My boxer puppy keeps biting my hand while we play, i know this is normal and she is just playing but when i say no in a firm voice and ignore her she jumps to bite my face and keeps barking at me.
She also looks quite aggressive when she jumps at my face and continues to bark at me. Any suggestions on what i should do?
Answers:
Jumping to tag your face is usually trying harder to get you to play, showing off, and treating you like one of the dogs!
(One black eye, a fat lip, and made me bite my tongue, I know! It only occured a few times but I wasn't expecting it and moved into the tag, hurt for a second or two but harmless)
Her barking at you is usually her telling you off about how you always have to have everything your way, etc.. it's a staged protest.
Let your hair down or whatever, put on some sweats or grubbies, and play some puppy games, she will teach you: chase, gonna gitcha, fake sparing, etc. but carefully. she can take the nips and scrapes from another dog, but you are the dominate one, the pack leader, with skills and strenghths beyond her comprihension, and she knows this. at that age they are a little more like brave tom-boys than fussy babies.
I also have a female Boxer, 3.5 years old now, she will need time with other dogs, her own age, size, and sex (just like children), and a steady diet of exercise/playtime. a healthy Boxer is like a little athlete.
Mine loved to be in an open field or yard (that with still fenced in) and just run and run and run! Still does! Loves to play fetch the ball and now catches frisbees too!
What every dog owner should know about disipline.
YOU HAVE 3 SECONDS ! that's all.
If you get after her about something 5 seconds later = she will think your a nut case and started attacking her about god only knows why.
They can rarely corralate their actions with your reactions after 3 seconds.
So, if you guys have problems in the future. you have to catch her or get over it.
Anyways. always discourage her from taking liberties around any humans especially their face, starting with yours, unless she is clearly allowed to come closer to the face beforehand each and everytime. I personally don't care for the facelicking. yuk!
My Boxer had a little trouble accepting the fact that my hands weren't made for play biting from puppy-sharp teeth until I showed her what human hands were good at. grabbing !
Yup. if your thumb goes in their mouth and grabs their bottom jaw and wont let go right away. it will blow their mind and they learn to think twice about getting carried away during playtime.
Stopped it in less than a month.
They are strong willed and loyalty is part of that balance.
If you can. watch the "Dog Whisperer" series on either the Discovery Channel or National Geographic Channel, great advise and training tips (cable tv).
And as with any dog. the training is always on both sides of the leach.
Best Wishes.
PS: Sweetiepie mentioned some good technics. I use the growl sparingly. You can write to me in the future. Boxers Rule!
Water pistol will sort it! Backed up by your firm No,s!
Sit her down and have a word with her.also point your finger honest they dont like it,worked for mine!
you have to keep ignoring the dog- stand up and walk away. Ignore bad behaviour and reward good behaviour- get it drilled into its head as a puppy so it won't be a big problem when fully grown.
you've got a problem -a dominant personality on your hands! you must be authoritive and not fuss her too much - make sure she sleeps in her own bed and eats in her own place -not with you, and you are doing right to ignore her - as for the jumping and biting that is not acceptable - get obedience training and specialist help asap. you need to be able to make her sit and be good, not jump at all
this is called mouthing they would do it to there brothers %26 sisters when he does it let of a big scream pretend he really has hurt you and firmly say no get up and walk away,
You can try flipping her on her nose with your finger, or mussel her when she does it and then she will know she is doing something wrong.
My dog used do that when he was a puppy to, as soon as she does just walk off immediately and ignore her they hate being ignored all they want is your attention even if its being shouted at. If she nips your fingers when playing shout ow! really loud let her know that she has hurt you then refuse to play, if my dog nips me by accident now and I say ow! he knows he has hurt me and looks really upset.
Quick bang on the nose with a rolled up newspaper should do it.
Or, what mine really hates is if you blow up his nose. That stops him doing anything and he runs of sneezing
Nip it in the bud right now! When she nips, give her a low, gutteral growl (like a mother dog would do) and say no. If she doesn't stop, take her to another room for a time out. She needs to learn that it is a PRIVILEGE to be with you and not a right. When she gets a short time out, do not give her toys to play with or interact with her in any way. EVERY TIME she does this she needs to be disciplined so she knows that it is unacceptable. If you are not consistent she will get confused and the biting will get worse. When you let her out after the time out, go about your business as usual. The incident is over and she will not remember why you are upset so don't hold grudges. Just start over and continue in the pattern until she catches on. Don't let this escalate until she bites a child in the face. I would also obedience train her (training can start at 8 weeks) so she knows who's boss. If you don't establish that now, you will have a tough road ahead. Good luck! P.S. Do not play tug of war games with this dog until your dominance has been established. And if you are, make sure YOU always end up with the toy when it's time to quit.
