppy chews shoes? Be sure shoes are in closet and door closed. 100% effective, it's always human's fault if puppy isn't watched 100% and items that are not chewable are left in reach.

As for the biting I too have posted many things on this. Here's what I did-and it's all positive training and reward based. I don't think scolding for this or acting like a momma dog does anything but scare your puppy. ALL puppies do it and you'll have to be fair and consistent and calm. If you use the advanced search and look for the word ignore and posted by snooks you'll find all the puppy biting advice I posted. Ignoring a bitey puppy is the way to stop it. I've pasted my own words here but there are other thoughts in these threads. I generally agree with my own advice so I just pasted that here.

The diet part may not be applicable but certainly feeding good quality food will help your puppy's blood sugar stay stable and there will be less hyper frantic highs and lows. Hope this helps-please ask if you have more questions.

Yipping at a puppy may be very stimulating and encourage more biting, like what a FUN GAME." Most often I find some way of ignoring or REDIRECTING (even better) like putting a doggie chew in puppy's mouth then rewarding and praising them for appropriate use of their teeth. NONONONO doesn't teach anything. A puppy does remember what you praise it for. Catch puppy doing things right and reward that. Remember puppies don't know nec that petting or gooood boy is a great thing until you related it to pleasurable things "TO THEM." Puppies are just little instinctive mouths on paws. If you relate goood boy to a treat or pets to a treat then puppy relates these to doing the right thing. You fade the treats to random after a while so you don't always give them, but for a puppy making the connection is very important.

Also see http://www.clickertraining.com/node/83 The dog that chewed shoes
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/725 bite inhibition training
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/168 puppy nipping? use a clicker



Pasted from that search thread "mouthing"
http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/puppies/2228-mouthing.html

Stand and immediately ignore puppy or place him gently on the ground if you are holding him. When he calms down you can resume interacting. Use a toy for him to hold rather than your hands and praise lavishly when he puts his mouth on the toy. Watch and catch him when he grabs a toy and praise him. Don't just pay attention to naughty things. Attend to the behavior you want more than what you don't want.

You can also use dangly toys like ropes or tugs if he continues to target your body or clothes with teeth. Step over a puppy gate and while removing your attention is the punishment remember that looking at him and pushing him away is attention so don't do it. You are a stone just for a moment until he calms down. Distract, redirect, praise is the key.

Puppy bites you, you grab your ready toy and place it in his mouth distracting him, and then you redirect his play with interaction and the toy, and praise this heavily. ALL puppies go through this and it can go very fast if you and everyone that interacts with him are very consistent.

Often this hand holding the dog's muzzle can be very frustrating, sort of like someone covering your mouth when you are talking. I would try other things first since it can cause reactivity in some dogs and some defensive biting.

Redirecting onto a dangly toy that gets the dog away from your body can help too. Any way to distract and reward more appropriate is very effective. But sometimes puppies go crazy because they're puppies. When puppy gets so excited he starts tearing stuff up gently and silently placing him in an xpen would be a good safer alternative for your couch. It would also avoid any negative association with stuffing him in his crate. A little ignored time each time if consistent every time will soon make it very clear. If you act like a little piranha you go in the pen for a bit. No getting out until he's quiet, it doesn't have to be for long, just not mid howl. Have some toys in there for him to play with and put it on a tile floor not the carpet. With that much excitement potty time might be soon.

[snooks]

pasted from post "hyper"
http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/puppies/2598-hyper.html

I don't know what kind of dog or how old but three words exercise exercise exercise. An active dog needs safe age appropriate exercised to be happy and tired and calm and good. Mental exercise is also very important, it wears them out too and they are a lot less likely to go looking for a brawl at 10pm if they are satisfied and tired. The training is also a requirement if you want them to do what you ask.

Ignore them and do not interact on that level just stand up and to not look at them, speak, or touch. When they calm down you can resume calm interaction. If they hype up again walk away calmly and slowly. If you jerk and push and dodge you seem more like a game than someone that is ignoring and it encourages a GAME WHEE! If you need to step over a doggie gate or walk in a bathroom and close the door.

