Why do puppies bite?
Unlike us, puppies do not have opposable thumbs, so they manipulate stuff with their mouths, in the same way that we manipulate stuff with our hands. New puppies or young dogs will try to put everything into their mouths, because they are curious about objects and their surroundings.
Therefore, puppy biting is normal canine behavior.
Puppies also play with each other through play-biting. When a puppy bites too hard during play, his siblings may yelp and stop interacting for a short duration. Biting too hard on an adult dog (e.g. their mother), may also result in an undesirable consequence. In this way, puppies learn social rules and boundaries.
There is nothing wrong with dogs or puppies biting each other during play, but it is crucial to teach them to be careful with their mouths when interacting with people.
A puppy who is not taught this lesson, may become a danger to all the people around him, including his owners. Play-biting with humans, especially seniors and children, may cause accidental injuries and ultimately result in forced euthanasia.
If our puppy is biting us or others in an uncontrolled way, it is best for everyone not to engage in rough play with him. Also, do not play games that encourage biting such as Tug-of-War.
How to Deal with Puppy Biting
I deal with puppy biting by training my dog in three important areas –
1. Bite inhibition training
People have thinner and more sensitive skins than dogs do. Therefore, one of the first things that I teach my puppy is to control the force of his bites, especially when interacting with me and others.
2. Redirection and no-bite conditioning
When my dog bites on people, clothing, or unsanctioned objects (e.g. books, wires), I no-mark to let him know that it is an undesirable behavior. Then, I redirect his mouth onto something acceptable, and reward him for doing the right thing. In this way, he learns which objects are off-limits, as well as what he should do instead.
3. Excitement and self-control
An over-excited puppy, who lacks self-control, will tend to bite more often and with greater force. By managing my puppy’s excitement level and teaching him to control his impulses, I set him up for success, and reduce the number of instances where he engages in bad biting behavior.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
~~[Benjamin Franklin]
When dealing with puppy biting issues, I always try to stay calm but firm. I do my best to catch problems early on, and fix them before they escalate in degree and frequency.
If a dog is causing puncture wounds, or escalating his aggressive biting behavior, it is best to get professional help as soon as possible.
In this article, I discuss bite inhibition training and no-bite conditioning. For more on managing a puppy’s excitement level, please refer to Managing Puppy Excitement and Self-Control.
Bite Inhibition
Some dogs may have low bite thresholds. This means that they resort to biting or aggression even with fairly low, seemingly harmless stimuli.
One of my dogs, a Shiba Inu, can get mouthy when he is excited or frustrated, when I restrain him, when I stop him from doing something, and much more. Because of this, it is extremely important to train him to have good bite inhibition.
I start bite inhibition exercises as soon as I bring a puppy home. Even though puppy teeth are sharp, a puppy does not have the jaw strength of an adult, and is not capable of doing as much damage. Once my puppy has a soft mouth, I train him to stop biting on people.
Hand-feeding is a good way to teach our puppies to control the force of their bites. I hand-feed my puppy at least some of his kibble every day. If he bites too hard when getting his food, I do a sharp ouch or yelp, and ignore him for a few seconds. This teaches him that if he bites too hard, the food stops.
If my puppy is taking food from me gently, I praise him and keep the food coming. Often, I will combine hand-feeding with puppy obedience training and dog grooming sessions. Hand-feeding can also help prevent food aggression issues, so I continue this practice throughout my dog’s life.
We can also get Ian Dunbar’s book After You Get Your Puppy, for an overview of bite inhibition training.
Initially, Dunbar may come across as somewhat alarmist. We may feel that if we do not meet his somewhat unrealistic dog socialization and puppy training demands, things are going to go badly. I just try to ignore the alarmist talk, and focus on the bite inhibition and handling exercises, which are quite useful.
I am very thankful that my puppy (now adult dog) has a soft mouth. Because my Shiba Inu has good bite inhibition, we were able to solve many of his subsequent issues, which would have been difficult to deal with if he were biting at full strength.
When Our Puppy Bites …
When our puppy bites, it is important NOT to jerk our hand away. If we jerk away, we will likely get scratched. In addition, sudden and quick movements may make our puppy think that it is a fun game. This rewards the biting behavior, and encourages him to bite on us even more.
