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.
Kiba’s finally remembered he’s a Shiba Inu and is getting an attitude. 🙂 He’s started nipping in the following scenarios:
1.) If I pet his hind quarters when he’s hyper – he doesn’t like this, but an anti-mark will usually make him let it be. He’ll still open his mouth and shake his head at me, but he won’t make contact with his mouth.
2.) When we’re sitting on the couch with our feet on the ottoman – he’ll bit the backs of our calves. Nothing seems to help with this behavior except closing his mouth firmly while anti-marking.
3.) When he gets hyper playing – redirecting or stopping play will USUALLY work.
I like the time out idea, but the only appropriate room downstairs is a bathroom with a cabinet he could (and would) eat. We have an upstairs laundry room, but even at a brisk walk, it takes about 45 seconds to catch the puppy, climb over the baby gate, go up the stairs, and stick him in. I’m worried in that time he’ll forget why he’s even going.
Any suggestions? What about a second crate that’s put in a quiet, low light area just for time out?
One other thing – When his nipping gets really annoying and he isn’t responding to anti-marks or stop of play, I’ve been holding his muzzle closed. He doesn’t think it’s a game (he really hates it) and it will make him stop most of the time.
Hello Andrea,
Sorry for the late reply. I just got a Sibe puppy last weekend and have been busy doing potty training.
I am also getting a good reminder of the key challenges of caring for a new puppy. I suppose it gives me some good material to write about once all the craziness is over with and I catch up on some sleep. 😀
In terms of time-out there are two other possibilities –
1. Use a tie-down. This allows you to tether him in a non-enclosed but hopefully low stimulus area of the house.
2. Use a puppy enclosure. This has been working well with my Sibe puppy, although I mostly use it for potty training. The nice thing with an enclosure is that it is easy to put puppy into it, and puppy will not have any bad associations with his crate.
In general, it is best not to use a crate for time-out because we want Shiba to view it as a positive and safe space. In this way, he will willingly go into his crate at night or when nobody is home.
Thanks for the ideas,guys
Adopted dog BITING VISITORS! help!
Hi- I adopted a fixed 7 YO male about a month ago. He is fairly well behaved with me & does respect me in all areas but one: He purposely bites visitors. This behavior was displayed on day 2- I thought, due to fear of new home, people, etc…but it has not subsided. He will greet them calmly and even approach to be pet- go and lay down, but after if they dare to move at ALL… he will charge, bite their feet or legs… of course this was not mentioned during adoption from prior owner.. and quite frankly, I am afraid to be sued. I am not afraid of the dog and do not back down or away, and he knows he has done wrong as he will lay down or try to run after doing it.. but he KEEPS doing it! I have tried removing toys etc.. the dog simply does not care because he generally doesn’t want them till hours later anyway. “No”, “Time out”… not working..Even leash correction ,which I now have him on leash at all times, he’s not getting it. Most recently he also did the behavior outside with a neighbor. I have pretty much given up on this and I quite frankly don’t want a dog that cannot be trusted near others- ANY ideas? Shelters & trainers advice ” oh well just tie him up when company comes” yeah, great. And I can also catch a wolverine & tie that in the corner as a pet too- any last ideas, or sanctuary locations in the NorthEast welcome. Very sad about this situation.
Hello K,
From what you describe it sounds like the dog is trying to keep people from leaving him. Likely, he has not had an easy life, and is afraid of being left behind yet again.
Since he has already progressed to biting, it may be best to get a professional trainer to help manage this behavior. In particular, the dog now associates people leaving as something very negative. To help manage the behavior, we want to help him re-associate “the people leaving event” with something positive.
One thing that may help is to lead the dog away from the person before the person leaves. Then hold onto the leash and engage the dog in play or obedience exercises while the person leaves. In this way he is distracted from the “leaving event” and most importantly he is not close to people when they leave.
Hi!
My Shiba Inu (Cookie-3mo old) wont stop biting me and my husband. We tried the methods of yelping/screaming when he bites, time out room when he kept on biting even though we yelp but none of that helps. His first encounters with other people, he would act shy and timid… but after a while of knowing you, then he shows his monster inside of him. The more I yelp, the more i think I become his squeeky chew toy. So I was wondering what should I do next?
Hmmm – I would definitely stop doing the yelping thing because it seems to increase his excitement. Based on what you are saying, Cookie probably views biting as a fun game to play and yelping makes it seem like even more fun.
Sephy was also very mouthy as a puppy and what worked best for him are time-outs. How does Cookie act after you let him out of time-out? What do you do if he starts biting again after time-out? How long do you put him in time-out for and usually how many back-to-back time-outs does he get? Timing and technique were very important for Sephy when I was giving him time-outs.
Another possibility is that you could play with Cookie in a puppy pen. If he bites too hard, non-mark him (ack-ack) and withdraw all your attention. If he continues, then just leave the puppy pen and close the door behind you. This shows him that if he bites too hard, play stops and he loses access to his most cherished person – you.
Another possibility is sound aversion. Put a bunch of coins in a can. When Cookie starts biting non-mark him (ack-ack) and withdraw all of your attention. If he continues, then calmly get the can and shake it to make a loud sound. This will startle Cookie. Also most dogs really don’t like that sound so after some repetitions, it may get them to reduce the behavior.
Finally, bite inhibition training also really helped with Sephy. Shibas tend to be very mouthy dogs so Sephy’s first reaction to most things is to bite. Bite inhibition training really saved me when he got older and started to do some really serious leash biting and jacket biting on me. Here is more on bite inhibition –
http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition
Good luck. Let us know how it goes with Cookie.
Hello! my name is Ivan and my family has a shiba-inu as well. His name is Juno and i would just like to know if there is a way to make him more social with other dogs because when he sees other dogs, he gets very aggressive and very scary to the dog and to me. I don’t really know how to make him calm and just get along with other dogs. We got Juno when we was 6 months old already, so I don’t know if it is because he was not trained with other animals when he was a puppy or is it because he is a shiba-inu, since we all know, stubbornness is a shiba-inu trait. We love out little Juno and can’t wait to celebrate his 1st birthday very soon. thank you for this website since I have learned so much from it. you are a life-saver!!
Hello Ivan,
Yeah Shibas can be very particular about other dogs. My Shiba really does not get along with dominant dogs and he does not like dogs sniffing his butt. Some things that have helped us most –
1. Only do dog introductions slowly and in a controlled environment. Nowadays I only do one-on-one greetings. Dogs parks for example, I have found to be way too chaotic for Shiba Sephy.
2. Carefully observe Shiba and see what are the things that trigger stress. Is it other dogs coming in his space? Is it other dogs sniffing his butt?
3. Controlling my own energy. I used to get stressed worrying about what Shiba might do. That made things worse because Shibas especially are very sensitive to the energy of the people around them. Sephy quickly picked up on my stress and started getting stressed himself.
I have written several articles about Shiba Sephy’s experiences with other dogs that may be helpful –
Socializing a Shiba Inu to Other Dogs
Dog to Dog Aggression
Big Happy Birthday wishes to Juno! Let us know how things go with him.
Hello Meaghan,
I also considered using a shock collar on my Shiba in the beginning because he was so out of control. After doing some research into these collars, I decided against it. Here are some of the things I found –
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/dog-shock-collar-good-bad
What worked best for my Shiba in terms of his biting –
1. Having a drag lead (only with a flat collar) on him at all times when he is outside of his crate and I am around to supervise. The drag lead allowed me to more easily control him without playing his favorite catch me if you can games.
2. Time-outs – Biting on people is a time-out offense. Every time he bites, I non-mark him (ack-ack) and if he does not stop I say time-out and put him in the laundry room where it is very boring and there is nothing to do. This way he learns that if he bites – he loses his freedom and his ability to be with his pack.
3. Bite-inhibition – This trained him to have a soft mouth which really saved me later on when he started going crazy with leash biting.
4. Following the NILIF program – This simply means Shiba must do something for me first before getting anything in return including all food, toys, affection, freedom, getting out of time-out, everything.
5. Consistent set of rules, consistent enforcing of those rules, and controlling my own energy.
Here are two more articles that may help –
Puppy Obedience Training
Pack Leader to an Aggressive Dog
I have a 6 month old Shiba Inu. I have been having a problem with her biting. She likes to go after peoples feet and grab their pants when people walk. Ever since she was spayed about 1 week ago she has become more aggressive and constantly biting. Everytime she gives me a toy she bites my hand or leg when I am ignoring her. She has never drawn blood but the strength of her bites have gotten worse. I have used clapping, a can with coins, tabasco sauce, and grabbing her muzzle. After grabbing her muzzle and releasing it she would lung and snap back at my hand. With the tabasco sauce in a spray bottle she runs away I can not catch her so she does not always get reprimanded. I am looking at getting a shock collar because I don’t know what else to do. Every time I say no to her about anything she does not listen and I have run out of ideas. Do you have any??
