cnsunshine

Hi RidgieAmy, thanks for the advice. I know what you mean about the OH, we had that initial problem too, it wasn't until he saw the pup getting worse that he took everything seriously.

We've completely changed our methods with her, we ignore her for at least 10 to 15 minutes when we see her in the morning, after work, when we go downstairs etc and she's starting to be calmer and quieter. We've also increased her training sessions, she's started her obedience school on Saturday and we've noticed that she's happier when she's being trained. We've also started clicker training with her, early days so not sure how it was affect her temperament. She still bites a little but its far less frequent and most of the time, we're able to distract her before she latches on.

My partner has also suggested that perhaps I'm not paying enough attention to her, and she just wants to play with me. Its a possibility, because the moment i stop playing or i'm concentrating on something else she starts to nibble. Not sure how to deal with this yet besides trying to free up some more time.

One day at a time! Although this morning I had to go to work early and she stood there with my partner watching me reverse out of the garage and it broke my heart, i didn't want to leave!

beautiful poem, explains everything. i'm absolutely crazy about my dog, i've heard the whole:

'omg, its just a dog. why can't you just feed her out of a bowl'

'why do you take her everywhere'

'why do you spend so much money on food'

A very beautiful dog :)

Hi Everyone,

An update since last week, we've spent the last 3 days focusing on her and her training and I'm really glad to say there has been a slight improvement. I've followed a lot of the advice provided on dolforum such as distracting her before she tries to bite, implementing the nilif tactic and definitely being more firm with her. I've also started recognising when she's getting tired, putting her into her pen to let her sleep which gives her time to chill out. There was one circumstance where she started biting me and couldn't let go, I actually struggled to get her to open her mouth and let go. I think no matter what, we will have to get a behaviourist to help us.

Corvus - you're right, sometimes I tell her to come or sit and she definitely looks at me, thinks for a couple of seconds then walks away!! she has a very stubborn streak (which I love and hate at the same time).

Hey there

Bec from K9Pro here, just wanted to let you know I'm on annual leave at the moment so not in the office to pick up the phone and its not likely anyone will answer your phone call as we are out of the office most of the time in training lessons. If you shoot an email to [email protected] we can give you a hand :)

Hi Bec,its all good. I assumed with the Easter break everyone would be busy so I was going to wait until next week to try again. I will definitely shoot you an email in the next couple of days. Thanks for replying. :)

Thanks to everyone for your support so far, its made me feel a lot more positive and sane. I've had someone give me a 'told you Akita's are too agreesive' comment which made me really upset and second guess myself. Its never their fault in my opinion.

Yeah at 5 months and 18kg I'd probably be getting some advice. Our Aussie was a terrible biter but she stopped by about 4 months.

I understand your concerns about leaving her outside but an 18kg puppy in a small pen all day is not going to be helping the situation. She's probably quite bored/frustrated. Is there any way of covering a section of your yard so there is a roof and nothing can be thrown in?

Yes, i tried the tongue thing last night a couple of times and now my hands are really bruised and I felt horrible seeing her struggle like that. We tried to call Steve from K9pro yesterday and will try to call again today. Hopefully he can fit us in his schedule but until then we're going to be really careful with how we handle her. We'll be moving soon so she'll have a yard to herself, in the meantime, I'll see what I can do about her being cooped up during the day. Maybe ask my mum to look after her once a week. Please let me know if my suggestions aren't good for her.

Also, we're located in south-western sydney, if there are any behaviourist anyone can recommend, especially someone who knows Akita it would be great. I'm happy to travel anywhere, with our puppy growing at 1kg a week, its becoming a priority for us.

2. yelping loudly and stop playing/patting - but it seems to stimulate her? She has started jumping back but she gets down into that playful position and launches again. Everytime she hears me yelp, she runs around and comes back for a bite, I am really baffled by this.

Yeah, it can get aroused dogs more aroused. Fun and games!

3. we've taught her the 'leave' command, everytime she bites on my hand I say leave and the moment she lets go, I say good girl and treat. somehow I think it has translated as, if I bite and let go, she'll treat... how should i change it so she realises, don't bite at all?

