Tips on biting and stopping aggression?

2BullyMama

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We never made it a punishment. The jail picture was a joke. our vet told us if redirection wasn't working to just remove him for 5 mins or so, so he would understand he could not behave like that and still interact with us. Sorry I gave you the wrong impression. He loves his crate and feels very safe there. He loves to go in and out when we are home.

great info!!!
 

Vicaroo1000

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We should be careful when labeling a behavior "aggression". It would be the rarest thing ever for a puppy to be genuinely aggressive. Puppies are just trying to find their way in the world and are looking to their pack leader for direction. If a pup bites the mama dog too hard, she disagrees with the behavior and the pup learns.

My Bea was a super mouthy puppy, very vocal when she played AND had an incredible prey drive. This trifecta of fun might look like aggression, right? Bea is anything but aggressive! She's as passive as they come.
 
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elonepb

elonepb

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So the "aggression" continues but getting a little bit better. There are points where it seems like he's in a red zone and is just going to lunge, bite, and nip at every part of our bodies and clothing. We have started putting him in his crate without scolding or tension, just removing him from his biting ways and in the crate.

He usually starts by chewing on the rails of the crate and biting the blanket. But eventually he finally gives up (even if it takes 10 minutes) as we ignore him, and as soon as he lies down, we open the crate door and let him out again. Yesterday when we put him in there he peed (assuming he was acting out) but we made him stand in his pee for awhile until he calmed down. He can't learn that we come when he pees.

So it's going a little better for Butter. We are gone most of the day and we have a dog walker come twice, but I think he's a little angry being alone for so long or at least has pent up energy. We are starting the dog walker taking him on longer walks to see if that doesn't help.

Thanks for the advice everyone!
 

Pati Robins

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Im sorry but how old is Butter? He probably peed out of excitement,after long play,chewing etc -it natural for puppies to do it , i wouldn't let my puppy stand in his pee until he calm down , i would have to clean the crate first (it is not very hygenic)
I dont think he peed cos he was "acting out" he just cant hold it in as long -every time Lily peed i couldn't blame or punish her -as it was my fault for not looking for signs or taking her out after chewing,playing,eating or sleeping fast enough
What im worried is the fact that eventually Butter will think of his crate as a punishment ,rather than "his safe place/den"
Same with play biting-we all went through this praise , and all the advice that was given works with consistency and time,they all eventually stop
Sorry if i sounded rude,i didnt meant to ,but the fact that you let him stand in his own pee while waiting for him to calm down i dont think was a right thing to do ;-)
 
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elonepb

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Im sorry but how old is Butter? He probably peed out of excitement,after long play,chewing etc -it natural for puppies to do it , i wouldn't let my puppy stand in his pee until he calm down , i would have to clean the crate first (it is not very hygenic)
I dont think he peed cos he was "acting out" he just cant hold it in as long -every time Lily peed i couldn't blame or punish her -as it was my fault for not looking for signs or taking her out after chewing,playing,eating or sleeping fast enough
What im worried is the fact that eventually Butter will think of his crate as a punishment ,rather than "his safe place/den"
Same with play biting-we all went through this praise , and all the advice that was given works with consistency and time,they all eventually stop
Sorry if i sounded rude,i didnt meant to ,but the fact that you let him stand in his own pee while waiting for him to calm down i dont think was a right thing to do ;-)

Hey Pati, no worries on the comment, it's all appreciated. I'm almost certain it was acting out. He had just gone outside and peed before and he never pees in his crate or in the house anymore. What I didn't want to establish was that peeing gets him out of the crate. To me, letting him out right away would've been a positive reinforcement to a negative action. We didn't let him just sit in there, we took him out very soon after, but only once he was calm.

I too have my concerns about the crate being seen as punishment, but there isn't really another way I've found to curb when he goes into "crazy mode".
 

Pati Robins

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Maybe while hes naughty before you put him in a crate take him on a leash so he cant run around the yard freely ,just to do his business
Lily sometimes can have one pee followed by another few minutes later
Can i ask how do you reinforce positive behaviour?
 
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elonepb

elonepb

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Maybe while hes naughty before you put him in a crate take him on a leash so he cant run around the yard freely ,just to do his business
Lily sometimes can have one pee followed by another few minutes later
Can i ask how do you reinforce positive behaviour?

Well he doesn't really ever want to walk outside but we make him anyway. The leash indoors isn't a bad idea, it seems to stop any bad behavior we have outside just by correcting him.