In the worst case, quick movements can activate a dog’s prey drive, and encourage aggressive behaviors. Therefore, it is important to control this reflex action, and stay still. In addition, I give a no-mark or yelp as a puppy might do to his litter-mates, when they are playing too rough.
I usually yelp when it is an accidental dog bite, for example when my dog gets his teeth on me while taking food out of my hand. Yelping is also appropriate for puppies that are still learning the rules. Otherwise, I use No for adult and adolescent dogs, who should know better.
After the no-mark, I always follow-up with a positive command, e.g. redirect him onto a toy.
1. Redirect Our Puppy onto a Toy
This technique is especially useful for an untrained puppy. It lets him know that it is ok to bite on a toy, but not ok to bite on people.
For example, my dog gets excited and starts biting when I scratch his tummy. Therefore, I used that as a training exercise to get him to bite on a toy, instead of on my hand. Since I can start the exercise anytime I want, I control the environment and make sure that I have multiple soft toys nearby for use. I make sure to reward my dog very well with food and affection when he redirects, so that I further reinforce the behavior.
A toy can also be useful for those cases where the puppy is losing control, and getting a bit too excited or frustrated. Giving him something to redirect his excitement or frustration at, may help to calm him down.
If I do not have a toy handy, I can also redirect by giving my puppy an alternate and simple command that he knows very well, e.g. Sit.
2. Withdraw Attention and Affection
Often, a puppy starts to bite at us because he wants to play or interact. Therefore, if my puppy does not respond to my redirect, then I withdraw my attention and affection. I do this by standing up, folding up my arms, and ignoring him. I make sure not to give any eye contact, not to talk, and not to engage him in any other way.
This is also called a timeout lite.
By doing this, my puppy learns that-
Out of control biting and jumping = No play, no attention, and no affection,
Gentle interaction = Play continues, food rewards, and extra attention.
Sometimes, my puppy may get too excited and escalate his behavior by biting on feet, or jumping and trying to bite on clothing. This is something that I absolutely do not allow because it can be very dangerous, especially with children and the elderly.
If my puppy escalates his behavior, I no-mark, say “Timeout”, and take him to a low stimulus timeout area immediately.
NOTE – In general, I try to set my dog up for success by managing his excitement level. In this way, I keep timeout-necessary episodes to a minimum.
3. Timeout
Most dogs value their freedom to roam around the house and backyard. Dogs are also pack animals, and like being with both human and canine members of the family. Since a timeout takes away both of these things, it is an extremely effective method of dog discipline.
When giving my dog a timeout –
- I make sure to put him in a really boring room, with no windows that he can reach. Currently, my dog’s timeout area is the laundry room.
- I check that the room is safe, and contains nothing that he can chew, play, or interact with in any way.
- Finally, I ensure that nobody gives puppy any attention during his timeout period.
It is better not to use a crate for timeouts. Crates are useful for transportation, management, and more. Therefore, I ensure that the crate is a happy place, where my dog feels comfortable going to for some peace and quiet, for sleep, and to chew on his favorite toy.
I find that a timeout is the most effective way to stop my dogs from biting. However, I only use it when my puppy is deliberately acting out, and not for accidental bites.
Initially, I start with a short 1 minute timeout. If my dog continues to bite right after he comes out, I return him to the laundry room for a much longer period of time (about 15 minutes). Be flexible with the timeout duration, and adjust it according to our dog’s age, temperament, and behavior. Some trainers do not believe in long timeouts, while others may ignore their dogs (timeout lite) for hours.
Do not use timeouts for training mistakes or lack of motivation.
How to Stop Puppy Biting
Some trainers suggest using aversive techniques to stop dog biting. For example, one suggested making my hand into a fist (so my fingers are safe), and then pushing my fist gently in when my puppy bites. This is uncomfortable for the puppy, and he will likely release our hand.
While it did get my puppy to release my hand, it did not reduce his biting behavior. In fact, my dog responds badly to any aversive methods. Doing this made him want to bite on me even more, because he got a reaction, and now has something (my fist) to fight with.
The same thing occurred with spraying water on his muzzle; he just started attacking the water bottle.
Ultimately, aversive techniques were not very effective with my dog, and caused even more behavioral issues. With aversive methods, it is difficult to trick a puppy into thinking that the bad stimulus is not coming from us. This can compromise a puppy’s trust and weaken our bond with him.
