Borneogoat Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 I have a 10wk old Staffordshire Bull Terrier puppy. Chief arrived about 1.5wks ago and is settling in well. Happy and healthy in all respects. But we're having some teething issues, literally. Like all pups he has teeth like a piranha. He has inadvertently drawn a little blood and I suspect my furniture will be on the curb a year from now! I can live with some chewed up furniture, door frames, etc, it's all party of the joy, right? But we need to drastically cut down on mouthing people. When he is excited or wants some attention, basically whenever he is awake, he tries to chew hands/jeans/legs/etc. It's not aggression, just his method of playing/communicating. I started with growling "No!" at him, but it doesn't seem terribly effective. Now I growl 2-3x warnings, then pick him up and hold him firmly with my arms straight out for 10sec. He wiggles a bit and then calms down. This calms him down for maybe 10-60sec. Then we start again. He often calms down when I bring up on the couch and he goes to sleep. But I don't think that is a good habit to get into. I want to train him he is only allowed up when invited, not anytime to pacify his mouthiness. Also, I don't always want to hold him. Do I just persist with this method or does someone got a better plan? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dame Aussie Posted August 28, 2012 Share Posted August 28, 2012 Ah the joys of puppy teeth :laugh: The methods I have tried are as follows: Squealing/yelping when they bite you - this works sometimes but with one of mine just made her more excited! Holding their mouth and pressing your thumb down - they don't like this and it usually gets them to stop. Standing up, turning your back, walking away whenever he bites - they learn that whenever they bite you, you leave. I would try all of these and see if you have any luck!! I'm sure you will get other suggestions too :) He's adorable by the way! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sares Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 The squealing thing never worked with my pup – it just made her more excited. Same with growling at her. The thumb under the tongue method sort of worked but wasn’t entirely effective. Sometimes she thought it was part of the game. The thing that worked the best for my pup is whenever she was mouthing and getting carried away being silly, I would pick her up and take her into another room and close the door so she is in there by herself to demonstrate to her that the playtime is over and she is not to be mouthing people. The room is empty so there is nothing she can destroy. I give her about 30 seconds to a minute. Then let her back out again. As soon as I started doing this, she has stopped mouthing almost all together. She has quickly realised that biting and mouthing will end up with her being in a room by herself which she didn’t like. She is a Frenchie so she is particularly stubborn but quite smart. It took a bit of trial and error to work out what would get the message across to her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
skully Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 My stafford responded really well to the yelping "ouch"!! when she mouthed... although my husband struggled with the high pitched part of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WreckitWhippet Posted August 29, 2012 Share Posted August 29, 2012 I've raised numerous SBT litters and pups and I've found the best approach is to keep them busy. They bite because it's fun. You can't expect an SBT pup to settle down for a snuggle while their brains are racing. Get yourself a clicker or even just some food and set about wearing his brain out with short training sessions as many times a day as you can manage. A couple of minutes here and there is more than enough and you will see a big difference in the mouthing. They can't be walked for hours on end as babies and you'll not be able to give them enough exercise to tire them out, so training is the way to go. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NOCTRL Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 Congrats on your pup, he is very cute! At 10 weeks we were still working on bite inhabition with our staffy pup Arby (who looks a lot like Chief!). Teaching them that if they bite they must realise and back off, in order to teach it you have to allow some level of biteyness, but with age you reduce it until they know they're not allowed to bite. Not everyone agrees with this, but i personally think it's important. As we moved to not being allowed to bite, a sharp UH-AH! If it continued, we got up and walked away ignoring him. Only for a minute or two but enough to make him realise play time is over when he is too rough. I did read somewhere, though i cannot remember where, about putting them on their backs when it all got too crazy-puppy. We would hold him half leaning back on his back against our chest while we were sitting. Hold (gently but firmly) until the wiggling and trying to escape stops, give it a few seconds then let them go. Arby is now a smidge over 12 months and still now if he's 'wigging-out' we hold him against our chest on his back and he instantly goes limp and calms down! Neat tool to have but of course every pup is different :) Good luck and more pics please!