Play Biting is getting out of control any ideas?

[shankara_n]

My first basenji must have gotten the stubborn gene twice. No matter what I did she would bite hard. Not hard enough to break skin, but hard enough you know you got bit.

I started biting her back. The ears, tail and belly are the most sensitive. I chomped on her 2 or 3 times and her bite was a good deal more gentle.

Though she got me back. After that, she started waking me up to go out by standing on my chest a jabbing my eye socket with her snout.

I slept on my side for years.

[saba]

@shankara_n:

My first basenji must have gotten the stubborn gene twice. No matter what I did she would bite hard. Not hard enough to break skin, but hard enough you know you got bit.

I started biting her back. The ears, tail and belly are the most sensitive. I chomped on her 2 or 3 times and her bite was a good deal more gentle.

Though she got me back. After that, she started waking me up to go out by standing on my chest a jabbing my eye socket with her snout.

I slept on my side for years.

Sorry, this is quite OT, but, I just had a long lost memory :D. I had a horse that I rode, many, many years ago, called Beau. He had a really annoying habit of nipping you when had your back to him, just ready to mount, no matter what you did to try and outsmart him !!!. It was taught to him by his previous owners :rolleyes:. I got so mad with him one day, so sick of bruises over my back, I just turned around, and bit him, right back, on his neck :eek: It wasnt planned, I was so cranky with him, BUT, it worked, he never tried to bite me again, ever ;). He did try it on other people who rode him though, naughty bugger !!!

[jessi76]

@rnasto:

Spray your arm with bitter apple before play.

lol… my dog thought bitter apple was a condiment.

10 wks is young, she'll get it, it takes time to learn. I'm a fan of the yelp & ignore method. it worked for me. (after lots of repetition though!)

[Lori]

I have done the loud puppy cry "arf" and stop playing…it works on older dogs too.

[tsjoe007]

Well, I've tried everything and nothing worked … Except ...
The first thing I've learned Bendji was the "sit" command. Not very difficult if you use his favorite titbit :rolleyes: He learned it very fast (because of the yummy) and when we were playing and it started becoming " a bit rough" I told him : "Bendji ... SIT" ... and he stopped playing and sat down !!! Then I gave him a yummy and started a training session in another room for a few minutes... The trick is that you interrupt the behaviour and turn his attention to something else. Give it a try and let me know. It worked fine for us ... Greetings from Belgium and good luck !:D

[FortheLoveofStella]

I said this to someone else who said that their B pup was being aggressive toward her young daughter. But this seemed to work with Stella when she was little. She would get soo excited during play, that even if I yelped she would stop for a second, but then come back after my feet, ankle, pant leg - what ever she could get her mouth on. So to help her calm down a little, I would hold her down to help her relax. Once she was relaxed she could get up and go about her business. We never her told her no, just yelped, and if she didn't stop, we would restrict her movement.

[snorky998]

@FortheLoveofStella:

I said this to someone else who said that their B pup was being aggressive toward her young daughter. But this seemed to work with Stella when she was little. She would get soo excited during play, that even if I yelped she would stop for a second, but then come back after my feet, ankle, pant leg - what ever she could get her mouth on. So to help her calm down a little, I would hold her down to help her relax. Once she was relaxed she could get up and go about her business. We never her told her no, just yelped, and if she didn't stop, we would restrict her movement.

This might work for my Tyler, but Katie would think it was part of the game, get up and be even more aggressive. Distraction was the thing that worked best for Kate (ie tsjoe's previous post).

[rnasto]

Indy still does some play biting, we have instituted the rule "If you get to play with your mouth I get to play with your mouth!"

This means if he play bites and does not stop when asked we get to play with his mouth too. I stick my fingers in his moutn, open it up and close it, look at his teeth. Seems to get the point across. I don't do it roughly but playfully and he seems just mildly annoyed with it.

[JazzysMom]

With Jazz the yelp and stop play worked great. With Keoki, it did not. For him it works best to stop all play and make him sit/stay until he calms down. Either that or stick our hand in his mouth and hold the bottom jaw for a second; he hates that and stops immediately.

[Shaye's Mom]

I'm glad to read all the advice on how to stop puppy biting - Shaye does this every time we pick her up or she jumps on us to play. Also, she wants to eat everything in the house - today she totaled my five year old beautiful African violet - fake plants from now on I guess. She had to jump up on a table to get to it, and my back was turned only long enough to put a load of laundry in. Any ideas on making her know "down" means DOWN? My couch pillows are becoming shreds.

[agilebasenji]

By DOWN, do you mean get off the sofa or lay down? This is a common issue with humans, at least in the English language. If any of my dogs are on the sofa and I tell them down and they lay down, that's exactly what I told them to do. If I tell them "off" I need them not on the sofa.

Don't get me started on the command "Sit down". Or "Get down" when the dog is jumping on people. (They usually just want on "off")

Just guide the dog off, reward him when she's on the floor. Yes it will take a lot of reps. If she's chewing the pillows, i'd spray liberally with bitter apple and point out her toys when she starts chewing them. I tell my puppy "That's momma's; this one is yours" If she needs a time out, put her in the crate for 5 minutes. If every time she chews the pillows, she gets a time out, she will learn. (Don't do this if your pup really hates the crate because you want her to like the crate and be crate trained.)

Also, make sure she's getting enough exercise. I also use food puzzles for their meals. this will exercise her brain.

[Shaye's Mom]

When I say "down" to shaye, I mean get down. She knows to sit, and to stay. I will change it to "off," on the outside chance I ever need her to learn lie down. I have tried redirection when she has something of mine, and she generally will take what I redirect her to, for about five seconds, and then goes back after what she was after in the first place. When she jumps on us, we turn our back and she gets on her four feet and we tell her what a good girl she is then. Incidentally, the African violet incident occurred along with running up and down off all the couches and rooms in the house, right after she was taken on a very brisk 1 1/2 mile walk.