It is important to set rules and boundaries within the house so that the dog understands what is acceptable behavior and what is not.
Another important aspect is the energy of the people in the house. If people are fearful or nervous around the dog, it will cause the dog to be fearful and nervous as well which may then result in aggression.
It is probably best to get a professional trainer to come visit so that he can observe your dog and come up with a program that everyone in the family can follow. Your dog is still very young so now is the best time to re-train these behaviors and redirect him into positive activities.
A good professional trainer will be able to help you do that.
http://www.apdt.com/po/ts/default.aspx
Hi I have a 12 week old Jindo dog that bite and growls at family members. He hasn’t bite me or my dad yet but he growls at us occasionally. He has bite my mom 3 times and my sister twice and growls more at them. What are some things that i can do to fix this behavior?
Haha – yeah Shiba Sephy is very stubborn as well. What works best is to convince him that it is something he wants to do anyway 🙂 Also, when I interact with my Siberian, Sephy will get all interested and want to show that he can do commands as well – lol. Competition works very well with a Shiba.
“By the way your shiba is very gorgeous i think my puppy will turn out that color but she still has puppy fluff :)”
Thanks! Haha- I liked the puppy fluff. It is interesting that Sephy had a dark muzzle when he was a puppy but it got really light when his adult coat grew in.
Would love to see your furball so post some pictures for us when you have the time.
Thanks I’m going to teach her the drop command and leave-it shes really good with learning new things but shes also very stubborn :)!!! By the way your shiba is very gorgeous i think my puppy will turn out that color but she still has puppy fluff 🙂
Hello x.xToxIC_LovEx.x,
It is no bother at all 🙂 Asking questions is a sign of a good dog owner.
My Shiba Inu used to try to eat everything as well. It is a very common puppy behavior because everything is so new and puppy wants to examine everything. Some things that helped –
1. Teaching my puppy the Leave-It and Drop commands.
2. Teaching my puppy the Object Exchange game.
3. Being very vigilant initially and preventing puppy from getting the thing in his mouth.
Here are more details on these techniques-
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression
To discourage pulling during walks, here are some techniques that helped with my dogs –
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/leash-training-your-dog
Good luck!
Thank you so much!!!! I’m sorry to be a bother but when i try to take her on walks she gets very distracted and tries to eat everything is there a way to actually get her to walk so i dont have to constantly tug on the harness?
Congratulations on your new Shiba puppy. Yeah the running around is a common Shiba move. Shiba owners call it the Shiba 500 🙂
What helped most with my Shiba is a lot of exercise as well as some well-defined rules and boundaries at home. Here are some things that helped with my Shiba puppy –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
Hi I just brought a shiba inu on the 23rd and shes a great puppy but she has these moments where she goes crazy and runs around and shes very hard to calm down. Also shes only like that when she enters my room. Do you have any advive it would be greatly appreciated!!!! 🙂
lol – Flash sounds like a happy puppy.
In terms of your mother-in-law, here are some things that may help based on what you describe –
1. Energy
Dogs are very sensitive to the energy of the humans around them. When I am nervous or fearful, my Shiba would pick up on that energy and get nervous/fearful/excited and therefore escalate his hyper behavior. It was very difficult for me, but once I started controlling my own energy things improved significantly with my dogs.
One thing that may help is for you to be there for several sessions together with your mother-in-law and Flash. Show her some of the training techniques that you use on Flash when he misbehaves and show Flash that it is not acceptable to misbehave with your mother-in-law.
I was able to stay more calm when I had a plan of what to do in response to my dog’s craziness.
Also get her to do obedience training with Flash and to practice the NILIF (Nothing in Life is Free) program.
http://shibashake.com/dog/nothing-in-life-is-free-dog-training
2. Food Guarding
When my Shiba was young, he started to guard his toys. It was mostly because he would always pick up trash from the street and I would forcefully take those things away from him. In this way he started associating me and people in general to having his stuff/food taken away.
Here are some things I did that helped with my dog’s food guarding behavior –
http://shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression-stop-resource-guarding
3. Bite inhibition and then No Bite
What really helped with my Shiba was to do bite inhibition exercises. This will help a dog learn to control the force of his bites, so that when he does bite – it will not even break skin.
http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition
Then later on, I consistently enforced a No-Bite rule with my dogs. No nipping at all – if they do they go to time-out.
