Hickory

Hi all, I'm new here and to owning a basset hound. I have a 15 week old basset (Hickory), who I got at 9 weeks old. Anyway, he is remarkably good with house and crate training, but he bites so much when he plays. It is never fear or anger biting, but just playing. However, sometimes he gets really excited and bites pretty hard. I have tried all the tricks from yelping to walking away to yelling. Walking away is rough because he then jumps up and starts biting at my pants, and has already ripped a few of them on the bottom. After talking to multiple people, they say that I should just be patient and he will eventually grow out of it. I was just wondering if anybody else has had similar experiences with basset pups and could help reassure me that this terrible habit will fade. P.S. The only thing that really gets his attention to stop is shaking a tin can full of change, but even then he eventually goes back to it.

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Annie714

First, welcome! Hickory is really cute! And his name makes me want to BBQ something I like it.

My basset Annie is 6 yrs old and when she was a pup she bit in exactly the same manner as you describe Hickory. I tried all the things you tried and she did all the same things including jumping and putting holes in my clothes. Indeed, she grew out of it and is the most gentle ball of fluff ever. This may not be the case for everyone. There may be some folks who come along and have actual advice to give lol, I just wanted to share what happened for Annie

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Blog about the antics of Annie and I. http://thechickandthehound.blogspot.com

Esther

ohhh hickory is cute
does he like southern girls?

hey annie, just fyi, in memphis, BBQ is a noun not a verb hahaha
my he human uses apple wood. another cute name for a houndie tho.

Annie714

Oh heck Ralph...errrr ummm...Esther My bad...I meant I wanna eat some BBQ! We gotta go south...I bet that apple wood smells YUMMY.

__________________
Blog about the antics of Annie and I. http://thechickandthehound.blogspot.com

Hickory

Its good to hear from someone whos been in the same situation with the same breed. How old was your girl when she finally grew out of that phase?

MollyMcFrecklesMom

Been there, done that...doing it again. Molly was a severe biter until her big dog teeth came in. She's so good now at almost 1 year old. Winston, my dear mischievous 5 month old, is in the biting stage now. Big dog teeth are starting to come in. Really, patience and persistence in discouraging biting (give him a toy to bite) are what you need. It DOES get better...and bonus, you get to buy new clothes. I did

Cute pup...bear with him, it'll be worth it.

charady2

Flash is 12 weeks old and quite the biter while playing also! What has worked best for me is saying ow! really sharp sounding-but not yelling. IF it gets yelled, he gets more riled up which makes him bite more. Usually when I say ow! he will lay his head down for a second and usually ends up giving me kisses a few seconds later.

I know that kennels are not to be used for punishment but I also read that IF the biting gets out of hand and walking away doesn't work, put them in there. I did do that a few times, when he was biting at me hard or the kids. But only for a minute or so, enough to walk away for a few seconds. Then we would let him back out and he would be sweet lil pup all over again.

His biting still continues but he is learning to bite nicer-more like just mouthing my hand if that makes sense? Good luck to you!

Mikey T

Yes they out grow nipping but it is an important stage that you actual do not want to teach them not to bite but rather not to bite hard. It is criticle you teach this at a puppy because attempting to teach it latter is unreliable it is the most important thing you can teach a dog, don't believe me and see Eddie bites people

Bite Inhibition

Biting Pant Legs & Ankles

Keep in mind there is not one method that works with all dogs. There are dog when you give a high pitched yelp will bite even harder. Sometimes using a lower tone or another distracting sound works. As you see from the biting pants leg link it again is normal dogging behavior (normal not to be confused with acceptable) some time simply ignoring the dog turn your back stop interacting etc. is enough. but the most important thing is to be consistent.

Also when we say puppies out grow it we are at first talking about puppy nipping. Which is heavily play based but there are two other biting/nipping phases that are fast approaching in the 4-5 month old is when the baby teeth start falling out and adult teeth start comming in. the dog needs appropriate toys to chew on and taugh what is and is not appropriate. and at around 10 months of age the last of the mollars erupt starting a whole new need to chew phase as well.


While most people will telly thing like this is punishing the dog it really is not as evidence the dog reengages in the behavior. By definition at least as behaviorist define it punishment deminishes the likelihood of a behavior occuring. Skaker cans, say no etc really do not punish. The are best described as distruptive stimuli. That is the interupt what the dog is doing. They give you then the ourtunity to use something more powerfull than punishment. that is to reward the behavior you do want. Puppy is chewing on somthing inappropriate. Shaker can stops the puppy. You give puppy appropriate chew and reward the puppy for chewing it instead. Without creating an oppurtunity to reward appropriate behavior a shaker can or any other disruptive stimuli will not change behavior.

When the dog or puppy is highly excited it is in a state that it cognative ( think) state is shut off and it is running on emotion. It becomes impossible to teach the dog anything What you want to too is before the dog gets overly excited is to stop the play before then and rengage the dog when calmer. This give you much mor opurtunity to reward the proper behavior with additional play which is the end is more successful than trying to punish inappropriate behavior.

Self Control and Overstimulation
This is also where the shaker can or any other disruptive stimuli is helpful by stoping the over excited behavior it creates the environment you can teach the dog an appropriate behavior.

Mikey T

That is the problem with absolutism it is rarely correct. If one were to use a kennel as "punishment a time out removal of attention etc is fine if the dog is comforatable in the crate. If however you are trying to crate train the dog (teaching the dog the crate is a wonderful place to be) using it in this way will undermine the crate training. There is no absolutes and it comes down to what is more useful for you and the dog at the time, knowing the possible consequence either action or inaction can lead to.

duder

I like to get down and roll around and wrestle with my boys. Both are very good at knowing how much they can bite. When they were both young I would let the have my arm or hand, and when it got to be too hard, I just gave them a very firm no. Whenever I do that the bite instantly turns into a gum or a barrage of kisses.