Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all, I’ve been lurking here for some time now and decided to post some concerns and questions.
Axle is our 9 week old APBT. We’ve had him for 3 weeks. He is a happy puppy. I met his parents and both were mellow purebred APBT’s. Axle loves our teenage kids and Tori our 8 year old female aussie shep./dingo (yep dingo) mix. Tori can’t believe she now has a built in tug of war buddy. Our concern is his chewing, nipping and biting. He is not a destructive chewier(sp?) because he is constantly supervised. He doesn’t seem angry when he grabs a finger, it happens only at playtime or when he tries to settle for a nap.
He also nails us when we remove something from his mouth that doesn’t belong there. I’m firm (hopefully not to firm) when I correct him. He is VERY energetic and eats like a horse. The only thing he has shown fear of is moving bicycles. He’ll hide and peek around our legs as one goes flying by. Is this “mouthing” odd?
I know pups chew and nip but Ax’s chomping seems a little over the top. Is this a teething thing? Is this a negative sign? In advance I’d like to thank you for your experiences and advice.

First of all, pups use the mouths as we use our hands (well, similarly). So, just as babies go through a "put everything in the mouth stage" puppies experience the world through their mouths. That said, no, it is too early for teething - that comes around three months or older and goes on a few months. There are various ways to tackle the nipping problem. One is to remove your hands, arms, etc. from the pup's area, turn yourback on him and ignore him. When he stops trying to chew on you, praise and pet, but not on his head. A pup thinks waving arms is a call to play. Another way is to yip like a puppy in distress and see if that will back him off. Part of the training is to get him to settle - you can use the word "settle" or "four on the floor" or "sit" - whatever gets him to sit down and stop play behavior and settle down (this, of course, has to be taught to him so he understands it is a command. Start out saying the command when he sits or settles for any reason by himself. Go on to requesting it and putting him in position if need be - that's modelling the behavior). Then he gets a chest scratch or a toy. You can also substitute a toy for your hand. "NO" for the hand; "Toy!" for what you want him to chew. As for him chomping when you are taking something from his mouth, again I would go for a command "release" to be taught while you open his mouth and remove the toy or bone or whatever and a praise/reward for his allowing that without snapping. You could try teaching that one by hand feeding him his kibble, or some of it, at each meal. Give him a morsel and praise for gentle taking. This way he learns that food comes from you or is withheld by you, or removed by you. Good thing to teach, especially if your dog gets hold of something he shouldn't have. Don't let go the morsel if he snaps at it. Withdraw it and try again. Just some thoughts. You have to get your pup's attention and you have to be creative if one method doesn't work - but you have to give a method time to work....say a few days' worth.

Tasha

I am going to make this as short and sweet as I can. Tasha has it pretty much all there, you are gonna have to be inventive and create methods of training as every dog is different and each respond differently to discipline. I am only going to touch on one thing real fast and that is one the biting. I say do or don't do it. I don't really care if my dog mouths on my hands. Just as long as he doesn't bite to hard which really isn't a problem. One thing to remember is that they hurt worse now because they are puppy teeth. When the regular teeth come in it is the pressure that hurt and not the little spikes. So that is one thing to think about. As long as you keep him in check with the ruthless biting then when the adult secondary teeth come in then it should not be a problem at all. I don't promote biting ful on though. The dogs may then take it as its ok to use my teeth on people sort of thing, some not all. Anyways if it bites too hard or whatever just gently grab its tongue, thumb on the tongue and yourother figers under the lower jaw. The second you do it you'll see it struggle to free itself. So to make this short, when it bites a little too hard for you to handle then do it. Next don't confuse the dog either. Make sure everyone has the same ideals. Don't teach double standards or that is exactly what you are going to raise. An adult dog that doesn't take you serious is a mess to try to handle. I might elaborate but time schedule is tight. Try it and see what happens....And set limits fopr the family it is raised around.
LATER

This is not a bad problem it normal
You should see MY hands and arms!
I am seriously going to try and take some pictures of my hands and arms and post them on here, you wont believe it, you would think I raise pirahnas and HAND feed them!
I can count 25 distinct bites/scratches on me right now all scabed up, and thats not including my feet. My pup is 11 weeks and she also nipps like crazy, so did my past 3 PB's, they all do it. The problem I see is they LOVE to play and they have SUPER sharp teeth AND they are teething at this age, and throw in some pretty powerfull jaws (even at this age) and that spells OUCH! She has ripped my mother in laws ear open and my sons just last night. She just barely nips it and they jerked and SNAG there goes your ear!We are trying to diciplin her from it and she is geting better but YOU have to be the carefull one. Do NOT put your face by theres right now, you will have a bloddy nose and ears and everything (when they are riled up).
One of MY biggest problems is that I love to wrestle with my pup, we go at it for about a half hour at a time at least once a day. She loves it and it sure wears her out! I just have to be supre carefull because when wrestling she is like CHOMP CHOMP CHOMP. But if I just stay still she will charge my arm and bump me with her nose and just nip a little. She is starting to know not to bite hard. It just takes time.
If mine bites me too hard I do the the alpha roll thing on her and lay on her until she chills. Just to show her what's up!
Have fun and I hope you are not a hand model!

G