Here are some other things that helped with my Shiba puppy-
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
Good luck and let us know how it goes. Happy Holidays to you and Flash 🙂
I have a cockapoo “flash” who’s almost 7months old. He’s pretty well behaved when i’m home, just the normal nipping and chasing the children, oh and chewing on everything he can get his mouth on!!! He’s very good with the kids, and so loveable. I bought him lots of toys and that seems to help. the problem is when i’m not at home, my mother-in-law comes over and Flash gets out of control!!!! he has bitten her 2 times now drawing blood. one time she was trying to take food away, the second time she was taking a shirt away that he was chewing on. He gets very hyper, jumping up on her, nipping at her hands.
I feel like he’s a different dog when i’m not at home.
please help, I want everyone else to love him too.
Hmmm, since there are multiple methods here, perhaps you could say which methods you tried and what did not work.
Some of the methods did not work well for my Shiba either. Time-outs worked best for me.
But if things are getting worse, it is probably best to get a professional trainer who can observe your dog and implement a training program together with you.
Good luck.
Thank you so much for your advice, I will read up on all of it as soon as my daughter and Shiba go down for their nap. I really hope one of these things will help. Thanks
Hi,
I have a 10 weeks old Shiba and we can’t get him to stop biting on us, worst of all on our toddler. He bites so hard he breaks the skin on our daugther most of the times, needless to say she’s very affraid of him now. We tried all the things, time outs, redirecting, the waterbottle nothing helps. All she wants to do is bite from the minute she comes out of the crate until she goes back in there, she’s not interessted in toys, games, even outside all she does is biting on us. We are currently stationed in Japan and sadly don’t speak the language and can’t find a trainer or class in english so we took him to our vet who wasn’t very helpful. So is there anything else we can do? I am worried about when she becomes older and bites harder.
Hello Mia,
Shibas are really stubborn and will keep doing something if they think there is even a small chance that they can get away with it.
If she bites, non-mark her (No or Ack, ack) and put her in time out. Put a drag lead on her so that you can more easily control her and take her to time-out. When she comes out, if she bites again, then put her back in time out, but for a longer period. If you keep repeating this, and are consistent, she will learn that any biting gets her put in time-out which is really not fun at all.
She could also be teething – so get her some safe chew toys to use.
Finally, you definitely want to do bite inhibition exercises with her.
http://shibashake.com/dog/bite-inhibition
Here are some other techniques that helped me with my Shiba when he was a puppy –
http://shibashake.com/dog/puppy-obedience-training
Also, try and exercise her a lot more with walks. That way she gets rid of excess energy and will be easier to train and handle while at home.
It is important not to fear your Shiba as that will cause her to misbehave more. Shibas are very sensitive to human energy, and what helped me the most was to stay calm at all times. This article on techniques I used when my Shiba was acting out may also be helpful –
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/pack-leader-to-an-aggressive-dog
Let me know how it goes.
First of all, all you advice on shibas has been so insightful and very helpful.
My Shiba Dexter (9months old) is coming along nicely. He used to nip badly but now goes and grabs a toy to show everyone when people arrive at my home or when i come home, the funniest part is that he does it of his own accord! XD
The only problem i am having with him is the small mischief he causes as soon as a back is turned. He has (on two occasions now) eaten a pumpkin shaped candle which belongs to my fiance’s parents. They are very intolerant of him seeing that he is a shiba and needs discipline while they let there dogs have free reign and never have problems (yeah right).
Anyway, i am at a loss at what to do since when i come into the room the deed is done and he is already off frolicking. any advice?
thanks
“He used to nip badly but now goes and grabs a toy to show everyone when people arrive at my home or when i come home, the funniest part is that he does it of his own accord!”
That is awesome! Shibas can be really sweet sometimes 🙂
As for the back-turning mischief, my Shiba does that too so I don’t know how much help I will be. I always keep one eye or at least one ear on him to make sure he stays out of trouble.
One thing that may help is to exercise him a lot. When my Shiba is tired, he usually just lays around and sleeps.
I also put anything most things out of his reach so when he resorts to pulling things off shelves, it is usually his own toys. In general, you don’t want to chase him around because that will only make it into a fun game and reinforce the scamp behavior. If I can’t stop him from getting it, then I just ignore my Shiba. He usually gets bored with what he has and goes off to do something else.