Instead, when my puppy bites,
- I first use a no-mark, for example, No or Ack-Ack to let him know that it is an undesirable behavior.
- Then, I redirect him onto a toy or give him an alternate command, for example Sit. If he stops biting and follows the command, then I praise him and reward him with attention and a fun game.
- If he continues to bite, I start with a timeout-lite by first withdrawing my attention. I do this by standing up, folding my arms, and turning away from him.
- If he escalates his behavior and starts to jump or bite on my clothing, then I quickly remove him to his full timeout area.
I always try to set my dog up for success by managing his excitement level. When he starts biting, I try to redirect and turn things into a positive learning experience. I only escalate my response when I absolutely have to, and I try my best to minimize those instances.
Hello I love your site I just have a 3 month shiba inu my kids got for christmas her name is Cookie and we are in love with her we give her tons of hugs my husband, kids and myself but she is starting to bite all the time eventhoug we have said no, etc, hoe can we make her stop I know she is playing but my 8 years old is starting to be afraid of her any advice.
thanks
Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy!
Yeah, Sephy was also very mouthy when he was young. When my Shiba, Sephy bites, this is what I do –
1. I stay very calm and no-mark the behavior to let him know that it is undesirable.
2. Then, I give him an alternate pre-trained command or I redirect him onto a toy. If he redirects, then I mark the behavior and reward him well by playing with him.
3. If he does not redirect, then I withdraw my attention by standing up, folding my arms, and ignoring him (no talking and no eye-contact). If he stops mouthing, then I reward him by playing with him again.
4. If he escalates his behavior and starts to jump on me or bite my clothing, then I say “timeout” and calmly take him to his timeout area.
I do not allow Sephy to interact with children unless everyone is in a calm state. As soon as he gets excited and starts to mouth, I no-mark and bring him away using his lead. Then I get him to calm down. When he is calm, I can try repeating the greeting.
Some other things that help with Sephy –
1. Following the Nothing in Life is Free program. I make him work for all of his food, for attention, for playing, or anything else that he wants.
2. I set-up a fixed schedule and a consistent set of rules.
3. I socialize him to new objects, new environments, and new experiences, in a positive way.
Big hugs to puppy!
I have a major problem… I have a 7 month old neutered male shiba Inu named Jasper. to say he is a handful is an understatement. He is always hyper and very mouthy. When I try to interact with him he bites and sometimes even goes for my face! When he does this I yelp and walk away removing myself from him so he see that kind of behavior is unacceptable, howver it doesn’t seen to help much. He also tries to bite at my parents older dogs, but I think this is more playful than harmful, but he does hurt. He also has taken a liking to now chewing the walls! He has so many interactive toys and we give him attention and love eveyday, i don’t know what to do at this point. The chewing and the biting has to stop… what can we do?
With Sephy, this is what I do –
1. I no-mark when he bites on me, and I redirect him onto a toy or give him an alternate command. This tells him not only what *not* to do, but also what *to do* instead.
2. If Sephy redirects, then I mark the behavior (Yes), and reward him well with food and a favorite game.
3. If he does not redirect, then I calmly stand up, fold my arms, and turn away from him. I ignore him until he calms down and stops biting.
4. If he stops biting, then I mark the behavior, and reward him by continuing to play with him.
5. If he escalates his behavior and jumps on me or bites on clothing, then I say “Timeout” and calmly take him to his timeout area.
Some other things that help with Sephy during his puppy days-
1. Fixed routine and a consistent set of rules.
2. I follow the Nothing in Life is Free program with all of my dogs.
3. A lot of structured exercise.
4. I make Sephy work for all of his food through obedience exercises, grooming exercises, following play rules, house rules, and more. Whatever is left over, I put in interactive food toys.
5. I try to stay very very calm. Sephy is very sensitive to my energy, so if I get stressed or frustrated, he picks up on that and gets even more crazy.
Here is a bit more of what I learned from Sephy.
Hello!! Your site if very helpful! We have a 7 1/2 month old Shiba and he is a HANDFUL. He’s adorable and funny and full of energy, but he’s unfortunately also full of biting.
Initially he did really well with a firm NO and the time out lite that you discuss. However, he got neutered Oct 2, and since that cone came off, he has been full force!! At first we thought it was puppy payback for a few days, but he is NOT stopping.