This is called a behaviour chain. Nine times out of ten it is easily remedied by being more proactive and cuing the 'leave it' BEFORE the dog has managed to bite you. What you're looking for is when she looks at you with that bright gleam in her eye and if she turns that bright look onto body parts, THAT'S when you say 'leave it'. This probably fixes the problem more than 9 times out of 10, actually. One of my dogs is a behaviour chaining machine and has done this kind of thing several times. It tells me I'm being reactive instead of proactive. I'm reacting to his behaviour rather than proactively cueing the behaviour I want when I want it. As long as I'm reacting to him he has the upper hand (paw) because he's one step ahead of me.

Incidentally, the same little grey monster that is so good at getting ahead of me in training was also a landshark as a puppy. He was pretty relentless. It helped to figure out why he was enjoying biting us so much. He is a herding breed and he was reacting to our movements and trying to control them. Biting us made us stop, and that made him happy. So we started using the rock solid sit we'd already taught him to interrupt the biting before it happened and get his attention on our faces rather than our moving body parts. Then practiced a slow motion heel to the nearest toy. The best (and sometimes worst) thing about puppies is they are very distractible. If you got good behaviour from them for a few moments and reward by throwing a toy for them to chase, by the time they've chased the toy and grabbed it they have forgotten about your limbs and are absorbed in biting the toy, which is why we give them toys. :)

Well done on realising that she needs to be calmer. It's not that obvious to many people. I highly recommend massage. Long, slow strokes or small, slow circles with your fingers. She probably won't want any bar of it at first, but I would say persist. With my boy I would hold him still for a few moments of massage, then let him go, and the next time hold him for a tiny bit longer. Pretty soon he realised he quite liked massage. Giving her something to chew on like a pig's ear or a stuffed Kong is also likely to help. Pop her in her pen with something to occupy that busy mouth when you want to send her the message that it's down time, now.

Thanks so much for that! Thats provided me with a lot of clarity on what we were doing wrong. Wow, I knew she was smart but I didn't realise she was training us instead of us training her I'm going to implement that, before she does in for a bite, I'll try to distract her with a command or a toy. Thanks again.

I just got home and she started biting me straight away after she had her pee. I did the whole thumb under the tongue and even over the tongue. she struggled alot and fought back and bit me even harder. if this how its meant to be? my hands are throbbing and burning right now from her teeth and i feel like i'm ready to cry. i haven't said a word to her, everytime i come close to talk to her she bites my hand. can you please tell me if i'm doing it right? I've done it a few times already, obviously it might not work straight away but am i on the right track?

Yep I think that may be a good idea re kids next door to supervise! How big is pen as she is quite big? Can you confine to a larger part of house but still safely? Unsure re other issues... She probably is very pleased to see you and wants attention from you? Does she eventually chill out and laze around with you during the evening? Don't know I will leave that bit for those with more knowledge.. All dogs have diff personalities

the pen is about 3m2 and she's 18 kgs? we've put a video on her before while we were at work to see what she gets up to (do we sound a bit too obsessive?)and she spent most of the day sleeping. she doesn't really chill out, if she's not eating (about 1 an hour for frozen kong and bone) or training or playing with us then she'll follow us. Unfortunately we have open plan living so we can't block off part of the house for her.

i did try a few times where i'd leave her downstairs and hide upstairs, then sneak down to see what she would do (yes, we're weird)and she'll be chewing into our cushions which she knows she isn't allowed. i'm just trying to figure out if there is a reason she might be biting us besides the whole puppy teething.

We keep her inside a pen in the living room while we're at work. Although we have a small yard, we also have an apartment next to us and we've seen the kids throw things off the balcony into someone else's yard so we've chosen to not leave her there during the day unless we can supervise her.

just curious, my partner is worried that we're spending too much time with her? When we're not playing or feeding her, she follows us around and bites us. Could it be that she can't relax?

