There are a few ways to go about this and you can use them all:
-Give a very stern NO when she nips and then stand up, cross your arms across your chest and turn around. You don't even give eye contact. All attention is removed for about 30 seconds to a minute. This teaches her that teeth on the humans ends the game. (You really do have to ignore her for about 30 seconds--if you just say no and keep pushing her away, she thinks you are still playing!)
-Give the NO and then redirect her to an appropriate chew toy. Praise wildly for any attention she shows the toy. This teaches her where to use her teeth when she wants to nip and chew. (You have to make sure that you always have a toy handy for this one.)
-Teach her to take treats gently from your hand. Grab a bunch of small treats (even pieces of kibble will work). Hide one in your fist. Let the dog sniff your fist. If she only uses her nose or licks, then she gets the treat-just open your fist. If she is pawing, jumping, nipping, etc., then pull the hand away. This starts to teach her that you don't want teeth on skin. Put a command name to it once she is consistently not nipping for the treat and then you can use that when she gets too excited in play to remind her of the rules.
Hang in there. It takes a lot of consistency and repetition to train a dog.
ETA: While it's true that puppies develop a bit of bite inhibition from their littermates and mothers, it's only regarding how hard is too hard to bite another dog in play, which is STILL far too hard to be safe on human skin. So while I can see the point some folks are trying to make, it's totally inaccurate to say that a puppy knowing how hard he can bite another dog and still be socially acceptable translates into realizing that NO biting is acceptable with the humans. It doesn't--a dog's social behavior with other dogs is spearate from his behavior with humans.
And no, pits are not naturally "vicious". A properly bred pit is gentler than the average dog with humans and more aggressive than average with other dogs.
Your puppy is doing what all puppies do-he's exploring the world and playing with his mouth. All pups do this until trained that teeth on humans is NEVER accceptable. Retrieving and herding breeds are the worst about it, but ALL pups nip until trained not to do so.
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ReplyDeleteI am a student at Northeast State Community College in Blountville, Tennessee. When I went to my psych class last Thursday my teacher decided to talk about pit bulls. The whole time she just put them down and said that they are very mean, aggressive dogs and no one should own them because all they do is bite and stuff. It really made me mad because I have had many dogs in my day and now i own a pit bull and i have never had a more sweet, loving, well- manerd dog than him. It's the owner who makes the dog the way it is. they learn from us because we are their teachers and their guides. When are people gonna wake up and realize this. My maltese/pikatese mix is meaner than my pitbull. But i love this website, more people should look at this stuff, maybe they will get some sense out of it.
ReplyDeleteI agree 100 percent & it is how the owners raise the pit bulls they are actually one of the smartest dogs out there, and can be very good with kids as well. Im trying to post as much information on this site as days go by about pits if u would like you can share the link to everyone you know who owns a pit would be very appreciated :) thanks for visiting! keep checking back!
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