Hi everyone, great website.

Wonder if anyone can help me. I have a 17 week old White German Shepherd who I love to bits apart from his biting!
He gets very excited at times as puppies do but he always bites. I live with my boyfriend who has just about had enough.
I am with the puppy most of the day and am cleary the master, he listens to me when I say 'NO' and stops straight away. I do put him out of my sight some times when he doesnt listen and carries on biting which seems to have some effect.
The problem is that he really bites my boyfriend hard and does not listen to him when he says 'NO'!
I have tried explaining to my boyfriend that he should try using different tones of voice, 1 for when he's good and 1 for when he's bad etc. But he just tells me it sounds silly for a man to talk in a high pitched voice (sigh), I also tell him to put him out of sight too instead of constantly saying 'NO' after the pup carries on. I dont hit the pup but I think my boyfriend might do on occation which I think would make the pup more aggressive. Am I right with these facts and what I tell my boyfriend and is there any other tips you could give me please?

Thank you
Zoe

Oh Zoe, tell me about it! :rolleyes: Trying to get a man to change his tone of voice is being on a hiding to nothing! They don't seem to be able to 'ham it up' the way pups respond to. You tell them over and over "Happy voice for 'good dog', cross growl for 'naughty'" but will they learn?

My husband is finally discovering (after having dogs all his life) that Dogs Don't Understand English! They understand tone of voice, and until your boyfriend gets his head round that he's not going to be very successful.

And repeating "No" (or "Come here" or "Sit" or any command for that matter) teaches the dog that you can be ignored.

I'm sure your boyfriend will learn in time - but the pup may be trained quicker! ;)

Hi Zoe, My pup Sydney 18 weeks is also still biting. I found that he also listemns better to me than hubby, probably becasue I do more training feeding etc with him. I found that saying No all the time doesnt work. They become deaf to it selective deafness. I use ahhh ahh (cant really spell it sorry) and that seems to work also perhaps this may be more suited to your man. Best of luck.

Hi Zoe,
Not going to be much help I'm afraid as I have the same sort of problem but the other way round. My 10 week old Springer bites all the time - she listens to my boyfriend (who cannot sound excited when he calls her!) but treats me like a pincushion for her teeth. She broke the skin and drew blood this morning - it's quite upsetting really. She listens to my boyfriend though - he says it's because he has the deeper voice even though I do most of the feeding and have been doing training with her.
Good luck though

Thanks everyone.
I'm trying to train my boyfriend and the dog now and we shall have to wait and see what happens.
Goodluck with your puppy Carolinep, I know how you feel, it is very frustrating and upsetting.
I know this may sound strange but it is kind of relieving in a way to hear that other people are haing the same problems as me.

Well...........

We have tried ignoring him, saying 'NO', yelping like another puppy and pretty much pulled our hair out. But nothing has worked....Well for my boyfriend mostly anyway. He does listen when you say 'NO' at first and he stops, but then a few seconds later he trys it again. Any other suggestions???? Or should I keep persisting with the 'NO' which seems to have the most effect???

Hellllp!!! :D

Zoe, I am still trying to get jaws to stop trying to bite us. 19 weeks. He is gradually getting better now gives flea bites hopefully he will grow out of it I am assured. Just keep persisting with using No walking way from him yelling ouch whatever it takes. It will happen but sometimes slowly Im afraid ( I too sometimes are at my wits end with his constant mouth open, try to pat him and it jaws around the hand but I just keep on keeping on with the knowledge that he will grow out of it.)

Zoe
Two points I'd like to make - pups DO learn to grow out of biting and boyfrineds DO learn to speak to dogs in excited voices. Both, however take time. Have you tried always having a favourite toy to hand so that when your pup approches you can hand over the toy for him to chew rather than your hands. Also if you make a fist with your hand rather than having a flat wiggling hand, it is more difficult to grab hold of (altho I suppose a gsd has a fairly big mouth at this age). How scary are you making your yelp when he bites? Some dogs really need to be shocked in to listening and it may be that your boyfriend feels a bit silly so his yelp is not coming out loudly enough, also look at your hand and rub it as if it has really hurt, make a big thing of it and he may stop and think he has actually done you some damage. Believe me after a few weeks he will be cooing and praising as much as us girls do, and have a big scary voice for those other occasions!

