Please tell me this gets easier....

[soupydoopy]

I've had my new husky puppy Aries for just about a month now. Overall, I love the little bugger, but there's a few things that are giving me some concern, specifically as it relates to biting and being "alpha" in the house.

My boyfriend doesn't live with me, but he spends a good amount of time at my apartment (he stays on weekends and hangs out every other day or so). I am the primary caregiver of the dog. Feeding him, letting him outside, playing with him, training him, etc...

When I first brought him home, Aries was all eyes for me. He wouldn't really go near my boyfriend a lot. He would follow me everywhere. He was really affectionate and would come and lay down in my lap and overall be a big sweetie. A month later, he's like a nightmare. He's quite the biter--and I don't mean his chewtoys. He is really bad about biting hands, mine in particular. Every time I go to pet him he's turning around with his mouth open ready to bite. I say "no bite!" sternly and pull my hand away, but it just doesn't get through to him.

I've tried yelping, I've tried ignoring, I've tried bitter spray.... NOTHING seems to help. If I yelp, he just bites me harder. If I turn my back to him, he just bites on my legs/shirt/feet/etc. With the bitter spray, he'll back off for a minute or two and then come right back to it. I've even tried short 1-minute time outs in his kennel which were sort of helping, and now it does next to nothing.

Worst of all, now when I tell him "No bite!" his lips curl up and it looks as if he's snarling at me (though he never actually growls).

And here's the thing--Aries is all sugar and honey for my boyfriend now. He still bites him, but not NEARLY as bad as what I have to endure when he's not around. My boyfriend can actually pet and show affection to the dog without him going ballistic. My boyfriend took the dog for a walk yesterday on the standard leash and said he walked with a loose leash the entire time. I can't even keep the dog walking on a loose leash with a head collar! He is all over the place when I walk him.

I was (and am) enamored to this dog. I love him so much, but I feel as if he hates me or something and I don't know why or what to do. I have tried so hard to be a leader figure to him but I don't think my dog respects me whatsoever. We just got signed up for puppy class but I can't help but be less than optimistic about it. He doesn't listen well at all, and I worry that we're not going to "graduate" the class.

I just need someone to tell me that this gets better. Because it's so depressing.

Edited November 13, 2012 by soupydoopy

[Elyse]

How old is Aries?

Have you tried the NILF method? (Nothing in Life is Free). Basically, he gets nothing for 'free'. Tricks and/or good behaviour gets him the reward (food, walk, playtime, etc). If you google it, the sites that come up explain it much better than I can...

Personally, with him being a puppy, I don't think its a dominance thing. Usually pups don't start to 'come into their own' until they are around 5 months or so.

The way you described it sounds like he's just playing. His bites don't draw blood, do they?

Things like this take time, and if you ignore him completely when he bites you (don't give him any attention, pretend he isn't there!), he'll eventually think you're "boring".

Edited November 13, 2012 by SolitaryHowl

[Storm Angel n Auroras Mum]

It does i promise. As long as you and he (the dog) work hard. And it takes time, longer than uve given it. Hang in there it gets better.x

[Saskas-mum]

Ours was bad for biting hands too, i got some treats and held one out in a closed hand, if she went to bite i said AT loudly and as soon as she moved away from my hand i gave her the treat, after doing this with her she has calmed down and not as bad, we also use the nothing in life is free and it has worked for us.

[Austinville]

Don't give up. This breed is one of the most headstrong you will ever find.

How old is he? That will help us to provide you with advice.

How long has he been doing this?

Many sibes are difficult at a point in their development. Often it is just a stage they are going through, but the key is to address the situation and to be consistent. Discipline should be the same thing each and every time the husky bites you. And while I hate to say it, if you don't get control over this, you'll only be creating a monster that no one will want.

My guess is that your husky never learned bite inhabition from its siblings. Try squealing louding when he bites and see if that works to 'get him off you', so to speak. Another good way is to find a sound, for example "aaaach" when this behaviour takes place. You need to break his concentration and capture his attention. Then direct his focus onto something else, a toy or whatever works. I don't recommend treating at this time as that message could be interpreted improperly and you could actually be encouraging his biting.

