should we take away the toys?

Does this pup get exercise or any other kind of stimualtion?

Do you ever allow her on the furniture so that she might not be distinguishing when its ok or when its not?

I wouldnt take her toys away but maybe limit the number you have laying around so she dosnt see them as "her" and she actually see's you dole out her coveted ones.

Biting for example is a great way to exchange your hand for a toy.

NILIF should be implemented asap but while keeping in mind at this age everything is a game to her. Keep it light and fun, when you start to get irritated slow down and regroup!

Most importantly never remove a puppy from a situation that is troublesome (not the same as fearful or aggressive) because that leaves no room for teaching or improvement. When she tries to get on the couch GET UP and redirect her to her bed and reward with a treat, telling her down isnt gonna work if she dosnt know what that mean. Make sure her bed is where you are because she is a pack animal.....you are her pack and she feels she needs to be by you for now. Tell Her as you move her "go to your bed" and eventually she will obey on command.

Sorry if I stated any of the ovious here, just trying to cover all my basis, LOL

Here are my monsters respinding to "on your bed"....you can tell which one I've had since puppyhood and which one is still new, LOL but the point is they are working for their treats. The quickest one to respond was taught by me first leading her to her bed with the treat before I required her to go on her own.

I now use "on your bed" when comapny comes over, when I'm eating or whenever I feel neccessary so I am giving her the control of wether she wants to obey before I put her outside.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf3uH47h71Q

AuroraLove

Here are my monsters respinding to "on your bed"....you can tell which one I've had since puppyhood and which one is still new,

OMG that was cute how Primo sat next to the bed, and then when you said "All the way" he kind of inched over so just his butt was on it... Smart puppy!

I do redirect with a toy when she is biting, but that sometimes will not work.  She has never been allowed on any furniture.  We'll have to get a bed for downstairs (her crate is in our room on the second floor).  I would not mind training her to get on her bed downstairs as HER place to go.  We try redirecting when she wants on the couch, she's good for about 20 seconds (we redirect with a toy) and then she's back focused on the couch.  Getting up, often leads me to getting bit b/c she thinks I'm playing.  I've NEVER encouraged her to bite us in play nor has my SO - when she bites we stick a toy in her mouth and initiate a little tug then fetch. 

You'd think I've never trained a dog before but I never met one so darn focused.  When she is fixated on something we have yet to find a solid way to redirect her. I wish I had a video camera to setup to show how focused she is.  Fixated is a good word I'd use on her.  Tomorrow I'm food shopping so I'm hoping to fixate her attention on hot dogs to learn behaviors my SO and I would like her to display rather than fixating on the couch and on biting one of us. 

We put her in the kitchen tonight with a few toys - so we could eat dinner in peace, but we did make sure we did so when she was behaving calmly so as to not associate it with the fact that I'm quite frankly tired of being bit in the crotch despite trying to redirect and now trying to flat out ignore her.  I can't ignore b/c I'm fortunate I haven't gotten hurt yet, but my luck will run out in that area. 

My internet connection is a little sluggish tonight - so I will watch that video once I figure out what's going on with my wireless connection.

Matters are not being helped b/c I'm quite frankly tired.  I get maybe 3 hours of sleep a stretch and it's not enough for me so I'm doing my best to not let my tiredness affect matters.  Even when my SO takes her out our alarm for her midnight out sessions wakes me up and once awake it's hard for me to get back to sleep. 

She does get play sessions with us and short training sessions with us when we are home.  Unfortunately her exercise is limited to what she gets in the house until she is fully vaccinated or I'd have her in puppy socialization classes and take her for little walks.  But we are already dealing with very loose stools with her (she went to the vet today) so I can't chance taking her for walks around here and eating poopy grass b/c other dog owners around here do not pick up the poop.  Plus the vet wants us to keep taking her to potty where we are at least for the time being given her poop situation. 


 

I guess we like to leave dangerously but my pup was out and about at 8 weeks.  Sure it is taking a chance but he was fine.  The benefits outweighed the risks for me.  He was off leash a couple hours a day out in the woods.  And was leash walked several times a day.  At that age they get zonked out quickly and he basically slept through the first 8 months!  He was with new dogs and new people everyday too cover this social skills.  That nipping thing was hell for us also.  Attack biting too.  It is patience and tolerance till the adult teeth come in.  Then like a lightswitch it went away.  He learned how hard to bite when he played with us.  I though I had a devil dog also.  But again, wipe that little bugger out so that they are too tired to bite or play at home.  Throw a ball around, toss toys etc.  Whatever it takes to put that little darling to sleep for hours at a time.  They need it!  I still love my dog the most when he is exhausted and chilled out.  He is such a great dog once he has let his energy out in the appropriate place.  Sporting breeds are very mouthy and your right around the start of the teething so there isn't much hope for anything to work training wise if the dog is in teething mode.  Just get that dog outside and enjoy the fun puppy months in the warm sunshine. 