Also, don't know if other gsd owners would agree with this (I don't have one, but my gsp could be equally as stubborn when a baby) but our puppy trainer had a gsd and when he really misbehaved (and this was rarely used for maximum impact) she would grab hold of him around his face, hold him still and quite strongly, and look him direct in the eye and say NNNOOOOOO!! Not sure this would work if you have a dog that challenges though.

Terri

I had the same with Willis, my dane. I thought he would never stop - but he has... :)

Its a puppy thing, its what they do. Yelping at Willis didn't work as he just got more excited, so NO and a tap on the nose if it got too much did it in the end.... especially when he was biting hard.

Thanks very much everyone. I will try all of this. Like I said, the puppy (Wibble, yes my boyfriend picked the name) is pretty good with me but I'm getting fed up of my boyfriends constant whining that the puppy is biting him lol.
Cheers again
Zoe

Zoe - just a thought, but have you considered using your actions to discourage your pup from mouthing, rather than voice commands, which he probably doesn't really understand? If he's biting because he wants to play and provoke a particular type of behaviour, he should soon catch on that biting actually causes all human attention/eye contact (everything) to be immediately withdrawn.

Just a thought.

Jo

Hmmmm, am I the only one noticing a slight problem here?? Zoe, I think your problem may have to do with your boyfriend himself. The puppy could be associating bad things with him. ESPECIALLY if he is hitting him. I would be very cautious when dealing with this. It worries me that he is hitting your dog. I know that puppies when hit, will be excessivly disobediant towards the person for one reason. They are being hit by them. Which makes the biting more agression then playfullness. I don't know if this is your case, but I would recommend the hitting stop right now...Also try a bitter apple type spray when you play with him, or tabasco sauce. Works a charm for mine lot. Good luck.
Rudyand Mum

Hi Rudyandmum

He doesnt hit him at all any more but in the beginning he gave him a couple of smacks on the nose because he was told it would stop the dog biting. I already knew it was wrong and told him not to do it when I saw him as it would make Wibble more agressive, so since then I havent seen him do it. Hitting probably was the wrong word to use but I mentioned it because I wanted to know other peoples views on it, whether it actually WAS a good idea (common sense tell you that it would make it worse really:D).

I love Wibble dearly he is my baby and he gets ALOT of attention and play/excercise but only on my terms, when I want. When he bites I say 'NO' and he stops which is why I think (hope) he will get over this stage ok. I just need that little bit more patients with the dog AND the boyfriend (is tiring though ;))

Thanks very much
Zoe

There's a big difference between "hitting" and a tap on the nose... and I would defy anyone with a puppy that is biting really hard not to give the puppy a tap on the nose once in a blue moon!

Don't feel guilty, stick with the main advice here, but if he really bites hard (just as Willis did) you can be forgiven for a momentary lapse in concentration! :)

have you tried giving boyfriend a tap on the nose ...see how he likes it?!..:).

Lol yes tried that..and erm yes he likes it ??? :D Enough said;)

Zoe, stick to what you are doing. It does improve. My 5 month old pup has got his new teeth now and does mouth but only when he is excited e.g. when coming down to him in the morning but he is really gentle. He was an habitual biter before, any movement of hands and he tried to grab them with needle like teeth and it really depressed me at times. But over that now - onto the next puppy challenge - whatever that may be.

Thats what I like to hear:D Thanks very much

Zoe

Sorry-Misunderstood, best of luck.
RudyandMum

I too in frustration had given Sydney a tap but it only seems to intensify his behaviour. He seems to think this is part of the game and jumps around and begins to bark. I tried shuting him away in the kitchen for a while. Im now walking away from him and leaving the room. Tried it this week when I returned to him (sitting regally on the couch mind you) he licked my hands when I sat next to him. As soon as he started biting again I yelled ouch and NO a few times if he continued I got up again. Hopefully this will work it does seems to at present.

It is frustrating I know how you feel (hubby gets bitten a lot more than me) but I know that he is full of energy and wants to play so I try not to loose my temper and get angry with him. Stay calm yell ouch and hopefully he will grow out of it. My fringers legs and anything else is crosesd with expectation of this day (grin)