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HELP! Holy terror batman!


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Ok, so over the last week or so we have been struggling with Presley (13.5 wks) and her biting hands. She will not let you pick her up if shes playing or running. She will instead lunge at your hand and bite. I have tried to curb this by telling her BED and closing her in her crate for a little bit. When I let her out, she immediately does it again. And she WILL do it, until shes tired. Then she lays down and is a lasy litle turdmonster. But even then, if I get my hand near her head, she acts like a lazy nipping turd. I have tried giving a light tap and a sharp no, but I can rarely get the tap in, because she lunges at my hand so badly. Shes fast, like, lightening fast.

I purchased an x-pen that will be here next week to use in order to confine her to a smaller space than the living room (which she currently has when she plays). Right now we have baby gates up everywhere so the little 12x12 living room is all she can play in while inside the house, and she will burrow under the couch and not come out if she doesnt want to be picked up, then i can hear her smiling and laughing at me.

I am trying to be her provider, keep my cool, and rol my eyes a LOT. So, when the xpen is here, she will either be in the crate, or in it, or allowed out ONLY if we are all in the floor JUST to play with her. But I need help with the nipping. Shes right on track with the pottying, or so I think. She has a ways to go, but for the most part, she goes outside. She doesnt ASK to, we just take her....a lot. She still has accidents, but not a lot, and not every day.

I know this is long, so sorry. But also, we have a potty patch in the house that she uses when we arent able to let her out every 4 hours, like on weekends if we go grocery shopping. Should I toss that thing and only use it for severe bad weather nights, and not even give her the option to look at it ever?

I am open to cirtisisms and suggestions and everything in-between. My cousin breeds Pugs, and shows them, and she has helped me a lot, but she is not familiar with the Shih Tzu diva personality.

I don't want my dog to think she's bigger than me. And I am afraid she does. Little crapmonger... At least we have curbed her from eating poo... like, 99% of the time.

Edited by JRMMJONES
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I was reading up on that last night. I will read some more. I also would like to know what everyone uses for treats. I treat with EVERY potty outside, and EVERY time she gets in her crate, and EVERY time she successfully does DOWN. Its a lot of treating. Im using the blue buffalo soft ones and cutting them up even smaller. Yesterday she was so awful I got a slice of cheese and cut it up and took a few pieces and we worked on our DOWN command, and i gave her the cheese. For about 20 min, she was really good, then RIGHT BACK to being a turd. I try to make her sit or down before I pick her up, and so far, I am not winning the battle.

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Keeper is a turd too! He is in constant motion. When I pick him up he is wiggling and fighting to get back down. He nips at my face if I get close enough. He can squat and pee in the floor quicker than I can blink. Trust me when I say this all will pass. It is nothing more than puppy behavior. I have raised most of mine (8 Shih Tzu and 2 rescue mixed breeds), from the age of 8 weeks. Some pups are shy and meek and others are on wide open and can be described as nothing less than MONSTERS. Keeper is a monster! Be patient and consistant. Your baby will likely mellow with age. I only use kibble as treats.....a messy bottom on such a hairy little hiney is a terrible thing :blink:

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When can I start leash training her? We haven't yet because I wanted her to have her shots, the first 3 rounds at least. She is the only surviving pup from her litter, the others died of Parvo. Presley was the first one to leave to a new home. The next week, they were all exposed, and then they got sick and died in the following weeks. So I have been super super super anal about where she goes and what grass she is on. Our entire front yard is fenced. The dogs we have outside are all in the back. And i use an xpen to put her in to potty outside so she knows its her potty place.

But I would really like to start walking her some

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You can start doing basic training yourself now. It's funny to read this post as I was watching the Dog Whisperer last night and he was addressing a pup who was biting everyone who got near the male owner and another that was biting at everyone in the house and jumping on the furniture. Basically he was showing the lady the the minpoo was biting that she has to take ownership of where/whatever she is trying to be/do. He showed her how to keep moving forward toward the dog and to us a magazine in front of her to keep him from biting her hand. The other dog, a beagle, he pretty much did the same thing, he owned whatever she was after until she realized that human was in charge of everything.