We have tried all the tried and true methods of crating her, and she still cannot stand confinement. Frankly, since I'm getting really tired of being housebound 24/7, I'm thinking of putting her in there when we would like to go out anyway, and just let her mess it up, complain and whatever until she gets used to the fact that it's going to happen now and again. Right now what is happening is one of us always has to be home, and it's usually me. My "what the hell is this, I'm the boss around here" attitude is starting to rear it's ugly head.

[dash]

@Shaye's:

I have tried redirection when she has something of mine, and she generally will take what I redirect her to, for about five seconds, and then goes back after what she was after in the first place.

You just have to keep repeating this. Give her something equally exciting and/or remove the item she is chewing that you don't want her to chew on. Yes, they need to learn but you need sanity and peace of mind as well. I usually, even now with Dash being 5, tell him no, drop it, then give him something else and as soon as he puts it in his mouth I praise him. Repeat, Repeat, Repeat. When they make the correct choice by playing with their toy in the first place, I also praise. Praise when you find them doing something good. Don't only focus on the bad. One reason that she may be getting things you don't want her to is she gets you to pay attention to her. Negative or not, it is still attention.
When she jumps on us, we turn our back and she gets on her four feet and we tell her what a good girl she is then. Perfect!

Incidentally, the African violet incident occurred along with running up and down off all the couches and rooms in the house, right after she was taken on a very brisk 1 1/2 mile walk.

She's a pup. You will have this.she is not doing it out of spite, she is just a baby that has seemingly endless energy. She should never be out of your site.All plants and hazardous chemicals should be kept out of her reach.

We have tried all the tried and true methods of crating her, and she still cannot stand confinement. Frankly, since I'm getting really tired of being housebound 24/7, I'm thinking of putting her in there when we would like to go out anyway, and just let her mess it up, complain and whatever until she gets used to the fact that it's going to happen now and again. Right now what is happening is one of us always has to be home, and it's usually me. My "what the hell is this, I'm the boss around here" attitude is starting to rear it's ugly head.

We had the same problem, Dash never could be crated. We got an ex-pen and another dog which made him feel better but he eventually bent the bars and made his escape. He is free now but he is older. You can try those DAP things, I never had any success but some have. Try feeding her in her crate as well. You could take him to day care when you leave also. But you may have to go somewhere and put her in the crate. I think that is an unfortunate reality. I will not help her anxiety though and may make it worse.

You seem very stressed and I remember being there. This will pass. Eventually. Good luck.

[Shaye's Mom]

[
You seem very stressed and I remember being there. This will pass. Eventually. Good luck.

Thanks for the understanding and the tips - yes, I am beginning to stress, and I hope crating her against her wishes doesn't make it worse - I don't see how it could be worse. My sister has a Jack Russell who had this same problem, and she did what I am thinking of doing - eventually her dog stopped messing in the crate, and even though he doesn't like it, he does tolerate crating now. That, if it's the best I can get, is what I am hoping for eventually. Shaye is a very smart dog - and very determined it will be her way or we pay. Guess we'll see.

[wrx227wrc]

I like the "if you get to play with your mouth I do" idea but would it make them have a bad association about you messing with their teeth??

We have always used a squirt bottle with water. We only had to squirt a couple of time and now "wanna get squirted" stops the biting.

[Gabriel]

@FortheLoveofStella:

I said this to someone else who said that their B pup was being aggressive toward her young daughter. But this seemed to work with Stella when she was little. She would get soo excited during play, that even if I yelped she would stop for a second, but then come back after my feet, ankle, pant leg - what ever she could get her mouth on. So to help her calm down a little, I would hold her down to help her relax. Once she was relaxed she could get up and go about her business. We never her told her no, just yelped, and if she didn't stop, we would restrict her movement.

When Noel gets excited like this and won't listen and is aggressively biting and scratching, and if I tried to hold her down(which I have) she would bite, kick, scratch, anything to get out of it. Finally, I should have to man handle her and put her in her crate. What a stinker.

[wizard]

Using the crate as a time-out place is a good idea but also use the crate for "treat sites" so she doesnt' associate the crate with bad things.

[tanza]

I have never used the crate as a "time out" place especially during early crate training as I feel that this can backfire and have them associate it with punishment. That said, I will admit that I have not had just "one"… there has always been other B's in the house, so even when they get wild and border line out of control... and I ignore them, they "turn" on the other B's... who promptly put them in their place...ggg

[Gabriel]

@tanza:

I have never used the crate as a "time out" place especially during early crate training as I feel that this can backfire and have them associate it with punishment. That said, I will admit that I have not had just "one"… there has always been other B's in the house, so even when they get wild and border line out of control... and I ignore them, they "turn" on the other B's... who promptly put them in their place...ggg

I guess my Noel just doesn't have the correct training because you can't just ignore her. She will tear you up if you turn your back on her. She will jump as high as she can go and bite you in the back, bottom and ankles.. I put her in her crate to get her to "calm down". I also give her treat when she goes in for "good". When it's bed time, when I'm leaving for work, things like that.

[wizard]

One of the things I've learned from obedience classes and the various training books is that dogs (and IMO especially basenjis) learn to read our behavior really well but we're not as good at learning their behavior communications but they don't learn the nuances in language. Consequently they learn fast that they can get away with certain behaviors (like jumping and nipping) because we aren't doing our part properly to stop it. But they also can't tell the difference between "down = get off the table" and "down = lay down and be calm" and again we aren't doing our part to be consistent in our words (I think that's partly a function of our culture with so much slang and misuse of the language). I've found it is really hard work to be consistent in using verbal commands. Training a dog is as much training ourselves as the dog.