Am I training my puppy right for biting?

We have a 3 month old puppy, Bichon/Sheltie mix. Lately, in the past week as she's settled into the house, she seems to have picked up a ugly habit of biting my shorts and baggy pants.





How do I prevent this? She usually does it downstairs in the den, so what I usually do, after yelling OW and NO a bunch of times is to just go upstairs and close the door. This leaves her to her own devices.





However, she tends to cry and scratch the door a lot. I'm fine with ignoring that until she calms.





Does this reinforce that biting shorts and pants will get your owner to go away? She is teething, and we encourage and praise as much as we can when she chews on a toy.





The shorts situation can get very painful and she lunges, so teeth can get the shorts and many times what's underneath! Ouch!

Am I training my puppy right for biting?
You prevent this by giving your dog a bone to chew on, sounds like teething. Puts your clothes away. You wouldn't treat a child this, way don't do it to your dog. It is wrong to leave your dog longer than 2-3 minutes to 'fend for itself', how do you think it feels? it has not education etc...


I think some toys for her to play with as well, try a Kong, or get another dog for to play with, it is really lonely by yourself, for the rest of ones life, you try it. Good luck.
Reply:I would have to say yes it does reinforce that, but that's what you want. She'll eventually get the hint that you stick around when she doesn't bite and stop.





My poodle used to like to chew on ice when she was teething. See if she likes ice and if this settles her down a bit.





Good luck!
Reply:Get one of those rope chews. When you tell her no give her the chew so she gets the hint not to chew your pants.





Sounds like she is just so happy to see you and have to get out of the biting. I wouldn't lock her up just tell her no and give her the toy.
Reply:alright. first of all, dont leave her alone too long, because who knows what she's eyeing and sees as a chew toy. never let her have old shorts or things like that to chew. get her actual chew toys, that way she'll learn the difference. if you give her old clothes, she'll think its ok to chew clothes. and if she bites, tap her lightly on the nose, and show her the bitten spot, so she knows that everytime she does something like that, she'll be punished, and she'll learn that biting is wrong. she'll learn to conect the biting with the taps/spanks. but never seriously hurt a dog. as far as i know, the type of dog you have isnt aggressive, so she wont learn to retaliate after a tap on the nose.
Reply:If there is a smell that your dog doesn't like put it on one of your dogs favorite pairs of pants to chew then buy a chew toy that your dog likes and take the dog with you to petco or something and let him choose his own then make your dog smell the pants and then make sure he backs away from it and then as a reward give the toy to the dog
Reply:she wants to play tug of war. she will grow out of it
Reply:My rottie did this when she was little too. I had holes in all the knees of my pants. lol. But just tap her on the nose and say no or outch or whatever. Leaving the puppy alone isnt the answer. The dog doesn't know why you don't wnt to play.


If you watch puppies play, you will see they bite each other the same way.


Just tap it on the nose and correct it. Don't just leave it in the room.


Good luck!
Reply:my cosin's collie who is a pup (2 mouths old) dose the same thing when u run he will chase ur feet so put a leash on her and in front of her some clouths when she starts biteing say no and pull on her leash for a split sec
Reply:You need to give her a substitute; something made of cloth that she knows is hers to shed during teething.


If she grabs your shorts (and thighs) again, you should give her a sharp tap with one finger across the bridge of her nose and stay in the same room while ignoring her. Don't be too hasty in forgiving her. She should pick up on your feelings and stew for a short while.
Reply:No.... See, you go in "her territory", she bites you, and you leave.... And even though it may just be teething, it's going to /lead/ to biting people when the person goes near her/him. Which is bad... If it were me, I'd just stand still and let her do it until she gets the idea that biting won't make people leave or get the person to give her attention.... Or you might try giving her some corrections the Cesar Millan way! xP Cesar Millan is known as the 'Dog Whisperer'.... He has a show that plays on National Geographic every Friday at 8/7c... He usually plays other days too. Just look up the NGC schedule on the net and see when he plays. He rocks! =P Good luck! ^_^
Reply:You are right for training him to bite because if the puppy grows and there is not enough space for him,he has to leave the house and requires alot of self defence. But right now, under your care, you should not train it because it is still young and has a long way to go before it gets old. If you train it now, whenever you take it for a walk, it will bite other people and you are blamed for it. You won't want that,don't you? But if you never get the intention to throw it away, PLEASE NEVER EVER TRAIN IT TO BITE OR ELSE AFTER BITING YOU, IT WILL BE OUR TURN!
Reply:We had the nipping problem with our puppy, The way that we handled it with him is that when he would go pants chasing we would tell him no and then reenforce that no with a time out. The time out was turning him away from us and holding him in a sit between our feet for about 30 seconds, once the time out was over we would give him something that he was allowed to chew on and praise him for doing so. If the behavior continued we would give him a big time out which consisted of being put somewhere where he could see the family but not be with the family. This worked with our dog.
Reply:all puppies do this at this age. From what you've said you're doing the right things. keep going and she should get out of it herself in a month or so.





Good Luck





PS. What 'Kaska' said could actually be rewarding your puppy for biting your shorts.


Imagine this.... you bite someones shorts and they give youa toy for a while. After this if you want your toy, all you've got to do is bite. You're getting rewarded for doing the wrong thing.



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