# How do I stop my puppy from being so evil?



## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

I feel like I post a billion threads with questions, so I'm sorry! If I would have known I'd have so many, I would have asked them all in one big thread.

Bella can be as sweet as can be most of the time. And I am assuming it's because she's still so young, she just likes to play. She is 8.5 weeks and when she's not sleeping or sleepy (which is a lot) she is usually in attack mode. 

I babysit 2 kiddos (2 & 4 years old) 2 days a week. Yesterday, every time I was on the floor changing the 2 year old's diaper, she was trying to bit my hands, elbows, shirt, just jumping and lunging while growling. Pretty much whenever she's not sleepy she wants to play, and once she starts mouthing and biting, she will start growling. She doesn't play bite the kids much, maybe a lil but not as hard as me. I'm assuming so because the 2 year old laughs. I will stop her though. She will kinda pounce towards kids/chase them and that scares them. But she really hurts when she bites!

Here's a video a few days after I first got her-





She does pretty much the same thing, but growls now, and bites harder cuz she has more teeth. What we were doing was kind of yelping when she bit us too hard, and it used to work and she'd stop, but now it doesn't even phase her. It's horrible, but when I was changing the 2 year old's diaper I had to put her in her crate, which was right next to me at the time, so I could finish. I know that is not a punishment spot, so it's defiantly not something I want to do, at the time though, I didn't know what else to do. If I am sitting on the couch, computer chair, or bed, if she bites to hard or keeps attacking me, I'll put her on the floor. She can now get onto the couch though, which then she can get onto me from the computer chair from the couch also. 

I know she's a puppy, and she is teething and will probably mostly grow out of most of it after awhile. But what's the best way to start correcting this? She has 3 lil chew bones, a few lil animals she can chew up, and a couple toys for tug-a-war. She does play and chew all of them, she just prefers to chew on us. When I remove her from playing with me, I do give her something else to chew on. Is this all I can do?

Her yesterday.. I wouldn't have let her hurt the 2 year old by the way, when she got close I cut the video. But she has never hurt any kids yet, just likes to pretend she will, by pouncing towards them. Then they jump on a piece of furniture away from her.


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## Sensei (May 12, 2009)

Puppies - especially Chihuahua puppies - need a LOT of activity. However, they also need to learn as early as possible that YOU are the pack leader. They have to learn what's OK to chew, and what's not.

Try getting some Bitter Apple spray, and spray it on anything she chews on that she shouldn't.

There's nothing wrong with putting her in her crate when you need to change the baby. The puppy needs to learn there are boundaries.

If she is playing too aggressively, such as play biting, give her a good, authoritative, "NO!". Don't yell, just put some bass in your voice. 

If that doesn't help, then you can just get up, and walk to another room where she can't follow. She will eventually learn that biting makes playtime end.

Be firm, but patient, and you'll have a well-behaved chihuahua before you even know it! 

Good luck, and don't worry about asking too many questions. That's what this place is for!


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

The biggest problem with taking puppies from their mums before 10 weeks is they have very poor bite inhibition...so you are seeing that in your puppy. No one taught her not to use her mouth to explore the world, play, etc...so...she does. It is possible but difficult to train it out of them.

You can start out with the very firm "NO" and placing her away from you...but TBH lol, never once heard of that working. Some people say yelping and ignoring her best mimics what another dog would do but that's not true either...another dog would bite her back. Since you prrrrrobably aren't gonna bite your puppy lol, maybe try a small water bottle kept in your pocket and give her a little squirt when she bites. Some people think that is cruel but...its water, lol. I had quite a little biter/nipper...and the only thing that finally broke him of it was a water squirt.


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## jan896 (Dec 9, 2009)

it also good opportunity to teach the kiddos what is ok and not ok with the dog.... they can learn to be pack leader. as long as bella hears the laughter she thinks it is OK and a game to play

does she have chewies, such as Bully sticks? when she starts biting 'trade up' to the bully stick...see if that works....


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

If I put her away from me.. She just pounces back. She does this thing where she bites and whips her head back and forth. That's what hurts. Sometimes she does good and just mouths us and doesn't bite hard at all. I don't mind that, but should just stop her from biting/mouthing us at all, soft or hard? I don't want to confuse her.

I'll try a water squirt.. Lol, that may work.


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

I had to keep a little bottle in my pocket. It was a pain but it only took him about a week to learn it was a no-no. He's none the worse for wear, lol. But a lot of people aren't a fan of using a water bottle. I'd rather squirt than yell.


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

Right now she has a tug-o-war toy I can't find on petsmart's site...
These bones, which she only likes the bacon one.
And this lil chew animal she loves.


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## Chiboymom (Jul 8, 2009)

We used a water bottle for Draco also...it got to the point where if he started the naughtly behavior, all we had to do was pick up the bottle...and he would stop...we used a squirt type. Happily he also grew out of the human chewing.


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

Chiboymom said:


> We used a water bottle for Draco also...it got to the point where if he started the naughtly behavior, all we had to do was pick up the bottle...and he would stop...we used a squirt type. Happily he also grew out of the human chewing.


Susan always tells me to "bite" the puppy back dog-whisperer style by jabbing it on the side of its chest...they are so small and wiggly I find it almost impossible to do successfully LOL. But yeah, water bottle = miracle haha.


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## jesicamyers (Dec 27, 2010)

If Jax (5 months old) starts chewing on me, i end playtime by putting something in between us. If we're on the couch, its a pilliow. If we're in my room, he goes on the floor. It seems to help.


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

Hope does exactly what your girl does. We considered it just a part of puppydom. 

