Teething Problems

[cardifboi]

hey all.. new to this site and new to owning a Husky!

Xavier is 7 weeks old, im aware that all puppys go through a teething stage, Xavier is constantly biting anything he can get his paws on and he has drew blood on the occasion.. have read alot about what to do to stop teething but it doesnt seem to be working.. have bought him alot of chew toys and flavoured puppy bones which he chews for abit then he looses interest.. Also have read alot about what commands to use like tapping him on the nose and saying no, closing his mouth but that didnt really go down well, the vet has told me to just hold his head and look into his eyees and tell him no and to shake a can full of stones to startle him. Purchasing a Crate tomorrow so maybe that might help?

any information or help would be really appreciated as i am worried as we have a 6 month yr old daughter.

thanks all

[siberian_wolf]

just so i dont end up repeating anything you may have already tried, what methods have you tried with him? How long have you tried each method before chnging?

[cardifboi]

first off i tried tappin him on the top of his nose whenever hed bite and tell him NO! that didnt seem to be working as he would repeatedly do it again.. have also tried telling him NO once when he does it then if he does it again would completly ignore him, didnt really try that for long and been to the vet today and she told me to grab his head and look him in the eys and tell him NO.. that doesnt really seem to be doing any difference? maybe im not trying it long enough? also tried telling him NO then giving him his bone to chew but he would chew his bone then want to come back..any of these i should stick to? thanks

[siberian_wolf]

have you tried using the NILIF (Nothing In Life Is Free) program? Maybe worth a read through, ive heard many success stories with this program. I wouldnt expect it to work instantly as nothing will happen instantly. You want to give it a good week or more I would say before noticing any changes. Some cases it could take longer that a week.

http://www.dogguide.net/nilif.php

http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

http://www.nomorehomelesspets.org/behavior/dog/nilif.htm

[Mazz]

Zoya was a biter when she was a pup. What I did to stop her from biting, was to ignore her. Oh she hated that. When she would start to chew on me, I'd go through the "NO" and grab her lower jaw, holding it between my thumb and forefinger. Then she would try chewing on me again, that's when I would ignore her. I would move, turn my back to her, give her no eye contact. I'll bet we went through this routine a hundred times if we did it once. Eventually, after about a month, she understood.

[greilly1976]

kk might sound nasty but i just bite my dog back if she nips me or kids tell her naughty then give her kiss and tell her to be nice it works for me

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

have u tried makin a sharp no type ov yelp like what their siblings wud do if play got too rough

i no it may seem like nothing is workin but at 7 weeks old they do have a short attention span and consistance and preservation is key - when blaze nipped we flicked his nose with a sharp no and after about a month or two he stopped

keep up the good work and good luck

[cardifboi]

thanks everyone for your advise!!

i have a tin can with lots of stones in which makes a horrible noise, so when he bites i do that n he stops but carrys on everytime i stop.. will keep trying the NO approach and will start ignoring him everytime he carries on! hopefully eventually hell learn! thanks again everyone for your help!

[BingBlaze n Skyla]

let us no how u get on and if u need any more advise dnt hesitate 2 ask he will learn eventually

[persephona]

Hey, first of all good luck with your pup!

Secondly, I have tried all the methods you tried too to stop Kremlin from biting when he was little. But none of them worked, and the worst of all was holding his mouth or looking in his eyes - that would instantly make him think I was playing with him instead of telling him to stop biting. The same with tapping him on the nose.

What really worked was the yelping method. If we were playing and he started to bite, I screamed "Ouuuch" on a really whiny tone and then stopped playing and ignored him for a couple of minutes. Then started play again and did the same every time he mouthed. If he randomly started to mouth and harass us like this, we got him out of the room, 2 minutes of being ignored, an opportunity for him to chill down a bit.

Of course, as with any other training, you need to be consistent for this to work, but you could give it a try, from my experience, it taught him really well not to bite. Even now, if we play roughly or if he wants something from us, instead of mouthing us, he just pokes with his nose.

Another way of stopping him mouthing would be spraying your hands with something like Bitter Apple or chillis or something nasty, which they totally hate.

Or you can take a spray bottle, fill it with water and spray him every time he starts to bite you. Some pups really hate it. (Unfortunately, Kremlin was not one of them.)

Another thing to help him learn what he is allowed to chew that we did was to praise him really strongly when he chewed on something permitted and tossing treats at him every time he started to chew on his rope, for example. Even if he abandons his bones/toys really fast and then comes to pester you, ignore him and give him attention only when he starts showing interest in the toy again.

You can also get him a Kong - those are really useful no matter how fast he looses his interest for other stuff, I think no dog would abandon a toy full of food!! You can stuff the Kong with yogurt and then freeze it or with peanut butter or with tiny chunks of meat etc. Plus it's bouncy.

If he has a rope toy, you can soak that in water and then freeze it too! It was really useful when Kremlin's adult teeth started to grow.

As Amy said, NILIF works really well too. It helps your dog know better who is in charge, an even if it doesn't instantly solve the problem, it's useful in the long run.

And don't forget you can always take him out of the room or in his crate and let him chill if he is really annoying.