When she jumps up to your face, get up and walk away. For about half an hour ignore her, you need to show her who's boss, make sure you dont make eyecontact when your ignoring her.
stand up and move away immediately, she wants attention and when she finds out she doesnt get it, eventually the penny will drop. dont shout or she will think you are a member of the pack joining in with her. dont raise your hand or finger over her as it is seen as a threat to her and she will become more aggressive. you should never flip dogs on the nose as it is very painful to them and is cruel. cruelty does NOT train puppies. it will take a lot of patience but WILL pay off. encourage her to play with toys that she is allowed to chew instead of you.good luck.
You are right - she is playing and does not mean any harm. When she jumps to bite your face after you tell her off and barks at you she is challenging your authority. Don't worry, she isn't going to become aggressive and dangerous, she is just testing you.
To teach her to stop this you are on the right track. When she bites your hand, tell her no! firmly as you are doing. If she stops and behaves, carry on playing and praise her for being gentle. If she challenges you say No! and walk away - thats the end of the game.
She will keep testing the boundaries and you need to be firm that you are not changing them. You will not play with her when she is rough and there is no point challenging you as you won't change the rule.
Another tip is to avoid rough play. Many dogs get overexcited by physical playing on the floor. Teach her ball games and games with tug toys instead. This will make it easier for her to control that urge to nip!
Have fun, she sounds like a laugh!
i have similar trouble with my dobermann puppy. i find that when she gets too much i put her in her cage, leave her untill she quietens down, then try her again.
its about mannners at the end of the day, but she is a puppy, so let her be a puppy, i also find that giving her a good play or tug of war with an old t.towel helps, it gives her the play to burn the energy she has, then once she starts to tire, try to settle her for a cuddle. this works better with my pup.
but aren't those teeth like pins!
I am Just going through the problem this month. Mine is just 3 mo. old. At first she barked a lot as she was what I called playing, and I have scars on my hands to prove it. I discovered one thing while all this was going on, that if I picked her up, even back end to, she stopped fighting me. The louder you get the louder they get like a contest. You have to sort out what they are trying to say. They are not angry with you they are trying to tell you something. There is a different voice for the radio is too loud, and yet another for
tell me a hush-a-baby at bedtime, where you can say nighty-nite over and over in a soft sleepy voice,as you caress her face, and in a couple minits she is asleep for hours , till she has to go pee again. They told me "Don't let your dog be boss." You don't know what the mother has already taught her. You just keep doing the teaching , but you must be able to listen too. The louder you get the less you hear, I proved it here with my pupTaffy. She is getting your attention, so pick her up or at least get at her level and with trial and error you will see what she needs.
I have a 11 month old boxer who had the same problem and almost nothing worked. Ignoring him was a good starter because boxers get there feelings hurt very easily. The thing that worked best for me is I laid him down and told him no and keep-ed holding him down for about 2 minutes. Don't worry all this does is show them that you are the master. Gotta luv your boxer there is not a better animal in the world.
you should do what i done i stop playing with it after i told mine off and moved it into another room also you could take it to opedeince classes in you area they do work
don't say no. Firstly do not initiate rough play with her. The minute she bites hard enough to hurt, yelp loudly, get up and walk away igoring her for 5 minutes. Do not even make eye contact with her. She will learn quickly that abite immediately stops what she was enjoying.
It sounds like you and she would benefit from some training classes as you don't seem to know how to cope with a large active breed and almost sound afraid of her.
Boxers are highly active and very intelligent dogs.
we have 2 boxers in our family, when they were pups,i used to be scratched and black n blue from their playin. Boxers are mad anyway, they still play rough now but not aggressive. i used to say 'no' but they ignored me so i used to go in another room until they calmed down.she is a puppy, but she might grow out of it a bit when she gets older.
When she bites, cry out as if it really hurts, then ignore her until she settles down, if she continues to do this when you are ignoring her, put her in a different room - again until she settles down -puppies do not like to be ignored and will soon learn that if she bites, even play biting she will be ignored and this isnt fun at all.
Do not encourage play biting as she will never learn that biting is wrong.
Make sure she has plenty teething and chew toys - she will learn that these are better than you hands, a kong for instance - you can pack the kong with cheese, peanut butter, pate etc she will have hours of fun with this, chewing and licking it all out.
All pups play bite and need to be taught that this isnt acceptable behaviour!
This will take alot of time and patience - good luck
JUST SAY NO?? So what makes you think she understands what the word means?
You will hear some bizarre theories 鈥?and they don鈥檛 work in the long run.