A firm NO makes him nip/attempt to bite again. He is not aggressive in the sense that he’s angry, but he is playing very aggressively. We did some tug-o-war with him at one time, but once we found out that could increase aggression, we stopped. Now we do alot of ball throwing with him. Unfortunately, I have the bad habit of jerking away, which leads to marks and some broken skin, and our little pup thinks Mom is playing so he continues. I try so hard to stay still, but sometimes it’s a shock when he does it and it’s a genuine reaction, or he goes back again harder for a reaction.
We have started time out. He seems to be doing better with this, but I have to be honest, he’s wonderful at the game Catch Me If You Can. Sometimes it’s so hard to get him that when we do, we have no idea if he even knows why he is going into time out! We will say ‘no bite’ while we are putting him in there to hopefully seal the deal.
Time out hasn’t officially caught on yet for him. He will lunge and bite (I have bruises everywhere) and evade us. He’s much worse with me – I wondered if it was because I work different hours so sometimes I’m not there as much to build that bond with him? I try to run through his tricks with him (sit, down, stand, stay, etc) to build a bond but I’m not sure it’s working. He will really just come out of no where and be so defiant. Again, we start with NO, then time out lite which he will bite me during, then time out is a strugge and a half to get him too b/c he’s biting and jerking the whole time. I don’t want to make it ‘aversive’ but darn it, I have to get him in there somehow!!!
Many people have told us to pin him down to assert our dominence. My fiance has started this and although he’s not as bad with him, he continues to get worse with me. I tried it once and could hardly hold him, and afterwards I cried in the other room I was so upset by pinning him down.
This is also becoming a big problem b/c one of the girls that will watch him occasionally – he is starting this with her as well. We know it won’t change overnight and that we must be consistent, but we just want to know if there are tips and if there is an end in site!! He will use his adorable faces to melt my fiance, and as much as I melt on the inside, he still goes to time out.
Whew. I got a little long winded :o) Please let me know any feedback you have!!! We welcome it all!!!
Hello Angela,
Yeah Sephy was really into the “Catch Me If You Can” game as well. Sometimes, he would even grab the tv controller and run around just to start the game. After some of this, I learned that the best way to deal with the “Catch Me If You Can” game, is to not play it with him. Chasing him only rewards him for the bad behavior, and encourages him to keep repeating it.
I put a drag-lead on Sephy, only with a flat collar (*not* an aversive collar) and only under supervision. When Sephy starts one of his ‘games’, I just step on the lead, say “Timeout” and calmly take him to timeout. The key with a lot of dog training is timing. We want the consequence or reward to come as close as possible to the behavior. In addition, we do not want to inadvertently reward the dog, for example by letting him turn things into a game.
Another thing that was very important with Sephy is my own inner energy. I found that if I was angry, frustrated, stressed, or fearful, he would pick up on my energy, get stressed himself, and act even more Shiba-crazy. What really helped me, is to come up with a plan for each and every one of his Shiba-moves. In this way, I could stay calm and just execute my plan. Things started to improve a lot once once I was able to control my own energy.
Here are some of my early experiences with Sephy and how I established pack leadership.
This is also called the alpha roll. I was starting to go down this road with Sephy, and it really did not work out well at all. Sephy is a very tough dog and he is very stubborn. He did not respond well to alpha rolls or other physically based aversive techniques. He would fight back every time and we were starting to lose his trust.
Here is an article on the difficult times I had with Sephy.
Here are some additional things that I learned from training Shiba Sephy.
We are really struggling with our 9 week old border collie. He can be so lovely and gentle but then when he starts biting he gets more and more aggressive and nothing we do seems to stop him. He has got worse and has drawn blood a couple of times. HELP?!
Yeah, Border Collies are bred to be a very strong work dog so they are extremely energetic and need a lot of exercise and activity. Otherwise, they will go looking for something to do on their own.
What have you tried in terms of training techniques? I find bite inhibition training to be very useful with all of my dogs. I also follow the NILIF program and institute a very fixed routine + consistent rules at home.
Nevertheless, given the hardness of the bites, it may be best to consult with a professional trainer. I visited with a few trainers during Sephy’s difficult puppyhood. Finding a good trainer was not easy and none were perfect, but they were helpful in getting us through some difficult times.
http://shibashake.com/dog/finding-a-dog-trainer
Ok, thanks for clarifying. But even when I am just petting her she begins to nip my hands. How should I react to that?