I'm sure others will have advice that will help, but again, the key is consistency. You can't allow biting once and address it the next time (not that I'm saying you are).

And yes, this too shall pass. Someday, before you realize it, you'll look back and nearly forget this stage as you cuddle with him on the couch. We've all had our share of disappointments and trials....

[soupydoopy]

How old is Aries?

He is 12 weeks old.

Have you tried the NILF method? (Nothing in Life is Free). Basically, he gets nothing for 'free'. Tricks and/or good behaviour gets him the reward (food, walk, playtime, etc). If you google it, the sites that come up explain it much better than I can...

I make him sit/stay for his meals, sit/stay before going outside, and I typically make him do a series of tricks for playtime, etc.

The way you described it sounds like he's just playing. His bites don't draw blood, do they?

He has drawn blood. The one time he bit down on me hard, so I pulled my hand away and his teeth dragged through my skin and gave me quite a scratch.

[Povodny]

Yep. There is light at the end of the tunnel .

These sound intrusive questions and I don't mean them to be, is he allowed on the couch, on the bed, does he get tit bits while you eat, is he allowed to beg while you eat ?

Edited November 13, 2012 by Povodny

[Elyse]

Here's something one of our members said on another thread, responding to another guy who had a similar problem.

I would try "ignoring the bad and praising the good"

When your pup was with his littermates, if he bit too hard they would have squeeled and then stopped playing with him. This is how many pups learn bite strength / inhibition and is a method you can continue on when he is with you

When he is biting at you:

Stand up

Fold your arms

Ignore him until he stops (with no eye or vocal contact)

When he stops biting:

Lots of praise and play

If he starts biting again:

Stand up

Folds your arms

Ignore him until he stops (with no eye or vocal contact)

When he stops again:

Lots of praise and play

and simply repeat everytime he does start biting. If you want you can also let out a high pitched squeel (like his litter mates would have done) before standing up.

Its quite a simple method but can be very effective with consistency and patience. Remember he is a puppy and speaks dog, not human and doesn't understand how the human world works so its up to you to teach him

[LittleLuka]

well Luka is 8 months and we still haven't reached the light at the end of the tunnel. He's gotten somewhat better but there's still times when he goes nuts after my hands.

[malagirl]

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. He is only 12 weeks old, it does get better. Maggie did the biting thing at that age. I play with her etc, if she bit me I ignore her, if this didn't work. "say that is very wrong no bite!"put her on her bed and say "stay" She eventually got that I didn't want her biting me. Good luck!

[Elyse]

The following is a helpful post by Merlin.

I've seen alot of posts about how to stop pups biting and so i wanted to add a post that should help some people and explain why it is so important that your pup learns how hard it can bite a human.

Lots of people dont want their dogs teeth to make contact with thier skin ever, however this is not helping your dog. Dogs must learn to use teeth properly as part of their development. By helping dogs learn bite inhibition early on, you can help avoid bite incidents involving other dogs as well as people.

Dogs normally learn bite inhibition by 4 and a half months of age. I honestly think this is one of the most important thing that dogs learn.

Bite inhibition is a learned response in which the dog consciously inhibits the full force of his bite. Most dogs display bite inhibition when they are playing together, and even when engaging in a fight with another dog. If a dog does not have bite inhibition, he could injure and possibly even kill another dog.

Alot of dog fights are noise and spit because a dog knows how hard to bite to inflict pain but not cause damage. While some dogs will fight and cause injuries a well balanced dog usually will not. For people that have packs of dogs you will know that from time to time they will have a scrap. Because these dogs are constantly playing and have a good gage of pressure there are seldom any injuries from a scrap.

Puppies who are properly socialized learn bite inhibition while nursing and playing with their mum and litter mates. When pups bite while nursing, the bitch will train them by standing up and walking away or growling. When pups bite too hard during play with siblings, the bitten pup will yelp or scream and stop playing with the rough pup. This teaches a puppy that playtime ends if he bites too hard and dogs that learn this as pups will be able to play with dogs of all ages as they grow.

