Biting puppy in foster care

[BrendaM]

I got this email from one of our foster homes and I am not the best with puppies. Anyone have any suggestions? I know it's typical puppy behaviour, but I don't know how to help her stop it. History: approx 6-8 month old stray.


"This dog is a biter and I don't quite know how to handle it. I've
heard about dogs who were taken from their litter way too early and didn't learn bite inhibition. She wants to bite your fingers, bite your toes, jump
at your face and chew your fingers. My Aussie puppy (who is developing
patience) will lay on the floor and she jumps up and down at his face
like a little spring, bite-bite, bite-bite. It's not "mean" biting but you
can't hold her and calm her down and she surely can't get in the bed
with you. I know puppies are teething and want to chew things, but this is excessive."

Any ideas?

Thanks guys!

[ownedbymack]

Mack was the same way as a puppy. He is from a BYB and was taken away at approximately six weeks of age. I got him at 12 weeks of age after he had been with a relative for six weeks. I always diverted his attention to a chew toy and once he started chewing on the toy and not on me, I would praise him. His favorite chew toy has been these keys from Petsmart. We have gone through several pairs as he chews the heck out of them. I tried making a loud noise and ignoring him when he chewed or bit me, but that didn't work for us.

[Newsie96]

I found it was best to put a toy in Murphy's mouth when he was biting. I always has a toy handy, even if we were in the car.

Some people reccommend that you walk away and ignore the puppy. If the puppy gets really rough, you can put them in a time out. Don't scold them, but simply pick the puppy up and crate him for two minutes. Then take him out. If he gets rough again, repeat. And don't talk to him while he's in his time out. Ignore him. This worked for Murphy, too. But the most important thing is DO NOT SCOLD HIM before putting him the crate or he'll associate the crate with a bad thing. It's simply a time out.

[silverlady]

Is this an Australian Shepherd, not a Pug??? . I had one in rescue many years ago, when the owners said it was a nz collie....... I thought they meant nz bloodlines - they didn't appear to know what breed they had )..... wow is all I can say, (never forgotten THAT one......) they are a highly complex but beautfiul breed, the lady needs specialised breed advice imo. I believe the Australian Shepherd is American in origin.

[BrendaM]

No, the pug puppy is biting, not the aussie. The aussie's still a puppy, too, but better behaved so far.

[smoochieface]

We've had good luck trying to distract the puppy with something appropriate to bite on. When he starts with hands or feet or another dog, we give him a sterilized white bone (or any other favorite chew toy) and hold it up for him a few minutes until he really gets into it. That works about 85% of the time in distracting him from what he was doing and satisfies his need to knaw on something.

[EZDave]

I've got one of those here right now.
PATIENCE.
Her name and what you need plenty of.
She likes to jump up in the face and demand that someone play with her.
Pug or Human, doesn't matter.
What we have been doing, and it seems to be working is
Call her name. If she comes up and plays in an acceptable manner,she gets oodles of lovings and play time. If she starts getting over rambunctious, nose biting, or anything that could be considered not acceptable. She simply gets a "no" and then she is pushed to the side and ignored. It isn't working as fast as I would like but, it is working.
My nose looked like raw meat there for a while.

[FourteenLegs]

I believe the Australian Shepherd is American in origin.

Julia, you are absolutely correct. The only Australian Shepherd's in Australia have come from the U.S., and they are pretty rare here. God knows how they got their name. Maybe bred from Blue Heelers which gave them the coat colour? Don't know...... N.Z. Collies? that would be a new one to N.Z.ers........

[hollie]

My dog was biting alot , I kept saying Ouch !! every time and now when I say ouch when she bites she will lick where she just bit and not bite again . It took awhile to teach her that . Hope it helps

[Penny]

Brenda...is this who I think it is? If so, she does respond to the YELP! When she nipped at me I yelped really loud- and she didn't try to bite me again for a few hours. It even worked when Jack did it...
Worth a try anyway. I found crating her for about 30 minutes every couple of hours helped calm her down too. (not much, but some)