Another thing that I have never used myself, but could be interesting is to place pressure sensitive sound pads on areas that you don’t want him to go. However, knowing a Shiba, he may just keep testing it and grow to like the sound – lol.
Shibas love to test their boundaries – part of their roguish charm I guess. Often my Shiba will wait until I am around to cause mischief because when there is nobody around, he does not have an audience 🙂
Management of the environment is the easiest thing to do, I think.
Hi Tiger,
One thing that really worked well with my dogs is to do the following –
1. Fold you arms up.
2. Non mark her – ack-ack.
3. Turn away from her – don’t move back just turn away. Keep turning away as long as she is jumping and ignore her.
4. As soon as she stops jumping – mark that behavior – good girl. Ask her for a sit, and give her affection while she is calm.
5. If she starts jumping again, non-mark and repeat.
Playing with other dogs will help with energy a lot. If you have any dog daycares near you, they will usually have puppy classes and/or puppy play sessions. The one that I have near me organizes puppy play sessions for free. It helps with socialization and really helps get the zoomies out.
Thanks for the suggestions. We got a 7 week old black lab 2 weeks ago. She gets very excited when she sees us and jumps up and bites. We are trying hard to break the habit but some days are worse than others. I’m hoping that once she’s had her 2nd innoculation in 2 weeks and we can start walking her that it will calm her down. We’ve tried timeout which is quite successful but sadly we haven’t anywhere particularly boring for her!
Thanks for the help! I will keep you posted on how everything goes.
hello I have a 7 month old shiba who looks just like yours. He’s still mouthing on me but i’m still working on correcting that. 3 days ago my girlfriends mom gave him a steak bone to chew on in the yard. While he was working on that bone my girlfriends brother walked in front of him and all of a sudden he got up on all four, hair standing up, and started screaming and yelling at him guarding his bone. He tried to bite my girlfriends brothers foot so right away I grabbed his leash and pulled him towards me and away from my girlfriends brother. He then got a hold of my hand and started biting and chewing on it. Well he broke skin and my hand was bleeding all over the place. That was the first time i’ve ever seen him like that..any advice? He is currently enrolled in obedience class but i’m starting to think he needs one on one training since he only wants to play with other dogs while they are listening to their owners.
My Norweigan Elkhound was super-mouthy and what has worked best is a loud, sharp “ah ah, no!” or “tsch!!!” sound and then I give his body a quick poke with my finger and say “Ouch!”. Then show him where he ‘hurt’ me, so to speak. After a while, he began to show remorse and would give kisses if asked. Cute!!!
Hi John,
Re food aggression:
Here are some things to try:
1. Don’t give him any bones or other high priority items such as raw meat etc. You want to set him up for success and reduce the number of instances where he is showing aggression over food.
2. If he shows any aggressive behavior, you should non-mark him (No or Ack-ack). If he continues, remove him to timeout. Make sure you are safe at all times though, so wear thick gloves if necessary when you are taking him to time-out. This way he learns that aggression gets him nowhere and that if he is aggressive with people, he doesn’t get to be with people.
3. If he is not overly aggressive over food, you can try hand-feeding him. Only do this if he is not overly aggressive and will not just go for your hand right away. If you are able to hand-feed him, then you can start training him on bite inhibition exercises.
4. I would also start to make him work for all of his food. Use food for training, grooming, etc. Put the rest in interactive food toys so that he has to work for everything. Also follow the NILIF program – this means he has to do something for you first (e.g. Sit, Down) before he gets anything in return – including opening doors, getting a toy, getting any food, etc. This will show him that you are in control of all the resources, and the fastest way to get what he wants is to do what you want first.
5. Make sure to remove all resources when you have guests over. This will keep things safer while you are re-training him, and it will also reduce the number of aggression episodes. The less he practices it, the less it will be a habit.
Here are more food aggression techniques:
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/stop-food-aggression-stop-resource-guarding
Re classes: You are right in that private classes will be very helpful. Initially I attended both group and private classes.
The private classes I mainly used to come up with strategies for dealing with bad behaviors at home.
The group class is also useful because it helps you practice getting your Shiba’s attention in highly distracting environments. It also helps with dog-dog socialization, which is very important for a Shiba because they tend to get dog aggressive as they get older. The techniques you learn in group class will also be very helpful in the private sessions when you are trying to troubleshoot particular issues, for example food aggression issues.