Have you tried giving him some 'puzzle' type toys like a Buster Cube, etc? They might mentally tire him out a bit.

My guess is this dog is probably teething heavily -- AND she hasn't learned bite inhibition.  But rather than just a toy, I would be handing her something to chew hard on -- have you tried a short stint at something like a washcloth frozen solid?  She may be so focused on trying to CHEW to get some relief that she can't think beyond pain.  so deep stuff to chew and chew HARD on ... you can't leave her alone with it for long (you don't want her eating pieces of said washcloth). 

Even a bit of pure real vanilla rubbed on her gums can sometimes chill them back a bit.  Because it takes away some of the pain. 

In other words - taking away a play toy is one thing -- but don't deny her something to chew on most all the time.

The last thing I would take away is a chew toy, especially her favorite one that she will really have a decent chew session on.  We were thinking of just her stuffed animals....but maybe this won't be necessary.  I did suspect that maybe she is chewing heavily due to teething.  I would have hoped she would have learned bite inhibition by now - due to staying with at least one littermate till 10 weeks of age (plus three adult dogs in the house who do not tolerate misbehaving puppies). 

I did notice some new teeth this morning (oh joy lol) and I will give the washcloth under HEAVY supervision a shot (or she will eat it no doubt in my mind about that!).  Right know she has a Kong, but I will pick up a buster cube and give that a go as well. 

This morning we worked a little more on watch me and down.  She got rowdy during a play session and I had to go through her entire box of toys to find a toy she wanted more than my clothing or skin.  But I found one and praised the living heck out of her when she started tugging on the toy and the retrieved it for me.  I feel like I have to be careful not to get too excited in my praise because I find she gets too excited and focuses back on biting me instead of the toy

I think after reading losinsusans post we'll start taking her out for walks more and see if there is a class around here that will let her in (the ones I checked want her to be older and/or fully vaccinated).  I'll start that though once we got this poop thing under control and the fecal sample the vet took comes back (which should be today). We'll live a bit more dangerously to wipe her out (though she does sleep quite a bit already)...but I DO love her when she is pooped and dreamy eyed and gentle.  I want more of that and if it means risking a bit before her series of shots are over - then I think it's worth it.  I just worry because we live nearby to some woods with wild animals and she is a major grass eater...EVERYTHING goes in the mouth and frantic humans pull it out before she swallows it - but grass is hard to get all the way out.  I wish I could let her off leash, but I don't trust her.  She typically wants to be close but I'm afraid with all the distractions outside she'll wander off and run away.  We haven't started on recall yet and until we get past this biting phase I doubt we'd be able to make any progress in that area. 

We also need to work on leash manners.  She is mostly good on the leash till she decides she wants to play tug with it.  I was thinking of trying out a harness with her to see if that is better.   But I'm not familiar with harnesses at all - never used them. 

I took a long nap yesterday (my SO took over puppy duties) and he woke up purposely before her midnight (well 2am) potty break so the alarm would not wake me up so I slept through the night.  I feel like a different person than the one who posted this yesterday totally frustrated and crying (yes I was crying b/c I want to play with her but when  play session inevitably ends up with her going after my body and I can't distract her it's not fun and frustrating, couple that with lack of sleep and I was just a wreck).  I'd had hoped I would be able to adjust to less sleep but apparently this human needs to nap more herself. 

Despite all this I love the little bugger to death and really do look forward to figure out what works with her and what doesn't - and how we both need to communicate with each other.  I don't mind a challenge it's just the biting thing has frayed on my nerves and I'm working to calm myself, in order to calm and redirect her better.
 

I know you've said you ignore her when she bites, but do you yelp as well?  A puppy's littermates will yelp/squeal when bitten too hard.  The ignoring thing never worked on Ben really, either, but yelping did.  As high pitched as possible and as dog-like as possible.  THEN turn away from her for a few seconds, and then reinvite her to play BEFORE she can go find a toy.  Keep her focus on you. 

If you've tried that already then.....ignore me.  LOL. 

I know it can hurt like blazes and I feel for you.  Puppy teeth are horrid.   

 When Kivi Tarro gets the munchies for human flesh, we hustle him into his crate with a dried pigs ear or a tough bone of some sort that needs a bit of work. Although he's not a bad puppy at all with his teeth and most of the time modifies the pressure if you yelp loudly. This morning he got pouty because he was trying to bite my feet and I kept yelping even when he was using hardly any pressure at all. I REALLY hate having my feet bitten. He realised on his own that feet must be out and lay down and gave me a big sigh. When he's not responding to the yelp we figure the pigs ear can take his chewing rather than our flesh.

