The return of 'Jaws'...

[Sparkles99]

We had a our first day of puppy kindergarten. It's very treat based, even though Ruby learned to come with just praise and a squeaky toy. So, what she's learned is to lunge at hands. And she bites. Hard. I'm wearing long pants to stave off attacks, as she goes for anywhere when hands are unavailable. What do I do? I want her to continue the class to meet other puppies, but we need to learn sit and down before Sunday or I know she'll still be behind (many of these other people have had dogs before) and they'll just fill her up with treats, then she'll lunge all the more.

I've left her collar on her for the first time and put the lightest, shortest leash I have on it. But I swear my puppy is Jaws. These aren't gentle nips or teething activity. This is designed to intimidate. And it's working. Please help! She only weighs 4.6 pounds, so that's why she didn't have the collar on at home to begin with. I'm concerned for her delicate neck. A harness isn't cutting it though; if I use it to guide her to a sit, it just confuses her.

I'm currently using a squeaky toy to reward her, instead of treats, and am gently sitting her up as I say the word. Unfortunately, she then goes to a down immediately and tries to bite what she can or ignores me, usually the latter. It really reminds me of a kid saying, 'Fine! I'm taking my ball and going home!' I think she thinks she's my boss. Please help!

She's a lovely, cultured pup, but sit and down seem really hard to teach, and every time I pull my hand back she learns that biting works. She's 13 weeks tomorrow. Ideas? I've watched some YouTube (where I got the short leash, collar, toy reward combo idea), but I'd appreciate any other tips.

 

[FeatheredM]

We had a puppy with the same problem. She would just bite and bite and bite, and it hurt. It was kind of like a phase, when she got a little older, it eventually stopped. We literally tried everything, our only solution was time. We just suffered through it. Keep on with the training, training deos help dogs calm down, make sure you never reward her with attention and playing when she bites you.

 

[Wardy]

Have you tried a clicker ?
Put a bowl on the floor to drop treat in ask dog to sit if Ruby sits drop treat in bowl and click.

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

So it sounds like she needs to learn bite inhibition and how to take treats. Puppies in a litter learn how hard they can bite by their littermate's reactions. You'll see this if you watch pups interacting and playfighting - as soon as someone squeaks or yells, play freezes for a moment. The rough one will generally apologize with some kisses or playbowing and then play is back, but more gently now, until someone forgets again and the cycle is repeated. This way they find out how hard it's ok to bite. What I have done is, as soon as teeth connect, make a highpitched noise, stand up and walk away. Or turn away, look at your phone, whatever. Key thing is that interaction stops when she does the wrong thing. Do you have chew and tug toys for her? I'd encourage her to play and fight with those. Again, if during play her teeth miss the toy and hit your hands instead the game stops for a moment. Cause and effect. Really clear in her mind.
For the treats you'll do something similar - same concept. Have a treat in your hand, offer it to her and say "gentle". As soon as she lunges, you close your hand so she can't get it. If the teeth come out lift your hand completely to where she can't get it and try again after a moment when she gives you a slightly calmer sign. At this point I would let her have it if she switches to licking - licking is gentle and good. You can level up eventually to backing off from your hand but for now licking is good. Verbally praise slow gentle movements.

Expect it to be crazier than this example video with a hyper pup lol, but she'll get it. Timing is important - it has to be really clear in her mind that as soon as she gets too rough, the thing she wants goes away. But if she thinks about her movements and is careful with her teeth, she gets what she wants plus praise from you.
This is a pretty interesting video:

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

So it sounds like she needs to learn bite inhibition and how to take treats. Puppies in a litter learn how hard they can bite by their littermate's reactions. You'll see this if you watch pups interacting and playfighting - as soon as someone squeaks or yells, play freezes for a moment. The rough one will generally apologize with some kisses or playbowing and then play is back, but more gently now, until someone forgets again and the cycle is repeated. This way they find out how hard it's ok to bite. What I have done is, as soon as teeth connect, make a highpitched noise, stand up and walk away. Or turn away, look at your phone, whatever. Key thing is that interaction stops when she does the wrong thing. Do you have chew and tug toys for her? I'd encourage her to play and fight with those. Again, if during play her teeth miss the toy and hit your hands instead the game stops for a moment. Cause and effect. Really clear in her mind.
For the treats you'll do something similar - same concept. Have a treat in your hand, offer it to her and say "gentle". As soon as she lunges, you close your hand so she can't get it. If the teeth come out lift your hand completely to where she can't get it and try again after a moment when she gives you a slightly calmer sign. At this point I would let her have it if she switches to licking - licking is gentle and good. You can level up eventually to backing off from your hand but for now licking is good. Verbally praise slow gentle movements.

