[beaver]

We have a 13 week female American Bulldog and all she does is try to nip and use her mouth for everything. We got her at 8 weeks and I take her to Puppy Class (of course she is the one that misbhaves). I am extremely firm with her, use a training leash around the house and do everything by the book. She is crate trained. Problem is when I let her out all she does and want to "play" with my 5 year old and 2 year old by gnawing on them. I tell the dog a firm "NO" and make her sit..give her a toy..pig ear..whatever. She calms down and goes right back at it. Sometimes "Maddy" (dogs name) gets aggressive towards me when I correct her and I put her in the alpha roll..she calms right down...pops back up and starts all over again. Its to the point that she cant even play without this gnawing on us. Any tips here on something I could try. I think this is just puppy normal puppy behavior but she isnt seeming to get that biting will not be allowed.

I have also tried discipline by putting her in the bathroom and that seemed to only escalate the bad behavior and not mention the poo and pee left in there after every time out. Nothing seems to work. Some say I have a great "bully" on my hands because of this stuff. LOL.

 

[PaulaEdwina]

We have a 13 week female American Bulldog and all she does is try to nip and use her mouth for everything. We got her at 8 weeks and I take her to Puppy Class (of course she is the one that misbhaves). I am extremely firm with her, use a training leash around the house and do everything by the book. She is crate trained. Problem is when I let her out all she does and want to "play" with my 5 year old and 2 year old by gnawing on them. I tell the dog a firm "NO" and make her sit..give her a toy..pig ear..whatever. She calms down and goes right back at it. Sometimes "Maddy" (dogs name) gets aggressive towards me when I correct her and I put her in the alpha roll..she calms right down...pops back up and starts all over again. Its to the point that she cant even play without this gnawing on us. Any tips here on something I could try. I think this is just puppy normal puppy behavior but she isnt seeming to get that biting will not be allowed.

I have also tried discipline by putting her in the bathroom and that seemed to only escalate the bad behavior and not mention the poo and pee left in there after every time out. Nothing seems to work. Some say I have a great "bully" on my hands because of this stuff. LOL.

It is only escalating the behavior because mouthing play is a normal part of puppy behavior and, unfortunately, aggressively trying to stop it (alpha rolls, etc) often just stimulated more play because from her point of view you're just playing too (kind of like yelling at a barking dog to stop barking rarely achieves its purpose).

1. Play her out - that energy has to go somewhere. It is going to be an exercise in frustration to try to get a hyper dog to be still without bleeding off some of that energy.

2. When she mouths just stop playing. Stopping play is the worst punishiment in that she gets no payoff for her behavior. It is also the toughest training technique to master from the human's point of view because your goal is to give NO energy back to the system. She'll eventually learn to use a softer mouth and gentler playing techniques. Unfortunately since she's been getting to act this way for while, she's going to test your 'ignore'. Stick to your guns.

Paula

 

[Grizwald]

PaulaEdwina is RIGHT ON.

Grizwald went though his chompy phase too and it drove us nuts.

Every time he'd bite/mouth we would just withdraw attention completely. That includes negative attention. Show him that mouthing produces NOTHING for him. We'd just abruptly stop playing and turn away or fold our hands under our arms, look at the sky and say to each other "what puppy? There's no puppy here!" Griz would get confused and usually sit down and cock his head. Then we'd praise. Bullies are smart but stubborn. He'll get it if you are super consistent but it might take some real work. Griz was like that for a month or so and then suddenly one day he just stopped!

Hang in there, don't punish after the fact, and good luck!

 

[beaver]

I just wanted to thank everyone on this board for the information and time they take to post. This is my first AB (I have 2 pugs) and I wanted a breed that would be great with my kids and protect the house. I did all the research and investigative work and found the AB to be a perfect match. I am going to focus on withdrawing attention and see how that goes.

My wife was all worried that this was signs of an aggressive dog and since the AB gets mistaken for a pit bull she is extremely worried about any aggression. She will be glad to read its normal puppy behavior.

 

[KyleB]

sounds just like my hemi boy, man that's al he ever wanted to do - bite and chew and nibble on us! play play play! But now, he is the sweetest most gentle 73lb 6 month old i know.. haha

 

[Pitchic27]

PUPPY! One thing I often do is redirect, always keep a rope toy handy. I also do a loud whimper as well as all of my kids, so the pup knows it's hurting us. These two things worked for my girl, as she got older we gave a verbal command of "no bite". And now we're starting it all over!

 

[Lincoln's Mom :)]

Lincoln was a terrible nipper/biter.. and being aggressive with him, did cause him to be more aggressive. Be very consistent and don't give up even though results can be slow and feels as though you're wasting your time. We tired Lincoln out as much as possible.. I read on here from someone "a tired dog is a good dog" and I think thats a fantastic way to put it! We also gave him time outs in the bathroom for like 1 minute every time he actually bit and then let him out and said r u going to be good.. if he went to nip again he wasnt allowed out the bathroom.. Until finally he'd keep his mouth shut and do anything to get out of his time out.

 

[Rue2]

Celeste hasn't quite clued in yet that NO chomping (mouthing) is acceptable ... but at least now she only does it when she gets too stimulated...so it's getting better...

