chewing on me

[dennis malec]

I AM A NEW MEMBER AND LIVE WITH A 10 WEEK OLD MALE BORDER COLLIE. HE IS A JOY TO LIVE WITH, HOWEVER I CANNOT STOP HIM FROM BITING MY SHOES,PANTS AND MOST IMPORTANTLY MY HANDS WHICH ARE COVERED WITH CUTS. I HAVE READ ABOUT AN TRIED MANY TECKNIQUES, NONE SEEM TO WORK ON HIM. I TRY AND NOT GET EXCITED, I HAVE CRATED HIM, NEVER IN ANGER, I HAVE SAID NO BITE A THOUSAND TIMES TO NO AVAIL. HELP

[Anda]

First, don't yell at him (see CAPS )

[leahluvsherpups]

When Cody was a pup she did the same thing. People will post a ton of suggestions, none of which worked for me. Eventually she just grew out of it but not after several pairs of jeans, jackets, and shirts being ripped. I honestly thought that Bitter Apples would work but the stuff didn't phase her a bit.

[Sue R]

Have you tried the "search" function at the top of this page to see what has been posted before about "nipping"? Check out those threads and see if there are techniques there that might work for you. This is a youngster at an age that this behavior is strong and needs to be dealt with now.

 

Techniques range from stopping all motion when this happens (the motion is often what "sets it off"), yelping "ouch" or something similar (which is similar to how pups would interact when one gets too rough), giving him something other than yourself to occupy his mouth (a tug toy or chewie), to taking the pup by the scruff of the neck and restraining him with a growly voice and sometimes even a mild shake to express your displeasure and the unsuitability of his behavior, until he calms down and ceases the behavior. It's not a one-time-fix job - you will need to work on this over time and be consistent in your corrections. There are details posted in other threads on this topic that you can find with the search function.

 

Whatever you choose to do, you must be consistent and make sure that others that interact with him are also consistent. This is not something you need to wait for your pup to grow out of - it is something you can deal with now but will take some time to overcome.

 

Best wishes!

[juliepoudrier]

I have a friend who says she just resigns herself to having a pair of pants shredded and so designates a pair just for that purpose. She, too, says they grow out of it and so doesn't see the point in all the reprimanding folks do.

 

I generally don't tolerate torn clothes (lower income bracket than my friend), so I use a "drag toy" when we're walking or whatever. I just take an old toy, maybe destuffed, loop a leash around its neck, and drag it along. It triggers the same bite/chase drive in the pup that moving feet do, and yet it's a toy they are allowed, so no correction necessary. Then if they go for my shoes or pants legs, I can give them a correction and offer them the drag toy as an alternative.

 

Anyway, you will get lots of different approaches to this, and you'll need to find what works best for you. I personally take my or my friend's approach because I don't like "nagging" and unfortunately pups are persistent, so if you just keep trying to correct you may well end up nagging, which just ultimately teaches your pup to ignore you. And they really DO outgrow it.

 

J.

[rosefarm]

Anda, you made me chuckle

 

--Denise

[bc4pack]

Julie is right, they do outgrow it.

Does the pup have age appropriate things to chew on? Fact of life is that pups NEED to chew and a little 10 week old has some growing up to do (read teething)...even at this age you could get him a puppy kong,and maybe smear a little peanut butter on the inside...instead of getting after him for what you DON'T want him to do,show him what you DO want him to do...I can certainly relate, those needle teeth can hurt...try 3 pups at once!

[hoku's mum]

I second the idea of directing him to something good to chew on, nagging just is a drag for all involved. Teach and encourage a behavior you DO want rather then reprimanding over and over the behavior you don't want. The 'drag toy' is a great idea, also keep lots of good chew toys around so you can direct him to those rather then your limbs and clothes. We found bitter apple to work really well, we were told to take the pup when he's chewing something bad, spray a bit on your finger and put it right on his tongue (**only do this once**, NOT every time you catch him chewing). Then spray a bit on the thing you do not want chewed. It only took Hoku a couple of days in his evil puppy monster days to just SEE the bitter apple bottle come out, and he would stop chewing (the rug, couch, etc) and go and get a 'good' toy'.

 

Good luck!

[bc4pack]

I realized that I didn't elaborate as much as perhaps I should have with "pups NEED to chew" ...puppies learn how to inhibite their bite from littermates...one pup bites another too hard = a yelp and game over...at this point in time what are you doing that allows the pup access to hands to bite? If you are playing or just handling i.e. picking him up,just remove your hands and yourself for a little bit."If I bite too hard, my source of everything good disappears!"

Puppies learn about the world through their mouths (no opposable thumbs)...

Puppies raised in a multidog household learn bite inhibition from other pups or puppy friendly adults and it will take a few weeks...when mine were your age it seemed I always had someone trying to untie sneaker laces while I was still in them!Gradually the behavior will disappear,especially when the pup has access to something tastier/appropriate to chew on.

Border pups are such smart little whips...I had to be really consistant though...'if you bite me too hard,I get up and leave'.

Another suggestion...you might want to start looking into a good,positive training puppy class ...it's a good time to start working on the basics,these puppy brains are like sponges...very simple,very short and sweet.Another good thing about a good puppy class,is that your pup can play with other pups and learn some doggie manners.

Best of luck and keep us posted.