Mouthy Pit Bulls

[hammer4]

I Think we've found out why Chance has been so aggro. Yesterday he devloped diariea again, we noticed some Huge worms in it, the wife took him to the vet and sure enough he has some big ole round worms that were missed in his last stool sample..If you research the symtoms of round worm pups can get wierd. After taking his meds, and exercising him longer today, he's calmed down alot. Now he has a thing for our window curtians..lol

[maryellen]

worms dont make pups aggressive.. your pup sounds like a typical pit bull puppy with the biting/nipping/chewing... i will trade you my shark pup here who was a holy terror with the chewing/biting/nipping .... the reason why Chance was calm today was because you EXERCISED him longer, which tired him out... it wasnt due to the meds or worms, the more exercise you give him the more he will be tired and relaxed.. a tired puppy is a happy owner.

[hammer4]

One of the meds the vet gave him for the hives made him more aggro..although it was directly related to the worms. So far he's been pretty good. He's now doing more licking on us than nipping, hopefully that continues.

Mary, I think we also had the "shark" puppy from hell..lol I wouldn't trade Chance for the world, but thanks anyways, and good luck with your puppy.

[Chloe]

Real,

O.k. I've been thinking about it and I would like to try your way, instead of CM's.
Chloe doesnt mouth me or my husband but she does mouth our kids and some of our friends when they come over. She's not doing it aggressivly just excitedly.
My kids are 7 and 5, should they make her sit when she does this, if so, she will sit for them IF she isnt already excited and she only mouths when she's excited.

[RealPitBull]

Chloe,

I'd try tethering the dog, so that if she gets too excited, the kids can just turn their backs and walk away. If she sits, they can return, or maybe if she still gets too riled up upon their approach, they can click and treat from a little distance (toss the treat). Then they can walk up to her again and repeat the process if necessary.

Try it and let me know how it goes!

[bamapitbullmom]

Years ago I had a Rottie which greeted us and gently gnawed wrists when he was happy to see us. Not exactly a desired behavior! Specially with children.

You may also jump back to basic bite inhibition training, teaching her that mouthing is not be done on human skin.

I'd suggest the same methods as we use with young, learning puppies such as described here:

www.diamondsintheruff.com/biteinhibition.html

www.diamondsintheruff.com/overstim.html

[Chloe]

Mar 2, 2009 9:49:00 GMT -5 RealPitBull said:

Chloe,

I'd try tethering the dog, so that if she gets too excited, the kids can just turn their backs and walk away. If she sits, they can return, or maybe if she still gets too riled up upon their approach, they can click and treat from a little distance (toss the treat). Then they can walk up to her again and repeat the process if necessary.

Try it and let me know how it goes!

Thanks for the info, I'm excited to try it!

I will keep you posted!

[Chloe]

Mar 2, 2009 10:30:06 GMT -5 bamapitbullmom said:

Years ago I had a Rottie which greeted us and gently gnawed wrists when he was happy to see us. Not exactly a desired behavior! Specially with children.

You may also jump back to basic bite inhibition training, teaching her that mouthing is not be done on human skin.

I'd suggest the same methods as we use with young, learning puppies such as described here:

www.diamondsintheruff.com/biteinhibition.html

www.diamondsintheruff.com/overstim.html

Thanks for the links Bama, I will check them out!

[horsesaavy]

Awesome post, I've read and heard a lot of conflicting information on discouraging inappropriate puppy behavior, and even while I could rule out cruel and outdated methods, everyone still says to yelp, or make a loud high pitched noise. This actually worked for my older dog when she was a pup, but it makes Roulette more excited. She's actually doing really well, especially considering how early she left mom, but we will still benefit from this.

I will defiantly try the suggested exercises too! Thank you everyone

[loverocksalot]

Yelping an ouch has worked for Rocky now that he is 4 he can still mouth from time to time. Due to the fact that some family members like to play bitey face. anyway just saying the word ouch he will lick right away. When playing tug recently he accidently got me and when I ouched he crouched and did not want to play anymore. Although when he was a little shark face and go totally carried away I did roll him onto his back and basically growl at him. Although I know better now I dont regret it cause he was a pain in the little shark teeth.

[sugar]

Chubby is mouthy only when people are sitting on the sofa. He is very nice and gentle about his mouth in almost every other instance (not including toys, but we are working on it). But everytime the bf and I sit down in the basement to watch tv, Chubs comes over and tries to climb onto the sofa, when we say "no" he gets mouthy (not in an aggressive way, not like he's trying to bite), but very mouthy. I've tried the get up and ignore and he followed and will "tag" me in th legs (which hurt like hell because of his nails!), and I've tried to "Ouch!", and it doesn't work on him because he will stop for a second and then continue being mouthy. Weird part is, I've given him toys (before any of this starts) to try and keep him busy, but after 5 minutes, he doesn't want to play with his toy (odd for a toy obsessive dog). But if I walk over to his toy and pick it up, he tries to grab it. I make him sit and give him the toy? He just drops it and walks away, but same thing if I try to pick it up again.
His mouthiness is getting to be an issue when sitting on the sofa (especialy because I don't want this to progress).

[maryellen]

honestly i wouldnt let Chubby have ANY privileges right now, he should EARN everything no matter what.. i would also not let him have free roam either for now but thats just me..

[sugar]

He has to be calm and sit to get anything (leash/food/treat/affection/etc). He is still not off-leash in the house and he isn't allowed on any furniture or allowed to go anywhere other than where I tell him to while he has a toy.
I don't know what else to take away.

[suziriot]

I would start clicker training him now. C/T (click and treat) for staying in a calm down on the floor when you and bf are on the couch, when you get up, etc.

[sugar]

My fams is cool with helping to train, but I honestly don't think they would remember to carry around their clickers. Would something like that still work if its only me?

[maryellen]

ah ok i didnt know you were doing NILIF and the 2 week shut down with him. i agree, clicker training for calm behaviors is a great way to teach him when folks are on the couch. and yes, it will work if you do it

[sugar]

The two week shutdown worked great, but he isn't off-leash just yet because I can't trust him not to chew on my house, or pee/poop where he shouldn't (housebreaking is going well, but still has some accidents because he doesn't really do anything to "warn" me he needs to go out).
The whole mouthing while on the sofa: If he gets told "no" and we pull our hands away and ignore him, he tries to chew on the sofa. I get up, show him his toy and he sits and stays while I give it to him, but then drops it 2 minutes later and tries to go back to pawing/mouthing me and the bf, or chewing on the sofa if we won't let him mouth us.

[maryellen]

for housebreaking, teach him to ring a bell tied to the door you take him out ... this way, if he has to go he can ring the bell and that will be his signal to you. all mine were taught to ring a bell tied to the door i took them out of, yeah in the beginning i felt like a butler cause they realized every time they rang the bell i would let them out, but after a while they stopped doing that and used it just for potty time.. its a great way to have the dog give you a signal you can hear

[loverocksalot]

Rocky rings a bell too I taught him for fun plus as a pup he did not bark just sat at the door.

[sugar]

I may have to try the bell thing. Its not even that Chubs sits by the door. Chubby will simply get up, and either begin to squat or lift his leg. No pulling to the door. No whining. No pacing. Nothing.