...next on our list: Eliminate the 'rear attacks'... :shock:

 

[Bustersmommy]

puppy hood...........lol Gotta love it
Buster did this for the longest time.
Try a water bottle and yell OUCH
you can also try bitter apple which some hate it and some like it mine hate it and thats what worked for them
They say to ignore as well but that didn't work either for Buster
replace finger, arm, leg any body part with toy :lol:

GOOD LUCK!!!!!

 

[mr c]

I've said this before and I always get heat for it but it works fast and your problems will be solved...

Every time your dog inappropriately nips or mouths you or your children grab him by the mouth, open it, apply slight pressure to his tongue, look him in the eye and say "NO BITE." This corrected the problem within days with both my SBT and AB. Other people will try to direct you to less "aggressive" ways of correcting the behavior but if those fail this works fast.

He'll start to find the sensation of you holding his tongue very undesirable. It won't hurt him it will just be uncomfortable and when he realizes that every time he nips that happens he'll put it all together and stop.

To you pacifists, I know, I'm a horrible dog abusing bastard.

Also, make sure you don't swoop down and make a big show of it. Just do it very nonchalantly but make sure you say "NO BITE" firmly. If you grab at him or if you're aggressive about it you could make him hand shy.

-- mr c

 

[Rue2]

I do that too...but it doesn't work when she's in 'chomp and run' mode...which is often coupled with the aforementioned 'rear attack'...

...today I tried standing still, instead of grabbing for her muzzle...it might have confused her...I'll know next time we go out... :twisted:

 

[cfhoftampa]

I've said this before and I always get heat for it but it works fast and your problems will be solved...

Every time your dog inappropriately nips or mouths you or your children grab him by the mouth, open it, apply slight pressure to his tongue, look him in the eye and say "NO BITE." This corrected the problem within days

I sort of did the same thing with clutch...water bottle, timeouts, ignoring... nothing worked for him. Until when he would bite...I would alpy just alittle presure to the area under his tounge with my thumb and say firmly NO BARK. He'd pull away and look at me like WTF did you just do. I wouldnt keep him there and it was only for a fraction of a second. It didnt hurt him it was just uncomfortable. I can't remember who told me this but I got the idea off the forum. It only took a few days for him to get it and I actually only had to do this 2-3 times...after the first few I would just put my hand near his mouth and he backed off. Then he quit biting all together. He caught on real quick...now only if I could cure his barking LOL.

 

[FunnyGuy]

I find that a flick of the wrist with your fingertips on their snout with a firm no stops my dog.

 

[ALPHAMALE]

I find that a flick of the wrist with your fingertips on their snout with a firm no stops my dog.

#-o

 

[PeterC]

definitely NOT.

I find that a flick of the wrist with your fingertips on their snout with a firm no stops my dog.

It may work. However, I like to think of it as Steven Covey does. Emotional bank account. Have you read this?

Why create negative energy between the dog and your? This creates a dog that is SLOW to come. Lack luster in OB. Mentally, drab.

 

[Grizwald]

I find that a flick of the wrist with your fingertips on their snout with a firm no stops my dog.

Stops your dog from trusting you, you mean.

:cwm10:

 

[FunnyGuy]

I knew I was going to be going out on a limb there. I've only done it on times it's been with any kind of pressure that's more than the dog putting his mouth on my hand. Just something to make the dog realize the second he's a little too hard on my hand his nose is going to feel funny soon after. Not painful. I think a correction with a prong collar would probably be more unpleasant than what I'm talking about.

The dog I have now isn't afraid of me, and he's been one of the quickest learning dogs I've had to date as far as obedience. And in general I'm much much much much much bigger on positive reinforcement.

*shrug*

 

[yungster]

Some great advice already given here. (Except the snout tapping, don't do that -- dogs' nasal bones are very delicate and can break very easily.)

Another thing that I did with my first pit when she was a pup -- I trained her to "give kisses." So any time she started gnawing on my hand, I'd say "No, give kisses." And she'd lick my hand instead.

To get her to understand this command, I'd have to wait till she was licking my hand or my face, and I'd say "awww kisses." She learned quickly that licks were kisses.

Oh man, now I miss when Heaven was a pup! lol... she was such a handful, but so much fun. Enjoy your new pup, they don't stay little for long!!

 

[debs]

I did the pressure on the tongue with all my dogs and it works. Ihave found that is the fastest and non aggressive way of training. I really like this method because my kid were very young and those needle teeth hurt. Good luck and don't give up. AB's are great dogs.

 

[pit_bull_lover]

I tried putting presure on the tongue method....did not work at all for me. Although many trainers suggested that method to me, just never worked.

Another thing that I did with my first pit when she was a pup -- I trained her to "give kisses." So any time she started gnawing on my hand, I'd say "No, give kisses." And she'd lick my hand instead.

To get her to understand this command, I'd have to wait till she was licking my hand or my face, and I'd say "awww kisses." She learned quickly that licks were kisses.

This is what I did and I tried to turn the biting and/or chewing into a positive thing....so I turned it into kisses, this seemed to work for me. There seems to be a lot of different methods, eventually you will find the one that works for your puppy!