Let us know how things are going!

[Sarah]

great advice!

Added to rep

I found pushing my hand back into my boys mouth and saying NO eventually worked as well - this made them back away from me as it was uncomfortable for them

[cardifboi]

hey guys still no luck yet.. have been tellin him NO when he bites then if he does it again ignore him.. but that really isnt working at the moment.. its hard not to give him a clip on the top of his nose so im doing that at the moment and telling him NO because that is the only thing that willstop him chewing whatever hes chewing at the time.. how long does he go through this teething stage guys because we cant even stroke him without him biting.. really getting my gf down as she is gettin scared of stroking him now!! thanks everyone

[Damrod]

http://www.raot.org/pdfs/How%20to%20stop%20a%20puppy%20from%20mouthing%20and%20biting.pdf

http://www.woofology.com/mouthing.html

I like to teach a dog the proper use of its mouth around humans in a very positive way. I start teaching the "Close Your Mouth" exercise when I first get the dog. This is gentle, but when you stay with it consistently, it makes a wonderful change in the dog, without risking adding any new problems.

Starting at a quiet time, I have the dog in a seated position and hold the collar at the back of the dog's neck with my left hand, just for leverage if needed. With the right hand, I gently but firmly encircle the dog's muzzle and hold it closed--painlessly, not causing the dog to bite its own lips or tongue. I hold the mouth this way for 15 seconds, while saying in a praising tone "[Dog's Name], Close Your Mouth! Good Close Your Mouth!" Remember, no longer than 15 seconds, and this is praise. You are teaching the dog a new command, and having the mouth restrained can be frightening to a dog. You are at the same time teaching the dog not to fear you restraining the mouth, which will enhance your control of your dog in many situations.

You won't need to hold the collar once the dog gets used to this, and you will be able to start introducing this exercise every time the dog puts his teeth on anyone. Don't wait until it annoys you or it hurts--it has to be every time the dog puts teeth on human skin. Otherwise the message is not clear to him. Soon you will be able to just say "Close Your Mouth," to remind him not to touch people with his teeth. And soon after that, he just won't ever do it anymore. Remember to praise when he obeys this command, just like you praise for every command a dog obeys.

Lastly, I recommend that every day you comb or brush through every bit of this dog's coat. It will give lovely benefits to skin and coat, but perhaps even more importantly are the benefits on the dog's tolerance of handling, enjoyment of your touch, improved relationship with humans, and increased responsiveness to commands. I use a Belgium-made Greyhound comb to groom my dogs, one comb for a lifetime, about $15 in dog catalogs--or you may find a tool you like better. I would not use a slicker brush, because unless you are skilled with it, it can scratch the skin and make the whole process painful instead of what it needs to be.

Discipline yourself to do this daily, and to go through all the coat, not just the back/top of the dog, as most people do! Once you and the dog get practiced with grooming, you can probably do it in about 15 minutes, though you may linger longer to snuggle him! You will be amazed at the benefits, and this is something you'll be able to do while watching TV or talking on the phone, so it need not disrupt your life at all. I just keep a worn bed sheet handy, and drape it over myself, tie it up around my neck, then work on the dog on my lap or the floor, with the sheet to catch all the hair. Every few days the sheet goes through the washer. This prevents grooming from being a big mess, and the daily grooming also reduces the hair your dog leaves elsewhere.

Daily grooming may not seem to pertain to mouthing problems, but it really is amazing how much it gets you in tune with your dog and your dog in tune with you. No matter how good the relationship between owner and dog, this will make it even better. Goldens have sky-high potential in so many areas, but their owners have to work at it. Good thing it's fun!

[Sarah]

Great advice Damrod, added to rep

[Bec]

hey all.. new to this site and new to owning a Husky!

Xavier is 7 weeks old, im aware that all puppys go through a teething stage, Xavier is constantly biting anything he can get his paws on and he has drew blood on the occasion.. have read alot about what to do to stop teething but it doesnt seem to be working.. have bought him alot of chew toys and flavoured puppy bones which he chews for abit then he looses interest.. Also have read alot about what commands to use like tapping him on the nose and saying no, closing his mouth but that didnt really go down well, the vet has told me to just hold his head and look into his eyees and tell him no and to shake a can full of stones to startle him. Purchasing a Crate tomorrow so maybe that might help?

any information or help would be really appreciated as i am worried as we have a 6 month yr old daughter.

thanks all

First off - he's not teething. He's biting because he has not yet learnt bite inhibition. Pups don't start teething until 4-5 months of age.

A lot of pups start to learn bite inhibition from 6-8 weeks of age when are with their litter mates, simply by having other pups yelp when they bite down too hard.

Before a puppy has learnt bite inhibition they are biting because they simply don't know not to, and they don't know that biting 'hard' can hurt whoever they are biting.

Whenever he bites you give a yelp and reward him when he stops. Redirecting him to something he can bite, like a toy, is also helpful. If he is persistent with biting get up, walk away and ignore him. If you've taught him the sit command, tell him to sit, and as soon as his butt hits the ground give him a treat and lots of praise. Teach him that biting will get him ignored and as soon as he stops you will engage with him again.