JA puppy biting issue?

edited October 2012 in Akita (秋田犬)
Hey guys, how do you stop a 10 weeks old JA puppy from biting on pretty much everything she sees. When I just got her home, she didn't bite as much. But now, she even bites my legs sometimes. I tried methods of redirecting and giving her toys to play with. But minutes later, she would come back to do the same thing. Eventually I have to put her within the enclosure for time out to stop that for a little while.

Is she going to stop that as she gets older, or should there be any behavior training to do? Thanks!

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Comments

  • haha! you don't ;)

    Okay, here is the first thing. JA akita's are very mouthy. And I say this as my own Toki licks my elbow for Whataburger, but that is my own fault!

    For non porous objects, like wood, railings, desks, ect... spray "bitter apple" once. For porous objects like couches and curtains, spray about three times.

    Ignore when they bite you OR yelp "in pain" at a really high pitch like you are hurt. THe point of ignoring is to say "you hurt me, play ends" and sort of the same for the latter. For Tokles, I found the "ignore" route was the only way to go, and it took me to walking to the other room to end playtime so he would get the hint that I was ignoring him for biting me. I never put him in "time out" because i never wanted his "time out" area to be associated with punishment. Today, he will "go in your crate" on command very easily and I attribute this to the fact that I never, never, never used his crate or playpen as a timeout place.

    Alll i got to say is it WILL pass, she WILL grow out of it. In the mean time, give her something to occupy her time with chewing: bully sticks, antlers, Himalayan chews, ect... I will say that Toki sometimes does "mouth" an arm every now and this if he is very overly excited, but it is very, very gentle, so i don't mind. Just be consistent!! :)
  • btw, she is very adorable!!! I love the half floppy staged ears!!! :):))))
    Who did you get her from?
  • Like human babies, puppies explore their world with their mouths, even more so since their mouths will also take the same role as our hands do.

    What you are doing is fine, if you are consistent then over time puppies will learn what they are and aren't allowed to bite on. The only thing I would change is the type of time out spot, time outs in their crate/enclosure may give a bad association to that place. I've found that using the bathroom works great as a time out spot though make sure she can't get to anything dangerous (pills, toothpaste, etc). You could also use a crate in the bathroom if you think she'll get in trouble. Time outs should only last a few seconds, so she shouldn't have enough time to do any real damage.
  • The biting is very normal but it will pass. Redirection is good when she is chewing on objects like coffee tables, couches, chair leg, etc. The yelp of pain or disengaging yourself from the "bite play" is a good way to discourage her from chewing on humans. I do not use our crates for 'punishment' because (like stated above) I do not want them to associate the crate with that. I have found that as I remove my hand from their mouth if I say "don't bite" (not in a rough tone) and then redirect, yelp or leave the situation that seemed to help with my female AA. She now knows when I say "don't bite" that she is getting too rough and she stops completely. She will usually go grab a toy and bring it to me for a game of fetch after the first "don't bite". This did not work as well with my male. He responds better to the yelp but what really worked best with him is when I walk away. He loves to be by my side at all times so for me to remove myself bothered him and he learned very quickly not to bite.

    I can say "in" or "time for bed" and my dogs will walk right into their crates. I agree with the above in that they go willingly into the crate because I never used the crate negatively.

    I hope this helps. Your pup is so super cute!!
  • Keep redirecting. You say you that she's biting again a few minutes later... but that means that you're getting a few minutes of not biting after redirecting. That's progress! Yelping if she bites you is good, too, for sure. Once won't work. Puppies will try the same thing over and over to make sure the results are consistent, so it will go on like this for a while, but it's perfectly normal.

    Practice having her take treats from you gently as well. That also teaches mouth awareness and control.
  • She's so cute!
  • I haven't had a dog in any puppy stage that had a lot of biting, I just wanted to say how ridicuously adorable she is :) Btw I noticed you never mentioned her name in your intro thread, have you decided on one?
  • Oh gosh... we had a hard time with Goro and biting. He was really bad. Hang on and push through it! lol

    We squealed A LOT high pitched squeals and taught him to give kisses instead of bite. The kiss command seemed to interrupt his biting for a few minutes. He grew out of it and is a licking machine lol
  • Thanks for everyone's answer. I think she now understands No command. Whenever I see her chewing on furniture, she stops when I say no. I bought some flavored smoked pork bones for her to chew on. She spends a lot of time on that now.
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