Yeah, my young Sibe Lara also does that when I scratch her or give her tummy rubs. With Lara, she is trying to play/interact back with me. She is usually very gentle, so I just redirect her onto one of her chew toys, and continue playing with her.
If she bites hard, then I do the yelp thing and withdraw my attention briefly. Then, I ask her for a simple command. If she does it, I reward her by playing again.
However, keep in mind that I use techniques that work well with my dogs. Different dogs have different temperaments, and surrounding context also matter a lot. In general, I try to keep an open mind, try out a variety of safe techniques, carefully listen to my dog, and tweak techniques according to his preferences and quirks.
When I started training Sephy, I got a lot of bad information from his breeder and vet tech. This led to some bad decisions, and some really difficult times for Sephy and me. Now, I get information from a variety of sources, sort through what makes sense, and is consistent with behavioral science, and then give it my best shot. 😀
Here are some of my dog training mistakes.
Big hugs to your puppy! She is a very lucky girl.
Even from when she is a small puppy? Wont she get confused if biting is ok sometimes and not others?
Sorry that I was unclear.
With bite inhibition training, we want to train the dog to control the force of her bites. Therefore, some biting is necessary so that we may teach the dog to be gentle with people.
This is why I like hand-feeding. I start easy, by using a flat palm and letting puppy just get at a piece of kibble. After she is good with that, then I cover the food a bit more with my fingers. Likely, puppy will accidentally bite on me while trying to get at the food – which is when I do the yelp and stop feeding briefly. As suggested by Dunbar, we can initially skip the softer bites and only stop feeding for the harder bites.
Then, I start again at an easier stage and slowly increase the challenge. I want the session to be positive and rewarding for my puppy, so I don’t want to make it too difficult (e.g. yelping and stopping all the time). However, it should not be too easy either, so that puppy *will* make some mistakes and learn from them. Therefore, I start by correcting the harder bites, then I slowly increase the challenge to softer bites, then at the end (if it makes sense), I correct all bites.
Note that with hand feeding, the puppy is not trying to bite at me. She is simply trying to get at the food. Because of the way I hold the food, it may be necessary to come in contact with my fingers and hands to get at the food. In this way, I try to teach them that when they *do* need to come in contact with human hands – to be gentle.
During play time, it is a similar thing. I start with a lower energy game, where my hands are not in the way. If puppy accidentally bites too hard, then I yelp and stop play briefly. Then I start again at an easier stage and slowly increase the challenge. In this case, puppy is interested in playing and getting at the toy; she is not trying to bite me. I have found structured “play training” to be a good way to teach my puppy to control her bites, even when she is somewhat excited.
Both activities are structured and planned, so it is a safe situation where I do not expose puppy to more than she can handle. During puppyhood, I did not let Lara meet with children or seniors unless she was on-leash, calm, and I feel that I have good control over her. If she gets over-excited, we leave. In this way, she never practices biting on children and seniors, and she learns that excited playing is not allowed with children and seniors. However, she has an outlet for more rigorous play with my other dogs and with me.
Finally, not all bites are equal. In the situations outlined above, the bites are accidental, and in fact, orchestrated by me for training purposes. I do not allow herding, biting out of frustration, or guarding – no matter how soft the bite or even if there is no contact.
Unfortunately the create is the only place here in our house where my 9week old sibe can do time-outs. He loves to chew, pull and bite things, sometimes he turns his attention to my feet, slipper, and anything that interests him to chew which I don’t like and I have to stroke his face aside. Sometimes when playing he also bite my hands when he likes to which caused me a couple of bruises. The only thing that could stop him is to either put him inside the create and leave him be til he fall asleep, or give him toys that interests him.
After a couple of days from bringing him home together with other behavior issues, it is starting to wear me down and I feel bad when I apply force to him just to stop him. I don’t want to get his behaviors any worse, or I’ll have to give him away.
Hello Chris,
Puppies are a lot of work, and Sibe puppies are likely more work than many other breeds because they are very high energy. It is part of their breed make-up. As a result, they need a lot of exercise, attention, and play throughout the day. If I do not provide enough structured activities for my Sibes, they will find their own activities, which are not so structured and not very furniture or people friendly.