I still sometimes need to just stop interacting with my 15 mo Golden when she gets overly exuberant. I just stop doing anything. She's learned and I see her think and struggle with it but she will lie down and I'll resume petting her.

Watch how you play with this puppy to until there is a level of control established. If you rev them up one minute then arbitrarily decide that it's not acceptable at other times it's confusing. At some point you can call a start and stop to games but with a puppy you are forging a relationship that you must define. If you are quiet and calm and 80 years old you really wouldn't want a bunch of teenagers coming over and teaching your dog to bounce off the furniture at 100 mph. So not that you can't have fun but get some basic obedience taught and work toward installing an on/off switch eventually.

This is an example and tug may not be appropriate for your dog as it may excite but you'll get the idea. http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1355
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/834
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/41
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/1721

Catch this dog doing things right and being calm and lying around chewing toys and reward that. You get the behavior you attend to and reward.

applicable free positive videos just scroll down http://abrionline.org/videos.php

Pasted from thread biting clothing, leash, and jumping
http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/behavioral-dog-problems/1052-biting-clothing-leash-jumping.html
dogs do things because there is some reward in it. it sounds like attention seeking. have u tried stepping over a dog gate and out of reach?? don't even look, don't scold since that is attention too, and don’t speak. click treat for 4 on the floor...be very fast. don’t talk, the treat is enough. tossable and small. you can also walk into another room and shut the door.

EVERYbody at home needs to be on board. if one person gives attention it may take 20+ times for him to think, oh darn I guess that didn’t work. it will get worse before it gets better so hold fast as he tries desperately to get it to work like it did in the past. a tether might also help. u step out of reach and click treat 4 on the floor even if it's only to launch for another jump. never leave unattended on a tether tho.

my pup used to launch and bite my hair. me saying owwww was a reward wheeeee. lol I started going to the powder room. if u have kids they need to understand too. no running and getting the prey drive going. all adults should calmly slowly slowly wordlessly walk away to the gate or door. ignore for only as long as it takes to calm, this isn’t a test. toss treat. no excited GOOD, stay low key. you can also throw treats away from you as reward for 4 on floor.
hope this helps

I would leash/tether one and work with the other, separate and crate one with a goodie and work with the other, or crate both until calm and let out after 5 minutes. still using positive rewarding of what you do want. yes I can picture the bedlam...I have two Goldens so it was like you describe but with more slobber in the past. I think addressing each dog's problems separately and getting it solid with click/treat would be the most workable. then try the two together. this seems to be more of a problem with younger dogs or same age dogs since it evolves from puppyhood and they surely can feed off one another with this behavior.

jumping work with a tether is pretty nice because you can step out of reach quickly, turn away, and ignore and then back in to reward without the chance that they will jump and get on you and get any sort of attention, even a nooo may be rewarding. just don't leave unattended/out of sight on a tether if they are jumping just to be safe.

Thread I eat everything
http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/behavioral-dog-problems/1931-i-eat-everything.html#post12953

I was assuming crated when ur gone and that the crate bedding is being eaten. agree if he's eating stuff like this he should not be left unsupervised period.

what r u feeding him?? maybe a lower or higher protein diet would help w/a holistic vet or canine nutritionist advice would help. a carb rich food may be like feeding the kids sugar at bedtime...freak-out time. carbs are what most grocery and chain pet stores sell.

u also might consider a full blood workup to rule out thyroid/other hormonal or similar disorders. just to be safe.

also consider some calming training if u really think he's neurotic, I have some reading suggestions on that too. it worked very well 4 me.

I also set up scenarios 4 puppy with cheap shoes left out when I was watching secretly. if she sniffed, eh-eh, come let's play with a legal toy YAY fun. otherwise all tempting things are put away. all shoes now safe and she's never destroyed anything. but I am always watching still. she isn't allowed off the main floor unless accompanied. set ur pup up 4 success.