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I am really trying to let her know that im the leader. Hopefully she will get it, lol. I dont know, took my husband 7 years before he finally gave in...

should I attach her water bottle to her crate? I crate her for 4 hrs in the mornings while Im at work. then i come home for 1 hour and let her out, give her food, and play with her. Then at 1 she goes in, until 3:30 or 4 when my husband and kids get home. Then he takes her potty, plays for a bit, and crates her till I get home at 5.

Im worried she might have to pee if she has free access, plus, I still have to find a non leaking one, Im on the hunt tomorrow.

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Ok this might sound a little harsh but its not, when she is lunging at you and biting grab her by the scruff of her neck GENTLY but firmly tell her no bite hold her there until she stops she will probably have a little hissy fit scream etc it like a temper tantrum. When she stops biting then love her ALOT without treats it will let her know you are in charge since dogs dont understand our language sometimes you have to speak thiers which is body and physical and food until she knows what you want, she had no litter mates to let her know when she was being too rough therefore she has no bite inhibition. I did this with my puppy along with the loud yelping noise and it worked great. When he would bite me I would yelp loudly get up and walk away or scruff him for a moment they long for your attention and will quickly get it. Just remember reinforce positive behavior ingnore negative. The negative behaviors usually fall away with time. Good luck

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When Buddy was Puppy I tried everything and nothing worked. Finally as he grew out of his puppy stage and into adulthood he stopped.

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When we adopted Katy at 9 months she was still doing that to some extent. I solved it in one fell swoop one day when she went after my hand. I grabbed her by the scruff, picked her up so her face was level with mine, yelled "NO!", put her back on the floor and walked away. She never went after us again, although she has on occasion been known to take a swipe at someone she doesn't know who gets too chummy to fast. A grab on the scruff and a firm "no" stops that in its tracks, too.

I realize that will sound cruel to some people, but I had already tried everything I or any of my dog friends knew of. With some dogs, you just have to put the fear of God into them before they "get it". My friend Greg calls that the "Come to Jesus!" moment, lol (actually he says that whenever a dog finally figures something out after you have been trying to teach them for a while).

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Pam does it only work when they are nipping at your or if you catch them nipping at someone else? Bosco will hop up and nip my 5 and 6 year old when they are just walking past him. He has even jumped up and nipped their face. I've done everything but grab the scruff and I worry about that because he is a little big.

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I have done the scruff pickup, and for some reason, it doesn't seem to bother her. However, I did find a miracle product this weekend at Petsmart. It's called Scentry: STOP THAT! It smells like lavender, and it makes a loud sudden HISSSSS. 3 uses and she stopped. For an entire day. Sunday I only had to use it once, and this morning, she never tried biting. I am hoping she had her come to Jesus moment.

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GMA, in my experience it works no matter what. It all goes back to dog psychology - an alpha will discipline by a scruff pin and/or shake. It's not my preferred method, but when I need to do it I don't hesitate. I have also gotten control of a few out-of-control-dominant grooming dogs by combining it with alpha rolls: I did 5 in a row on an absolutely vicious 5-month-old Shih Tzu puppy (who belonged to an acquaintance) once and it completely changed her attitude...at least towards me, lol! For a couple of years she would be giving whatever student I had assigned her to hell, and all I had to do was walk over to her and say, "Precious (that was her name), what do you think you're doing?" She would immediately be VERY happy to see me and behave for the rest of that groom! She and I became great friends.

Robin, I have heard of others having good success with that product and similar ones! It certainly seems to be worth a try for most people.

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  • 2 years later...
roxieyap

Hi, I just want to share my experience with Fluffy. We had issues with her biting and nipping. And she does play rough. We made her understand that we are not tolerating her behavior so we started to train her to stop puppy biting. It was hard at first but eventually she came around. You just have to assert yourself with these dogs. :dribble:

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