# Training and bonding



## Daisy Mae (Nov 7, 2016)

Help!! My little Daisy is a perfect puppy except for constant bitting, fingers, toes, pants leg, etc. I know puppies bite because they are teething but she takes this to the extreme. I've tried everything I have read on the internet with no success. She is so good otherwise I hate to constantly tell her "no bite". She is great to stay in her crate, no potty accidents in the house after three weeks, she will sit, lay down, and we're working on stay. I think she is a smart puppy but she isn't getting the "no bite" message. All suggestions are appreciated.


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## 2ndhandgal (Aug 29, 2011)

Pups play with their mouths, it is how they explore the works and interact and we need to teach them firstly to be gentle with us and then not to mouth human skin.

I like to play gentle games of tug and if they touch skin I walk away from the game (no telling off - just leave the game if they are too rough - they soon learn to be careful) 

You need lots of distraction and diverting them onto toys and be careful of the reactions you are giving when she does bite things, screeching and getting animated about it can encourage many pups to continue, you need to be calm and not give reactions and divert onto more appropriate things. 

When Chance was a baby I had a tuggy toy with me pretty much all the time so I could divert her onto that if she did start to bite


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## Daisy Mae (Nov 7, 2016)

*Thanks*

This is something I haven't tried.


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## Cat 53 (Aug 26, 2012)

Sleep. Is she getting enough. Puppies need a lot of sleep and if they don't get it, they get really cranky and bite. Work on a Mimimum of 18 hours a day. .


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## Daisy Mae (Nov 7, 2016)

*Thanks for the advice*

She seems to sleep a lot but I haven't actually timed the number of hours. She wants to bite a lot when she first wakes up in the morning and at night before bed time. I'll put her in her crate for more naps. She doesn't object to the crate.


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## Marzi (Sep 17, 2012)

I think that 2nd's advice not to react is very sound, when my pups were babies if they bit at my hand when we were playing I would just let my hand go completely still in their mouth - I would not pull it out or push it in, they very quickly let go at which point you can say 'gently well done' and offer another toy. I would carry a pair of knotted together socks in my pocket at all times so I always had something to hand. My other pocket would be full of treats.... and I started training sit and stay from the very first meal time - if you have a wildly leaping crockaharkapoo attacking your legs you just stand stock still until they back off and then ask for a sit and reward the sit.
Calm, consistent behaviour from you and rewarding every positive your pup offers will produce good results in the end.


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## Daisy Mae (Nov 7, 2016)

*Many thanks to all of you*

I will try your suggestions Marzi. This is not my first puppy. I've had four in the past and the first one was a cockapoo. This is the first time I've had no control of the puppy bitting. There was one night I actually felt like giving Daisy back to the breeder and I had been so excited about getting her. Our last dog, Jackson, a shihtzu, died in April of congestive heart failure and we were devastated. Maybe I'm just older now and don't remember the patience needed with a new puppy. I'll keep trying because otherwise she is a smart and sweet little girl. Thanks again.


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## Wiggins (Oct 26, 2016)

Hi Daisy Mae,

I'd be interested to hear how you are getting on with the biting now? Our puppy is 12 weeks old and, according to a trainer, 'very bitey.' We are following all of the advice I have been reading on here...stopping play, walking away, distracting with other toys or having some time out, in which case this morning he fell straight asleep, so tiredness is sometimes an issue.

I appreciate it's a long, slow process whilst they are teething and this doesn't last forever, but I just wondered if Daisy's biting had reduced at all?

Many thanks


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## Daisy Mae (Nov 7, 2016)

In response to Wiggins (sorry for late reply). Daisy was such a bitter I reached the point I didn't enjoy her as much as I had hoped. But things are so much better. She is now 5 and a half months old and bitting has mostly stopped. I have been taking her to a puppy kindergarten class and she is doing well. I'm not sure the bitting stopped because of anything I did or she just isn't teething as much. I didn't notice an improvement until she was approaching five months old. She is a high energy puppy and we have a way to go with training but I feel sure we will reach the well mannered dog level eventually. Good luck to you. Daisy is a sweet and very smart puppy.


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## fairlie (Sep 7, 2013)

Daisy Mae said:


> In response to Wiggins (sorry for late reply). Daisy was such a bitter I reached the point I didn't enjoy her as much as I had hoped. But things are so much better. She is now 5 and a half months old and bitting has mostly stopped.


I'm glad this had a good outcome. I, like you, had plenty of experience with puppies and was gobsmacked at how terrible Rufus was. The up side is that once you do get them trained they are such fantastic fun little friends, perhaps to make up for being so horrid as puppies.


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