Re: Puppy biting
Rogue is 10 weeks old this week. I've been trying to teach her to bite softly by letting her bite me and trying to communicate to her in a natural way when she bites too hard. Varying degrees of Ouch, basically. Ever since I brought her home, she's been biting very hard. I got her so that she knows how soft she should be biting, but she gradually bites harder, until she starts causing welts and breaking the skin.
She won't stop until I bring her in my room and either crate her, or get up on my bed and deny access to my skin. Eventually she just finds a place to lay down and sleep. When she does, I give her a few minutes, and then I bring her up on my bed to cuddle, and she's fine for a long time.
Rouge is absolutely fearless. She's not worried about the vacuum, the kureig, the blender, the garbage disposal... I don't think she's going to have socialization problems. My brother, his wife, and their kid get eagerly greeted when they come to the door, and if i don't bring her down to see them when they come in, Rogue gets quite upset. When i bring her to the pet store, she's fine. She lets strangers hold her no problem. The only time she cries is when we deny access to the place she wants to go, or the thing she wants to have. I wanted
a dog with high energy and perseverance, and I got one.
I take her outside almost every day, and she seems to really like it, but if I take her out for too long her paw pads turn pinkish, and that doesn't seem safe to me. I watch her, and try to let her tell me when she's had enough, but I don't keep her out for more than 10 minutes at a time. While we're out, I let her run around in the snow and try to keep up with her. Sometimes I pick her up and cary her around the block, so she can experience some new smells outside of the yard, but when I do this she often squirms and cries to get down.
I have a few theory's on why rogue bites the way she does. Puppies bite because they want to interact with you, right?
So when she bites, sometimes I do a short training session. This always works, but I have to keep them short so I don't overfeed her with the treats.
Sometimes I offer a beef collegian chew, and sometimes she takes it and settles down on my lap and chews it silly. Sometimes she just keeps biting me.
Sometimes I offer to play with a toy. I'll sit down on the floor with her and I'll cycle through all her toys to see what kind of texture she's interested in. With her toys, I'll play keep away, tug (i'll tug with her leading her in a sideways figure 8, alternating hands, and turning her toward me on the outside turns), and fetch. Sometimes she wants to play, sometimes she just wants to bite.
Sometimes I take her outside. When I do, she doesn't bite outside, but I don't keep her out for long, and when I bring her in, once she gets warmed up, she usually wants to bite.
My mom is using a piece of fleece fabric to cover her hand so the bites don't hurt. I feel like that's encouraging her to bite too hard, but honestly I don't know.
So I think she bites when she gets bored, because when she does, she gets attention. I mean, she really always gets attention in the form of endless affection, but when she bites, it's probably exciting for her. She might get pushed away, or get a strong reaction, and I think that's stimulating to her. She may not be getting enough exercise, but I feel like its more about her not getting enough mental stimulation. She's very mature for her age, very intelligent and energetic and she's eager to please. She doesn't even have all her shots yet, and while the snow is melting, its turning into this slushy mess that must be very cold on her paws, but she wants to go explore the world, and I think that's driving her a little crazy.
Her behavior seems to be a lot different from what I see on the training videos with other dogs.
What am I doing wrong?
