# Stop her from biting things ON me?



## MiaMoo (Apr 6, 2013)

Mia is very good about not biting. You can mess with her mouth, her face, you can put your hands in her mouth and still nothing - She won't bite down. 
The problem is when she has a toy she insists on pressing it up against you while she chews it. With smaller toys she pretty frequently pinches skin in the process. Ouch. She turned a year old 4 days ago, this started not long ago.

I have no idea how exactly to go about teaching her that it's not okay to chew her toys on someone. Right now we're just noving her away from us whenever she tries to do It. 

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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

maybe she's trying to share her toy with you or she wants attention. does she know "go to (insert place)", "back up", etc. take the toy away or play with her. when my dog brings me a toy i play with him for a few minutes.


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## MiaMoo (Apr 6, 2013)

doggiedad said:


> maybe she's trying to share her toy with you or she wants attention. does she know "go to (insert place)", "back up", etc. take the toy away or play with her. when my dog brings me a toy i play with him for a few minutes.


It seems like she just wants to push it up against something so she can chew it better, she does it to floors/couches/chairs/etc. Usually I'll play with her for a minute when she comes over, but once she starts it's pretty constant until she gets bored with the toy.

And she's learning the "over there" command, she's getting better at it, but when she has that toy it's like a magnet is drawing her to your leg.

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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

it's a good time to teach "over there" when she brings you the toy.



MiaMoo said:


> It seems like she just wants to push it up against something so she can chew it better, she does it to floors/couches/chairs/etc. Usually I'll play with her for a minute when she comes over, but once she starts it's pretty constant until she gets bored with the toy.
> 
> >>>>> And she's learning the "over there" command, she's getting better at it, but when she has that toy it's like a magnet is drawing her to your leg.<<<<<
> 
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## MiaMoo (Apr 6, 2013)

doggiedad said:


> it's a good time to teach "over there" when she brings you the toy.


What is the best way to teach "over there"? 

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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

i don't know the best way to teach "over there" or "go to (insert place)".
i taught my dog "go to (insert name of person or place). 

"go to your crate". form the time my dog was a pup whenever i put
him in his crate i use to say "go to your crate". i would pick my pup up.
while carrying him to his crate i say "go to your crate" a few times.
when we reached the crate i placed the pup on the floor in front of the 
crate and i said it again "go to your crate". i practiced/trained a lot during
the course of the day. once he started learning "go to your crate" i placed 
him on the florr close to the crate and said "go to your crate". i started making 
the distance further and further away form the crate when i said
"go to your crate". we reached a point i could say "go to your crate"
from anywhere in the house. if i propped open the front door i could tell
him ''go to your crate" from anywhere around the yard.



MiaMoo said:


> What is the best way to teach "over there"?
> 
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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

if i were going to teach my dog "over there" i would use a hand signal
along with the verbal command. i would point somewhere to give him some 
direction. i would tell him "over there" and then i would walk him away from where
we are. i might stand in front of him walk into him to make him back up. "over there" 
would mean out of this area because i'm not telling him to go somewhere specific. 
you could teach your dog to "back up".


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## MiaMoo (Apr 6, 2013)

doggiedad said:


> if i were going to teach my dog "over there" i would use a hand signal
> along with the verbal command. i would point somewhere to give him some
> direction. i would tell him "over there" and then i would walk him away from where
> we are. i might stand in front of him walk into him to make him back up. "over there"
> ...


Thank you doggiedad.


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## David Winners (Apr 30, 2012)

I would train a PLACE command. I train all my dogs to go to their dog beds on this command. It's handy when you have someone at the door, when you're cooking in the kitchen, when you are carrying something... it's one of the first things I teach.

Here is how I teach PLACE using markers:

I put a dog bed in the middle of the room. I point at the bed and, using my posture, encourage the dog to touch the bed. As soon as a foot hits the bed I mark and reward, which releases the dog.

Then I walk away a few steps and repeat. 

I then gradually raise the criteria, requiring 2 feet on the bed before the mark, then 3, then all 4.

After the dog is running to the bed and placing all 4 feet on the bed every time, I add duration, meaning the dog has to stay there until released. I also add the command PLACE. 