Hi...Sandra777 has some great points...I was trying everything too... Now it is just monotonous she bites we our thumb in and over it goes again! We are being very consistent with it as it is not a pleasant time nor do you want it to remain an issue obviously.. I have noticed that she is slowing down on the bites... Just today she started to do a gentle bite on my hand ( better then usual) but looked at me and thought better of it and ctually chilled for a moment or two for me to pat her! Still working on the first morning greeting where she bites and tries to drag your sock off... That is an immediate pick up and bck in bed! When I first started the thumb in mouth I was frustrated as she just keep repeating and so did I, however seems we had a little break through! I have a 13 week old staffy now... I lost my boy Akita 2 years ago... He was 12 always love and miss him!Good luck with it all

That's so good! I'm glad you're seeing the results. I feel like I've been trying everything, hopefully the tongue pressing will set her straight. I will definitely talk to my partner about it and we'll start it tonight after we get home from work. I'm sorry to hear about your boy, I hope your staffy gives you the same joy. :)

She seems to have successfully trained you to provide treats when she bites :D

Yelping obviously isn't working so I would dump that immediately. In a dog with a high prey drive the human yelp often sounds like prey not like litter mate and stimulates them more PLUS, at 5 months IMO the window for this to work has long since closed.

Bigger breeds develop at different rates to the medium breeds I'm used to but with mine, if they bothered an older dog at 5 months they would get a roar and a snap - 'stop bothering me you annoying brat'.

If she was mine I'd be using my best growly voice and saying a loud NO. If she ignores you physically remove her from the situation (outside, crate, behind a baby gate) no treats for obeying "eventually", no approval for anything except instantly stopping the unwanted behaviour.

Simply don't allow her to bite your hand, if she tries grab her lip or cheek or put your thumb down on her thumb and hold her jaw as already suggested. Hold firmly, no need to shake, pinch or do or say anything, just hold her firmly and make her stop the behaviour on her own - when she does release her and do nothing. No praise for obeying "eventually" remember! She will probably take a couple of days to realise this is no longer a fun game. THEN you have to teach her that it's OK for you to touch her mouth (check teeth, pull lips (gently!), tickle whiskers etc) but it's not OK for her mouth to touch your hand. Don't confuse the issue by trying to teach both things at once.

Exactly, that is what I'm starting to realise. Instead of her seeing the good behaviour as a reward, she's seeing the reward is for 'if i bite and let go, i score a treat!'.

with the tongue technique, is that pressing under or on the tongue? In the other forum it said under but I wasn't sure how I would get under her tongue haha (sorry, first time dog owner and trying my best!!) I will definitely start implementing this tonight. Thanks for the help!

Hi I understand what you are going through... My new pup is in the throes of it. Nekhbet suggested to me in this same section recently to put your thumb under tongue of dog and press down ... Not sure how to duplicate exact words here but if you look at the puppy fangs help by me in puppy threads you will see it. I used to have an Akita... I was lucky I didn't have that issue with him! Good luck

yeah i saw your thread the other day! has your puppy gotten better since? Any pics of your Akita? I love seeing everyone's dogs.

Hi All,can you please provide some advice or direction on my issue with my 5 month old Akita. I've gone through a lot of the puppy forum for ideas but it hasn't been successful with her. So far she has been to puppy school and will be starting obedience school just after the Easter break. During this time, we've continued training her on her commands (sit, stay, come, leave etc), some tricks for fun (hand shake, touch etc) everyday.

We've been trying really really hard to teach her bite inhibition but I'm ashamed to say it hasn't been too successful. So far, I've been trying these techniques:

1. standing still and ignoring her when she bites my feet but thats really hard because being a large dog... these bites hurt!!

2. yelping loudly and stop playing/patting - but it seems to stimulate her? She has started jumping back but she gets down into that playful position and launches again. Everytime she hears me yelp, she runs around and comes back for a bite, I am really baffled by this.

3. we've taught her the 'leave' command, everytime she bites on my hand I say leave and the moment she lets go, I say good girl and treat. somehow I think it has translated as, if I bite and let go, she'll treat... how should i change it so she realises, don't bite at all?

