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Chandelle is my first Border Collie and wow am I impressed. She is a very quick learner but we have had problems with her play biting us. She also tried to herd us. We have pretty much taken charge of these issues and gotten them under control but Yiiiii! How long do they stay this oral??? She has a kazillion chew toys and enjoys them all. I had to spray bitter apple on the chair rungs and Gene's house slippers, oh and the electric cords. We never leave her unsupervised. She has a crate for nights and an outdoor kennel for times when we need to get some work done and she should have the freedom to romp. Any suggestions, and related stories of puppyhood with your dogs will be appreciated.

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She's teething. That's goiung to go on til about 6 months maybe a bit more when she get's her adult teeth. Chewing is normal and I recommend beef rib bones, whole raw carrots, rawhide chewies in moderation and any other kind of chew toy you can keep her attention on.

 

He teeth are also sensitive so you might also want to try a giving her ice cubes.

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Chandelle is my first Border Collie and wow am I impressed. She is a very quick learner but we have had problems with her play biting us. She also tried to herd us. We have pretty much taken charge of these issues and gotten them under control but Yiiiii! How long do they stay this oral??? She has a kazillion chew toys and enjoys them all. I had to spray bitter apple on the chair rungs and Gene's house slippers, oh and the electric cords. We never leave her unsupervised. She has a crate for nights and an outdoor kennel for times when we need to get some work done and she should have the freedom to romp. Any suggestions, and related stories of puppyhood with your dogs will be appreciated.

 

With Robin and Brodie as they attempted to nip, I gently squeezed their jaw shut with a firm no. They caught on pretty quickly. Robin is unfortunately a licker, though and I find it impossible to correct him because he looks at you so lovingly while he's slurping your hand....

 

I've read that its best to limit the pup to a few toys so that the pup can differentiate between his/her toys and the rest of the contents of the household. A firm no guides them away from what they can't have -- its a good time to practice the "Leave it" and "Drop it" commands as well. I used a clicker to reinforce the request. We had very few problems chewing on undesired objects.

 

Puppies teething aren't much different than babies teething. We've been through the worst of it, I think at 3-4 months. Their baby teeth fell out and the new ones came in. I give the pups bones and, on hot afternoons, ice cubes. You can also wet a towel and put it in the freezer then give it to them, but I didn't want to start a habit of chewing on towels.

 

 

Liz

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With Robin and Brodie as they attempted to nip, I gently squeezed their jaw shut with a firm no. They caught on pretty quickly. Robin is unfortunately a licker, though and I find it impossible to correct him because he looks at you so lovingly while he's slurping your hand....

 

I've read that its best to limit the pup to a few toys so that the pup can differentiate between his/her toys and the rest of the contents of the household. A firm no guides them away from what they can't have -- its a good time to practice the "Leave it" and "Drop it" commands as well. I used a clicker to reinforce the request. We had very few problems chewing on undesired objects.

 

Puppies teething aren't much different than babies teething. We've been through the worst of it, I think at 3-4 months. Their baby teeth fell out and the new ones came in. I give the pups bones and, on hot afternoons, ice cubes. You can also wet a towel and put it in the freezer then give it to them, but I didn't want to start a habit of chewing on towels.

Liz

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Chandelle is my first Border Collie and wow am I impressed. She is a very quick learner but we have had problems with her play biting us. She also tried to herd us. We have pretty much taken charge of these issues and gotten them under control but Yiiiii! How long do they stay this oral??? She has a kazillion chew toys and enjoys them all. I had to spray bitter apple on the chair rungs and Gene's house slippers, oh and the electric cords. We never leave her unsupervised. She has a crate for nights and an outdoor kennel for times when we need to get some work done and she should have the freedom to romp. Any suggestions, and related stories of puppyhood with your dogs will be appreciated.

 

 

I actually had (have?) problems with my 10 month old BC/husky mix play biting. What doesn't help is that my old roommate used to purposely tease her to the point that she would do that, and that's where she picked up on it... now she knows it's not ok to do that (and the roommate is gone!), but she still makes the play biting gestures. She knows she can't bite, but she still likes to put her mouth on things without biting down. I heard somewhere that that's just how some dogs play... not sure how true that is though. Just make sure you keep plenty of things to chew on around and you should be able to get past it soon! I know what you're going through, it was only a few months ago! Hang in there!

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Frozen bones (raw) are awesome. Sam was pretty mouthy - not us, stuff - but he learned super fast that if I said "drop it" it meant he was going to get something really way cool in return!

 

Biting is one thing I'll scruff a puppy for. Just once is usually enough. I scruff and say, "Hey!" Then the next time (yes, they'll try it again), I just say, "Hey!" Usually they stop because of course they are smart enough to remember that last time I said that, they got something to think about. This not only will stop the behavior, but gives me a new tool to communicate with Pup, the verbal correction.

 

Try to remember that your pup isn't "herding" you, he's just being bratty. If he were a Golden Retriever, and he picked up a baby by the scruff of the neck and carried her around, you wouldn't say, "Oh, look, Fluffy is fetching the baby!"

 

If a behavior isn't appropriate, it's okay to let Pup know. Just be sure to give him something that IS appropriate in return. He shouldn't see you as a large toy - try to think of ways to help him see you as The World's Coolest Person, randomly asking him to do commands he knows in returns for snacks. He'll stop "herding" you and instead follow you around going, "What next? What next? :rolleyes:

 

Good luck!

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A kind way of stopping play biting is to squeak (like another puppy) and stop the play, turn away or leave the room for a minute then start again when pup does it again you do it again. If you are consistent this gets a great result in a couple of weeks. You also get a good bite inhibition too doing it this way

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