# Biting hands, arms, ankles, etc.



## marinehoney

I know I have asked this question before but I didnt get good replies in regards to the biting. My 8 month old female shepherd bites constantly. Is she too old to act this way? I am wondering if as a puppy she was not reprimanded for such behavior. She gets very excited and runs all over us and bites pretty hard playfully. My 3 year olds arms and legs are all marked up from her biting him and sliding her teeth across his skin. My husband and I have tried laying her on her side, holding her mouth closed, yelping and yelling at her, putting her outside, walking away (then she bites our heels), kenneling her after biting, giving her toys, pushing her away. Everything only seems to excite her more! I am wondering if a spray bottle of water will work? maybe a muzzle or head harness? How do we get her to stop biting? She is very large already and super hard to control especially since she bolts all over us and charges at us and speeds away when we get mad at her for biting! Will extra play and excercise with her help possibly? I need HELP! Any tips, stories, advice, or resources will greatly help us. Thank you in advance!  
(p.s) we got her a about a month ago.


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## Lucy Dog

It's definitely unacceptable for a 8 month old to be acting like this, but if you've allowed it in the past, she probably just thinks it is acceptable. It's a training issue.

Stop pinning her down and making her yelp. That's just nonsense training and accomplishes nothing. Same goes for the water spraying and a muzzle really isn't needed unless the dog is seriously aggressive and that doesn't sound like that's the case here.

Do you know what redirection training is? Have you ever tried it in the past? You can google it or search for it here, but it's very common training. Basically, when the dog tried to bite, you redirect her to her favorite toy. You trade your arm (not acceptable to chew on) to a chew toy (acceptable to chew on). You're "redirecting" her to something appropriate to chew on.


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## marinehoney

Thank you I will search this training process. We yelp at her when she bites but then she gets more excited. We pin her on her side, to show were dominant? does not work. i thought the spray bottle may work, but then thought it would just make her afraid of spray bottles. She is not aggressive but she does do damage with her biting for sure. we only got her a month ago and have tried everything to show her that her biting is unnacceptable but everything weve tried only seems to fuel her flames.


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## Lucy Dog

Ohh... you yelp at her. I thought you meant you pinned her down and made her yelp. Either way, it's not really a good way to train her out of this. It just doesn't work.

Forget the alpha rolling... it's nonsense. It proves nothing to your dog. You want your pup to think you're dominant? Be a fair and consistent training and I'm sure that's all you'll need to prove "dominance". Plus this really isn't even a dominance issue... it's a puppy who thinking nipping is acceptable behavior issue.

And when doing this redirection training... make sure to always be consistent. When the dog starts to nip, you redirect immediately. Don't even let her nip for a second. You need to make that toy fun. Make it a game of tug if you have to. Make that toy more fun than a boring arm or ankle.

Also, what kind of daily exercise and training is she getting? She might just have some energy to burn if she isn't getting enough. It's not going to solve this issue, but can help in the process of training.

Here's a good thread you may want to check out: http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/training-our-puppy-basic/134407-teaching-bite-inhibition.html


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## Emoore

marinehoney said:


> We pin her on her side, to show were dominant? does not work. i thought the spray bottle may work, but then thought it would just make her afraid of spray bottles.


Pinning on the side is a bad idea. You're going to make her afraid of _you._ Please don't do this. Redirect, redirect, redirect. Preferably do something squeaky. You notice yelping excites her and makes her bite more? A squeaky will make her want to bite it.


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## marinehoney

She does have this squeaky toy and when she squeaks it she whines with it, its funny. We are always playing on the floor with her and she runs all over us and jumps in our laps and is just way rough. How can we keep her from doing this as well when were trying to play with her? Well stop pinning her down, its just something i thought id try since i saw it on a tv show and it seemed to work. Thank you for clarifying our problem, she isnt tryint to assert dominance, shes just playfully biting. She gets to go outside whenever she wants, we play with her throughout the day with balls and rope, she gets daily walks (about 20 minutes) i was thinking id up the time on our walks or do runs instead?