In this way you can just focus on the problem behaviors during the private sessions, rather than learning how to do specific commands.
Hope this helps. Let me know how it goes.
Hi Mona,
I love the look of the Norwegian Elkhound! I have been thinking of getting one. How old is yours? When did you get him? How is his temperament? He sounds like a sweetie.
The “ack-ack” works well for my Shiba too. Finger pokes worked initially, but only for a very short time. In the long-term, redirecting onto a toy, or withdrawing my attention (time-out lite) seems to work better for my Shiba.
Hahaha! Exchanging is not possible. Hehe!
Sure! Images I can do! I’ll photoshop a coffee in along with Haruki’s naughty face! ^_^
Hi ShibaShake I love your site and have been using your techniques since getting Casper, our 13 week old cream Shiba. I got him from a breeder in Missouri (we live in Miami) and blessedly he came to us completely potty trained He was afraid of everything (thankfully not a Alpha male) and because of your guidance here in your articles he makes progress and I come from firm behavior modification and guidance and he has blossomed
My question is this: his first exposure to 2 other Shibas in our extended family will be this Thanksgiving when they visit Since both of these dogs are like a Red Bull infused jail break Im worried he will pick up bad behaviors while they are here
We quietly come and go in our home and he does not bark or go berserk The visiting dogs do
He has never tried to beg food but these other two are devious scavengers
I want to lay down ground rules for our guests to respect how I am training but my wife says that’s ridiculous
I plan to put them all in the Timeout area during dinner but I’m deathly afraid he is going to pick up bad behaviors in the 4 hour visit here
Any suggestions?
Thanks for the reply!
Haruki is doing much better now! He understands very well the meaning of the quiet room! He’s not so aggressive towards my hands and only nips….but mostly he knows he’s not allowed! Thanks to you, he’s much much better. He’s finally acting like a puppy! I have guests over and everyone is saying that he’s great and calm! I really can’t thank you enough!
He’s only three months, so I know there’s going to be the “challenging phase” lets hope it doesn’t come, but if there’s anymore concerns, I’ll definitely turn to your blog for more info!
You’re so great for sharing your experiences! Really appreciate in what you are doing! If there’s any way that I could send you a coffee, please let me know!
Hello Tsuki,
I am very glad to hear that Haruki is doing so well! Want to exchange Shibas? 🙂
“If there’s any way that I could send you a coffee, please let me know!”
lol – a happy Shiba is a good enough reward for me. And your nice words are also greatly appreciated. I would love to see Haruki though, so send some pictures over when you have the time 🙂
if anyone knows anything about how to stop dog biting I would be happy to listen to it I know ginger is a good dog but she has a bad habit of doing it PLEASE HELP by telling me what I should and should’t do then please tell me Im crying because I don’t know what to do Sarah age 14
I want to know how to get my dog ginger to stop biting me and everybody in our family PLEASE HELP yours truly Sarah at age 14
Hi Sarah, Could you tell me a bit more about Ginger? How old is she? Did this biting behavior just start or has she always been that way? When does she bite? (e.g. when you try to pet her, when you play with her?) Have you tried to stop her from biting? If so, what have you tried, and how did Ginger react?
There are a variety of techniques you can try (including the ones listed above) to control non-serious biting (just mouthing, and no breaking of skin). For more serious biting issues, it is usually best to get a professional trainer who can come over and observe Ginger. In this way, the trainer can accurately assess the reasons for Ginger’s biting behavior, and come up with a training program to help you and Ginger communicate with each other more effectively. Dog misbehavior is commonly a result of mis-communication or mis-understanding between dog and human.
*Poke* – Don’t make me come over there and seek my dogs on you!
In any case, I still think you are a dog lover at heart. If you are willing to do Mission Impossible type stunts to feed your landlord’s dog; I can only imagine what you would be willing to do for your own dog 😀
Hi shibashake!
I was wondering if my “woof-thud” method would work here. If it does, I have a good mind to patent it! Please help.
