Problem with frustration

[AdmiralGonsiorowski]

I've never raised a puppy in the house before. All the puppies I've dealt with in my life were either outdoor animals, or belonged to someone else who took care of them. The issue I'm having with Ski is that we both tend to get really frustrated with each other. He bites. I don't know how to deal with it; I can't do the little yelp thing, it gets him more excited. If I ignore him, he ignores me or takes out his frustration on the furniture/wall/houseplant/husband/crate. I could put him in his crate everytime he did it, but I'm not sure he would understand why I was doing it. The only thing I know to do is correct him with a "NO" and a pop on the butt, or hold his mouth together, and that doesn't work either. He's starting to bite harder, and it just doesn't seem like play biting, it seems like he's frustrated with me and taking it out by biting.

 

So he gets frustrated and bites, I get frustrated and correct him, he bites harder, I yell or swat him, he freaks out and turns into a little crocodile, and he ends up in his crate anyways. Then I feel bad because I know that it's my responsiblity to keep this from happening and I don't know how. I can't let him bite me, it hurts. But it seems to be the only way he knows how to interact. Is there a method for teaching him to lick instead of bite?

 

I've come across a lot about teaching bite inhibition, but I don't know how to do that, either.

 

 

...Any suggestions?

[Jack & Co.]

This is a thread that was helpful to me several years ago: http://www.bordercollie.org/boards/index.p...3&hl=biting

[Alaska]

Read this: Teaching Bite Inhibition. Also download the whole book (it's free, but this month only): After You Get Your Puppy

 

I'm also wondering if maybe you are spending more time (and thought) trying to stop behaviors you dislike than encouraging positive ones? Can you redirect Ski's enthusiasm with training activities and games rather than just resorting to the crate?

 

Are you taking a Puppy Kindergarten class with Ski? If not, you should be, especially with a pup that needs a little extra help learning manners and a human that could use some extra advice about teaching them.

[AllieMackie]

Grab those Ian Dunbar PDFs that Alaska linked, quickly, since the After book isn't up much longer. They're fantastic resources.

 

One thing I found helped was washing my hands with soap even more frequently than normal. If my hands tasted like treats, kibble, puppydrool, human food, etc, Finn was more apt to try to gnaw on my hands.

 

He still gets bitey at ten weeks, but I do my best to stop it. a sharp "at-AAAAT" noise works well when he ankle-nips (darn herding Border Collies ) and when he's at my hands, I immediately deter him to a hard chew like a Nylabone or his strong rope toy. When he starts gnawing on that, I praise him and pet him. He's getting better and better with this method.

[AdmiralGonsiorowski]

I'm also wondering if maybe you are spending more time (and thought) trying to stop behaviors you dislike than encouraging positive ones? Can you redirect Ski's enthusiasm with training activities and games rather than just resorting to the crate?

 

That's exactly what I feel is happening. I did try something different today. I held some food in my hand, and whenever he licked instead of biting, I treated him. I kept that up until he responded to my petting and playing with licking instead of biting. I feel like this did some good, and will help me with actually doing training and games. Up until now, games and training would be interrupted frequently by him biting me. He can't figure something out, he bites me. He gets too excited because he figured something out, he bites me.

 

I've never had a dog that I had to teach to lick. It's weird. It's a new experience having a puppy who isn't automatically submissive and wanting to please me, and doesn't seem to care whether I'm upset with him. I had to teach him how to play with toys as well. It's like there's a whole range of basic behaviors he just doesn't know yet.

 

Is this normal? Are there any other behaviors that I may take for granted that need to be taught to puppies?

 

Are you taking a Puppy Kindergarten class with Ski? If not, you should be, especially with a pup that needs a little extra help learning manners and a human that could use some extra advice about teaching them.

 

I would love to take a Puppy Kindergarten class. I've found one place here that offers this, but they don't do any classes in winter. Sigh. They start in March.

 

I don't know if I can do the bite inhibition. I can't judge when it's okay and when it's too much. Is it crucial to teach inhibition, or is it acceptable to stop the behavior altogether? Will it cause problems?

 

I am getting him together with another pooch this weekend. Maybe he can help me teach Ski some politeness

 

Thank you for the links! The Ian Dunbar book looks very useful.

[afrancis]

Is this normal? Are there any other behaviors that I may take for granted that need to be taught to puppies?

I would love to take a Puppy Kindergarten class. I've found one place here that offers this, but they don't do any classes in winter. Sigh. They start in March.

 

I don't know if I can do the bite inhibition. I can't judge when it's okay and when it's too much. Is it crucial to teach inhibition, or is it acceptable to stop the behavior altogether? Will it cause problems?

Caitlyn,

This kind of biting is very normal for young puppies. I see from your last post that you have a picture of Ski from 6 weeks. Do you know what his history is? If he's been separated from his mum and littermates early, then any bite inhibition he would have learned from them hasn't happened.

 

There are lots of articles and schools of thoughts about what level of discipline to use with a pup who play-bites. Some are careful to only recommend verbal cues and ending the play session, while others recommend using some physical cues, like putting the pup on his side and holding him there until he lays still --even mixing this with a low growl. These trainers use this method because it is what they have seen take place between pups and their mums.

 

I never had to use any physical correction with Skye because she is so soft; yet she was taken from her littermates and mum at 6 weeks also. I'm not sure if I would do it anyway; physical correction can be a slippery slope and it is not something that should be relied on when a simple 'yelp' can achieve better results. After all, you don't want your dog to be afraid of you; this can just lead to defensive agression further down the road. So you don't want to make him do something, rather allow him to choose to stop a behaviour. With puppies, this needs to be a visceral experience rather than a thinking one. So a sharp 'eeekkk!' , that is, some vocalization loud and startling enough to actually make him suddenly stop to see what's up, combined with a sudden stopping of play will get the message across over time.

 

In regards to when its enough; its enough when he puts his mouth on you and exerts pressure with his teeth, i.e. when you feel the teeth, not just when it hurts alot. Of course stopping the play means he has to be left by himself in a puppy-proof place, with puppy-proof toys.

 

Read this also; it has great tips:

http://www.wagntrain.com/PlayBiting.htm

 

In short, it suggests spraying the backs of your hands with Bitter Apple; it will help them become naturally unpalatable. Avoid the fronts though since you don't want treats that you give for praise to have the same smell. It also reinforces that if he can have play-dates with other puppies and safe dogs, they have the best way to instruct bite inhibition with sharp, adult corrections or puppy yelping that can be easily understood.

 

This is the link for Ian Dunbar's free download:

http://www.siriuspup.com/beforebook.html

 

See esp. the chapter on puppy biting, pgs. 90 onwards. He also does not advocate physical correction but there are specifics about how to go about responding, in what order to go about doing things, and what to allow and not allow as your puppy grows up. It also gives a time-line about how long it should take and by what age your pup should no longer be biting and mouthing if you've done your job well

 

Good luck and remember: it doesn't last forever but your leadership now will make all the difference later.

Ailsa