Lunging at our faces!

[jj-1962]

Elsa is hyper and cute. She knows (with me anyway) to sit if she wants to come onto my lap, but, unless she's sleepy, she just bites and lunges at my face, I have what feels like newly pierced ears and a few 'love' bites on my neck...

When she does this I immediately say no, and put her on the floor... please tell me this will work itself out eventually? We've been pug owners a mere two weeks, I adore her but my family need reassurances as we've never owned a puppy before (our other dog was 17wks ish and no training needed - she just intuitively knew what was required of her??)

Toilet training, sitting are going well. Some 'down' commands are obeyed as well as 'leave'. So we're seeing progress, but the lunges are sometimes scarey!!

Can I add she has a real thing for biting my OHs feet (which he is getting more and more cross about) how should we correct this behaviour? It seems the more we move her away, the faster she goes back to the behaviour we don't want???

[jessybell88]

Hey! I have the same problem with hogie lunging at faces but he does it in play, i know its a puppy stage so as long as we keep telling him no then he will learn eventually! The feet biting thing hog did really bad when he was 4 months and still does it occasionally, you can try a squirty water bottle but hog just liked to play with it so didnt work for us lol what i do is stop and tell him no then walk slowly away, the faster u move the more they think ur playing, help this helps hun!

[Rosiepug]

It does seem to be a pug trait and one that you are right to correct.
Never encourage it. The method you're using now, giving a firm no command and putting her on the floor and ignoring her should be sufficient.
She'll grow out of it once the puppy stage has passed.

[kp818]

Oh my god, Luna did that and still does a little, even with saying no.

It is one of her undesirable traits, and I do believe it is a pug thing--I've owned many dogs and none have ever done that.

[Ronnie's dad]

A lot depends on your tone & volume of voice. Don't leave any doubt in the dogs mind that you don't mean it. If you just say no, chances are she'll ignore you. If you say NO! she should understand that you mean it & will hopefully stop.

Good luck! I've never had that problem.

[OzzyBear]

Oz does the face lunges and feet biting. Mostly to my mom because she's a softy and isn't much of a disciplinarian. Everytime he does the face lunge or nip my mom in anyway I tell her "just put him down, and ignore him for a little bit." So what does she do? She puts him down, yes, but then keeps looking at him while saying in a cute way "I'm not talking to you! I don't talk to puppies that bite!" And I'm like "Mom...it doesn't matter what you're saying to him. You are talking to him and looking at him, therefore rewarding his behavior" UGH!

He knows better with me (mostly). He knows I don't tolerate it, so he doesn't do it to me much (unless he's extremely hyper and forgets his training) for fear of being intimidated by me. Hoping they can give me some pointers in his classes...

Usually, on the rare occasion he does lunge at me, I say "owe" really loud so as to startle him. Then I say "no bite" and put him down and ignore him for a bit. If he's nipping at the feet, I immediately stop in my tracks and say "leave it", then start walking again. And repeat if necessary.

It's definitely a thing that takes time. I know I had to keep saying "off" to Oz because he would jump on the dishwasher while I had it down putting dishes away or in it. LOL...then he got really mad, made this gremlin noise and started doing Pugtonas. He can be such a naughty little boy when he wants to be!

[kp818]

Oz does the face lunges and feet biting. Mostly to my mom because she's a softy and isn't much of a disciplinarian. Everytime he does the face lunge or nip my mom in anyway I tell her "just put him down, and ignore him for a little bit." So what does she do? She puts him down, yes, but then keeps looking at him while saying in a cute way "I'm not talking to you! I don't talk to puppies that bite!" And I'm like "Mom...it doesn't matter what you're saying to him. You are talking to him and looking at him, therefore rewarding his behavior" UGH!

It's definitely a thing that takes time. I know I had to keep saying "off" to Oz because he would jump on the dishwasher while I had it down putting dishes away or in it. LOL...then he got really mad, made this gremlin noise and started doing Pugtonas. He can be such a naughty little boy when he wants to be!

Luna is so bad with my mom. But my mom says in a sweet voice "no bite" and picks her up anyway.Needless to say, Luna is a maniac when she visits my parents.

I've noticed Luna will also start doing pugtonas when I tell her no sometimes! Anyone else experience this? She does this "rawrawraw" noise and ZOOOOOMS around the coffee table.

[MuShu Mom]

I have found that even a strong "NO" and putting MuShu on the floor (when she was a puppy) wasn't quite enough. I also had to stand up, cross my arms, say "NO!" and then turn my back on her. She hated me turning my back on her more that anything!! Even now, if she just refuses to obey me, I cross my arms, say NO and turn my back on her. Works pretty well and fast. You'll have to do it a few times at first for your puppy to "believe" you mean business and will ignore her. They want your attention more than anything! And sometimes they misbehave just to get attention, not just to be naughty. Good luck!

[Nixy n Gertie]

^^^This.

Gertie has developed a habit whereby she will hang off your trouser leg/skirt/dressing gown to make me say 'Gertie no! Leave!' and then she will plonk her butt down and sit at attention looking up at you going 'Aren't I a good girl? Look at me sit! PLAY WITH ME!'. She's learnt that face makes us all go AWWWWW and give her lots of attention LOL. So now I am training ME to not react in the same way every time but it's hard when that cutie patootie face is looking up at you.

[Russ]

I think the feet biting is 'come and play'. I've observed it's often used in tandem with the paws down, butt in the air pose and the ear biting among dogs. Dosn't mean it's welcome :) Puppy teeth are sharp!. Mz Tilly will sometimes be laying on my stomach and suddenly lunge at my face and lick me, kind of like 'Gotcha!'