When playful biting goes too far...

gavmcg92

Hi there,
Have a 10month old Lab/Boxer. She has these brief moments where bites onto your hand and when you tell her in a stern voice "NO", she crouches down into a stalking position and lunges for your hand.
I am just wondering what is the best way to deal with this? It seems that being stern doesn't work when she wants to, I guess in her mind, play this game. (She responds to no when she tries to get onto the couch and such, so she knows what I mean). Should I try and refocus her attention on a tug toy or grab her by the collar and put her in time out?
Just to clarify, her bite is not aggressive. She knows not to bite hard. Just want to try and nip these overly playful biting moments in the bud for when we have guests.
Gav

ameee

Hi I had this problem with our pup I tried the loud yelp when he did it but it was hard to get the kids to do it consistently too so it wasnt really working until someone on here suggested each time he did it put him out of the room with his lead on holding it from your side of the door while shutting it so he could only sit at the door and not play.That was the only thing that worked for us also tried squeeking a loud toy he didnt like when he did it and that was doing the job but again it was hard to keep consistent with that definitely recommend putting him out of the room for a short time my pup hated that and quickly learned and he had been very bitey and mouthy seemed to have had no socialisation at all when we got him good luck

IvySlayer

Well at 10 months she's going through a teen phase, and they will test you. :P

I'd say when she goes too far, just throw her out of the room and ignore her fer a few minutes.

tk123

Yeah a time out is the best thing IMO. She's playing and wants a reaction from you - don't give her one and she'll get the message. You can use a bold word phrase as well as you put her out - 'too bad' is ours lol - she'll learn after a while that when you say that its time to stop. Does she have any dog friends around the same age/size as her as I found this helped a lot with my guy too - him and his buddy thought each other what was too much.

gavmcg92

tk123 wrote: »

Does she have any dog friends around the same age/size as her as I found this helped a lot with my guy too - him and his buddy thought each other what was too much.

The odd time we meet dogs at the park up the road and she really enjoys being able to run with them. But like I said it is a rare enough occasion. It's a small railed park. (Not a huge fan of dog parks, too many dogs in one place imo)
We're an old enough family, my sister is 21 and I'm 20 so we are all trying to work off the same sheet. I suppose I can be guilty sometimes of play fighting with her so I guess I should try and stop that or play tug instead.
She's still young so I do think it's just her being playful and somewhat going back to her primal self.
Will let the rest of the family know now what to do when she acts up... cheers

DBB

Just to add to the above, don't "throw" the pup anywhere when going on a time out! I'm sure the poster didn't mean it in this way at all, but you never know how it may be interpreted by others! You need to keep your cool and be calm and collected when putting a dog into a time out area. Using a lead is by far the best option as it means you can move the dog without having to manhandle or her or get unto a wrestling match!
As for playing wrestling with her, I wouldn't have a huge issue with this, within reason! If you watch two dogs playing, you'll see them taking regular breaks where they just suddenly stop playing, stand there panting for a few seconds, then off they go playing again. Well, these are natural, excitement-reducing breaks which help lower both dogs' emotions, so that they can recommence play at a lower level of emotional arousal. Well, there's nothing to stop you doing this too! Have a short play, then say "enough" and stop play for a short time, then start again before taking another break, and so on. If she persists in playing after you've said "enough", get up and walk away, walking out of the room if necessary.

gavmcg92

DBB wrote: »

Just to add to the above, don't "throw" the pup anywhere when going on a time out! I'm sure the poster didn't mean it in this way at all, but you never know how it may be interpreted by others! You need to keep your cool and be calm and collected when putting a dog into a time out area. Using a lead is by far the best option as it means you can move the dog without having to manhandle or her or get unto a wrestling match!
As for playing wrestling with her, I wouldn't have a huge issue with this, within reason! If you watch two dogs playing, you'll see them taking regular breaks where they just suddenly stop playing, stand there panting for a few seconds, then off they go playing again. Well, these are natural, excitement-reducing breaks which help lower both dogs' emotions, so that they can recommence play at a lower level of emotional arousal. Well, there's nothing to stop you doing this too! Have a short play, then say "enough" and stop play for a short time, then start again before taking another break, and so on. If she persists in playing after you've said "enough", get up and walk away, walking out of the room if necessary.

Thanks. The only problem is that when she knows she has gone too far and is going into time out, it turns into a "catch me if you can game". I do not chase her but she will not leave the room on her own if you get what I mean. Walking out is a good alternative to putting her in time out but do you think this would be still affective if it's only me leaving the room (or the initial person she starts biting) ? I fail to see the rest of the family wanting to leave the room when this happens.

tk123

You could maybe leave a short lead on her just while she goes thru this phase?

DBB

As tk suggests, a "houseline" can be bought ranging in length from a couple of feet to ten feet... It's just a long, light lead!
But, walking out of the room is fine too, and the rest of the family can stay right where they are as long as they don't interact with her. You only need to leave for 30-60 seconds. And when you get up to leave, give a verbal signal, such as "enough".

Vince32

I got a 15 feet tether and attached it to the garden shed, my little one is 10 months also, and is terrorising the garden at the moment, ripping up flower pots, digging holes and just making a mess in general, when she does it, she gets the tether for 15 minutes, I've only been doing this for the last few days, but she knows when she's been bad, the only hard part is catching her for her time out !! lol

The destruction is lessening, but at this age they need discipline, the tether was over priced at the pet store around 17E, but still well worth the cost. Rust proof, thin galvanised steel cable.

Can't be too hard on them either though, after all... they are just dogs

Vince

Ms Tootsie

DBB wrote: »

As tk suggests, a "houseline" can be bought ranging in length from a couple of feet to ten feet... It's just a long, light lead!
But, walking out of the room is fine too, and the rest of the family can stay right where they are as long as they don't interact with her. You only need to leave for 30-60 seconds. And when you get up to leave, give a verbal signal, such as "enough".

This is a great idea! Our guy is going through a biting phase and when we give him the 'enough' 'no' and 'ouch' signal he runs off but when we try to 'chase' him to do a time out he gets fare too much fun out of it so he thinks the whole thing is a game - cue more play biting when he wants us to play etc. Never thought of a little house lead! We popped it on him last night to test it out, of course after his walk and lots of playing fetch in the garden he was no more in the mood to 'be chased' so there was no biting incidents to test it out :rolleyes: but will defo keep this on him when we are at home until we curb the play biting.

Goodluck OP hope it works for you and let us know how you are getting on with her.