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Zoey's Mommy
01-24-2001, 08:11 PM
Hello everyone,
I read the earlier post about biting, but I think Zoey falls into a different category. She is 2 months 2 weeks old and a mini. She stays home in a gated off kitchen/dining area w/ her crate, pee-pads, toys, and water. She is usually home most of the day 5-7hrs and is very excited when we get home. We don't go right to her when we get home to try and keep her from getting so excited and it has helped some. When we do take her out to play she goes crazy which is perfectly understandable. We run her and play ball and w/ her chew toys.

The problem is she will not stop biting at us. She only does it when she gets real fired up, so I don't think it is a dominance issue. She is just excited. We have tried chin-bop, but she just tries to bite your hand before you can get her. She thinks it is a game and it only gets her more fired up because when you remove your hand she chases it, snapping for it. I have also tried grabbing her face and putting her nose in my mouth and applying pressure. She does let out a little cry while I do this, but it doesn't help. I just feel awful because we don't get to much time w/ her and it seems all the time we do we are either chin-bopping or biting our dog.

The seperation anx has gone away unless she can see us from behind the gate in her kitchen. And when we are cleaning we can lock her in her kennel w/ out the ungodly screaming happening so that is good news.

I think that is all you need to know. She stays in her area all the time unless we take her outside or on the couch. Thanks for reading this long post.
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Mark
01-25-2001, 06:05 AM
Wow http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/wow.gif only 10 weeks old and biting. I've never experienced it that early, so I'll defer to someone who has had that experience.

I'll be very interested to see the replies in this topic.

Sorry I couldn't help http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/frown.gif

Mark

Frzframe
01-25-2001, 01:08 PM
She sounds just like my Mitzi when she was that age. This is what I did with her and it helped. I would hold her in the crook of my arm while she was on her back or side and told her to settle when she got to wild. When she would bite the chin bop would make it worse also so I grabbed her muzzle and held it shut and told her no bite in a low firm voice. If you are firm and consistent it will get better.
~Shonda

Annie's granny
01-25-2001, 01:36 PM
Ditto from us. Annie was (sometimes still is) very aggressive. Biting (and/or mouthing) didn't hurt nearly as much when she was 6 weeks old as it did when she was 2 months old. (She's now 3 mos. old.) Chin bop did seem to make worse then, so we put her on her back (holding her like she was a baby) and held her muzzle closed. (not too tight, though.) and firmly said "no biting" in low voice. Keep eye contact until she looks away. We sometimes had to do this 15 times http://dachsie.org/ubb/smilies/smile.gif but eventually she would look away and stop. Just be persistent and consistent. Annie is beginning to get better. Occasionally though, if she BARKS and tries to bite, we do the chin bop...it seems to work better now than putting her on her back. (Maybe 'cause she's older?) I kinda worried about "breaking her spirit" but then we realized that she probably has more spirit than we could possibly break in a lifetime. <IMG SRC="http://dachsie.org/ubb/cwmsmilies/cwm42.gif" border=0> Good luck and keep us posted.

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Michell

Mandy
01-25-2001, 02:23 PM
Jake bit a lot as a puppy..this is afterall, how puppies play with each other a lot. We would make a noise as if he really hurt us and turn away from him, refusing to play. This is a similar response to what other puppies would do. Jake learned not to bite us this way. When he was a little older and would forget what was appropiate play when he was excited...I would take my thumb and middle finger, wrapping them around his mouth. I would not apply pressure, just the feeling of my hand around his mouth and a very firm "no bite." This seemed to put a stop to it right away...

At ten weeks it doesn't sound like aggression...just a playful puppy....even at 3 months I am inclined to say playful puppy....but it is something they need to learn before they get older....in the wild they would learn from their mother and littermates about acceptable play behavior....that responsibility falls to you now.