Hi, I find this website very helpful. I did order a book "The perfect puppy", but before it gets here, does any one know how to train a puppy stop biting our hands and feet. She likes to play with us and is very active, but she is growing and getting stronger, so our hands and feet are totaly covered with puppy teeth marks. Can any one help?
Thank You, Alina D.

I have found that the best way to stop the puppy biting like this, is to insert said book between teeth and allow pup to chew on that, since all the advice seems to be aimed at training a pup who actually wants to please rather than one that is hell bent on breaking all the rules in all of the books.  Besides I have never managed to get my dog to actually sit and read it!
Sorry, but I really can't find anything in the book which every new owner 'must have' that deals with any dog with a mind of its own and an iron will to match.

Hi Alina,

All puppies bite/mouth like this - they have to use their mouths because they don't have hands! What I do is calmly say "Gently" and let pup do it - if it gets too hard I say "Ow! No!" and stop playing for a few seconds. Then I say again "Gently" and play again. I always try not to let the pup get too excited, because then it is unreasonable to expect it to play nicely - if I've misjudged the situation and pup has got wound up I'll leave the room.

This is what has always worked with mine - but any method will take several weeks.

Good luck.
:)

Whilst I personally agree with Jeangenies method for my own dogs, it must be remembered that a pup taught this way believes it's acceptable to contact human skin with teeth - and you will probably end up with an adult dog who will 'mouth' (my own dog greets friends and family by taking their wrist in her mouth)and this can be misinterpreted by the general public as 'biting' :(  It's probably best to teach a dog/puppy not to make any contact with the teeth by  still saying 'OW!' and refusing to play - but encourage the dog to play with an appropriate toy WITH you (Raggers are best for this)

Actually I've found dogs taught like Jeangenie says are inclined to look apon "Hand holding" as a method of showing affection and have never known one of my "Hand Holders" take hold of a stranger's hand.

A Flatcoated Retriever belonging to a friend who lives on the fens was a compulsive hand holder. I remember taking him off of his bench at the Societies Champ show to give him a little exercise. He held my hand as we walked around the Three Counties Show ground. Some months later I took another friend and her husband to the Fens to see a litter of puppies. We were seated in Barbara's living room when in came "The Mighty Star", seeing me he took hold of my wrist and used my hand to "Shake Hands" with Sue and her husband who up to that time he had never met!

Regards, John

I'm afraid in my experience that isnt' the case - my own dog grabbed Gwen Baileys wrist when she came to visit my - I was mortified!!!!  Especially as she was interveiwing me as a Puppy School Tutor (I was accepted BTW :))

Well I can only quote my own experiences. I've had no problems and will continue in the same ways I've been using all these years. Sometimes I believe we are in danger of inventing new methods just for the sake of inventing new methods. I keep seeing people in magazines coming out with the flavour of the month,. I read it to discover the secrets of the universe only to find that it is the same methods we've been using for the last 40 years dressed up as the state of the art new invention. I'm not sure who the silly one is though. They are the one being paid big money to reinvent the wheel.

John

Hi Alina and welcome to the site :)

Don't suppose it's a 11 week Dane puppy is it? Dizzy is going through the same stage and I understand how frustrating it can be when you just want to stroke them and they insist on mouthing with those needle sharp teeth! :rolleyes:

The PP book recommends that you roll your hand into a fist but keep it where it was (probably with the teeth still on it, if yours is anything like mine) then try to distract her with a suitable chew toy. So far it hasn't had much of an effect on Dizzy and the only person she doesn't mouth is my hubby who (gently) slaps her nose with a relaxed hand and says 'NO' every time she tries it - she stopped almost immediatley.

The book is good and does make you rethink older training methods but you have to try to take it as a guide rather than rules. We're sticking to the housetraining pretty much by the book but I think it's going to take a while longer before Dizzy understands not only that it's GOOD to pee outside (She knows this) but that it's BAD to pee inside (Absolutly no idea on this one :rolleyes: )

Good luck :D

Hi "Wishfairy", my puppy is 6.5 weeks German Shephard, but already very very strong (i think she is going to be a big dog :)  and these needle sharp teeth are something !!! I had so many problems with her the first three days because the breeder did not take good care of puppies. So I was panicking and going to the vet basically every day. Right now she is feeling much better, I have figured out how much she needs food a day and what she likes and dislikes and of course we are still learning each other. She is a great pup. Very smart and very affectionate. She already learned to poo outside, peeing is a bit harder since when she sees my husband coming from work she cannot hold it, if I did not take her outside before :). I am so proud of her anyways. I took her to the beach today and she did not know what to do with all teh space. She was running, summersulting, digging in the sand and chasing us like crazy and than she was all "pooped" on the way home. Precious. This time she did not even have eneregy mouth our hands and was sleeping in the car all the way back home. I took tons of pictures. She did give my husband a sandy kiss which made his teeth grind from sand :)

I tried to switch her attention, when she bites/mouths, to different toys, but still it takes time to teach her that biting hurts. But she is getting better and better. But she knows a command when I tell no bite, but in a different language. I teach her in Russian.

I cannot wait till I get that book the perfect puppy