The duration is increased in increments of 1 second at first. So, it would go like this:

Dog is engaged with you and offering eye contact, but it's away from the bed by a couple of feet. You point at the bed and give the PLACE command.

Dog runs to bed, placing all 4 feet on the bed.

You wait 1 second, then mark and reward.

You can add duration now by continuing to mark and reward while the dog stays on the bed. When you want the dog to release, give your release command (mine is OK) and lead the dog away from the bed.

Continue increasing the duration by waiting longer before you mark.

After you have the duration built up to a minute or so, you can add distance. There are 3 different ways to add distance, and I only work on one at a time. The first way to add distance is to increase the initial distance between the dog and the bed. Gradually increase the distance the dog has to travel to get to the bed. You can make a game out of this by hiding the bed in another room or upstairs, just go slow, and be sure the dog understands what you are asking it to do.

Next, you can increase the distance between you and the dog when you give the command. Have the dog wait, in a STAY, SIT, or DOWN. Take a step away from the dog and then give the PLACE command. Gradually increase this distance until the dog complies no matter where you are in relation to the dog.

Then you can increase the distance you are away from the bed while the dog is on it. Give the PLACE command, and then take a step back from the bed before the mark and reward. Gradually increase the distance you can walk away before the mark.

The final step is to proof the behavior, and vary up the reward schedule. This is when you begin asking for the behavior outside of training sessions, and giving gentle corrections for non compliance. The corrections should fit the rest of your training. You should also proof the stay on the bed by adding distractions, such as a rolling ball or tossed treat. The dog only gets marked and rewarded for staying on the bed no matter what. The mark is now faded and replaced with praise and a variable treat /toy. 

If the dog comes off the bed before you release it, it gets a correction, taken back to the bed, and the exercise begins again. Do not let the dog get the tossed toy or treat! Good leash skills are important here. 

It may seem like a lengthy process, but it goes pretty quickly with most dogs. Inside a week you can have the dog excitedly going to the bed when asked. I use multiple beds in my house, and I allow the dogs to choose whichever bed they want. Sometimes they all pile onto the same bed lol.

That's the way I train PLACE in my house, and it is one of the most often used commands during daily life. It's also handy when you are training multiple dogs. You can have the observing dogs on their beds while you are working with an individual.

I welcome questions and criticism! 

David Winners


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## Cassidy's Mom (Mar 30, 2003)

Excellent post, David, that's pretty much how I trained Halo. Some things I'd add:

An automatic down on the bed - At first I cued this, but when she dropped into the down I used a different, higher value treat. For the basic place training I was using her kibble, and for the down I gave her a piece of Natural Balance roll. I only had to cue the down a couple of times, and then I started just waiting for it. Once she figured out that a down on the mat earned a better reward than standing on it, she started offering it automatically. In our first training session on the mat I had her running to it from a couple feet away, spinning around to face me and dropping into an uncued down within 10 minutes!

Generalizing the mat to different spots - I wanted to make sure that she understood the mat was the spot, regardless of where it was, I trained her with it in a different room in the house every day. First day was the family room, second day was the kitchen, third day was the entry by the front door, then the living room, the dining room, the bedroom, etc. 

Here she is on day two of mat training at 5 months old: 










She started offering the head down behavior on her own, so I ended up naming that and putting it on cue! I also began taking the mat with me to all her training classes after this, so she had a "chill" spot to hang out while the trainer was describing and demonstrating the upcoming exercises we'd be working on. I haven't actually used the mat in awhile, we're doing flyball and she hangs out in her crate at practice and tournaments, but at the time she was SO into the mat that I was starting to have trouble getting her to come off it when released, lol.


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## MiaMoo (Apr 6, 2013)

Thank you both very much. I'll definitely start a 'place' command. I greatly appreciate the step-by-step. 

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## t_k05 (Oct 2, 2013)

Hello. I'm new to this. I have a 10 week old white german shepherd named Kalei. She has just been driving me crazy. I got her about a week ago. She has been doing a lil better with pooping and peeing. But she has been just biting and chewing a lot. Even with our other dog we have. All the time they see each other she just has to play around and bite each other. I don't know how to make her stop biting!


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## hunterisgreat (Jan 30, 2011)

She's trying to interact with you. Get a bigger toy, then her mouth won't reach


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