Expect it to be crazier than this example video with a hyper pup lol, but she'll get it. Timing is important - it has to be really clear in her mind that as soon as she gets too rough, the thing she wants goes away. But if she thinks about her movements and is careful with her teeth, she gets what she wants plus praise from you.
This is a pretty interesting video:

Hand-feeding at this stage is a great thing for pups. I would handfeed at least part of every meal. The added benefit is that you can use that to lure her into sits and downs. I would be doing luring to get her into a position, not using a collar or harness. For sit if your hand with a treat is moving over her head (not too high), she should sit naturally as her nose follows. If her nose goes up her butt comes down. Which is where you praise and reward instantly. For a down you can then lure her into it from the sit.

 

[Sparkles99]

Thank you all very much!

Edited to add a thank you pic. She's 11 weeks, 6 days old in this.

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

I think she thinks she's my boss.

and every time I pull my hand back she learns that biting works.

I just wanted to come back to this. This isn't really how it's happening in a pup's brain. Leadership is the single most important thing for dogs - you have to be a strong leader, showing them what's right and what's wrong, and giving a lot of love. It's literal parenting; you're in charge and taking care of her, making her a solid citizen. But she isn't biting to intimidate or "because it works". She isn't biting to make your hand go away; she doesn't want your hand to go away. Puppies loooove everything - playing, wrestling, eating, any interaction and attention. But you need to communicate with her what's right and what's wrong. So she won't bite on purpose if she knows it hurts you - she has no desire to hurt you, you're mum. So you don't need to cover an "ouch" reaction - that reaction is a clear communication to her, and you want to give her clear communication. The only thing is of course their prey drive to chase something that moves fast - that's natural and you don't want to make it fun for her by making it a chase game. The game only restarts when she's calm!

She's absolutely precious and she has a really bright face! You're gonna have a pretty awesome dog there once she's all grown up and learnin'!

 

[Feathery]

Cute puppy! They're so much work! And they have sharp little teeth!

One thing I did with my boy when he was young is never play with hands. No "rough housing" like some people like to do with puppies, pushing their head or bopping thier nose type of stuff.

ALWAYS have a toy between you and the pup when playing. Everyone that interacts should also use toys or treats only. Consistency between everyone and the dog is crucial to training, otherwise the dog gets mixed signals.

If you're using a squeaky toy, it may be getting her too excited. Try using something that doesn't squeak perhaps.

 

[scrape]

Is she biting when she takes the treats?

 

[Sparkles99]

Yes, she didn't used to go for hands. I've taken to training with regular kibble, as of today, & it's much better. I went out to see my eldest niece & get her help. She's 12, but excellent with dogs. Ruby was unimpressed, & sassed her & their enormous dog. Hitherto, she's only played with her. I have to stop the sassing before she does it to the wrong dog!

 

[Sodapop&Co.]

Yes, she didn't used to go for hands. I've taken to training with regular kibble, as of today, & it's much better. I went out to see my eldest niece & get her help. She's 12, but excellent with dogs. Ruby was unimpressed, & sassed her & their enormous dog. Hitherto, she's only played with her. I have to stop the sassing before she does it to the wrong dog!

Good to hear it's improving! Consistency and fair rules/boundaries are magic. She's definitely gonna challenge them, but that's normal. Learning to play nice with other dogs/looking to you for guidance on how she's allowed to play is really important - I would be trying hard to socialize her as much as possible right now. Only with dogs/owners you know, though. One bad experience can take a lifetime to forget. She's gonna need to learn to respect other dog's and their warnings too before she runs into a bigger dog without patience.

 

[scrape]

Yes, she didn't used to go for hands. I've taken to training with regular kibble, as of today, & it's much better. I went out to see my eldest niece & get her help. She's 12, but excellent with dogs. Ruby was unimpressed, & sassed her & their enormous dog. Hitherto, she's only played with her. I have to stop the sassing before she does it to the wrong dog!

What worked for me, is stick a toy in her mouth when she bites.
Also, push a treat down her mouth or put it on a metal spoon when you give it to her, this will teach her to be gentle. Humans have tendency to pull back when we are giving a nippy dog a treat so they overcompensate more. You can read up on it.