Not having an enclosed backyard, and being unable to keep the dog inside the house, makes things even more difficult.
All my dogs, especially my Sibes need a fair amount of off-leash time, just to run around, dig, wrestle, etc. In my old house, I also did not have a backyard, so I took my dog to the local SPCA to play. They had a nice enclosed play space, where they allow outside people to use.
I fully cleared out one of the rooms in my house, and made it into a puppy play-room. When puppy was too young to be out and about, I would play with him there, and also invite friendly puppies over to play with him. We also did puppy class so he could socialize with other dogs.
Sometimes, I would take him to a quiet nearby school field (after hours when is nobody else around), where I let him run around on a long-lead (I hold the lead).
Sibes have high prey drive and are bred to run. Therefore, they are not to be trusted off-leash unless they are in a fully enclosed space.
Here are some of my experiences with training my Sibe puppies-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
http://shibashake.com/dog/how-i-trained-my-husky-puppy
http://shibashake.com/dog/build-a-strong-bond-with-your-dog
I have a 7 1/2 week old puppy Shiba and she bites a lot. I know it is play biting, but it is kind of annoying and she play bites children too which is not ok. So I read that “AFTER you get your puppy book” and it reccomends letting you puppy bite you and just teaching it how hard to bite. But any type of biting is not ok with children so what am I supposed to do. Should I not let her bite at all ever? Or should I let it go because she is a puppy?
Congratulations on your new puppy!
With my dogs, I train them on bite inhibition through hand-feeding and through structured play time with me. All other times, they follow the no-bite rule.
Hi there. We recently adopted an adorable labrador retriever/ alaskan husky mix puppy from a local rescue center. He is now 18 weeks old. While we’ve taken a 6-week basic, positive-reinforcement based puppy class and have been successful in some aspects of his training (i.e. potty training, crate training, some commands like sit, easy, stay, etc.) our most concerning areas right now are loose leash walking and biting. Our pup has moments where he lunges and bites us and while I wish I could say they’re just those cute puppy nips, his bites have gotten stronger and definitely do hurt (to the point where I’m wearing 6-7 bandages at the moment to heal the scars). We’ve tried to recognize a pattern around when these bites happen or what may be triggering them, but can’t seem to notice any particular trigger. It often happens while we’re out walking him or when we’re on the stairs walking back up to our apartment but it has also happened when he’s just playing with his toys where we’re sitting in the house (he’s never off the leash even in the home). We’ve both tried to maintain a calm, assertive energy around him to establish ourselves as the leaders but with the biting episodes he’s had recently, our first instinct is our safety and we can’t help be a little scared. Also, in typical puppy fashion, he has a tendency to put anything and everything in his mouth while we’re on walks (twigs, leaves, paper scraps, etc.) and sometimes we try to remove something more concerning he puts in his mouth and wonder if occasionally, he reacts to not liking us taking something out of his mouth. But then again, sometimes we haven’t removed anything at all from his mouth and he still lunges and bites.
Regarding leash walking, we do not reward him with treats or affection when he pulls the leash but he still tends to drag us. We’ve tried the approach you call red light/ green light on your site and also tried turning in the opposite direction, but neither has worked and he’s getting big pretty fast and I often have a hard time stopping him myself from going forward when he’s trying to pull.
I understand this site is focused on shiba inu training and behavior but if you happen to have any suggestions for us, they’d be greatly appreciated. I work from home but since we’ve brought our puppy home, have felt like I need to make his training my full-time job in order for it to be effective. We do want to establish a strong bond with him and would prefer to train him ourselves, but are not sure if we need professional help at this point. Thanks for your time!
Yeah, I went through a similar experience with my Shiba Inu Sephy. With Sephy, it started during a walk at the park. He had just done a No-2, and I was picking it up. He usually gets somewhat hyper during this time, and was frustrated that we were not moving. So he started attacking the leash. I did not really know what to do – so it took some time to get him to calm down, then we continued walking.
However, in the next few weeks he started to repeat this behavior every time after a No.2. Then, he started to try it in other contexts where he was frustrated or stressed. For example, there is a busy street in my old neighborhood. I would get a bit tense when crossing, and try to get Sephy across quickly. Sephy sensed my tension and got tense himself. He started leash biting after we crossed the busy street. He started leash biting when other dogs barked at him and he got excited. He started leash biting when I tried to get him up and moving. … I got quite scared of him.
