Biting

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[Lucy's Mommy(:]

hi everyoneI recently got my shorkie Lucy about 5 days ago. She is 9 months old and she is a very good puppy. The only problem I am having with her is that she keeps biting my family and I whenever we are trying to correct problems etc. I am not sure what to do. I don't want her ending up biting a 2 year old we have in the house. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to correct this bad behavior?? 
Thanks.

[Mai Tai]

Biting can be a big problem.  Is she playfully nipping or aggressively biting?  If she is nipping, the thing I did was to immediately say, "No," while standing up, crossing my arms, and putting my back to the dog.  I would then ignore him until he calmed down.  When he was calm, I would tell him good dog, but as soon as he nipped again, I would do the same thing again.  Also, if it is playful nipping, you can let out a high pitched yelp, lke another puppy would if it were hurt, and that teaches the dog that it went too far.  At 9 months though, I don't know how that will work.  It worked for one of my dogs, but not the other.  For some reason, it made my larger dog think I was playing and he nipped even more.  It worked well for the little one. 

Aggressive biting is a more serious matter and I am not quite sure how to deal with it.  I do know that I would never let a dog who was aggressively biting anywhere near a 2 year old, so I hope this is not the case for you.  Hopefully, someone with more experience will post and tell you what you should do.  Perhaps professional help may be in order.  I fostered an aggressive biter once and nothing we tried (turning our backs, saying no, time-out, squirting with a water bottle (on the advice of a trainer - I did not like that one), etc.) did not work.  We had to give the dog back as a vet told me he was neurologically damaged, and I had small children to worry about.  I wish you the best of luck.  Let us know how it goes and welcome to the site.  You should read other topics and see there are some on nipping and biting.

[minnie mee]

I agree with the aggressive biting-- might have to get a professional in.  But if it's play biting, what I did with minnie mee was create a game.  She tried to bite me as the game and after a while, even if it didn't hurt, I yelped in pain.  She was upset, and to prove she didn't mean it, she bit and licked me more softly.  This game went on for weeks, and now she may put her mouth on my hand, but she never bites down... she is thinking, gee, these humans are so sensitive!  This is was Stanley Cohen suggests, and it worked for me.

[Kim]

The problem could be over excitement. If you don' address the problem right away, the biting can become very serious. I agree with Mai Tai's suggestion. But do not overuse the word "No", i.e. Saying "No, No, No, No" all at once will confuse your dog.

If you are playing aggressive games with her, i.e. tug of war or wrestling, stop. This can make her more aggressive in the long run and she'll think that it is okay to be aggressive.

The moment she starts to bite just say a stern "No" (do not yell) and just walk away. Eventually she'll get the idea that it is not okay to bite, playfully or otherwise.

[Lucy's Mommy(:]

She isn't aggressively biting. It's more of playfully nipping. So far, she hasn't done this with the 2 year old. She just jumps on him and we are in the process of correcting this problem as well. I will try these with her and see if it will work with her. Thank you so much.

[shorkiejem]

Shaker can is the best training aid I have found yet.

[Ann]

Another thing you can do is when she bits let out a loud cry as loud as you can and you will find she will stop suddenly. This will make her relise it hurts and she doesn't want to hurt you. When your cutie was with her mum she would do the bitiing and if mum didn't like it mum would let out a yelp or a bark so let her know to back off. So try it and see hoew you go.
Hope it works! 

[Lucy's Mommy(:]

will do! thanks!