Playful puppy question...

[Lachesis]

My sister has a puppy. I say he is part rott (she will not agree and says he is lab). He has the markings of a rott and is much bigger then any lab I've ever seen...

Anyways, he is awful playful which is fine but sometimes he can really hurt :( especially when you dont expect him to play

Last night he flew over me and landed on my back (I was sitting on the couch).

He loves to bite peoples hands, faces, legs (he is playing but....) and the other day he grabbed my nephew's hat and was shaking it... however my nephew was wearing the hat! (Nephew is 2, and wasnt hurt).

Any suggestions??

[Kfamr]

All i know is on Good Dog U. they said when a dog hurts you when your playing let out a good strong "OW!" or "NO!"

[Cincy'sMom]

This seems like a good questions for Carrie..she is great with the behavior stuff....

I am not a trainer, I can only give suggestions on what we have learned in obdience classes and what has worked for us. We use a lot of positive reinforment(treats, belly rubs, etc) and the clicker training

I would first of all say, NEVER leave the child unattended with the dog. Kids have a way of becoming huge chew toys...dog toys sqeuk and sqeal, so do kids!

Play biting: When we had Cincy in puppy kindergarten, they gave us some ideas how to handle this. First, when you are playing with the puppy and it bites, yelp and withdraw from him. Don't pick the puppy up and move him, YOU leave. Wait a few mintues and then play again. When he bites, again, leave him.

The next step is to teach the command "off" Give the puppy treats. After a few pieces tell your puppy off and bump him lightly on the nose. Praise him when he moves away from the food. Repeat several times, trying to get th epuppy to physically back up. When the puppy actually moves back, give lots of praise!!! You can then reward him with the treat by saying OK, take it!


Good luck to your sister and her puppy!

[Lachesis]

Ive been rewarding him w/treats when he is good/nice...

They never leave the kids alone with him (that how they caught him so fast).

I know he is just a puppy but he is bigger then my last dog was full grown :D


They do the NO! and DOWN but he jumps right back up there (seems like only when Im there too... and I do nothing to entice him)

I look forward to hearing more on this...

[RottieLover]

My Rottie was like this. & My sister has a rottie-lad mix, hes 6 months old & as big as my other rottie(I had two, only one now).

This pup will run by my nephew (hes 5), run by him & bite his elbow. I told him when ever he does that to hit the pup with his elbow & tell him "NO"!

I believe, you, your sister & anyone else who the dog might be in contact with the pup on a regular basiest should "ruff house" with the dog for a little while each day, dominate him. Flip him over make him submissive. & when YOU ARE DONE, let him know it....... I useto tell my rottie when we where done playing. " ok we're done, BE nice" & lay him down on his back & petted him.

Worked for me.

Good luck.
& remember rotties are a little different then some dogs.

[Lachesis]

Thanks!
Im just hoping he mellows, even just a tiny bit. I just have to keep remembering he is just a baby....

[aly]

This is my opinion but I would not alpha roll the puppy. We have had some real problem dogs at the shelter who had been alpha rolled too much.

Establish dominance by sleeping higher, going through doors first, eating first, etc.

Look up bite inhibition on the internet. You will find a lot of good information. We use the "OUCH!" method at the shelter. Whenever the puppy mouths, say OUCH and the puppy should back up then come back softer. Oh geez, I'm really tired right now so if I try to explain it, I may not make sense. Let me look up some info real fast...

Here ya go:

· Biting is a normal behavior for dogs, so you have to train your dog not to bite.
· Puppies (under 4 1/2 months need to mouth and bite to learn not to and to have a gentle mouth

Steps for a gentle mouth
1. No painful bites- simply say "ouch" - the volume depends on the dog's mental makeup. With a boisterous puppy, tone down the ouch, or leave the room and shut the door. Allow the pup just one or two minutes time out to reflect on the loss of its human playmate and then return to make up . It is important to indicate that you still love the pup; it is the painful bites which are objectionable. Instruct pup to come and sit and then resume playing once more. Ideally, the pup should have been taught not to hurt people well before it is three months old.

2. No jaw pressure at all. Even though the bites no longer hurt, when the puppy is munching away, wait for a nibble which is harder than the rest and respond as if it really hurt (even though it didn't). Ideally the puppy should no longer be exerting any pressure when mouthing by the time it is four to five months old.

INHIBITING THE INCIDENCE OF MOUTHING

3. Dog always stops mouthing when requested. Once the puppy has been taught to mouth gently rather than bite, it is time to reduce the frequency of mouthing by teaching the pup that mouthing is OK until requested to stop. This is where the off and take it commands come in. Once the pup has been taught off with food the instruction may be used to stop the puppy mouthing. While the pup is mouthing gently, say off and offer a food treat. Praise the pup when it lets go to take the treat. In addition, regular hand feeding helps preserve the pup's soft mouth and increases the pup's confidence with people around its food bowl. If ever the pup refuses to release your hand when requested, yelp OFF, rapidly extricate you hand from its mouth, leave the room and shut the door. Give the pup a couple of minutes on its own, and than go back and call the pup to come and sit to make up. But no more mouthing for at least a couple of hours.