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Staffyluv Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 I've raised numerous SBT litters and pups and I've found the best approach is to keep them busy. They bite because it's fun. You can't expect an SBT pup to settle down for a snuggle while their brains are racing. Get yourself a clicker or even just some food and set about wearing his brain out with short training sessions as many times a day as you can manage. A couple of minutes here and there is more than enough and you will see a big difference in the mouthing. They can't be walked for hours on end as babies and you'll not be able to give them enough exercise to tire them out, so training is the way to go. x 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 And .... plenty of legitimate chew objects - so you've always got one within an arm's reach. (Your house will look like a bomb-disposal site for a while - but that's part of the joys of puppyhood. I've found the best technique is a gutteral sort of ugh-ugh - designed as an interrupt - followed pretty much straight away with you presenting him with a chew toy he's allowed to have - maybe have a little game with him for a minute with the toy, and then let him play with it. What you're trying to do is show him - you are not a chew toy - but here - I know you want to chew, so chew on this. Same thing applies to anything you don't want him to chew - interrupt the chewing you don't want, and show him what he can chew. Anytime he chooses a legitimate chew object first, tell him he's wonderful. Agree with lots of little bits of training, and probably some interactive toys as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sares Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 And .... plenty of legitimate chew objects - so you've always got one within an arm's reach. (Your house will look like a bomb-disposal site for a while - but that's part of the joys of puppyhood. I've found the best technique is a gutteral sort of ugh-ugh - designed as an interrupt - followed pretty much straight away with you presenting him with a chew toy he's allowed to have - maybe have a little game with him for a minute with the toy, and then let him play with it. What you're trying to do is show him - you are not a chew toy - but here - I know you want to chew, so chew on this. Same thing applies to anything you don't want him to chew - interrupt the chewing you don't want, and show him what he can chew. Anytime he chooses a legitimate chew object first, tell him he's wonderful. Agree with lots of little bits of training, and probably some interactive toys as well. we do that too.. it works well! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twodoggies2001 Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 And .... plenty of legitimate chew objects - so you've always got one within an arm's reach. (Your house will look like a bomb-disposal site for a while - but that's part of the joys of puppyhood. I've found the best technique is a gutteral sort of ugh-ugh - designed as an interrupt - followed pretty much straight away with you presenting him with a chew toy he's allowed to have - maybe have a little game with him for a minute with the toy, and then let him play with it. What you're trying to do is show him - you are not a chew toy - but here - I know you want to chew, so chew on this. Same thing applies to anything you don't want him to chew - interrupt the chewing you don't want, and show him what he can chew. Anytime he chooses a legitimate chew object first, tell him he's wonderful. Agree with lots of little bits of training, and probably some interactive toys as well. we do that too.. it works well! I also agree and the good thing is that it does get better with the mouthing once those adult teeth come in. My boy is now almost 6mths old and he doesn't do it any more thank goodness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheCheekyMonster Posted August 30, 2012 Share Posted August 30, 2012 shutting down and hands behind back worked REALLY well for us.... and as soon as he stopped it was tug toy out as a reward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borneogoat Posted September 4, 2012 Author Share Posted September 4, 2012 Thanks for the advice everybody. We've tried the turn away & ignore method, but it only works when he is pretty calm. Usually he is happy to chew on the back of my legs when I cold shoulder him. I've forged ahead with the concept of removing the non-chew and replacing it with a dog toy. I'm not seeing a lot of effect, but will keep trying. The most effective so far has been the Stinky Nappy Hold (SNH) method. I declare "enough!" and immediately pick him up. I hold him at arm length away from me, like one might carry a stinky nappy. He gets put down after he stops wiggling and is calm for 5-10sec. Usually takes 2x SNHs to end the behavior. The system works 4 of 5 times. Hopefully he gets it in the next couple months. Can't imagine putting the SNH on a 20kg wiggling SBT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tassie Posted September 4, 2012 Share Posted September 4, 2012 SNH - sounds as though it's working well - and won't be a bad thing in general - encouraging calm behaviour Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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