Spraying stuff on your hands ..uhhuh..well.and how long do you keep up smelling repulsive? Distract him?? for how many years?? Ignore him..what he is supposed to figure out that you are ignoring him because you are displeased with him and not because you are cleaning the house?
I've gone out on lot of housecalls to stop the nipping chewing behavior of dogs nearly a year old because their owners did the 'distract them' or 'push them away' or 'just hold their mouth' shut nonsense. After doing all this futile and ineffective things, the dogs didn't quit (thought the people were playing with them) and the owners where pinched and black and blue.
It is NOT teething that makes him grab people and nip and chew - he is PLAYING
Puppies bite - that is how dogs and puppies play with each other. He thinks he is playing with you by mock fighting. Its a dog's favorite game - watch two good dog buddies ripping tearing rolling - and diving at each other and grabbing without puncturing. and chewing on each other.
You have to DO something about it.
Now what is really really neat is your puppy came pre-programmed to understand certain behavior as disapproval and approval. In dog language, behavior is communication.
So do what they would do. That is something a dog understands instinctively. Lot of theories out there about yelping in pain and pushing him away (duh.that is what the dog who LOST the mock fight does and the winner is the boss now) or all this other stuff - but your puppy didn't read those books!
Step One: Learn to use your voice. Mot people either let their voice slide up in register or they sound futile and weak. You want to deepen your voice and sound like a drill sergeant. The word NO is basic to doggy manners (and people too.). The deep sound mimics the rumble/growl of the top dog.
Step Two: Do what the leader would does physically (well, mimic it - biting him wouldn't be fun.)
When he nips at you, roar NO in a deep voice, grab him by the collar or back of the neck, push him down and hold him on the ground and as you are doing that and snap your fingers on the end of his nose or slap his nose with your fingers. While you pin him down and get his nose, lean over him and keep saying BAD BAD BAD - do NOT let your voice slide up, make it deep. Make him look at you and keep eye contact 鈥?make your face stern and frown as you get after him.,
Step Three: when you let him up, you relax your voice and face and say "okay, now be nice" and let him come back over and get petted. (That is the postive part.) The more he settles down and gets petted without nipping, the happier your voice gets.
Get after him about EVERY SINGLE TIME - you must be 100% consistent. (And it make take quite a few times - love Boxers to death but have to admit that they are not the brightest bulbs on the Christmas tree.)
Now when he comes over and snuggles and licks and doesn't nip, he always gets "What a sweetie", rub, pet, cuddle, and use a smile (they do watch your face 鈥?more than most people realize). And guess what? That is exactly how dogs express approval of each other!
By the way, many women in particular, but men do it too, have a real problem with voice control, When they get upset or frustrated, their voice go UP. The dog ignores them. In the pack, the boss dog or alpha uses deep tones (rumble in the chest, growl etc) to express displeasure and get compliance from the dogs lower in the pecking order. A dog making a high pitched sound (yapping, yelping - etc) is not only NOT going to get compliance with their wishes as they are percieved as ineffectual and the not-Alpha, not-the-boss but that it is giving an invitation to play.
Also, most people think a "firm" voice is the same one that they use in telling a persistent salesperson "NO, I'm not interested." That is not the voice that gets through to a rambunctious puppy.
Also, take him to some obedience classes no matter what his age if over 6 months. You get a nicer pet, they are more comfortable with the world and less fearful and inclined to bark at everything and they get the habit of obeying and you get some control..
Now you both need a GOOD obedience class - and that is NOT Petsmart or Petco.
GO here to find contacts in you area that can help you locate and obedience trainer who works with all beeds and who does AKC obedience competitions - actually competing at what they claim to teach. No proof like success in a competition against ther people who think they are just as good at doing something.:
http://www.akc.org/clubs/search/index.cf.
http://www.akc.org/clubs/search/index.cf. (set on all breeds)
http://www.akc.org/clubs/search/index.cf.
Even it they are an hour or more away, they will know other people all over the state.
im so glad you have asked this question, i have a similar problem, but i have an american bulldog, she is the most beautifull and dozy dog i have ever owned, but sometimes the nipping can get a bit annoying, the person who gave the best advice to you is the one b4 me, (sorry forgot the name lol) this is what we are currently doing with her, and its starting to work, slowly, but its working nonetheless, and we have got her jumping up under control with this method aswell.. My advice take note of what that person says.. its sound advice..
get a 75ml coke bottle and fill it half way with lentils when she tries to bite u shake the bottle till she stops say no in a stern voice it will distract her.if it doesnt not work when she bites yelp in a high pitched voice it will stop her immeadiately as she will know she hurt u. it goes back when she was a pup and playing with her litter if they hurt each other they would of yelped so give it a try.it worked with my dog
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