Niki -- the hidden terrorist! -- please help!

[greekblue]

Oh my God!
This puppy of mine has multiple personality disorder or something (just kidding!) She can be (and that is most times) the sweetest dog around; everyone comments on how calm and sweet she is. BUt then...... the other self of Niki is kicking in and you wonder if there was ever sweetness in this puppy or we all just imagined it.

She kisses when she is calm; she bites like crazy non-stop! The more you say no, the more she tries to bite. The only thing that stops her for a little is yelping (I yelp like another puppy).
It has to stop because yesterday she left me scars on my hands.

I tried putting toys in her mouth; she turns around and bites harder; she has made it a game, and I cannot stop it.

A couple times, I held her collar from the sides with both my hands and I yelled "NO" "NO BITE!" It was no help; she bit me worse.

I know she is playing, but it is very hurtful. Also, I really think she is suffering from her teeth. She will try to bite everything on her way -- including people and she sounds desperate for biting -- really, if you could see her, you could really see that she suffering from teething.

Also, how many times do you say "No" to your young puppy? I thing I tell her "NO" too many times, and I am afraid she is going to start hate me, but she is always in the worst places she can be.

What else can I do?
Her teeth are sooooo sharp and her mischiefs too many to not say No to every single one

[Rivsky]

Ah the joys of puppyhood hey!!

Your puppy won't hate you for saying the word "no" too much - but I personally prefer to give them a directive to something else. For example if she's biting I'd say "toy" and pick one up or throw one to her - gives her direction to what she should be doing rather than just using a random, meaningless word. It shouldn't take long before she is able to run to a toy and pick it up without you having to direct her to it so much.

If she still persists with the biting despite your yelping and offering a toy, stand up, cross your arms and turn your back on her until she's calmed down - it doesn't take them long to work out that for the game to continue they have to play gently.

Hope this works for Niki as well as it did for River!

[Sophie45]

Oh, I definitely remember those days.....
Seriously-one minute they're mellow and the next they are a holy terror on four legs! Believe me, we understand!

Niki is only starting to understand that biting hurts. You have to consistently remind her that biting you gets her nothing good. I think redirecting is good to a point, but some puppies find it more fun to bite you and don't show much interest in the toy. What I did was try and redirect (if possible-you should do it within 3-5 seconds for the full correlation to be understood better. But there are, of course, going to be times when you don't have a toy handy!) but if that doesn't work, try yelping just like a puppy once or twice, and if she still does it, yell something (I yelled 'not nice!') and storm out of the room in a huff, shutting the door behind you. She will learn very quickly that:

biting Mommy=her leaving and no more playtime.

That's no fun for a puppy! Also, don't come back into the room if she cries or whines, wait until she's quiet otherwise she will think if she whines and cries, you come back. If you come back and she immediately starts biting again, walk out of the room in a huff again. This REALLY worked for Sophie brilliantly.
Also, make sure (I'm sure you do!) have plenty of puppy-appropriate toys, and make sure that you don't leave them all out for her at the same time-only 1-2 at a time and rotate them daily to keep them interesting and exciting. Praise her like crazy every time she chews on a toy-especially spontaneously.
Toys get very expensive very quickly with a puppy, so I started using 'reusable' toys as much as possible:
Kongs stuffed with peanut butter, treats and wet dog food. (I'd freeze the PB and dog food so it lasts longer)
Frozen washcloths-they love them!
Hollowed out bones, and stuff them with PB and wet dog food and freeze them.
Ice cubes-if your puppy doesn't like them plain, try making them with a bit of chicken broth for flavor.

Try not saying 'no' repeatedly for a single offense. For example, if she is nipping you, don't say 'no' five times before doing anything about it. She learns that no doesn't mean anything until repeated several times. On the other hand, if there are twenty 'offenses' throughout the day that you need to show her are naughty, you need to consistently say 'no' and then immediately follow up with action-take away the shoe she's chewing on, redirect her from biting you, take her outside immediately when she's peeing on the floor, etc. She will learn quickly that the single word 'no' means business and there are consequences or follow up to that word-she'll start listening really quick! Always make sure you praise her (I'm sure you do!) when she listens or when you randomly catching her doing anything good, especially when it's spontaneous. Catching her doing something good is just as important to correction.



I think by you holding her and saying 'no bite' probably amped her up even more, and can be perceived as confrontational and/or threatening to a pup-I wouldn't recommend it.

[aquarian215]

I have this same problem with Dudley. He is much better than he was when we first got him, the first month we had him my arm was covered in bruises from him nipping me. I have noticed that trying to restrain him made it MUCH worse, he got scared and bit more. I trained him to give kisses, when he would put his mouth on me (or my kids) I would say kisses, and he would lick instead of bite. We have had him 3 months now, and there is only an occasion nip, usually when he is excited, but I am sure it won't take as long for Niki since you can train her from a young age, Dudley was 7 months when we got him, with most of his life in a shelter, so it was harder. But definatley grabbing her collar is a bad idea, believe me I tried that a lot before realizing I was just scaring him and not fixing anything. Good luck.

[rebel906]

Im sure most puppy owners has experienced the same problem because of teething....i agree with the rest if she starts to nip you when playing redirect her to a toy, if that doesn't work cross your arms and ignore her not even eye contact.

If you continue using the word 'NO' and not enforcing it or using it over and over again and she is still ignoring you, you are making the word 'MEANINGLESS'.

We all went through this stage & maybe some still goes through it now but it would get better.

Have you got her any Kongs or anything that may soothe her teething?

[Sophie45]

Any progress?

[qwertyasu]

http://www.clickertraining.com/node/168
http://www.clickertraining.com/node/725

Here are 2 REALLY good articles-if you have any questions about them feel free to ask!