4. Never to start mouthing unless requested- by the time your pup is five months old, it should have a mouth as soft as a 14 year old working Lab. It should never exert any pressure when mouthing and the dog should immediately stop mouthing when requested to do so by any family member. It is essential to continue bite inhibition exercises, otherwise the dog's bite will begin to drift and become harder and harder as the dog grows older. - regularly hand feed the dog and clean its teeth daily i.e., exercises which involve a human hand in the dog's mouth.

[aly]

Bite inhibition is important because it could prevent accidents in the future. Sometimes dogs have an instinct to bite (such as a kid falling on them, or a vet handling them in sensitive areas). If taught properly as a puppy, it will make your life a LOT easier.

Here's some more information I found:

Play biting by puppies is very normal, and recent studies indicate that it is far better to teach a pup about bite strength, and just how hard human skin may be manipulated. Considering puppies have needle-sharp teeth, this can be a necessity. We can suppress biting by adding a punisher, but do we really want to?

A dog is an animal made to bite. Their teeth are perfectly made for ripping and tearing skin, cracking bones. Dogs are not born with "soft" mouths, but the can learn to have a soft bite with the right feedback about how hard they can bite human skin. If we suppress all biting, then in stress, how will the dog react? What works for service dogs works equally well for the companion dog, the well-mannered pet.

We don't ever want that puppy or adult dog to bite the vet who must administer an unpleasant shot, but if it happens, isn't it better that that response will not puncture or bruise human skin?

The puppy who is forbidden to play-bite by owners is the puppy who has no feedback about his own jaw strength, and who may grow up to have a "hard" mouth. Jean Donaldson states in "Culture Clash" that "This is a serious squandering of a critical line of defense against dog bites. Puppies who do not play bite should be actively encouraged to do so in order to develop a soft mouth."

Biting is normal for puppies. If they have been properly stimulated and socialized within their litter, the littermates and dam will give them their first lessons in bite inhibition, letting them know how hard they may bite other dogs. Our job is to continue the work and teach them how hard they can bite human skin.

We do this by not suppressing the biting, but shaping it. We allow puppy to nibble, and when he nibbles too hard, we screech, "Ouch!", and turn away from him for a few seconds, removing what he wants the most: our attention. The "Ouch" becomes a conditioned stimulus which tells the dog he is receiving the consequences of his jaw action. The "OUCH" becomes the "marker", the deliverer of information.

If, each time he bites just a bit too hard, we do this, then the pup soon learns that only very soft, gentle mouthing is acceptable on human skin. And no matter how wound up he gets, from the point that this lesson is learned, generalized, he will never break human skin.

Once the puppy has learned a modicum of control on the intensity allowed of biting, then you can begin shaping the more moderate bites as well. Jean Donaldson, author of "The Culture Clash" explains why it's important to do this in stages:

"The reason for doing it in stages is that the puppy will be unable to comply if you set too high an initial criteria. He's got to be able to manage the task you set before him. Little biting-maniac puppies can and do learn to hold back on the hard bites, but they are simply unable to hold back on all or even most bites too early on, unless you obliterate the puppy with harsh punishments."

At this point, when the puppy is putting only very light pressure on the skin, it's ok to teach a "no bite" cue, and redirect his biting to other objects, such as his chew toys. He can now learn that it's not acceptable to bite human skin, but he also has learned that if human skin is EVER bitten, for any reason--even for fear reasons, that it must always be a very light bite, never a skin-puncturing one.

But like all behaviors, it has to be kept up and reinforced through to adulthood. Jean Donaldson recommends hand feeding exercises, where the human holds a bit of food between their fingers and the puppy must nibble to get the food. If the puppy nibbles too hard, the human screeches "OUCH" and does not give the food to the dog. This reinforces that no matter what, only a certain amount of bite pressure will ever be tolerated by the human.

Jean also advises teaching the pup to play tug early on. And to use the same type of screeching "OUCH" marker when the pup accidentally chomps on your hand instead of the tug toy, when wound up. If the owner also establishes a release cue, such as "Out" or "give" early on, the tug game becomes a marvelous way to reinforce lightening-fast release responses.

Keep in mind that wild and manic biting can also indicate an under-exercised dog. A tired pup is a good pup. If the dog won't settle down, he may need far more exercise than he is getting. Make bite inhibition just part of the normal daily shaping exercises, but be sure to include lots of physical exercise to burn off all that puppy energy!

More mature dogs, such as rescues, should also be taught bite inhibition, though it may need more proofing during stressful times, and the default may not be quite as reliable.