This is one reason puppies should go to puppy socialization class, where they can play and mouth while carefully supervised. They will learn that while gentle bites might be tolerated, hard bites will stop the play session and in some cases get them told off by older dogs. Dogs need to socalize with other dogs through out their lives in order to practice bite inhabition. It must not stop once the pup becomes an adult.

You can use the same methods as dogs to teach your pups bite inhibition.

Below are a few methods to teach bite inhabition and my oppinions on them.

1. Sit down with the pup to play, bringing his attention to your hands. When the pup tries to bite your hand too hard, yelp or say 'Oww' firmly and stop playing. - I have not found this sucessful myself and find that the sound normally encourages more biting in older pups. Pups of about 6-8 weeks do however respond quite well. It is important to walk away from the pup if the sound has broken its bite so it learns that it gets no more play.

2. Give the pup a toy to chew on intead of your hands or clothing. If he does not take the toy and instead nips again, stop interacting. Turn away, cross your arms, do not look back or walk away. I find this works very well with pups and even adult dogs. Dogs learn by responce so a bite = no more fun. After a few minuets go back to the pup and start playing again. If he tries to bite repeat the process.

3. Tapping the nose. Personnaly i hate this. Tapping the nose does nothing. It will only encourage the dog to nip when you are not in a position to correct it and can lead to dogs becoming hand shy in later life. It also does not teach bite inhabition. The aim of bite inhabition is to gage the pressure not stop the behaviour straight away.

4. Grabing the lower jaw and shaking while saying no. The pup is unable to bite you as all its power is in the lower jaw. This does work, but i feel it should be a last result. It is not teaching your dog bite inhabition it is teaching it not to bite so while it wont bite you, you are not teaching it that important lesson of how much pressure is safe.

When your pup is gentle, pet and praise him calmly and resume play. It is important games finish on your terms but the pup should always be rewarded if he is playing nicley. As you practice, the pup will use less and less pressure as he comes in contact with your hand.You can deside how much pressure is acceptable for you eg just touching with teeth. Anything harder than that gets an "owww!" or a no and the game ends.

It is important to remember that the first aim is to teach the dog to actively inhibit the force of his bite so that it is gentle, and THEN reduce the frequency. If you never let the pup put his jaws on you at all, when it does happen (say, an accident during which the dog's paw gets stepped on or at the vet when the dog is under stress), the dog will probably react with a hard bite resulting in injures.

Its important not to encourage nipping or mouthing so do not tease a pup or dog by flashing hands around his face or tapping his face trying to get a responce. Afterall we dont want the pup to bite we want to teach it what is acceptable biting when it happens

It really dosn't matter how hard you try to socialize a dog to people or other dogs, there may be times when it wont help. It is important to socalize but this wont solve everything for you. E.G, someone shuts the dog's tail in a door, or your dog is attacked by another dog. In these cases, your dog will instinctively respond by biting, whether it's out of provocation or self-defense. Whether or not your dog does damage depends on the level of bite inhibition that was established, usually before he reached age four and a half months.You can teach inhabition in older dogs, but is much harder and most people will need professional help.

[Erinc]

it does get better promise! you sound like your doing everything right, and youll get great advice here too. Just keep at it, the trick is to be more stubborn than they are, don't give up The first 6 months is going to be very full time and its going to be mentally exhausting. I know it helps to know what you're going through is normal. It is

[Michelle Sopi]

Sorry, I didn't really read everyone's response BUT I get the feeling that they don't respect you and the drift I get from what I have read is that u don't have kids? So what I suggest is ......... being female deep down you have this mommy voice which is like no other from the bottom of your chest which is loud and awesome - try it out sometime

[simhauu]

I'd add to get a new command. Obviously at this time "No bite" doesn't work anymore, so try a loud sound that'll catch him off guard.

Also pretty much he respects your boyfriend more than he does you.

On a completely different note from what others said, what worked for my bf to get the biting under control: just like dog mothers when they want to calm their pups, he took his head in his hand and put/pressed it to the ground and said loudly 'no'. Didn't work much for me, as I was too inconsistent with any biting training. It went away when he was 4 months.