Try cardboard boxes. KT likes them, too.

In asnwer to your question, I reckon puppies need toys all the time. It's good for them to have access to acceptable chew toys. I'm teaching KT to bite his toys on command. Dunno why. Just for fun, but you never know. Maybe it will come in handy. You can keep all but a couple out of her reach, though, and rotate them. 

Oh I forgot to add....Ben did go through a stage where the biting was in my view quite severe.....at that point, I tethered him to whatever was handy in an area that had little attraction for him (nothing to do or play with) and then I'd play with him.  The second he put his teeth on me, I'd yelp loudly and go just out of reach with my back turned.  Since he couldn't go anywhere, do anything or otherwise amuse himself, it taught him to focus on what *I* was doing.  

I considered those to be training sessions, and kept them short - 5 minutes at most - but I am convinced it helped.   

Benedict

I know you've said you ignore her when she bites, but do you yelp as well?  A puppy's littermates will yelp/squeal when bitten too hard.  The ignoring thing never worked on Ben really, either, but yelping did.  As high pitched as possible and as dog-like as possible.  THEN turn away from her for a few seconds, and then reinvite her to play BEFORE she can go find a toy.  Keep her focus on you. 

If you've tried that already then.....ignore me.  LOL. 

I know it can hurt like blazes and I feel for you.  Puppy teeth are horrid.   

Yup we yelp.  Doesn't seem to help matters any, if anything she ignores yelping.  My voice can hit the high notes, my SO has a harder time but manages a somewhat higher pitch than his usual deep tone.  Puppy teeth are horrid and now we've found more that have come in whoo hoo!  Sorry if I don't make poor jokes out of the situation I'll start crying again - she went after my crotch again, I yelped turned away and she kept persisting, then I went through her entire toy box to find something to distract her with to no avail.  I finally parked my butt in a chair and scooted in close to the table so she had very limited access to parts of my body.  When she walked away I called her over put her in a sit and then initiated a play session which she took too then.   

Benedict

Oh I forgot to add....Ben did go through a stage where the biting was in my view quite severe.....at that point, I tethered him to whatever was handy in an area that had little attraction for him (nothing to do or play with) and then I'd play with him.  The second he put his teeth on me, I'd yelp loudly and go just out of reach with my back turned.  Since he couldn't go anywhere, do anything or otherwise amuse himself, it taught him to focus on what *I* was doing.  

I considered those to be training sessions, and kept them short - 5 minutes at most - but I am convinced it helped.   

Benedict I really like this idea and I think it would help.  Short little 5 minutes sessions of doing this.  I'll have to figure out where I can tether her too where there is little to attract her with (she's very self amusing), but I think we'll give this a go.  I just cannot have her biting my crotch for all the obvious reasons, or my boobs, or my arm (b/c she's biting hard - and is too focused on biting that distracting her can be difficult at times).  But I think doing what you did with Ben will help...at this point it couldn't hurt! 
 

corvus

 When Kivi Tarro gets the munchies for human flesh, we hustle him into his crate with a dried pigs ear or a tough bone of some sort that needs a bit of work. Although he's not a bad puppy at all with his teeth and most of the time modifies the pressure if you yelp loudly. This morning he got pouty because he was trying to bite my feet and I kept yelping even when he was using hardly any pressure at all. I REALLY hate having my feet bitten. He realised on his own that feet must be out and lay down and gave me a big sigh. When he's not responding to the yelp we figure the pigs ear can take his chewing rather than our flesh.

Try cardboard boxes. KT likes them, too.

In asnwer to your question, I reckon puppies need toys all the time. It's good for them to have access to acceptable chew toys. I'm teaching KT to bite his toys on command. Dunno why. Just for fun, but you never know. Maybe it will come in handy. You can keep all but a couple out of her reach, though, and rotate them. 

I wasn't too fond of my SO suggestion to take away the toys which is why I said let's get some more opinions on this.  I don't think we will go this route - besides it is sometimes possible to redirect her with a toy, so I need these in reach and handy at all times.  I'm not fond of giving dogs pigs ears and rawhide, but I will talk to my SO about his feelings on raw meaty bones.  I have heard others giving those and I looked a little into Raw diets (can't do that personally myself, I much prefer feeding kibble) but maybe a raw meaty bone will give her something hard to work on.  It'll have to be in the kitchen though, since everywhere else is carpet - or her kennel.   

I also just want to say thanks to all of you for advice, suggestions and just plain support!  You are all keeping me sane here!