Yorkie Puppy

[Bentley'sMom]

I have a new Yorkie puppy. He is the sweetest, most loveable dog I have ever owned. We have only had him for 1 week. He loves to play with his toys and we give him tons of attention. He does nip at us all the time. We say "No biting" but it doesn't seem to matter. He already understands that he should go to the paper for the bathroom but we can't figure out what to do about biting.

I will but him in a puppy class but he is so tiny I want to keep him away from other dogs for a little longer. He is currently 1.5 lbs.

[Karen]

When you say "No biting," you need to have a chew toy handy to offer him instead of your fingers. He will "get it" eventually!

How old is he? He's a wee little one, isn't he? But make sure you start establishing the upper hand - don't let him boss you around, start right away as, small or not, he is a terrier! They don't call 'em that fer nothin', or as a friend of mine calls hers, her Yorkie Terrorist!

So cute! Welcome to Pet Talk, Bentley and his mom!

[Bentley'sMom]

Thank you, Karen. We do give him the toys but he keeps biting us. I guess it will take time. He gets the fact that I am the boss but he thinks he is in charge of my husband and the boys. Bentley will 2 months on Wednesday.

[anna_66]

First let me say Welcome to Pet Talk! Your puppy is totally adorable:D

I'm sure a lot of other people will chime in with their take on the biting but what worked for me and my little biters was yelling "ouch!", the stern "no" and of course as Karen said putting something else in their mouth. I tried to have a toy handy that way they would chew on that instead of me. It took lots and lots of time for them to get it, but finally they did...so don't get discouraged if it doesn't work right away.

Here's a good link on puppy biting (http://www.uwsp.edu/psych/dog/lib-Puppy.htm#pchew)

I hope you'll stick around and share some more pictures with us. You could start a new thread in General and tell us all about him, I for one would love to "meet" your little handsome man:)

[bckrazy]

He's super cute! =)

I understand that you want to keep him away from other dogs, but keeping him away from any other dogs during his learning stage (8-14 weeks) is actually doing more harm than good. He needs socialization! If you have any friends or family with small dogs that wouldn't scare him too much, meet them and allow your pup to interact. You definitely don't want him to be around strange dogs who might have unstable temperaments or are sick, but he needs to be around other puppies and adult dogs ASAP to learn manners... one of the first thing a Mom dog teaches her puppies is not to bite! This is why many reputable breeders keep puppies with Mom until 12 weeks, Mom and littermates have already begun teaching the pups to be gentle with their mouths. I got my rescue pup at 9 weeks, and he was definitely into chewing hands. After a week with our adult dog, and us consistenly "yelping" when he nipped, he does not chew hands at ALL at 15 weeks. Being around our adult dog probably helped the most, because he immediately corrects Fozzie if he bites while they're playing. There is nothing like well-mannered dogs to teach your puppy how to behave!

[Bentley'sMom]

Thanks so much for your welcome and advice. I haven't had a dog since 1995. Mandy was a lab/keeshound mix that we got from a shelter. She was 8 weeks old when we got her.

I have done some reading since we bought Bentley. Not sure if we did everything right in the purchase but I did speak directly to the breeder and found out the size of the litter, weight of the parents. He was very kind and offered a ton of advice on feeding, putting him in a collar, and blood sugar things. Bentley is not AKC registered but CKC. Not sure that is a good thing but I don't ever plan on showing or breeding Bentley. We saw him and we just loved him. Complete impulse buy! My 15 year old son said that if we didn't buy him, he would! He stole all our hearts.

I definately want to socialize him. We have a puppy sociallzation class that he can go to soon. We have a shitzu next door and a daschund 2 houses away. He loves meeting new people.

[Bentley'sMom]

Wow, we tried the high pitched "AWRP" and it is working! This is cool. Here is a picture of Bentley when we put a mirror up to him.

[dab_20]

Welcome to PT! Bentley is too adorable for words! :D

I agree with everyone else. Making a yelping sound should get his attention, then put a toy in his mouth. When he starts chewing the toy tell him what a good boy he is. He should catch on pretty quickly!