I can say, get used to it, huskies are stubborn. Once this is solved, he might find something else, not as hurting, just something.

[Candie]

I've had my new husky puppy Aries for just about a month now. Overall, I love the little bugger, but there's a few things that are giving me some concern, specifically as it relates to biting and being "alpha" in the house.

My boyfriend doesn't live with me, but he spends a good amount of time at my apartment (he stays on weekends and hangs out every other day or so). I am the primary caregiver of the dog. Feeding him, letting him outside, playing with him, training him, etc...

When I first brought him home, Aries was all eyes for me. He wouldn't really go near my boyfriend a lot. He would follow me everywhere. He was really affectionate and would come and lay down in my lap and overall be a big sweetie. A month later, he's like a nightmare. He's quite the biter--and I don't mean his chewtoys. He is really bad about biting hands, mine in particular. Every time I go to pet him he's turning around with his mouth open ready to bite. I say "no bite!" sternly and pull my hand away, but it just doesn't get through to him.

I've tried yelping, I've tried ignoring, I've tried bitter spray.... NOTHING seems to help. If I yelp, he just bites me harder. If I turn my back to him, he just bites on my legs/shirt/feet/etc. With the bitter spray, he'll back off for a minute or two and then come right back to it. I've even tried short 1-minute time outs in his kennel which were sort of helping, and now it does next to nothing.

Worst of all, now when I tell him "No bite!" his lips curl up and it looks as if he's snarling at me (though he never actually growls).

And here's the thing--Aries is all sugar and honey for my boyfriend now. He still bites him, but not NEARLY as bad as what I have to endure when he's not around. My boyfriend can actually pet and show affection to the dog without him going ballistic. My boyfriend took the dog for a walk yesterday on the standard leash and said he walked with a loose leash the entire time. I can't even keep the dog walking on a loose leash with a head collar! He is all over the place when I walk him.

I was (and am) enamored to this dog. I love him so much, but I feel as if he hates me or something and I don't know why or what to do. I have tried so hard to be a leader figure to him but I don't think my dog respects me whatsoever. We just got signed up for puppy class but I can't help but be less than optimistic about it. He doesn't listen well at all, and I worry that we're not going to "graduate" the class.

I just need someone to tell me that this gets better. Because it's so depressing.

OMW that sounds so much like Aurora it is scary. She is only 7 weeks old and I have had her for 3 weeks. I chalked up most of her biting and snarling to being away from her litter mates to soon. I have even looked up Husky aggression to see if that is a trait of theirs. I have forbid all rough play because I was scared I was gonna raise her to be mean. So it is refreshing to know Aurora is not only one.

[Sid_Wolf]

Stay calm, when he bites say no and stand up, if he continues to bite legs/feet/clothes etc, walk out of the room and shut the door. Keep up with this method, he will probably nip until he's a good 8=9 months old, but not as hard and not as regularly, just when he gets over excited.

Also, please stop using a headcollar on a puppy, they are damaging to young, soft bones and joints and you could do a lot of damage using one on a dog who is still developing, especially as he is pulling with it on. To teach him to walk loose lead turn around and walk the opposite way everytime he pulls on the leash, he'll then have to catch up with you, when he is just behind or level with your leg treat him. If he pulls again turn around again. Chances are you wont get very far for a little while, probably just walk up and down your street! But a young dog doesnt need a lot of exercise anyway.

[Staceybob]

Youre using a headcollar on a 12 week old puppy? Please stop, they are at a delicate age and theres just no need to be using one when they are so light weight. You need to build a relationship with your dog through care and understanding and develop obedience.

Get yourself involved with a trainer. I deliver training across the UK (dont know where you are) and focus on building relationships.

Sent from my MoDaCo Custom ROM for the Advent Vega r8 using Tapatalk

[Elyse]

adding on to what the others have said about the headcollar....

How much are you exercising your pup? Too much exercise will lead to early onset arthritis and other painful joint problems.

