Play biting

no, she won't grow out of it. Yelp like a puppy and ignore her when she bites. If she wants to play all the time she's probably not getting enough exercise.

 Thanks for your reply.  I will try that.  I know she needs to get outside more, because she is left at home all day while I am at work.  So she has to amuse herself.  Poor little thing!  As soon as I get home, we go outside.  And she runs around until she is tired out, but all day she has no one to play with.  I probably should get her a little friend.  Do you think that would help?  Or would that add to the problem, because she would be jealous?

 Tammy
 

Yes, my Marvin the hound has recently started this behavior trigger by his excitement when we go outside.  I say "cut it out" and he stops.

 Hi DPU,

You just say "cut it out" and he stops?  Maybe I am not being forceful enough, because I say "stop it Sophie" and she doesn't.  And I hide under the covers, just to get away from her and she keeps trying to scratch at the covers trying to get to me like it is a game!  Then I grab her and hold her real tight so she can't get away, and I say, "stop biting me Soph" and as soon as I let her go, she starts right back up.  

I am going to try yelping like a puppy and telling her "No!" in a serious voice.

Tammy 

Ah...you have provided more information.  Before I assume Sophie was obedience trained.  Now it sounds like you are the initiator and you are joining in on the play.  If you don't like the play behavior, stop the play.  I would tone down the play and see what level of excitement triggers the biting of the hand.  Once you have determined the level of excitement and the dog start biting the hand, then stop the play...eventually the dog should get it.  Sort of like a timeout.

 I am not the initiator!    She gets all excited when I sit down on the couch or lay down with her to go to bed!  That is why I have to try to hide under the covers from her!  Sophie has not been obedience trained.  She is a crazy dog!  I try to stop the play, she won't stop!  Do you think she needs obedience training?

 All dogs need obedience training. They don't come out of the box knowing how to live safely in a human world.

And when she won't stop, you need to leave the room and shut the door behind you, for 30 seconds-1 minute before going back. If she does it again, do it again.  Any hiding or squirming or jumping around on your part is just more of a game to her.

I have to agree. Hiding under the covers as far as your dog is concerned is just another game. "Yippee, now she wants to play the grab and pull the blanket game!! I love that game!" When your dog starts biting, she is looking for attention. If you pet her, she gets what she wants and will continue that behaviour because it works. What you have to do is withdraw the attention when she bites - even the negative attention like holding her firmly and saying 'No'. Pick her up and put her on the floor and ignore her. If she bites at your feet - get up and walk away. Each time she gets a reaction from biting it will only reinforce it. All dogs need attention, especially if they are alone a lot. I would limit the petting and substitute other things such as tossing a ball for her or even better spending time teaching her roll over, speak, etc. A tired dog is a good dog! Sitting and petting will not burn off that extra energy. Once she has chased the ball for 15 minutes or so, she will hopefully be more content to just lie on your lap for a short petting session without demanding it continue endlessly. Good Luck.

 Hi Denise,

 That is a good idea, about teaching her new tricks.  She is a very smart dog.  But I don't know how to go about teaching her tricks.  She does like when I chase her when she grabs my laundry and playing tug-of-war with it, and chasing her favorite toys that I throw and I hide treats in her blankets and she finds them and then I hide them again.  So she loves to play, but she loves to play endlessly.  I guess because she has to spend so much time alone, she seems to want all my time when I am home.  I get to go to the gym and work off my energy from sitting at a desk all day, but she doesn't.

Can you tell me how to get her to speak and roll over?

 
Thanks,

Tammy
 

Well there are books on training tricks that would explain better than I but the basic idea is (I think) is to capture, associate and reward the behaviour. For example. Speak. Get a nice yummy treat and get your dog to sit and focus on you. Say "SPEAK". Now the dog of course won't know what you are asking for, but certainly knows she wants the treat, so will probably start doing a number of behaviours. She may jump, lie down, stand up, offer her paw etc. Everytime she offers the wrong behaviour, sit her down, refocus her and repeat SPEAK. When and if she happens to bark -immediately go nuts, say 'good girl, good girl, good girl' and give her the treat. Then do it all again. If your dog tends to bark alot, the association will be more quickly made. Otherwise it takes practice to get her to associate the word 'speak' with the action to bark. Once she makes that association however, it becomes as rutine as the sit command. This is just the way I did it with my dog. Others may have a better method - anyone? I taught my dog to roll over by first teaching down. In the dwon position, I would say 'roll over' as I lured his head to the side with the treat. If move the lure quick enough the dogs body follow and flip. This is just practice and a little nudge might be needed to complete the flip. Then again -praise and treat! I just wanted to add about getting an playmate for your dog. Although this has been a positive experience for some owners who are way from the home all day, I would caution you that it can also be a disaster. It is not something you can really try and see how it goes. Once you bring another dog into your home, they are there. If the dogs don't get on you are in big trouble!

You are right of course about getting another puppy, and I thought about it and I really don't want another puppy, so I am going to have to just devote more time to Sophie.  

I am going to teach her tricks and take her outside for the whole evening after I get home.  Except soon it will be getting dark really early, and I will be coming home in the dark, but then I will just play with her inside and try teaching her tricks.  She loves to please me, and get treats.  I just hope she doesn't become frustrated.  How long do you try to teach the trick before you stop and let your dog relax?  Do you just go by the dog's behavior and when you see you are getting nowhere you just give it up for a while? 

I highly recommend the book "The Power of Positive Dog Training" by Patricia Miller. I've seen it sold at PetCos and PetSmarts, it's a very popular book. It goes through teaching basic obedience but also a lot of tricks like speak and spin and wave hello and lays out a method that you can use to teach a dog any trick that they are physically capable of. I taught my dogs to wipe their paws on a mat before coming back in the house.

 Do you take this dog on walks? All dogs need walks, it doesn't matter the size.
 

 I will pick that book up this weekend.  I have to go to Petco so hopefully they will have it there.  Or I can order it online from the bookstore.  I can't wait to get started with teaching her some tricks!

That is cute that you taught your dogs to wipe their paws!

We don't go on walks, we live in the country and there is a lot of acreage around our house so we just go outside.  As soon as I say outside or she sees me getting ready to go outside she runs to the door and is jumping up and down.  She loves to go outside.  So I sit out there and watch her while she runs around and sniffs everything.  I am afraid to leave her out there all alone, because she is so tiny and one day a big hawk landed next to me on a brick fence that I was sitting on watching her, and he looked at me and I looked at him and I think he was as startled as I was!  I think he thought Sophie was going to be lunch! 

But I did realize from this forum that she is not getting enough exercise and she is bored.
 

Yeah don't leave her out alone!  I used to live way out too so I get you on the not really taking "walks" thing--we took romps and runs and swims. We never leash walked either until we moved into the city. It just seems like so many people get little dogs because they think little dogs don't ever need to be walked or have exercise or go outside, so I just wanted to make sure.