Skip to content

Biting all the time

Behavioral Issues
  • My Moja is biting all the time. When shes happy, angry, playing…
    She´s now 6 month old.
    I know that they can do so, but for how long?
    She´s not agressive, it´s only a behavore we don´t like so much.

  • Our Chance is a year now and we experiended the same thing as you. What we did everytime he bit, we would say ouch and pull away. He soon understood that if he bit while playing, we wouldn't play anymore.
    He still does it when he gets too excited and I will stop whatever I am doing and walk away. He understands real fast. :D

  • When our pups bit, we'd say "ouch,no!", but we'd also then immediately give them a toy – substitute the toy for the arm.

    Keoki -- 11 mos -- occasionally will get excited and snap in play but he seems to know that's a no-no and will catch himself.

    Jazz is funny; she'll only play wrestle with me and she will use teeth but ever so gently.

  • @Vanessa626:

    Our Chance is a year now and we experiended the same thing as you. What we did everytime he bit, we would say ouch and pull away. He soon understood that if he bit while playing, we wouldn't play anymore.
    He still does it when he gets too excited and I will stop whatever I am doing and walk away. He understands real fast. :D

    Ruby just turned 3 and if she gets super excited, she'll occasionally play bite (happens very rarely now). I do exactly the same thing Vanessa does, I stop play…she catches on real quick. In fact, when I originally got her 6 months ago, she would do it sometimes when I invited her up on the bed. When she did that, she was immediately taken off the bed. She's stopped playbiting on the bed within a week or two. Smart dogs...they get it :D.

  • She-Ra will play bite, and never really gets ahold of you or anything. We've had occasions where she's bitten and we've done the "OW!" thing, but we immediately follow it up by holding our hand down to her and say "Kisses", getting her to lick the hand she was biting. She's figured out Kisses are good, biting isn't.

  • Charlie is also 6 months old. He had been play biting/nipping a lot when he was around 4-5 months old, but then pretty much stopped, except when he was really excited and playful. We did the same as what has already been suggested - saying 'eh' or 'no' for the nipping, and stopping the fun and games for a bit. We also sprayed him with a water bottle when he was really persistently hopping up and nipping at us. Occasionally, I'd have to put my hand over his muzzle and tell him 'no biting' and then 'good boy' for calming down. He got to the point where he would stop jumping/nipping when we told him to sit.

    BUT… he just had his neutering 5 days ago, and since then he has been really nippy!!! I think it might be because his walks are so much shorter now (doctor's orders), and he has all this excess energy. We're doing everything we used to do, but it's not working! The only thing that works now is the water bottle (sometimes) and just walking away slowly and calmly after saying 'no'. Ahh :rolleyes: ... I'm also wondering if this is another stage of puppy development - testing boundaries again?

  • Why are his walks shorter? Neutering should not make a difference in walks on lead???

  • I tried everything you wrote. Say no, stop playing, go away, give her a bone, …. Nothing works. I hope it growes away. I love her anyway!

  • Our vet had Fela on shorter walks after he was neutered also. Something about possibly opening the wound. Also no jumping up, like on the sofa or bed, something like that. :) btw Merry Baroooooooochristmas.

  • After I first brought EL D home (he was already an adult) he would bite when excited too. I would yell ouch not just say it and he got the idea real fast. After a couple times of that he's never bitten again (except by accident).

  • @Beckis:

    I tried everything you wrote. Say no, stop playing, go away, give her a bone, …. Nothing works. I hope it growes away. I love her anyway!

    It is not going to happen overnight… this is a longer term conditioning.. and if you don't follow through, then it will not stop....

  • @tanza:

    Why are his walks shorter? Neutering should not make a difference in walks on lead???

    The vet instructed us to keep his walks down to 5 or 10 minutes at most - at least until 10 days post surgery (which will be Dec 24). This is to help his wound heal.

    This does lead me to the question, though, of how much a pup should be walked. I was reading about this a while ago, and Turid Rugaas (author of Calming Signals) writes on her website that puppies less than 4 months should be walked only 10-15 min per day; 4-5 months, 20 min per day; 6-8 months, 30 min per day; and 9-10 months, 40-45 min per day. My vet said to walk the dog as much as he will tolerate.