🙂
Hi Jeannie, From your description, it sounds like it could be a case of excess energy. Dogs are crepuscular, and tend to be very active in early morning and late evening. One thing to try is to take him out for a walk during those times (before he starts his crazy, aggressive, behavior). Another thing that I do is make my dogs work for all of their food. I stuff it in all kinds of toys and they have fun digging it out. At the same time they get some mental stimulation while figuring out how to get at the food. Here are some of the toys that I got for my dogs:
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/best-dog-toys
Playing games can also help with bonding, energy release, and stress release.
http://www.shibashake.com/dog/dog-play-fun-games-to-play-with-your-dog-or-puppy
Note however, that you are absolutely right in not allowing him to escalate his aggression. It is best to try and reduce the number of aggression displays with exercise and obedience exercises, but if he does get aggressive, it is important to stop him from escalating. Time-outs work best for my Shiba Inu but different methods may work better for different dogs depending on their temperament. To make it easier to catch him, you can try putting on a drag-lead. That way when he runs, you can just step on the lead. Make sure to cut off the loop on the lead so that it does not catch on anything, and make sure to only use a flat collar (NOT a choke, prong, or any other aversive collar). Good luck. Let us know how it goes with your little guy.
Hi
I have a 12 week old male shih-tzu who is real calm except that a couple of times a day – usually early morning and late evening he will lunge at my feet and bite – will also lunge out at hands and has drawn blood. He has a coupel of toys that when he is in that ‘state’ he will shake vigourously form side to side and get real angry with. Otherwise he is calm.
From reading your comments I think its dominance aggression so am practicing lots of calm assertive behaviour and correcting him but when he’s in ‘a frenzy’ he’s hard to catch and calm down. Should I just time him out then? Any other advice or tips very very welcome.
Hi Asherlééi.
The situation you describe is actually a pretty common one. It happens when different people in the house treat the dog differently. As a result of this, the dog may see us and him as belonging to the same pack, and our parents as being in a different pack, i.e. outsiders. The dog may growl or show aggression to protect his own pack from outsiders (our parents). He may hump because he does not know that the behavior is undesirable by us.
It is probably best to get help from a positive reinforcement trainer. A trainer will be able to observe the dog and accurately diagnose the key issues. A trainer will also be able to give us detailed instructions and show us what we need to do to fix things. Visit this site to find a trainer near you:
http://www.apdt.com/po/ts/default.aspx
To fix this issue, it would probably be most effective if everyone participates. Everyone should have a hand in training, feeding, and doing other activities with the dog so that he sees the whole family as his pack. I usually have a very consistent set of house rules, that everyone applies in the same way. This allows us to communicate more clearly to our dog and prevents confusion. I also make sure to only reward my dog (including affection, food, freedom, etc.) when he is doing something good and desirable. Many people make the mistake of giving affection to a dog all of the time, even when he is misbehaving, and this encourages the dog to keep repeating those misbehaviors.
I also follow the NILIF program to give my dogs a fixed structure and a fixed routine.
http://shibashake.com/dog/nothing-in-life-is-free-dog-training
I also do frequent, but short obedience training sessions with all of my dogs every day.
The best thing though, is probably to get help from a professional trainer.
Asherlééi says
My dog is quite older , he is addicted to me and stays away from my mum and dad he humps my leg and growles if anyone shouts at me or touches me and has bite 3 times hes a lovable bichon frise but I cant fix this problem no matter what advice I get , I really need help and my stupid dad says that if he ever bites him he will get him put down immediatly i’m sooo worried Its partly my fault because I never discipline him but can anyone help ?. WB immediatly before its too late Thanks Vry much
I would start with having the child toss a treat to him first. Make sure to only do this when he is calm and not being insistent about wanting the food – i.e. nosing, whining, etc. Make sure that the dog never uses aggression to try and “bully” the food from the child.
Generalizing the training to a variety of kids will definitely help, but it is important to only do this with kids who are good about following instructions and who can stay calm, so that the dog doesn’t get distressed during the training sessions. It can often be a challenge to find kids who are willing to do this 🙂
Definitely consider getting a professional trainer. The aggression may come from a variety of reasons. A good trainer will be able to read the dog and accurately identify the root of the aggression. Good luck! Let me know how it goes.
Very helpful advice especially about the desensitization techniques. Will check out that show on National Geo also. It’s amazing how quickly people (even our vet) tell us to get rid of our dog, but I would like to have some hope that things will get better. You give me some hope. I would even be willing to try a trainer specifically for this isuue too. One more thing… would you have the child give him a treat sometimes too, when he is behaving well around her? Do you think the training will help him be better around other kids in general too, if we just train him around our child? We put a muzzle on him when we walk him because kids run up to him (he is tiny and cute so very hard to resist) and he has snipped at them.
Thank you for the wonderful advice- you know dogs for sure!
