my rottie/dogue de bordeaux keeps biting (playfully)

[peytons mama]

Help! Please! I have an 8 week old "little" rott french mastiff mix and she won't stop play biting. (In which sometimes hurts...bad!) We have read all the books on how to make them stop...but she thinks it is just play time. We have "yipped", we have said no, we have scolded, walked away, whinned like pupps do, she knows we are dominate. The other day I was so peeved (and in pain) that I bit her back. Not hard of course! But I did. I stooped to her level. Oh yeah, she stopped. She stopped for about 2 hours and then when we started playing again she started biting again. It's everything. Our hair, our arms, fingers, thighs, feet, clothes. Everything. She has NUMEROUS toys that she loves...but I think we are more fun.
I need help! To look farther into it, the books just say "make sure she has plenty of toys to occupy herself".

PLEASE HELP! We know that these types of breeds should not keep biting. But how do you stop it???

-Peyton's hurt mama

[kathryn]

First off let me say welcome to the board and I would love to see more pics of your little girl.  That sounds like an awesome mix.

Have you tried a squirt bottle with water.  Everytime she nips squirt her with the water bottle or gun whichever you have.  I have a mouthy 2yo Mal girl that I taught an "no bite" command.  That way she won't put any pressure down if she grabs my arm or hand.  Your girl is still really young at 8 weeks and it may take a while for her to grasp it especially if she is stubborn.  I think the first thing I started teaching all of mine is that lunging at the face and head is unacceptable at any time.  Then I started working on the hands and arms and legs.  Hope that helps.

Kat

[mama23+pyrs2]

Welcome to the board! I'm Kristina and have 2 Pyr pups. I'm sure you'll get some great advice/tips to stop the biting or mouthing. Different methods seem to work differently depending on the individual dog from my experience. My last dog before these pups was an American Eskimo and she started nipping/biting as soon as got her home at 8 wks and it got increasingly worse, quickly. I scoured the internet for advice on how to help it and nothing worked. You name it, I tried it. The yiping didn't even stop her for a second. Because of her breed, she was an excellent jumper and got to where she could jump up to my stomach and would bite as she jumped, it was a pretty bad situation. If I had had the time then to get her into some obedience or something, I would have and regret not doing it but her breed are kind of spazzy so that didn't help matters.

With these pups, I started with telling them 'no biting' from the beginning but it didn't seem to be working. I then discovered bite inhibition and it made a lot of sense to me so I started that. I then read conflicting views on it and decided I wanted to hault the mouthing altogether. So when they mouth or nip me at all, I put my hand around the top of their muzzle and curl their lips over their top teeth and apply pressure. As I do that, I also say NO or NO BITING very firmly and that's generally all it takes for them to stop, like a light goes off and says oh, guess mom doesn't play that way. In the past they would lunge at my foot or something while I was sitting and try to engage me in play and it would HURT..so I'd yell in pain and that would get them to stop dead and move far away from me...just like the pause that comes after one pup yelps when another bites too hard. If none of that works, I walk away from them. It may work better because they have eachother and go get distracted easily, but this breed also doesn't seem to stay interested long in any one thing, thankfully haha. If your pup is really overly excited and nippy, you may give her a time out in her crate (if you are crate training) to settle herself, and signal to her that if she plays that way, it's the end of play time.

The things that are working for them though, did NOT work on my last dog..she would just chase after me, there was no controlling her- at least nothing I found to be successful at. I don't know anything about Rotties but I *think* most mastiffs are pretty laid back so hopefully you won't have to deal with this long and your pup will catch on and start responding to something.

Mine are doing excellent fortunately and when they do end up mouthing, they at least have a soft mouth but I still don't want them doing it. When they start to be in the throws of teething is when the real fun is going to begin.

GOOD LUCK!! Another joy of puppyhood.

[juliebug]

Hi, I am brand new to the board myself.  We now have 2 large dogs. Max whom we think is a Berner mix, and Dusty another mix.  both were adopted from the humane society.  Anyway, we got Max who is now 13 months old when he was 7 weeks old.  He has been a play bitter like your puppy from day one.  mostly me on my arms or my rear end if i was walking away.  we tried everything like you mentioned, nothing seemed to work. not squirt bottle, reprimand, ignoring, yelping myself, etc.  Finally someone suggested doggy day care.  i took him 2 times a week for a l/2 day each time.  He really loved this, and was better on the days that he came home from day care.  Unfortunatly, I dont' work outside the home and we could not continue to afford sending him.  Then a new dogpark opened 5 minutes from my house (this is where i would later meet the great people from this board) sometimes we would take max and it would be great because he loves to play with other dogs.  He is  very big/tall with fluffy black fir 75pounds not as heavy as some but big to look at.  many people with smaller dogs would make me feel uncomfortable saying max plays to hard, we don't want him to hurt our dog etc.  I got to where i stopped going to the dog park. So finally as a last despearte measure to make things work with max we adopted Dusty 3 weeks ago as a full grown 1 year old dog.  max is like a new animal. He is happy and less frantic.  he gets all his play biting out on dusty so he no longer needs me for that.  we are sooo excited.  WE took them both to the park saturday and met the big paws only group, and now Im hooked!  I don't know if you are in a position to get another dog, but a second dog made everthing better for us!

[Olliesmum]

Hi and welcome to the boards,my Berner pup who we have had since 8 weeks old was the same,we have a gate acorss our kitchen we would put him in there he could see us but not interact,he is a mouthy breed especially when excited,but has learnt to stop grabbing our arms and hands.
When we came down in the mornings was the worse and we taught him get a toy and would pick somthing up and give it to him and play tug for a minute or two fuss him then go about our busisness it has worked occassionally he gets a bit excited and forgets himself,but my arms are not covered in bruises so much now and at nearly 10 months is a lot better.Keep persevering your pup will get there time and patience is the key and you will see the light at the end of the tunnel.

[peytons mama]

thanks so much. i have tried that "bite yourself and see how you like it" approach and it helped. NOT MUCH...but it did. I can see potential in that! Hehe! When we first got her, we were not sure of the breed mix. If we knew what type she is...we might have past on her. Only because in all the books and mags and online research we do, we keep getting told, if this is your first dog, a mastiff is not for you. And as much research we have done...she is pretty much full mastiff! Lazy, stubborn, and mouthy! Hehe! She learned "sit" on her own. She sits when gonna get fed, to let outside and to give treats. So we know she can learn! She just doesn't wanna learn "no bite". I am gonna try a squirt bottle. It is lunging at my feet when I enter a room! And my stubby short legs can't get over the fence/gate we have to get away quick enough to let her know "i don't wanna play with you when you bite like that" so she ends up biting me as I walk away! UGH! But all the replys have helped so much! Thanks for your advice and telling me of your hardships. It has helped me know that I am not really doing anything wrong...and I am not the only having difficulties here! Hehe!

[schelmischekitty]

hm i can feel your pain about the feet thing.  we had two pit bull puppies at one time and they liked to play tug of war with my PJ pants.  not fun, i lost several pair like that, although i have to admit it was pretty funny to see as long as it wasn't you.  the squirt bottle helps with the feet too though.  just put ice in it to keep it super duper cold, and put it on stream not the mist one.  i got mine right in the nose a few time and it worked wonders!