UKC

As some of you know, we got a Deerhound pup a while back and he's now nearly 14 weeks old. He's great in every respect but he gets a bit over keen with his teeth and I'm not sure the best way to deal with this.

At the moment, if we're playing or having strokes he sometimes goes a bit mental and nips far too hard with his teeth and it's bloody sore. When he does this, he gets a firm NO and then I walk away from him and ignore him. I realise he's still just a wee laddie but do all the experienced doggy people here think I'm doing the right thing and is there anything else I can do to discourage him from being so nippy? Will it just take time and he'll grow out of it?

In reply to Sonya Mc: We found a loud 'ow' and then stopping playing or what ever worked well on ours when he was a pup

In reply to Sonya Mc:
An immediate reply but I'm really busy so please excuse the brevity. And I'd really recommend you buy a good puppy book - Perfect Puppy/Culture Clash or similar asap. In particular look for Gwen Bailey, Ian Dunbar or Jean Donaldson.

Basically he's supposed to bite - it's his way of learning about his teeth and how he should/shouldn't use them. He would usually do this with his mum and litter mates and they would give him feedback eg scream, tell him off, stop playing etc, until he realised what was acceptable and what wasn't.

You can't really stop them. And you don't really want to as if you did he'd never really learn to control his bite. The advice I was given is to scream and cry rather than saying no, and pretend to be hurt as well. And definitely stop the game. He'll quickly work out what's ok and what isn't.

Well it worked with mine anyway.

Good luck with it. Bet he's a darling really...

In reply to Sonya Mc:

My dad gave me some sagely advice when I was younger and told him that a dog had bitten me.

"Well I hope you bit him back!"

In reply to Sonya Mc:

A bitch will nip the puppies when they misbehave. A very gentle but firm nip on the tip of the ear should work.

In reply to Sonya Mc:

A loud 'Ow' and then a firm command 'no chew' worked with both my dogs when the mouthing turned to chewing. Once the dog had learnt to stop on using the 'no chew' command it meant that if the dog played with a child could be used when the dog started to get too 'enthusiastic' in its play.

In reply to Sonya Mc:

Agree with the loud 'ouch' or a yelp, I did this with my Boxer when he was a pup and we now play quite rough, he never bites but will 'mouth' my hand or arm. He's also trained to calm down immediately when I say 'stop', I did the stop bit when he had just about fully got used to the yelp.

Thanks guys, I obviously just need to persevere for longer then. He does only tend to do it when he's excited and getting carried away (and I probably wind him up a bit too :oD

Will check out that book too.

And yes, he is a darling really

In reply to JSA:

My lab's the same - mouths and tries to pull my cuffs... She'll also let go of anything when told 'let go' - a bit like your stop.

And to OP, yes, agreed, stick with it and really ham up the acting...

Have fun.

My dog always mouthed as a puppy. She would lunge and bite my trouser legs as well as I walked. Only thing I needed to do was yelp as if I was in pain and then stop everything including playing. Just ignored her. She soon associated it with hurting me.

You also need to set your dominance. Make the puppy watch you eat before it eats after everyone else. Needs to know it's at the bottom of the pack.

In reply to Milesy: Oooh think I'm faaaaaaaar too soft on him, we generally do eat first, but he gives the big eyed look and gets to have a boneo while we are eating.

He does let go of things when told to so he's very good in that respect, he's just a bit rough with his teeth.

In reply to Sonya Mc:

You can still be a softy but assuring pack pecking order as well. I used to get down and pretend I was eating out her bowl before she got it. Some people get a duplicate dog bowl and eat their cereal from it. It does work.

In reply to Sonya Mc: Non pc and at odds to other advice I just gave our dogs a slap when they bit a bit to hard. Worked well enough.

In reply to Milesy: I've taken his bowl away from him and put my hand in his food whilst he eats and it doesn't bother him in the slightest. He's good in really every respect, just the biting. Even the biting isn't all that bad really, just wanted to make sure I'm doing the right thing by him We've just had a good play just now without incident, sure he'll get fully there at some point.

In reply to Sonya Mc:
Modern thinking suggests that the dominance/pack oreder thing isn't so much an issue as we used to think it was. Only a very small percentage of dogs get ideas of pack leadership and this should be easily recognised. Definitely read Jean Donaldson's Culture Clash.

But I think it's worth pointing out that giving him a bonio when he asks for one means you're rewarding him for doing what he's chosen to do eg look at you with big sad eyes. In an ideal world, you should reserve all treats for when he does something you want him to do eg go and sit on his bed when you're eating.

It's tough not to react when the dog asks for something eg my lab has just come and put here head on my knee while I type this. I know she wants a biscuit but she won't get one until she stops asking and goes and lies down again.

But every time you reward their actions, you reinforce those actions, whether they are good or not.

In reply to Sonya Mc:

Sounds stupid but I found Ikea catologues to be helpful with a labrador puppy, just something to keep in the mouth when the playful but sharp puppy teeth become too much. They enjoy chewing them up, and is easy to vacuum the mess up!

In reply to Tom Hutton:
Have a read, if you haven't already. of 'In defence of dogs' which largely puts to bed the traditional 'wolf pack' approach to pet dogs. A good read too.

In reply to Sonya Mc:

The 'ow' thing worked for us. We only have three commands that get used daily - 'Wait' which is a catch-all wait/sit/stay/lie down command, 'Go on' which is effectively 'cancel wait' and 'busy busy' which makes people laugh but means 'Go outside and have a pee'. The dog has a flap in the back door and so before bed or a car journey off he goes. Invaluable.

In reply to Sonya Mc:

'Ow' and stopping play didnt work for our spaniel (but then she is nuts..). We found a water pistol in the face effective in the end, but only for this problem. She eventually realised playing 'catch' with the water was great fun, thankfully shed decided biting wasnt by then

In reply to Anni:
Oh, yes, spaniels are from another planet entirely...!

Sx

In reply to Sonya Mc: Sonya get your partner to insert didget whenever he's being nippy, this should cure the problem quick style, but if it dos'nt you can at least laugh at your partner. If however all of the above dos'nt work and puppy still won't behave put your hand in his mouth flat," like a karate chop, don't chop him though" when he tries to bite close your hand round his lower jaw and shake, my father showed me this with alsatians and dobbermans, it dos'nt hurt them but it is uncomfortable for them and this memory seems to stick with them.