Good behavior rewarded with lots of love (and goodboyyyy) and sometimes treats. We've started using "inside" for his crate so he walks in by himself and give him a treat. This is working great for potty training too.
 

Pati Robins

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I was talking about going potty on s leash not leash inside ;-)
Why i was asking about how you are reinforcing good behaviour -is i found that treats given fast enough when he behaves in the way you want him to to reinforce it worked wonders for us especially while potty training and teaching Shy -our deaf girl how to behave, the trick is while Shy was in a biting mode we tried to redirect it using a toy that she loved,but we used only to redirect and quickly gave her a reward so after a while she seem to get the idea that biting her own toys meant that she get a nice things and biting in us will not get her anything, and when she was behaving the way we wanted stopped while we asked her to stop biting we offered a treat (high value treat)
Bare in mind that we went through a lot of treats having a deafie that was going through puppy play biting stage was a double challenge especially that we couldn't make any loud noises etc ,but in a way it helped us discover the power of rewards as a way to modify ger behaviour.
Bare in mind that we went through a lot of treats so if you giving treats adjust the quantity of food accordingly (we didnt and that resulted in not very happy 6 months old puppy on a diet) ;-)
 

Lisabear123

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Brie, who is 9 mos old now still does this kind of play behavior my 8 yo son and sometimes she hurts him. She has never broken skin, but it is still way too much shark mode if you ask me. I've tried all the same things as you did [MENTION=9681]elonepb[/MENTION] and she stops or a brief moment but then right back to it. She has a domineering streak that contributes as well. I am going to try crating her for 5-10 min as soon as she starts up and see if she gets it. She is very smart and I'm hoping it works. I'll let you know :) I understand your frustration w the situation. Of course there are times I'd like to put my son in a crate as well as he eggs it on and then cries..lol if you find anything that works for you, please share cos I could use the help!
 

Dana F

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I didn't know that Stinky had so many twins..lol I have been going though the same thing with Stinky. He makes me so mad. I can't even "love on him". He will go after my face every time. At times he even scares me. I just started to put him in his crate for a time out and tell him that he has been a bad dog. If I try and take something from his mouth he will go after my hand. I tell him to drop it but that doesn't help. If he see's me coming he will sallow it. He has been a biter since he was a puppy.His daddy and his friends always thought it was cute when he would growl and try and bite their hands...but now that he is bigger its not so cute. And am left with trying to train him. I really don't want to take him to a trainer for his biting. The water bottle and can don't work. He thinks its something to play with. I try and let him run outside but its has been a hot summer here. Lately I have been taking him for a long walk and letting him play outside for a few..now thats its cooler outside. It seems it help a little bit. I don't want it to get worst. What should we do?
 

ozzybabyboy

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a timeout seems to work for us when he bites things. I got him to stop biting me by sticking my finger in his mouth, i read that somewhere but dont know if its the right thing to do. It still worked because he hasnt bitten me in a long time.

here he is in timeout.....he looks so cute its hard to give him timeout sometimes.
 

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Sheena

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Sounds exactly like Daisy! I deal with this quite often! Same thing with the yelping,pennies and the submission thing. I have a hard time doing the training thing when she gets like that too. To me I think its playing. Its not nice playing... So I started getting her tugowar toys out and just getting down in the floor and playing and it seems to help. We really like the tire on a rope tuggy. Good luch! I know its hell. But Shes slowly coming out of this phase!
 

Sheena

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Oh ya! And time outs do not work for us. But I still do them. Because above everything else she loves to be with us.. So Im hoping that will click one day!
 

FORDE'SMOM

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Ok this will sound really bad but keep in mind I did it without thinking because he bit me so hard. I bit him back

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the first doggie behavior class i took Forde to he was around 10 weeks old......it was given at one of the community centers here and by two older ladies......Forde was bad about nipping , i was told that he wasnt taught well by his mom (lol) first thing he did was nip at one of the older ladies teaching when she was admiring him , she immediately grabbed him up and bite him on the ear , Forde yelped, she put him down with that he turned and looked at her and was a changed puppy , BUT only for her lol......each time he would get around her after that he would be so well behaved....but absolutely NO change with me :), she told me i was way too sweet and easy with him.......it was the funniest thing to watch how he reacted to her when she did that !
 

Sheena

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a timeout seems to work for us when he bites things. I got him to stop biting me by sticking my finger in his mouth, i read that somewhere but dont know if its the right thing to do. It still worked because he hasnt bitten me in a long time.

here he is in timeout.....he looks so cute its hard to give him timeout sometimes.

Ozzy is so cute!!
 

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