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## Lucy Dog

Remember... now that you're trying to train her out of this puppy biting, make sure to never allow her to do it again. You have to be very consistent. I understand that sometimes it's cute and fun to wrestle around with a puppy, but you're only going to confuse her if you allow it even once in a while.

Always have a toy ready and never allow the puppy biting again. For now on, she only chews on her toys, no arms.


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## Emoore

marinehoney said:


> We are always playing on the floor with her and she runs all over us and jumps in our laps and is just way rough. How can we keep her from doing this as well when were trying to play with her?


Don't play on the floor with her. Find different ways to play. Play tug, play fetch, play flirtpole, teach her to play hide and seek with the kids (kids hide with a treat, she has to find them and gets the treat)


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## marinehoney

so always have a toy ready for biting? its hard for us to walk away from her cause she just chases and bites our ankles and jumps up on us. shes hard to ignore.


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## Brisco_dog

have shepherd=will bite.seeing that you got her just a month ago, nobody told her it wasn't ok to bite skin. be patient with her. :wub:be more positive with training. being "dominant" isn't going to get her to repsect you. make sure you have lots of toys around you to stuff in that mouth of teeth. praise her when she bites her toys!


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## marinehoney

were on the floor for now for good while waiting for our furniture delivery. so when she comes in or out of her kennel. there is no way for us to get up higher than her. which also makes it harder because when were on the floor she wants to climb on us and sit on our laps.


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## Lucy Dog

marinehoney said:


> so always have a toy ready for biting? its hard for us to walk away from her cause she just chases and bites our ankles and jumps up on us. shes hard to ignore.


Exactly... always have that toy ready to go. Maybe even multiple toys at all times in the beginning.

When you walk away and she attempts to bite, get that toy out. When she takes the toy instead of your hand or leg, praise her for being a good girl. 

Be patient and consistent... it will pay off in the end.


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## marinehoney

This is exactly why i LOVE this site. you guys are always so helpful! thank you! toys will be out when she is in the house and now we will start the no biting journey!  wish us luck!


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## Courtney

Whenever I tried to "yelp" when his little teeth would sink in it would get him more excited...so that one never worked for me. lol

But the redirection did with a toy, they soon catch on, but remember to praise as soon as you get the desired behaviour. Our trainer use to tell us we have less than 3 seconds to mark desired behaviour.

Good luck!


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## Emoore

marinehoney said:


> were on the floor for now for good while waiting for our furniture delivery. so when she comes in or out of her kennel. there is no way for us to get up higher than her. which also makes it harder because when were on the floor she wants to climb on us and sit on our laps.


Oh, haha, sorry I didn't know you were furniture-less. Either way it's important for her to learn fun ways to play that don't involve roughhousing. Try some of the stuff I suggested-- "search" for the treat that you've hidden, hide-and-seek with the kids, tug, fetch, flirtpole, etc. If the only way she knows to play is by roughhousing, it'll be a lot harder to train her not to do it because no roughhousing = no play. If she knows there are other fun ways to play it will be easier to redirect her to one of those.


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## PaddyD

20 minute walk a day is nothing for a young GSD. She needs much more physical outlet than that. At least an hour, maybe not all at one time of walking, running, jogging. If you can do fetch outside it would help.


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## shepherdmom

Lucy Dog said:


> Ohh... you yelp at her. I thought you meant you pinned her down and made her yelp. Either way, it's not really a good way to train her out of this. It just doesn't work.


Actually I've raised 4 Shepherd puppies and it worked fine every time, so some dogs it does work and works well.  (crying when they bite you I mean not pinning her down and making her cry... )


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## marinehoney

We just went to petsmart and got a giant squeaky twig, big tug of war rope, pork bones for teething and chewing, and a kong stuffed with a treat. We put the twig and kong up so that we can rotate the toys. Shs currently has this pork bone thing and is laying quietly chewing on it and LOVES it. hasnt bitten us since she got home, maybe she needed something to chew as well! I really wish we couldve found a flirt pole but we didnt. thanks so much for the suggestions they are already helping us out!


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## Emoore

marinehoney said:


> I really wish we couldve found a flirt pole but we didnt. thanks so much for the suggestions they are already helping us out!


A flirt pole is something you build, not something you buy. I built mine by tying a soft squeaky toy to the end of a lunge whip from the feed store. Total cost was less than $10.


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## lorihd

good advice here. my girl is 8 mos and can become wild if i dont exercise her enough. that 45 minutes in the morning and the same in the evening, if i dont I PAY THE PRICE! any family members feet are a huge target and hands too. when i do give her exercise she is a different more balanced dog. good thing about walking her is i do obedience training as well (kill 2 birds with one stone) good luck


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## gypsyrose

marinehoney said:


> She does have this squeaky toy and when she squeaks it she whines with it, its funny. We are always playing on the floor with her and she runs all over us and jumps in our laps and is just way rough. How can we keep her from doing this as well when were trying to play with her? Well stop pinning her down, its just something i thought id try since i saw it on a tv show and it seemed to work. Thank you for clarifying our problem, she isnt tryint to assert dominance, shes just playfully biting. She gets to go outside whenever she wants, we play with her throughout the day with balls and rope, she gets daily walks (about 20 minutes) i was thinking id up the time on our walks or do runs instead?


 I have to weigh in here; your talking about Gypsy she was and is just as you say your dog is. She is two now and I have a cut on my arm about two inches long from contact with a toe nail. Dont dispair, train I agree with most of what i've read and this is the place that helped me most. First you have to keep your dog tired and learning obedience will tire her out as much as running down the road more maybe. For the biting teach leave it. Get something to play tug with but stop tugging be very still with your eyes at the dogs level as soon as the dog lets go say leave it use treats if you have to to redirect the dog from the tug and again leave it. teach sit teach down teach NO BITE along with leave it, it all goes together it takes patience and persistance, teach touch, center, use treats use toys play but be in charge of the play. When the dog puts its mouth on you say NO BITE and forget and keep playing. if it gets too rough give it a special treat and in the kennel. you should see what gypsy will do for a denta stick I use gold fish cheese crackers. You can turn this around and have alot of fun starting now and the bad stuff will melt away as you teach the good stuff and your dog will start suprising you. i get the biggest kick out of playing with gypsy in front of friends and neighbors and it all started here asking the same questions you are. That no bite thing comes in real handy at the vets office lol:crazy:


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## vicky2200

As mentioned, it sounds as if your pup needs more exercise. Not all German Shepherds require more to be on their best behavior (mine doesn't, never did) but many do. I'd suggest trying fetch. Many GSDs love it! Also try doing a morning and evening walk and run when you can. For this type of behavior my goal would be a minimum of 1.5 hours walking and 1 hour playing fetch _daily._


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## chancey

now that chance is healed,
and eating, putting wt on etc,
he has so much more energy, 
i was unfortunately sick myself and only just now getting my own energy back, so he has had almost no exercise last 2mos.
except what he gets himself in backyard.
the small amt of play i've been able to do with him i wouldn't count as exercise as such short duration....
however i think chance has been patient w/ me and somehow knows i've been sick aslo, he seems to know i took care of him when he was so sick after surgery... soooooo
point is- he is just now becoming a more normal dog again.
w/ that comes normal bad doggy habits incl biting.
he only bites at me thankfully, and not bite more like mouthy nips, carefully getting just my sleeve and not at just skin.
still it isn't ok.
i say no and ignore.
it doesn't work too well.
>>>>>>>>>>> after reading this thread, i am going to do the redirection training w/ a toy. 
also gypsyrose, i loved the video and i am going to start training chance 
he is super smart and just needs direction. i have no excuse for not doing some training with him now that he can focus.
also, i am feeling so much better, we are slowly easing back into walking/hiking routines....
**how is the redirecting working w/ this thread originator? i'm sry, but i forgot name... plz post your progress, i am interested


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## marinehoney

Rogue is no longer biting, nipping, or ankle biting. After about a week, she was not doing it anymore. Redirection training works great. Also, we got a second dog which helped a lot too. Plus--upping the daily excercise really helps.


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