Annoying behavior in the midst of so much fun

[KathyK]

Dora the dachshund is practically perfect in every way...except for one.

When she is tired, and its close to bed time, she becomes an annoying attack pup. (She is 14 months old).

She digs at my husband and attacks at his arm/hand. If he hides his hand under himself, she digs at him to get to his hand. Its like she thinks the "hand" is a play toy.

When she gets the hand, she bites. Not hard, playful playing, like she is roughhousing with another puppy.

We tell her "no bite" and remove our hands, but unless it is *me* saying firmly: No Dora! No Bite, she keeps it up.

WHen she does stop (when I tell her NO BITE) she changes from biting to licking...as though she knows what is appropriate and what isn't...and is a naughty teenager knowing the right thing but pushing the limits.

She is an only child...and I've thought perhaps she really does need a sister or brother to play with.

Okay, I just realized she does have other bad habits I need to break (barking at people as they walk past our house, through the neighborhood and if they enter our house....she tries to earn a living, protecting us).

Is this playful biting something we can work towards stopping? Or is this puppyhood and will grow out of it?

[Meemoo]

This is playful biting HOWEVER it must be stopped before it does become worse. The "No bite" and removing your hand is a good start but what is more effective is when she does "nip" scream as if it really hurts, when she takes her mouth off, praise and perhaps give her an appropriate chew toy such as a kong to redirect her biting. Be consistent both you and your hubby eacvh doing it. If only one of you does, she will keep doing it. You want to "nip" (sorry) this in the bud now before it turns into aggression.

Hope this helps!

[Molly's Mom]

I agree that you need to stop this now. She's still pretty little, so the biting probably doesn't hurt much. But as she gets older, the biting will be harder to control.

Like you said, another dog can help control the problem because Dora would have another dog to play/fight with. We had trouble with Molly playbiting, but after we got Sammy, they would playfight instead and the biting completely stopped.

Even if you don't get another dog, there are things to do. Meemoo's suggestions are really good, espeically the one about offering an alternative. Before we got Sammy, we used to offer Molly toys.

As far as the licking, she's probably learned from you and your husband that licking is acceptable. Some dogs find they "need" to make peace with you after you scold them by doing something that shows submission and will get you to pay attention. This is probably what she is doing with you.