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Alright Dakka, I need some halps. I've had dogs literally my entire life, and this is my third Bulldog, so I'm familiar with dogs in general and Bulldogs in specific... but I am sort of at the end of my rope with this and not sure what to do.


the devil



I got a puppy on 6/24/13. She was right around 9 weeks, which means she is now right around 6 months old. From pretty much the minute we got her home, she was pretty "mouthy". A long of hand biting. I've seen this before, obviously, and it's always passed after they've finished teething and you've taught them bite inhibition - not usually a big problem. The problem here is, she still mouths hands constantly. I mean, constantly. You pet her for a second, and your hand is in her mouth. She's not biting down hard (usually), but it's unpleasant and annoying. She sits near you, paws your hand, and then bites it, over and over again. I've tried firm "No's". I've tried leaving the room for a minute and coming back (this resulted in much gentler biting, but it hasn't cessated) . She has lots of appropriate toys to bite - Nylabones, Kongs, etc etc and seems to have all of her adult teeth now.

I called around but the only trainer I could find in my godforsaken slum only does in-home training and they want from $300 to $500 to start, which is a little spendy. I figured I'd ask on here instead, see what you guys suggest, even if that advice is just pointing me toward a better forum somewhere out there.

Thanks!

Try biting her back on the ear. Show her who is dominant. It worked for Cuba Gooding Jr. in Snow Dogs. Yes, I actually saw that when I was younger. Not sure if that's real dominance advice or if it was made up for the movie. Could try it though.

Hmmm. Not sure, but I would probably be physically forceful with a pup like that in some way if it was carrying on like that. I understand that many find this distasteful but I think it is a pretty effective way to get your message across.

Does the pup show any other compulsive behaviours or general weirdness? If it's messed up in some other way force might not work as well.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Try biting her back on the ear. Show her who is dominant. It worked for Cuba Gooding Jr. in Snow Dogs. Yes, I actually saw that when I was younger. Not sure if that's real dominance advice or if it was made up for the movie. Could try it though.

If she's biting your hand, please do not put your face near her mouth. That's where you keep your eyes, nose, and ears. You need those...

Six months and still chewing the hands. I've not had that before. However six months is not super long either - thats still intensive puppy stage. We does she do when you shout "stop" at her?


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 kronk wrote:

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Try biting her back on the ear. Show her who is dominant. It worked for Cuba Gooding Jr. in Snow Dogs. Yes, I actually saw that when I was younger. Not sure if that's real dominance advice or if it was made up for the movie. Could try it though.

If she's biting your hand, please do not put your face near her mouth. That's where you keep your eyes, nose, and ears. You need those...

Seconded. Plus she looks like a bull dog. They can be bull headed. I always found a light tap on the nose with the finger will stop most things besides a full on attack. It just annoys the hell out of them and its like a shock. If you touch Rusty on the nose he will sneeze and look at you like you just slapped his mamma.

It will not stop pit bull on your arm, or a wiener dog with food in its mouth though.

The devil is certainly a little cutie

Puppies bite each other as normal in play, and usually know they are hurting by a 'yelp' and running away of the puppy. They have natural reactions to 'biting too hard'.

The goal is to reward him win he plays with a toy or does non-contact play (like fetching a toy) and when he bites a human, to respond with a high-pitched 'sound' and time-out. Basically if he bites you, you need to make a loud 'OUCH' or 'YELP' and then remove yourself from him. When he plays with or bites a toy, you reward him. Basically he should get annoyed with biting people and happy to play with toys really quick.

If she associates biting a toy with 'treat' and biting a human with 'being ignored' then she will want to get that toy. You might want to offer her a toy and if she bites on it, give a treat and continue with the isolation and loud words if she bites you.

 Frazzled wrote:
We does she do when you shout "stop" at her?

I've tried to avoid either yelling or being physical with her because I don't want her to misinterpret that as stimulus to play harder.

nkelsch wrote:
Basically if he bites you, you need to make a loud 'OUCH' or 'YELP' and then remove yourself from him. When he plays with or bites a toy, you reward him. Basically he should get annoyed with biting people and happy to play with toys really quick.

That's what I did for the first 2 weeks when she was biting-biting to teach her bite inhibition, and that worked fine. I haven't really worked on the latter though - rewarding her specifically when she is playing with a toy of her own. Are you saying to go back to yelping for any mouthing at all?

Yea. Its best to be pretty strict with a rule if you want it followed.

 Frazzled wrote:
Yea. Its best to be pretty strict with a rule if you want it followed.

^^

You gotta keep up with the rules otherwise how will your new pack mate know what to do?

Also keep it up. This may be annoing but dealing with it until corrected is worth the years of comradeship. Regardless as she gets older this is going to pass methinks as it feels like very puppylike behavior.