I think that most dogs can be retrained, but (why is there always a but?) it may take a lot of time, and the end result may not always be perfection. It is easier to teach dogs when they are young because then, their mind is open to new experiences, and they are very eager to learn. It is also easier to prevent a behavior than it is to break a bad habit that has already been reinforced time after time.
The most important thing about fear aggression, I think, is the energy of the humans around the dog. Usually, when a dog shows aggression, our natural reaction is to become fearful ourselves, and that will make the dog even more fearful and more aggressive – leading to a vicious cycle. For now, you may want to put a basket muzzle on your dog when he is around children. This usually helps to put everyone at ease because there is less danger of anyone getting hurt. Only do this if your dog is not stressed or fearful of the muzzle or it may worsen the problem.
Do controlled desensitization exercises several times, every day. First start off the dog at a distance from the child. It has to be far enough so that the dog is still calm. Ask the child to ignore the dog. Reward and praise the dog for being calm in the presence of a child. It also helps to ask the dog for some simple commands, e.g. “watch”, “sit”, and reward him for doing that in the presence of a child. Then you can *slowly* reduce the distance. If the dog starts acting out, then you have moved too close, too quickly. Move back and restart. Make the sessions short and fun so that your dog starts to associate good things with children, and learns not to be fearful of them. At other times, give the dog a nice quiet area away from children, so that he does not practice his aggression. Â
Have you seen the show DogTown on NatGeo? They are a dog shelter, and they often take in many dogs with aggressive histories and then retrain them. I really enjoy the show and it always makes me feel very hopeful. Last season they even took in Michael Vick’s dogs and retrained them. Quite amazing.
I would definitely try desensitization exercises and consult a positive reinforcement trainer trainer on this. In cases of aggression, it always helps to have a trainer observe the dog and identify what exactly is causing the dog distress, and the level of distress. Hope this helps. Please let us know how things go.
I have tried some of these techniques but my chihuahua has learned to fear children from past experiences before we owned him. He has scratched my nephew’s skin with his teeth- never punctured skin. Now we have a toddler and he snarls and jerks his neck toward her as if to bite, but doesn’t. THe vet told us to get rid of him soon. If a dog has a bad past- we got him when he was 1 and now he’s 5- is there any hope for re training. He autmoatically reacts in fear toward kids, but our child has never hurt him- she is vey gentle and always monitored around him.
Thanks for visiting ellie. How serious are the fights? Break skin? puncture wounds? Do they also bite people in the house? How serious are those bites? What have you tried so far?
If the fights are serious (e.g. puncture wounds) it is best to get a professional trainer, who is familiar with these more dominant, powerful, breeds, to come over and help. There is usually a lot going on wrt. body language, triggers, etc. that may lead to a fight, and a trainer will be able to observe the root of the problem and address that.
In the meantime, it may be best to manage the dogs so that they are always supervised when they are together. In general, I find that it is best to stop my dogs from practicing any kind of aggression. Exercise will also help. The more tired my dogs are, the less frustrated energy they have, which can frequently trigger a fight.
my dog keep fighting what do i do iv tryed everthing so far.sometimes they are the nices things ever.they are a bull-dog&a boxer.the bull-dog mostly starts the fights but then my boxer goes him.AHHHHH!they are called frank&bruno.the boxer is called bruno&the bull-dog must be called frank!
Hi Jim. Thanks for sharing your story. Most dog bites I think are preventable with some training and management. And it is probably not a matter of liking you or not, but rather responding to the type of energy you were projecting. It has been my experience, with my own dogs, that when I project fearful energy, they start acting out.
I think it is really awesome that your past experience did not prevent you from getting a dog of your own. She sounds like a really fun and balanced dog.
I am thankful for the hub. I was bit by the same dog twice when I was little. It was my aunt’s dog and I don’t remember doing anything that could have provoked him. The first time I was patting him normally I had been around other dogs without issues. (So I don’t think it was me, but I was about 10.) I guess he was tired of it and bit my hand. The next time we had a cookout. I was just getting my food and he stood in front of me then lunged at me and bit me in the face. I think that dog bit my cousin too. But not badly. From what I can remember my uncle always played very roughly with him. But I think he just didn’t like me.
Well on a more pleasant note. Last year my family and I got the perfect dog. She is part Black Lab and part Chow. She is the friendliest and kindest dog I’ve ever seen. She did mouth a little as a puppy and the vet suggested yelping whenever she touched skin and it worked great.