Sephy continued to repeat and escalate the behavior because from his point of view, it worked and was very rewarding. Whenever he went into a leash biting frenzy, I would back off and he got to have a fun time attacking the leash and then return to doing whatever he wanted. There was no bad intent behind his actions, he was simply using behaviors that were rewarding to him, and leash biting was very rewarding.
Some things that helped with Sephy-
1. First, I addressed things at home. It is easier to deal with aggression at home, because I can just no-mark the behavior, and give him an alternative command. If he ignores it, and gets more crazy, I put him on a short timeout. In this way, his crazy leash biting is no longer rewarding. When he leash bites at home or shows any kind of aggression towards me, he loses his freedom and his access to people. I use his drag lead to take him to timeout.
2. I follow the NILIF program. With NILIF, Sephy has to do something simple for me, before he gets what he wants, e.g. food, toys, attention, access to the backyard. This teaches Sephy that following house rules is very rewarding because it gets him the things that he wants most.
3. I had very consistent house rules and a very fixed routine for Sephy. I would plan everything out, so we knew exactly what to expect from each other. This helped to reduce stress and fear for both Sephy and me.
As you say, getting a good professional trainer can also be helpful. We had many one-on-one training sessions during Sephy’s first year. I also read a lot of dog training books and visited a lot of Shiba message boards.
Here is a bit more on my difficult time with Sephy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog
http://shibashake.com/dog/the-dominant-dog-dealing-with-dominance-in-dogs
http://shibashake.com/dog/afraid-of-your-dog
Here are some of our experiences on resource guarding and eating trash during walks-
http://shibashake.com/dog/resource-guarding-shiba-inu
Hope this helps. Let us know how it goes.
Thanks for taking the time to reply! All helpful info. We’ve been trying out the timeout approach which seems to work somewhat. Just a follow-up question though: when our pup is having one of his biting outbursts (biting the leash, biting our clothes, or worse, biting our legs or thighs) and not listening to any commands or not getting the hint when we disengage with him, what’s the best way to get him to the timeout destination?
Thanks again!
During Sephy’s difficult times, I used his drag-lead to take him to timeout. I try my hardest to be very calm with him, and then just say timeout and get him there on-lead.
I only use a drag-lead when I am around to supervise. I use a flat collar (*not* an aversive collar) with a light lead, and I cut the loop on the lead so that it does not catch on furniture. While using a drag-lead, we want to make absolutely sure that the dog is safe, and that the lead or collar does not get stuck on furniture.
Hi there,
So, 4 months after my last post, we’re still having issues with our pup biting and attacking us when we take him out (for walks and/or to eliminate) and on the way back up the stairs to our place at the end of each walk. We invited a professional trainer to our home and tried everything she suggested but it doesn’t seem to be helping. We’re a bit weary of inviting her again or any others since in all honesty, they charge an arm and a leg and we just can’t afford it at the moment and we’re not so confident on how helpful they really are. I’ve emailed a few trainers in hopes that someone can give suggestions but everyone wants the 100+ bucks to come to the house and doesn’t seem willing to give any helpful advice otherwise. Our friends have suggested something similar to puppy boot camp but that runs at least $1200.
The professional trainer suggested standing still and marching pup right back up to the apartment when he acts up on walks but the issue with realistically translating this into practice is that when pup starts to go ballistic, if we stand still he grabs clothing/body parts/whatever he can dig his (sharp!) teeth into and pulls us in the direction he wants (and at nearly 60 lbs now, he’s strong enough that we can’t resist) and so marching him back towards home doesn’t work either in that situation. At that moment, we’re in so much pain (and now, embarassment as it happens so much), that all we can think of is getting his teeth off of us and getting him back in the house. Once, I even had to hold his mouth closed for a whole block to get him back in our building.
It’s getting extremely draining, trying, and disappointing and we really don’t know what else to try. We had some guests for Thanksgiving and even afterwards and to our sheer embarrassment, he even started getting bitey with them… painful bitey. It may be that his way of instigating play is jumping, lunging and biting but there’s gotta be a way to make sure he knows it is NEVER ok to grab human body parts or clothing- especially when it’s so painful. Again, any advice you might have would be appreciated. Thanks.