 Ouze wrote:


That's what I did for the first 2 weeks when she was biting-biting to teach her bite inhibition, and that worked fine. I haven't really worked on the latter though - rewarding her specifically when she is playing with a toy of her own. Are you saying to go back to yelping for any mouthing at all?

Puppies play by biting, and stop when they bite too hard. If you 'yelp' or 'ouch' at any bites they then learn never to even attempt biting humans which is the end goal. if you want to stop ALL mouthing on humans, You need to 'cry out' and isolate' even if she mouths or bites even when it doesn't hurt. basically 'All human biting causes pain and results in you leaving', Chewing a toy or non-contact play equals a 'treat'.

there you go.

My beagle did the same for her first year. She still gets into licky moods and she's six now. I got her to stop biting (that is, nibbling) by saying ow or ouch whenever she would do it. That got her to stop. But even nowadays she'll sometimes want to bite on my hand which I'll generally allow for a little bit once in a while as it's just a dog's way of showing affection.

nkelsch wrote:


Puppies play by biting, and stop when they bite too hard. If you 'yelp' or 'ouch' at any bites they then learn never to even attempt biting humans which is the end goal. if you want to stop ALL mouthing on humans, You need to 'cry out' and isolate' even if she mouths or bites even when it doesn't hurt. basically 'All human biting causes pain and results in you leaving', Chewing a toy or non-contact play equals a 'treat'.

This.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Try biting her back on the ear. Show her who is dominant. It worked for Cuba Gooding Jr. in Snow Dogs. Yes, I actually saw that when I was younger. Not sure if that's real dominance advice or if it was made up for the movie. Could try it though.

Not this. Though kronk's reaction is exaltable:

 kronk wrote:

If she's biting your hand, please do not put your face near her mouth. That's where you keep your eyes, nose, and ears. You need those...

....One other thing to add.

How do you feed the dog, before or after yourself? Remember that dogs eat in pack order and dogs tend not to bite their superiors unless its a 'challenge' of sorts.
To establish your position as the dog's pack leader feed yourself and all other humans before feeding him, and let the dog see that this is the order things are done.

Had the same issue with my lab-foxhound mix.

It's a mix of teething and boredom most of the time. Get her things she'll like to chew a lot (as a former bulldog owner, i know that can pretty much mean "anything") and leave them around constantly.

Also, dogs explore and play with their mouths, make a loud noise when she bites like "Ouch" or a really deep inhalation of breath (like you just saw something SHOCKING - go diva with it, be dramatic), get up, and walk away and turn your back to her.

This is a fate worse than death to a dog... for 20-30 seconds, as they want nothing more than to be with their masters if its a social breed (which bulldogs certainly are). She will get the hint if you are dilligent and though she'll still want to chew, she'll know she can't chew you.

Meanwhile, when you come back after 20-30 seconds, give her something to chew on. If she chews your hand again, repeat dramatic loud noise of faux pain, and walk away again turning your back to her.


Rinse repeat. The dog will get it. I promise. Be dilligent. It will take weeks, maybe even months with a stubborn breed like a bulldog, but it'll work.

Do it quickly too, she's hitting a few months away from the age where a bulldog gives exactly zero Please don't try to get around the swear filtrer! about what you want it to do.

Muzzle grab. Stern "No's". Release after 20 sec's. Worked on my Iggy of a ding bat

Muzzle grab always works on my parents bitey terriers.

nkelsch wrote:
The goal is to reward him win he plays with a toy or does non-contact play (like fetching a toy) and when he bites a human, to respond with a high-pitched 'sound' and time-out. Basically if he bites you, you need to make a loud 'OUCH' or 'YELP' and then remove yourself from him. When he plays with or bites a toy, you reward him. Basically he should get annoyed with biting people and happy to play with toys really quick.

We have again returned to doing this, as we did when she first was learning bite inhibition. It seems to be generally improving again; although she still forgets herself now and then. Thanks all for the advice; even the advice I didn't take .

nkelsch wrote:
Puppies bite each other as normal in play, and usually know they are hurting by a 'yelp' and running away of the puppy. They have natural reactions to 'biting too hard'.

The goal is to reward him win he plays with a toy or does non-contact play (like fetching a toy) and when he bites a human, to respond with a high-pitched 'sound' and time-out. Basically if he bites you, you need to make a loud 'OUCH' or 'YELP' and then remove yourself from him. When he plays with or bites a toy, you reward him. Basically he should get annoyed with biting people and happy to play with toys really quick.

If she associates biting a toy with 'treat' and biting a human with 'being ignored' then she will want to get that toy. You might want to offer her a toy and if she bites on it, give a treat and continue with the isolation and loud words if she bites you.

We had a professional help us integrate our bull terrier into our pack of dogs, and this is what she had us do. Coupled with clicker training and holding a treat so tightly between thumb and forefinger knuckle, and if she bit the fingers to get the goody she didn't get the goody. Licking to get at it got it for her. To this day she is the least likely to snap a treat out of a person's hand.