Thread Discipline
http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/puppies/1760-discipline.html

u are not a dog so don't act like one since it can be scary. You cannot duplicate all the nuance of dogs and their language or u could just reason with him. take away what puppy wants most, your attention and don't play rough since that's very confusing. it's okay sometimes but not others and not with some people??? too much for a pup to comprehend. stand and ignore or walk calmly away until puppy calms. it's not a contest so as soon as he settles down resume attention. keep it calm and don't encourage freaking by laughing or watching.

calmly praise and reward calm and never ever allow play with teeth on skin. later or with guests it's hard to take back.

From thread "Frustrated and confused"
http://www.dogtrickacademy.com/members/forum/introduce-yourself/1922-frustrated-confused-2.html#post12996

you might also try a clicker book to get the nuances down. the karen pryor site has some good ones and lots of free vids and how-to's http://www.clickertraining.tv/product.html?item=FREE-01

[tx_cowgirl]

Shoes was just a basic "insert unacceptable chew thing here," lol.

Great tips Snooks!

[fickla]

Thanks for starting this TX! What a great way to compile relevant info and refer new owners to

[tx_cowgirl]

Lol unfortunately it's due in part to my own laziness. So many puppy owners post with the same questions and I just got tired of typing the same old thing...then I got tired of finding the link to Bellapup's blogs because they have the exact info that the people need, and so here we are now. Lol. ^^

The plan is to start with the typical younger puppy problems and graduating into older puppy problems. But many dogs have these issues as well because they weren't handled at a younger age, so although these target puppy owners my aim is for them to be helpful to adult dog owners as well.

[snooks]

I just jumped in here too thinking it was another question without reading thru to realize what u were doin TXCG. Sorry to blam all that into ur post. I'll remove if u like. I was blitzing the same question again too. Pardon my copy/paste etiquette. very good idea indeed. thanks for doing it to save our fingers.

[tx_cowgirl]

Lol no problem Snooks. ^^ The reason for these posts are simply to help puppy owners and not have to retype the same advice over and over again, lol! So now when we get this question we can simply direct them here. Anyone is welcome to compile their advice here. You typically have more links than I do as well for the simple reason that I haven't read as many books and found as many helpful websites. So thanks for adding your tips as well!

[tigerlily46514]

Tx, and Snooks, you guys rock, you just do. YOu are both so knowledgable and helpful, you help SOOoooo many people!! I admire your energy, and the efforts you put into helping all of us, i really do. I'm sure, totally sure, there are a lot more calm dogs and happy 'owners' out there cuz of you guys!!

[tigerlily46514]

HERE'S MY useless ADVICE on puppy biting: RESCUE AN ADULT DOG!!!

[tx_cowgirl]

Lol thanks a bunch Tigerlily. ^^ You're so sweet.

HAHA, I got Rusty when I was very young and was kind of inconsistent with him as a puppy...every once in a while I still have to give him a raised eyebrow for being mouthy, lol! He doesn't bite, just kind of mouths. He's 5 years old now, and his mouthing rarely ever happens...just once in a blue moon and he'll quit as soon as I raise my voice even a little. ^^ SOOO depending on the dog's puppy owner, you may still end up with a mouthy adult dog. Lol! But it is nice to avoid the puppyhood stage all together and get a grown-up. I do wish I'd had Mudflap as a puppy though. I can only imagine how fun it would've been!!

[snooks]

Thanks so much Tigerlily--it does do my heart good to help in any little way. If I can make things a little easier then it's a good day. I do freely use other people's wonderful ideas too and try to give credit. Most of what I know is from wonderful people here, trainers, friends, and a lot of trial and error. I love to read a lot of dog books and try to stay open minded.

Actually ur comment on rescuing an adult dog is a brilliant one. It's much easier to potty train and sleep late too. Adult dogs can form bonds just as strong as puppies and are a LOT easier to manage often. You may get some unknown history with an adult but with puppies you get unknown personality since that doesn't start solidifying for months and is an always changing thing regardless. That's one reason why I prefer to foster older dogs and because they often need a paw up more because lots more people want puppies.

The older I get the more work a puppy seems to manufacture. LOL