Showing Authority - Please Help -

[Kyrie]

My 11 week old female beagle can become quite rough when she play bites and when I've tried to show authority she either does not acknowledge my attempt of a deep voice 'NO' or she will challenge me, growling.

We've tried a variety of methods, giving them at least two or three days to take effect, except they work once and then never again.

We took her for a walk until she literally did not want to take another step (we didn't have that in mind, we just walked longer than we thought) and she still came home and was biting. My partner had her listening for a while but she has since tested our patience. We don't give in, but we are just at ends with what to do or try next.

Should we avoid tugging at her rope toy? We are awaiting the arrival of another puppy before Puppy Preschool, but we do a bit of training at home re: Sit, down, stay etc.

Please help.

[Nekhbet]

http://leerburg.com/articles.htm#PupSect

this is a great place to start :)

[Leema]

Hi Kyrie,

There are a lot of things you can try to stop puppy mouthing.

Firstly, sometimes we can elicit a mouthing response by being too exciting. Children are particularly prone to doing this, by waving their hands about and generally being exciting. However, adults do this on a mild level too - for example, being patted on the head is moderately-exciting and can elicit biting in a puppy. This also extends to making sounds - screaming and sometimes even talking can encourage mouthing.

Secondly, the puppy should have plenty of outlets for mouthing. They should have plenty of chew toys and appropriate things to play and bite on. They DO need to use their mouths, it's just a matter of them working out what they can and can't do.

Also, please be aware that this is not an 'authority' or 'dominance' issue. This puppy is biting you because biting is fun, and no other motivation.

Once you've rectified this, there are several strategies that you can try to reduce mouthing.

1) You can try a high pitched yelp. Sometimes this is highly effective, and sometimes this does nothing. Puppies, when they're playing with other puppies, 'yelp' if they're hurt. That's the sound you're trying to mimic.

2) You can try disengaging or removing attention from the puppy when they mouth. This means that, if the puppy begins mouthing you remove your hands and stop paying attention to the puppy. This is not successful for puppies who will chew on everything! So, it's all well and good to remove your hands and some puppies will stop - but if they continue by chewing your pants, not so good! For a puppy that is highly attentive to hands and hand-focussed, removing all hands can be significantly punishing to curb the behaviour.

3) You can try sin binning the puppy. This is a hard method to implement effectively, but it involves removing the puppy from your company. This must be done quickly and calmly, and a neutral and boring place must be used (like the bathroom). I have had limited success with this method... But, at the very least, it makes ME feel better!

4) You can try putting pressure in your puppy's mouth or on their tongue. Whenever your puppy mouths, you can press their tongue, or kind of shove your fingers down their throat. Puppies don't really like this, and often will stop mouthing when they realise that mouthing makes for unpleasant sensations.

5) You can teach an 'on' and 'off' for mouthing. I normally use the esteem-able word of 'vicious' meaning 'you can mouth me' and use 'settle' for calm behaviour. In Ian Dunbar fashion, I teach the puppy that 'vicious' means that they can mouth and be silly, but when I say 'settle' they need to cease in order for the game to continue. The plan is that, eventually, you can cue the puppy to 'settle' whenever they spontaneously begin mouthing, and they will stop having established a reward history.

I hope one of these methods, or a combination of these methods, work for you.

However, I am a bit concerned regarding your last comment "We are awaiting an arrival of another puppy". Are you planning to permanently introduce another dog into your household? I'd be worried that, if you're having trouble with this current puppy, you may struggle to give sufficient time to your current puppy while also training up a new puppy. I'd highly recommend that you work on your current puppy and, once you have a good dog, that is not mouthing, toilet trained, and generally well behaved, then consider adding a second puppy (and dog) into your household.

[Kyrie]

Thank you both for the suggestions - Definitely some ideas we will be taking on board.

Sorry Leema; I should of explained the Auhtority part better. Its my lack there of. I can't produce a deep enough or commanding voice to show her who is the leader. All other elements like walking and sitting, staying etc she is fine. I also think that possibly we are inadvertently giving of the over energetic vibe. My partner and I can be loud, especially if we are watching something funny etc.

I'm also going to head out tomorrow and buy some more chew toys and objects, except, like one of the articles that was included in Nekhbet's link, I will limit what is available to her and use them to divert the behaviour.

Combining this with some of your (Leema) suggestions I hope some improvement shows :)

Thank-you both again.

[persephone]

I can't produce a deep enough or commanding voice to show her who is the leader.

Hmmm ..it has an awful lot to do with timing/body language /understanding your dog ...and not so much with the sound of your voice , IMO...esp. with a baby puppy :)

A lot of the time with pups, if they are being silly ..I go "PSSST!", short & sharp. ..and then when they stop and look at me .. I divert them, or praise them ..or move off , depending . It's to get their attention, and then show them what is required :)

I suggest you do lots of reading/asking .

You can show your pup who the leader is (and train yourself to be leader) by changing the way you interact with your pup . It is a bit of work, and partner must also do it ..but after a few days , it should become a habit for everyone :)

Nothing In Life Is Free. It will not solve all problems , but it should give the puppy every chance of getting plenty of attention /cuddles , and give you a dog who looks to you for direction ;) win/win !

[Sandra777]

Sorry Leema; I should of explained the Auhtority part better. Its my lack there of. I can't produce a deep enough or commanding voice to show her who is the leader.

The biting, as Leema has already said is nothing to do with authority or a deep voice or a commanding voice.

Puppies this age bite because that's what young predators do

It's their way of exploring their world (you may have noticed they they don't have hands :laugh: ) and it's their way of PLAYING.

I second the idea that another puppy sounds like a really bad idea until you have the problems with one sorted out.

Use the techniques Leema outlined and forget about dominance or a deep voice or anything else. Puppies this age don't do the concept of dominance to a large degree - they have no need for it just yet.

[Kyrie]

Thank-you persephone and Sandra777. I'm actually glad I don't need to focus on having a deep voice, just another thing I read somewhere.

Since starting this thread, we've been trying to ignore the behaviour, settling her and its had its moments, but persistence is the key.

It's crazy the amount of differing opinions between experts/published authors, its so confusing when reading different articles.

Its her bedtime soon and we've had great success with crate training; she puts herself to sleep 90% of the time...

Infact while writing this she has fallen asleep, (I became distracted by a news report.)

We have plenty of time in the coming week to focus on her and her alone. If her other habit developments are anything to go by, she'll wake up one day and it all just clicks, with only minor incidents.

Thank-you once again :)

[Nekhbet]

I prefer to nip things in the bud the moment they start. As for people who do a lot of hands off work ... it's an animal currently causing you a lot of pain and treating you like a chew toy ... I never advocate harm but be firm and stick to your convictions with them. Beagles are very intelligent dogs and they'll have you trained before you even start on them :laugh: