# Housetraining/biting/bad habits



## Daisies500 (Jun 20, 2009)

Hi there everyone! I haven't posted in a while because we got our new puppy, Sasha and I've been very busy. She's about 13 weeks now. I have some questions I was hoping you could help me with.

OK, we have two crates- one near the living room and one in our bedroom. She sleeps in our room with no problems. We have always taken her outside frequently for eliminating. She definitely knows she is not supposed to pee or poop in the house by this point. When I catch her it's a firm NO and she is taken out. However, she doesn;t seem to know how to signal to me when she needs to go out. Is there any way I can help teach her that? I do my best to take her out a lot, but I have six kids, two still in diapers, and it's really hard to watch her all the time. I do crate her but my kids will let her out, I will let her out because I start feeling guilty, and it seems like she runs to an out of the way room to pee and poop very quickly.

Another thing- she bites A LOT. A few of the kids are terrified of her and we all have scratches on our arms and legs from her teeth. I have alternated tactics like holding her mouth closed when she starts biting me and saying NO BITE, to just putting her out on the porch when she refuses to stop. A few of the bites (they are really more like scratches since she's not chomping hard) have been bad- I thought the other day my son might need a stitch on his ear. Any better advice, or does it just take time? She does usually stop when I yell her name- it just seems like I can't let her be with the kids which is tough. Otherwise in no time one of them is screaming and she's on top of them trying to bite/play.

Also, she eats EVERYTHING. She has gotten hold of poopie diapers and let me NOT tell you how disgusting that was....UGH! I am doing better with blocking her access to the garage and garbage can but I worry she is going to eat something that will make her sick one of these days. She eats her own poop too. Another thing puppies outgrow, I hope?

Any advice greatly appreciated.

Heather


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## BlakeandLiza (Aug 13, 2009)

Heather,

I have helped two relatives with their dogs on similar problems. The only thing I did was clap my hands close to the dog's ears and say "no".

My grandmother's dog LOVED to eat tissues. So I purposely sat on the floor with a tissue and teased her with it. When she would start to grab for it, I would clap my hands and say "no" very loud and affirmative. She would back up and look like "what in the world was that?" The next time she went back to it she was more cautious, and I would repeat my procedure. Eventually, I could lay a tissue on her head and she wouldn't touch it. She didn't seem to like the loud noise as it startled her....so she associated the tissue with the bad noise and hasn't bothered a tissue again.

My aunt's puppy was famous for nipping at the kids, so I did the same thing. When she would come to me for attention, I would do the clap and "no" procedure. When she stopped for that split second trying to figure out what the noise was, I would reach down and pet her gently. After some repetition, she realized that getting attention meant she had to be nice and gentle. If she was too rough, she would the crap scared out of her with the clap and "no". 

Eventually you can just work down to "no"...but the clap gets their attention much faster and gives you a few seconds to redirect the attention.

Hope this is something different that might help.


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## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

> Originally Posted By: Daisies500Hi there everyone! I haven't posted in a while because we got our new puppy, Sasha and I've been very busy. She's about 13 weeks now. I have some questions I was hoping you could help me with.
> 
> OK, we have two crates- one near the living room and one in our bedroom. She sleeps in our room with no problems. We have always taken her outside frequently for eliminating. She definitely knows she is not supposed to pee or poop in the house by this point. When I catch her it's a firm NO and she is taken out.


<span style="color: #3333FF">If you're catching her peeing it means she's NOT yet fully housetrained and needs more time. If she's slinking away when you tell her NO when you catch her it's because your corrections are too harsh for such a young puppy. You need to be teaching an Inside/Outside command and giving her more time. You can also put bells on your door and ring them before taking her out to "Go Potty"

If you feel guilty about crating her, tether her to yourself somehow, then you can watch her and have her out of the crate. </span>



> Quote: Another thing- she bites A LOT. A few of the kids are terrified of her and we all have scratches on our arms and legs from her teeth. I have alternated tactics like holding her mouth closed when she starts biting me and saying NO BITE, to just putting her out on the porch when she refuses to stop. A few of the bites (they are really more like scratches since she's not chomping hard) have been bad- I thought the other day my son might need a stitch on his ear. Any better advice, or does it just take time? She does usually stop when I yell her name- it just seems like I can't let her be with the kids which is tough. Otherwise in no time one of them is screaming and she's on top of them trying to bite/play.


<span style="color: #3366FF">I would not suggest trying to teach the No bite yet. She's doing something that comes natural to her. You also need to have a toy on you at ALL times so that you can redirect the behavior. If she's biting stick a tug in her mouth for a quick play session and praise for playing with the toy and not mauling your arm. 
Puppies are all about redirection and teaching appropriate behavior NOT corrections. 

What you need to be doing is teaching Bite Inhibition.<span style="color: #FF0000"> That is, every time she bites and it hurts, you YELP or say "Ouch"/act like it really hurt and walk away into another room and leave her to wonder what she did wrong. 
</span>
You want her to bite you because that's how you teach her to have a soft mouth. 

If you skip all the way to No Bite already, one day she's going to accidentally bite and there's going to be no inhibition, she'll break the skin or take treats too roughly. 
A dog taught inhibition, will take treats gently so as not to hurt you and if somehow a bite is provoked it will not break the skin. 

Puppies get riled, up if you let your children scream and try to push her off, they think it's play. No, puppies and children need to be carefully supervised at all times and the children need to be taught how to interact with her as well.

If she gets too riled up and not even the yelping is helping, (which can sometimes get them more excited) say in a happy tone "OK! You win the crate time game!!" and in the crate she goes until she calms down. Do not let your children let her out of the crate, you should not be feeling sorry for her. She is a dog







and a puppy at that, who does not know when she needs to nap. You need to make her nap. 
She needs RULES, BOUNDARIES and LIMITATIONS. Although, I don't do everything Ceaser says to do, I do agree with that. </span>




> Quote: Also, she eats EVERYTHING. She has gotten hold of poopie diapers and let me NOT tell you how disgusting that was....UGH! I am doing better with blocking her access to the garage and garbage can but I worry she is going to eat something that will make her sick one of these days. She eats her own poop too. Another thing puppies outgrow, I hope?


<span style="color: #3366FF">Again, tethering her to you will solve a lot of your problems. You're only setting yourself up for failure if you don't keep an eye on her at all times. My puppy ate EVERYTHING but she did grow out of it at around 5 months or so. She'll have a relapse every now and then. </span>

ETA: I would not do the clap scare method, you do not want her to be afraid of loud noises.


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## GSDMaya (Apr 15, 2009)

Hello Heather,

My little Maya (8 months now) used to eat her own poop when we first got her (she was 8 weeks). After her first visit at the vet (about 2 days after getting her) her poop sample came back positive for worms she had caught from her mother's feces.
She was given antibiotics BUT we had to make sure no more poop eating for her to be totaly cured.
The only suggestion I have for you is to watch her everytime she goes out to do her business...and pick it up right away. She will them learn not to love it anymore! It took Maya about 2 weeks.
If your pup is like Maya, she should be very regular on when she poops (most likely after a meal (within 5 minutes)?)It makes it easier to know when to get the poopoo scoper!

The bitting goes away eventually. We used the "no bitting" (yes, you will say it 100 times a day at first), "ough it hurts!" (didn't seem to work), "redirect her to a toy" (when near one).
I also agree that she probably thinks the kids are playing when they try to get her off themselves (they probably use high pitch voices which will excite her even more)....you should probably be the one making her stop since you are the pack leader.

Hope this helps.


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## Tbarrios333 (May 31, 2009)

"Ouch" doesn't really stop the biting. It's more so that they know they're biting too hard. When they're older they are much more careful with their teeth and your skin. 
Right now, I can rough play with Denali with all her brand new big girl teeth and I won't get a scratch on me. She's still learning that those are a little bigger than the baby ones though


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## Daisies500 (Jun 20, 2009)

Thanks for the advice. If I yelp REALLY loud, she does stop and stare at me like I'm nuts.

When do you find that they will bark or signal to go out? I mean about what age?


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## angierose (Apr 20, 2009)

Depends on the dog, and you have to really watch to figure out what your pup's particular signal is. Ours got the general idea of housetraining the first week she was home, but as we took her out frequently, she never had much need to signal. Around four months I noticed that she had started to give me a "stare" when it was time, then she'd go sit in front of the door and watch over her shoulder for me. She almost never whines or whimpers.

I like the idea of the bells on the doors, I think a dog could really figure that out and it would be very useful, though I haven't done it myself yet.


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## MikeB06 (Mar 12, 2006)

Oh Heather, I think you have taken on a little more than you can handle. You now have 7 kids and 3 that are not potty trained. LOL

It takes time to get your puppy into a established routine for eating and potty on some schedule. Enlist the help of your older kids that can help you. Teach all the kids to always ask YOU if they can let the pup out of the crate. No one bothers the pup in the crate when it is resting. 

Several KONG toys are helpful. Don't bother with the puppy ones, buy the RED Kongs, or others like it to stuff with food treats and biscuits while in the crate. White Sterilized bones are great too. They have hollow centers where you can put just a dab of peanut butter. NYLABONES can help too. They come in many different shapes and sizes. Some you can even buy at WalMart. Walmart also has DOGZILLA, red rubber chew toys in many sizes and shapes too. Much less money than the pet store. Stuff them like a KONG too. 

Stay away from Rawhides, Pig Ears, Cow hooves, ect. They all can cause to many problems.

Plan to get your puppy into puppy training classes SOON as possible. It will help YOU and your pup learn to live a much better life together. 

Like kids raising a puppy takes lots of time but the puppy will grow up much faster than your kids. So teach both how to act around each other and no one should get hurt.


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## afurr (Mar 4, 2009)

I have a 4 month old puppy who just recently (within the last week) decided how he was going to tell us to go out. For the first month or so we had him, we took him out every hour regardless of what we thought. This past weekend he started sitting by the front door, and we say "You want to go outside" and he'll start spinning in circles







We didn't train him out to tell us, he seemed to figure that part out one day on his own


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## wakefield622 (Aug 17, 2009)

Mandy is 11 weeks old. She seems to bite more than she does anything else. It's like one of our 2 kids (ages 2 and 3.5) are running and she bites at them, at the air, at their feet etc. It is SO frustrating. The "yipe" thing worked for my husband. He actually does it really good. And he sounds like a puppy! I can not do it! When I do she just just looks like "whatever". I have tried holding her mouth as well. She just whines and I don't even think connects it to biting. The kids even know how to say "No Bite" and always say it to her. I hope this is a habit she outgrows. 

I totally understand the potty training process and how frustrating it can be! I have a 2 year old in diapers and now potty training the pup! We just made a pen area in the back yard for her and are trying to get her used to pooping/peeing there and it's like starting from the beginning all over again with leash and all!


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## Daisies500 (Jun 20, 2009)

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the support. Well, when we brought the dog home we told all of the kids to be gentle, never hit or hurt the puppy in any way...but I didn't reckon on how much SHE was going to hurt THEM. I'm not holding it against her, I understand it's their nature and they outgrow it, but it's so hard sometimes. I think if I had it to do over I might have gotten an older dog. I think I need to get back to crating her and taking her out once an hour. Just waiting for it to sink in that she can't go in the house. Found two huge pee puddles today, both within minutes of her having been outside.


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## Technostorm (May 24, 2009)

Hi Daisies500,

Just wanted to chime in that it takes patience and as time goes by, it'll get easier. We've all been thru that stage as new puppy arrives and things get hectic. But what some of the replies have already mentioned works. 

On poop eating, you just need to be patience and scoop up any and potty immediately right after she goes. There are other debris to worry about as well such as small rocks, bugs dead or alive, mushrooms, wood chips.

As for recognizing when to go out and signaling you to go potty, I would make a suggestion to start NILIF whereas you make her sit by the door and totally calm before letting her out to potty. As time goes, she'll connect that with needing to go outside. Once she gets used to that, she'll sit by the door waiting patiently to be let out. 

For bite inhibition, the previous posters all are correct in redirecting her to a chew toy or squeeky. Bare in mind that dogs have a greater sense of expression recognition specially on humans therefore, if "ouch" doesn't work, simply exaggerate the pain and frown, then immediately turn around and ignore her or guide her to her crate. This helps trememdously. 

Good luck and congratz on your new kid.


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## Daisies500 (Jun 20, 2009)

Thanks Techno! At least with my human babies I always knew where the poop was!!


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