Chorizo is still biting

[sbishop]

Chorizo is six months old now, and she is still biting me and her dad. She's a great dog and she's great around strangers and children, but she bullies me and her dad. She bites when she wants food, when she wants to play, and when she wants to go out. This has lead her to spend a lot more time outside. We try not to give in to her, but she does not give up! She also chews up everything. She bit through my vacum cleaner cord in the few minutes that I walked away. She is a lot better than she was a few months ago. Could part of it be teething? We want to fix this before it starts to get cold outside. Please help!

[FOREVER A DAXIE]

Sometimes they need to chew more. It helps their teeth when they're teething. Our Dachsie is 5 months old. He was nipping etc. and I bought him a few more chew toys; ropes, Air Kong Bone, etc. We also bought some edible & non-edible Nylabones.

I think for Charlie he wasn't getting enough 'chewing' action and now he's much better. Charlie lost a tooth the other day, so your dog is also around that age.

Are you feeding her Kibble?

Have you also tried a spray bottle with water AND a little bit of vinegar? This has also helps Charlie NOT to bite a/o bark. (Although we're still working on the barking thing........:crying: )

Hopefully, some other members who've been through this already during the puppy stage can give you more advice.

Good Luck! Keep checking into the boards here ~ lots and lots of support and great information.

:bounce: :flower:

[Lauri Gengor]

In my case I never had the biting as far as our persons, we stopped that early with the "no bite" command. but all three wanted to chew everything when going through teething. Mirri is teething now so she is confined with my other two to a large utility room in my basement. I have puppy proofed all electrical wires, blocked areas where we do not want her, and carpets now are large area carperts that are not expensive to replace if she does chew them. I use bitter apple too on things I do not want her to chew, she has learned to avoid those areas through association with the bitter apple. If I do catch her chewing I scold her (in the act) with "bad girl" and through repitition she is learning. My older two learned this way and after teething I had no problem. I just made sure they had a ton of bones and toys to chew instead of me or my furnishings.

As far as biting you for attention, if he cannot learn through scolding from the act, you might want to consider using a spray bottle of water or a water/vinegar mix to spray in his face when he does bite. It's sort of a shock/surprise disipline and he will learn not to bite you or other people/things to avoid the spraying. You also have to establish yourself as the alpha, and your family as a higher rank in the pack. Status above him teaches him not to biite higher ranking members. It takes patience and disipline but he will get the idea in time. If he continues to bite, you may want to enroll him in a puppy class or bring in a behavior trainer to break the biting habit.

My older two stopped the chewing/biting at about 7 months after teething and through pack/rank order. There are others here with great advice, or may be able to shed more light on this. Good luck!

[dutchman]

At six months it sounds like she thinks the house alpha above both of you. Try calling a few trainers in your area. Some of them will allow a six month old dog in a basic obedience class others won't accept them till they are a year old. A good trainer and be a great source f information and being able to observer you and your dog together can be a big help in knowing what to suggest.

Tom and the boys (Frank, Tanner and Dexter)

[TessieMom]

I agree that part of it is probably teething, but I would also consider obedience as Tom suggested. My trainer prefers that dogs be 5-6 months old when they start. It really does help, even with young dogs who are testing their boundaries!

Rena and the Waco crew