Just a brief background on how we care for her. We take her for 2 brief walks (before and after work), brief catch sessions, 2 or 3 training sessions a night. All meals are fed from a frozen kong or buster cube. She's in a pen during the day, but after work, we let her roam around the living room and kitchen with us. Let me know if you want to know anything else.

i think the biggest issue is for us, how should we adjust our training techniques to stop her biting? I'm starting to feel very frustrated because when she launches at us every 20 seconds to bite it hurts and we don't know how to calm her down or control her without physically grabbing her... however, there is no violence or anything from us. Its more frustration at myself because I don't know what to do. Do you think its because she doesn't see us as a pack leader or perhaps we need a behaviouralist? please help!!!

here is my little girl

Edit: Thanks so much for everyone's advice so far, really appreciate it. I'm definitely taking everyone's opinion and advice on board and will be seeking a behaviourist.

My puppy started growling while chewing on a bone a few weeks ago (when previously she had no issues with us taking her food away or sitting next to her). We started standing next to her with a treat and speaking softly, distracted her with the treat then took the bone away. Then we'll make her sit, and give her the bone back. We did it a few times a day until she stopped growling. Now we always make sure to pat her, talk to her whilst she's eating just to make sure the habit doesn't start again.

Not sure how good it would be in your situation, just a suggestion. :D Btw, we have a food-obsessed akita if that makes a difference.

Hi Caz,

I've just read the entire thread and I'm really sorry for your loss. Its such a horrible experience and I completely support your decision to make everything public. Shame on them.

No dog should ever go through that. Buddy was such a stunning boy, RIP.

very nice photos.

My dog got desexed last friday and there was an infection last night. it wasn't from her biting her stitches but it was from being too active and jumping/running around alot. so now she's wear the collar all the time to make sure that she doesn't get uncomfortable and start licking it or biting at it. it might be good to hire one from the vet (if you can) in case you might need one? better safe than sorry.

hahaha loving everyone's add ins.

the other day i was eating fish and chips with my fingers and when to give my lil one one of her treats... she slobbered on my fingers and i went straight back to my fish and chips without washing my hands! i didn't even realised until my partner called me a grot. haha

Hey Aking350 I have a puppy who is food obsessed too and she was eating grass etc on her walks, so I started walking with food in my hands so she would focus on me. We'd walk for about 10 metres and she'd get a treat and I'm slowly increasing that distance and she's not eating random things anymore.

Also, we withhold her food and use it for training instead too, she can eat her meal in 10 seconds flat if we left her alone with food. We've just bought a buster cube so we'll see how that goes. I freeze some of her meals in her kong too.

I've cut back on all my clothes shopping and now that fund goes to buying toys and food for the dog.

My weekend lunches are only done at cafes which have outdoor tables and are dog friendly.

The backseat of my car is now solely reserved for my dog.

My office is covered in photos of my dogs but there are no pictures of my partner or family.

Ive had two totally different experiences with children and my JRT,... At our local "Trash and Trasure" market: One boy, around 8 I would say, saw my dog, who was standing in front of me, in his harness, not payiong attention to anything. He came over and went to kick Maui, in front of my eyes. I managed to pull him out of the way and let out the loudest yell. (along the lines of "Oi, if you EVER go to kick my dog again, it will be your last time".... Meanwhile everyone else around me is crapping themselves (Im little, but have a powerful voice when needed) and the kid shrunk into his parents, who said nothing!!! ARGH! The little sod is so lucky he didnt connect with my dog, I would have smacked him myself.

OMG ! I would have done the same! If anyone kicked my dog they'd get a kick back. Unbelievable that the parents did nothing!

Absolutely, I would crack it if someone intentionally hurt my dog.

I find that vacuuming and moping on a daily basis helps a lot. When I mop I use a mixture of vinegar and water which gets rid of the odour. On carpet, about once a fortnight I sprinkle bicarbonate of soda, leave overnight and vacuum the next day to get rid of odour.

Now when my family comes to visit, I always ask them if they smell any pet odours when walking in and no one smells anything which is good news! Also, when I wipe down the house, I use the vinegar and water spray too, natural and pet friendly. :)