Yeah, I got really embarrassed with Sephy in the beginning as well. The thing that I realized later on though is that being embarrassed only made him act more crazy. Here is an article on our early experiences.
While training Sephy, I learned that timing, execution, and energy are very important. We want to time our consequences and rewards to be close to the behavior, have a plan and execute it well, and control our own energy. If I am calm, then Sephy is also a lot more calm. I talk about this more here –
Pack leadership.
Controlling energy.
When Sephy bites at home, I do timeouts. I describe this in detail in the article above.
For leash biting, here are some of my experiences with Sephy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/train-your-dog-to-stop-biting-on-the-leash
Are you trying NILIF at home? That helps a lot with my dogs in setting up structure and motivating them to listen. I also make them work for all of their food.
Thanks for your response. Yes, we’ve been using NILF since day 1. It helps but not when he’s in one of his puppy frenzies.
Thanks for the links on leash biting and timeouts. What to do when he bites not the leash, but us while outside the home and isn’t listening to any commands that may halt the bad behavior?
Some things that helped with Shiba Sephy –
1. I make sure to stay calm. This is very important. It made a very big difference in Sephy’s behavior.
2. I have a very detailed plan in mind so that I can take decisive action.
3. I make sure that whatever plan I have, stops him from performing the bad behavior. This ensures that he does not get rewarded for his undesirable acts. With Sephy, I hold the leash very close to his collar, so that I have good control over him, then I just march him home. Sephy has good bite inhibition so I was able to do this without much danger or pain.
4. We do not stop, I do not give him any attention, and we just go home. In this way he learns that if he tries biting during walks, the fun outing ends.
5. In the beginning, I shortened our outings and only walked him close to home. Sometimes we would make a few rounds over the same area around the house. In this way, if he tries anything, I can get him home quickly. Because each walk is shorter, I increased their frequency so that we would have more practice.
I first walk Sephy in more quiet areas in the neighborhood where there are fewer triggers that get him excited. In this way, I set both of us up for success and we have more successful walks.
Some people suggest using the head halti for getting more control during walks. Usually it is used to control pulling, but since it controls the head of the dog, it can also be used to redirect the dog. As with any piece of training equipment, the head halti has its pros and cons. It also needs to be used according to instructions, so we do not end up inadvertently hurting our dog. Here is more on the head halti.
Note – I can only describe what I tried to with Sephy and what works for him. However, different dogs will react differently, and there are differences in size, temperament, surrounding context, and past experience. This is why getting a trainer is usually best for risky behavior such as biting.
When the trainer came over to visit, did she handle the dog? Did the dog listen to her? Was she able to stop his biting behavior?
The dog training area is not well regulated so there are some not so good trainers, probably many so-so trainers, and a smaller number of good ones who really know their stuff. Here is how I went about looking for a trainer for Sephy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/finding-a-dog-trainer
I know this biting thing can be very frustrating. It was difficult for me when I went through a similar phase with Sephy. I tried lots and lots of things, and each of them had different degrees of effectiveness. However, each thing I tried, I learned something new. After a bit, I found a method that worked well for Sephy, and things got a lot better. Although it may seem like we are not making much progress, we are always learning something new about training, about our dog, and also about ourselves.
Good luck and hang in there!
Hi,
I have a 11 week old Yorkie/Maltese mix with a biting issue. He nips at hands at times when stroked. But really gets agressive in the evening these past few days, where it seems to be related to a leg mounting frustration. Seems to be like clockwork… every evening he gets very excited and attempts to mount the legs of family members. Then when denied, goes into a hyperactive state where he bites quite agressively at hands and legs within reach.
I’ve tried several techniques to stop this behaviour: Redirection, extra exercise, Yelping, muzzle shake, scruff shake, timeout-lite, and finger gag-reflex. But none provided any long term relief when the pup is in this hyper state. He just keeps coming back for more until he’s exhausted. Timeouts seem to be the only solution, but I do notice he ignores ME after I do this. So I’m worried about damaging our relationship. But at this point I don’t have any other choice.
Yeah, Sephy does this as well. He goes off to sulk. He will always come back though when it is dinner time. 😀
I also did a lot of bite inhibition exercises with Sephy and I follow the NILIF program.
Here is what I think about establishing a strong bond with our dog.