[jmscott]

___

Edited November 14, 2012 by jmscott

[soupydoopy]

Youre using a headcollar on a 12 week old puppy? Please stop, they are at a delicate age and theres just no need to be using one when they are so light weight. You need to build a relationship with your dog through care and understanding and develop obedience.

You don't know how badly this puppy pulls. I put him on a headcollar because he was constantly choking himself on the normal leash. And he's not any better on a harness. He fights me during every single walk, biting the leash, biting my legs, running in the opposite direction. It's so depressing.

But more than that, the puppy class I enrolled in REQUIRED that I buy a headcollar for him. It said, in her words, that it was "the most humane way to control/walk a dog." Since she is an AKC certified dog trainer I didn't press the issue.

[jmscott]

Wow, I can hardly believe a trainer would require those in a class. Never let him get a running start on that headcollar. They are mostly used at an advanced level with older dogs and I know of a couple cases where they have caused injury to dogs who hit the end of the leash wearing them.

[Candie]

:eek:4 Weeks old?!?!

Pups should never leave their mothers until AT THE VERY LEAST 6 weeks, and even then, it isn't advised, with the execption of endangering the mother or the pups. At 7 weeks old she is just now able to control her own body temperature, rough play isn't going to raise her mean. To be honest, I would let her be a dog for a few more weeks before even considering worrying about how she will turn out.

Were you able to research the breed before getting her? They are bred to be family dogs, however they do have a high prey drive, which is completely different from aggression. Depending on where you bought her, the dam and sire would be the best guess on what personality she will have as an adult.

I got her out of a bad situation, and I knew absolutely nothing about Huskies when I got her. You can go read all my post and they will explain why I have her at such a young age. I am learning as I go and trying to do the best for her that I can. I have taken off 2 weeks of work so that I could be here with her since she needs more attention at such a young age. I would have NEVER bought a puppy at 4 weeks. /end thread jack

[Elyse]

You don't know how badly this puppy pulls. I put him on a headcollar because he was constantly choking himself on the normal leash. And he's not any better on a harness. He fights me during every single walk, biting the leash, biting my legs, running in the opposite direction. It's so depressing.

But more than that, the puppy class I enrolled in REQUIRED that I buy a headcollar for him. It said, in her words, that it was "the most humane way to control/walk a dog." Since she is an AKC certified dog trainer I didn't press the issue.

Puppies pull and act up. They're just being puppies. It's your job, as the 'parent', to teach them how to behave. If you avoid the behaviour, he'll never learn how to properly behave on a 'normal' leash, and he'll be wearing headcollars forever.

Headcollars can be very dangerous, and a lot of dogs end up being injured if they aren't used properly. I don't recommend going to a trainer that would require puppies to wear headcollars.

And those behaviours you described is not fighting - they are play behaviours.

[Storm Angel n Auroras Mum]

You don't know how badly this puppy pulls. I put him on a headcollar because he was constantly choking himself on the normal leash. And he's not any better on a harness. He fights me during every single walk, biting the leash, biting my legs, running in the opposite direction. It's so depressing.

But more than that, the puppy class I enrolled in REQUIRED that I buy a headcollar for him. It said, in her words, that it was "the most humane way to control/walk a dog." Since she is an AKC certified dog trainer I didn't press the issue.

All puppies are a pain learning to walk.

You want to see pulling you should see my storm lol. ;-) hes actually done my back damage he has.

[Storm Angel n Auroras Mum]

:eek:4 Weeks old?!?!

Pups should never leave their mothers until AT THE VERY LEAST 6 weeks, and even then, it isn't advised, with the execption of endangering the mother or the pups. At 7 weeks old she is just now able to control her own body temperature, rough play isn't going to raise her mean. To be honest, I would let her be a dog for a few more weeks before even considering worrying about how she will turn out.

Were you able to research the breed before getting her? They are bred to be family dogs, however they do have a high prey drive, which is completely different from aggression. Depending on where you bought her, the dam and sire would be the best guess on what personality she will have as an adult.

Ok we all know this please dont a-take the thread off topic and b- alienate this person.

Someone else on this forum got a 4 week old pup he thought was much older and blind! Turned out she was sold too young.

Back to the topic.....