Tell us about yourself: My family welcomed our first DSD 12/14. I have shown GSD's and APBT's in conformation, my goal is to have more of a working interest with our Dutchie. My husband and I have 4 young children, Kitsune adores them. Kitsune has begun IPO training, we hope to get her BH in 2016. We are in love with this breed and have plans to import a male pup soon.
My family just got our new pup, she is 8 weeks (on Friday) and fabulous. We hope to title her, and maybe do a little regional competition. We are located in Beaverton, OR.
She has settled right in, and is doing really great. Our only issue right now is the biting on us instead of her toys. This was expected, but it is still not fun LOL...especially for our kids. We are doing a lot of redirection, but will need to do something more I think, or my kids may never get off the couch again
I would love to hear ideas on how to curb improper biting without curbing her biting drive in other areas.
She's so young, with much to learn, so the redirection will likely work--you just got her!
There's other posts on the forum about this...use words like mouthy and mouthiness and I'm sure you'll find a some. I can't say that there are threads devoted to it, but there are posts within non-related threads. (We don't slways stay on topic in threads.)
Though I can only hope to become the person who my animals believe I am, the things that they have taught me have made me a better human being. ~~~Sharon~~~
My guy didn't respond at all to "no" then redirecting, so I would yelp in the highest pitched voice I could manage and redirect. Worked like a charm. If you watch puppies playing, the second one yelps like this the other lets go. It's an innate signal. As he got older I would use a gentle no, teaching him what no meant. She'll get it!
Kay, H, and The SO
(Pepper's Look-A-Like)
(Tyson's Soul Twin)
Tell us about yourself: My family welcomed our first DSD 12/14. I have shown GSD's and APBT's in conformation, my goal is to have more of a working interest with our Dutchie. My husband and I have 4 young children, Kitsune adores them. Kitsune has begun IPO training, we hope to get her BH in 2016. We are in love with this breed and have plans to import a male pup soon.
Tell us about yourself: My family welcomed our first DSD 12/14. I have shown GSD's and APBT's in conformation, my goal is to have more of a working interest with our Dutchie. My husband and I have 4 young children, Kitsune adores them. Kitsune has begun IPO training, we hope to get her BH in 2016. We are in love with this breed and have plans to import a male pup soon.
Tell us about yourself: My name is Karen and I have a dutch shepherd, Xander, born 6/14/13. He is my second dutch shepherd. My first was Rawly. Even though Xander is my second I still have a lot to learn. That is why I'm here, to learn, get advice, and meet people who love these guys as much as I do.
Welcome. Everything will be ok. The biting is crazy when they are 8 9 10 12 16 weeks. I thought I had bought the spawn of Satan at first. I bled, people looked at me funny with all the cuts, scratches, teeth marks. It will get better. Redirection works, it takes a lot of repetition but it will work. Good luck, and pictures would be great. I love puppy pics.
Thor was terribly mouthy when we adopted him. Had to employ various techniques. All went well.
Thing is, these guys want to use their mouths. So...when the husband wanted to rumble, poor Thor couldn't use his mouth. I told the husband that wasn't playing fair...what was the poor guy supposed to do?
Also when we first got him, he used to muzzle-punch as well as punch you with a toy if he had a toy in his mouth. It was rude, and I fixed that, too. But, again, it left the boy between a rock and a hard place IF the husband or I wanted to rumble.
So here's the poor guy. Can't use his mouth on us. AND his mean mom didn't allow toys on the bed once he was invited on the bed. Bummer. After he's invited on the bed, we rumble. He replaced mouthiness with strange vocals and flopping around like a fish on the beach....and then....
After he knew all the rules, there was a night when he had a couple days' worth of unspent energy because of the weather-----he flew off the bed when we were wrestling, got a KONG, jumped back up on the bed, and threw himself down on his back while he gnawed the KONG in the back of his jaws like a maniac. Best rumble in the bed ever!
He broke the rule, but he figured out a good reason why to do it. I was fine with it. And he didn't punch me with it...he just used it as a tool.
Since it was okay on the bed, now that's what he does with his father. If Dad's ready to rumble, Thor zooms for a KONG to gnaw.
Though I can only hope to become the person who my animals believe I am, the things that they have taught me have made me a better human being. ~~~Sharon~~~
Tell us about yourself: My family welcomed our first DSD 12/14. I have shown GSD's and APBT's in conformation, my goal is to have more of a working interest with our Dutchie. My husband and I have 4 young children, Kitsune adores them. Kitsune has begun IPO training, we hope to get her BH in 2016. We are in love with this breed and have plans to import a male pup soon.