    Before his surgery, Charlie was walking about 20 min in the morning, 30-45 min around lunch, and about 30 min after dinner. Didn't seem to bother him at all - if anything kept him calmer (less nippy) at home than he is now. Although, his behaviour on the leash is better with these shorter walks. Any thoughts :confused:

  • An old school technique my grenpeppy taught me way back when is to wait for your dog to mouth your hand and then grab his lower jaw. If you use your thumb to apply a light pressure on his tounge he soon learns that biting people's hand is a very unpleasant thing. to speed it up try putting bitter apple spray on your hands

  • @Gooby:

    An old school technique my grenpeppy taught me way back when is to wait for your dog to mouth your hand and then grab his lower jaw. If you use your thumb to apply a light pressure on his tounge he soon learns that biting people's hand is a very unpleasant thing. to speed it up try putting bitter apple spray on your hands

    That is an old school technique, and I never found it to work much.. and you have to be really quick to catch them each and every time…

Suggested Topics

  • Potty and Biting

    Behavioral Issues
    25
    0 Votes
    25 Posts
    2k Views
    ZandeZ
    There should be space for another half Basenji inside the coat. It should be pliable and you should be able to feel its space between your finger and thumb if you pinch it (lightly, of course !) I measure out the kibble in the morning for the days' ration and the only treats they get are taken from that ration. They think they are getting a treat, but actually it is coming from their daily amount so no extra calories at all !
  • Is it time to neuter?

    Behavioral Issues
    12
    0 Votes
    12 Posts
    4k Views
    R
    If you live in the USA, vets are taught that castration cures about everything, and is routine for the dogs from six weeks of age. I do not agree. First off take him to an obedience school, and both you and him will learn more about each other. If you complete the novice training, you both will have something to start with as far as understanding. Keep trying.
  • Biting his Tail?

    Behavioral Issues
    9
    0 Votes
    9 Posts
    11k Views
    ErinElisabethE
    @eeeefarm: Sounds like transferred aggression to me. He knows not to bite the person, but is annoyed enough that he wants to take it out on something, and his tail is handy. :) I wouldn't worry about it if it doesn't get worse. I also wouldn't provoke it. Avoid annoying him if you can and the behaviour may extinguish on its own. Okay! Thanks for all your help!
  • Biting Issues

    Behavioral Issues
    24
    0 Votes
    24 Posts
    12k Views
    eeeefarmE
    You aren't likely to find a Basenji specific trainer. You need to look for someone in your area. Perhaps some other forum members know of someone. Any good trainer can probably help you, but it would be advantageous if they have worked with the breed. Best way to find out is by referral from someone else with a Basenji, but otherwise check out what you see on line, and phone them and ask. Whereabouts in Michigan are you located? Ah, Pat, you beat me to it! :)
  • Bed time troubles…

    Behavioral Issues
    44
    0 Votes
    44 Posts
    14k Views
    Ninabeana26N
    Thanks for the advice foschatt! As I mentioned, my family went out of town for two weeks to Sweden. While they were away Dallas continues to sleep in my room while the other two dogs slept in my parent's room. Dallas' behavior greatly diminished during the two weeks. The first 3 mornings or so he would whine & pace. However, as he realized that the other dogs were not being fed until I got up either, he started sleeping in more. I really do think he wakes up & wants out when he hears my step dad getting up for work. My stepdad feeds the other two dogs [we tried having him not feed Dallas] around 5 AM when he is getting ready for work. Therefore, it is someone being up that has been causing him to wake up & whine to be let out. There is still a chance I may start putting him back in his crate to sleep. Problem is, he is kept crated during the day so I don't really find it fair for him to do both. I'm still working on it I suppose… He's gotten better but now that they are back in town he has already begun to regress. sigh Around 2 AM my stepdad let our family dogs out & in the process Dallas woke up & basically wouldn't go back to bed afterwards. I let him outside to pee for like 15 minutes. However, when we came back into the house he kept whining & pacing again. He didn't end up finally falling back asleep until after 3 AM! I am quite tired this AM I must say...
  • Questions about biting

    Behavioral Issues
    23
    0 Votes
    23 Posts
    11k Views
    spitfirekrl1S
    @JoeyQ: Yikes, have we done something really wrong??? Joey has not been aggresive at all. When we play with him he will "bite" our arms, but not hard. If we say "ow" or "no biting" he stops immediately. Should we not encourage this behavior? or is it ok to do when we are playing which has been the only time that Joey uses his mouth? We do the same thing. Alani will put her mouth around our arms but never bite down enough to even leave an indentation. However, sometimes she will grab a toy to play fetch and if I don't respond or tell her I don't want to play she will lay the toy across my arm and act like she's chewing on her toy but feel for where my skin is and start pinching it. I know she's doing it on purpose and she thinks she's so sneaky…but I know.