We have gotten her a hundred chew toys, flossies, teethers, etc. but when we come home she has missed us and goes crazy for play. We play with her and have said no to her play biting but she just looks at us and wags her tail! The video below is her being reprimanded for walking along the back of the sofa like a cat. I know that she knows not to stand on the back of the sofa because when I come near, she hops right down and puts her ears back and sort of cowers. You will see her "backchat" for the reprimand. You will also see her "attack" a pillow that she has decided is hers. It honestly did make me laugh to myself because she is so cute! 

She is a sweet, kissy girl but does have a TON of energy and loves to chase us, growl and lunge down and jump up and bark at us. We say she has only 2 speeds-FULL blast and off! To help with her energy, we are getting her a puppy...haha!

We say no to the biting, sometimes softly blow in her face (this actually stops it) but figure it is something she will outgrow and something we will miss when she is no longer a puppy! Puppy teeth, I will say, have nothing on weapons of torture, razors or needles-they are SHARP!


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

Yeah, most of the time what she does is pretty cute. 

She barked for the first time yesterday. Not something I was looking forward to.. but it was soooo darn cute!!!


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

Since we had been used to our boy who was 13, her barking cracked us up. He barked for logical things-doorbell, someone dropped something, etc. She barks for no real reason. It is random and we find that funny. She will crouch down, growl and jump up and bark. Her whole body gets into it.

She has now taken to standing next to me and barking if I have not noticed that she pottied on her pad. I was excited about that because it showed me that she is linking the barking to communicating rather than just playing or barking at nothing at all like at a rug!

She mainly does the play biting if we are on the couch or floor. She is brave and can help herself right up on or right down from the couch so it used to work to say "no bite" and put her down. Now she just jumps right back up and gets noses, ears, my necklace or since I have shoulder length, curly hair-my hair! She tugs at it JUST like a baby!


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

Yeah... That's another thing.. I have really long hair. And she loves to attack it. Also if I wanna take a nap with her, I will have to cover all my skin, sometimes even my head from her with my blanket to keep her from getting me. Then as soon as I put the blanket down to see if she stopped being crazy, she will pounce on me.

I gotta get a little water gun or squirt bottle...


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

That little video of hope is soooo cute, same of your puppy Blondie!


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

I added the video to the original post of her yesterday attacking the pillow. That's pretty much how she bites us. And she plays more rough with me then with my husband, what's the deal with that?


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## flippedstars (Dec 16, 2009)

She knows he's boss but not so sure if you or her are boss


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

flippedstars said:


> She knows he's boss but not so sure if you or her are boss


Ah... that explains it. He does the yelping thing good too. She used to respond well to it but not as much anymore..


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## Lesley (Jan 7, 2011)

I have similar issues with Radley, although his favourite chew is toes. I have had to keep my Uggs on constantly when in the house, as it has been said puppy teeth have nothing on weapons etc.
I have tried the firm "NO", the ignoring, the yelping to this he did respond initially, but not so much now. 
It wasnt so bad a few weeks ago but as he grows the bites, playful or not, start to hurt and my fingers are starting to resemble a well used pin cushion. 
I will try the squirt technique and fingers crossed he will learn.

Whilst on the subject of naughty puppies, has anyone have any trouble getting a collar on their pup the first few times? Radley goes ape when you try and gets a little viscious, I am trying to make it part of his morning routine, but the attack mode stays...UNLESS daddy steps in then it calms down. Is this similar to Blondie87? He knows dad is the boss but is fighting ranks with me?

Thanks in advance! 

PS glad its not just me :0S


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## 18453 (Feb 6, 2010)

I got daisy at 8.5 weeks ad she was a nipper I was so upset by it and tried everything possible posted on here and got a bunch of advice! The water didn't work for us she just use to lick it and carry on haha I managed to poke her when she did it and she stopped! 

It's so frustrating but you can teach them otherwise I suppose you all become like her littermates in training as it's the littermates and mum who teach them bite inhibition as kristi said

Good luck


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

I have no problem with putting a collar on Bella, she doesn't care. But the collar I got, although it is very cute, seems way too stiff, so I don't have her wear it. I even tried washing it and it didn't help..


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## kimr (Nov 14, 2010)

This is a problem we have now and then with Gracie, but poor Pedro gets the worse of it, I'm afraid. 

We didn't get her until she was 5 months, and her previous owners hadn't been able to do much with her - that's why they gave her up. I don't have any clue how early she was taken from her mom. She's very very smart. I'm pretty sure no one ever really tried to train her. 

My husband and I enjoy playing with her - to an extent. Sometimes she gets too rough, and we have to scold her, but this will usually stop it. She's 8 months, and those tiny teeth just get sharper and sharper! 

She loves her chewies, and even carries one to bed with her. I think this helps somewhat, too. And she runs off alot of excess energy with her 'bubby' - Pedro! 

The video of Hope is priceless, jesuschick! She's such a little doll!


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## Blondie87 (Jan 10, 2011)

I got a video of Bella barking.. lol


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

That is SOOOOO cute! Sounds like she has the hiccups!
Our girl does not tip her head to the side when we talk to her like that. Our boy did and I hope that she will-it is so cute.

By the way-glad to see that we both have daredevils who want to walk the top of the couch. Seeing yours makes me feel better!


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## svdreamer (Feb 20, 2010)

I tap the end of the nose, NOT HARD and say no bite. This works really well for me. They may try one more bite to see if I really mean it, then start licking. I use a water bottle, it's a livesaver. I use it for barking, playing too rough, anything that I need to correct. They have a respect for the bottle, a lot of times I just have to pick it up.


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## Dragonfly (Jun 6, 2010)

When I got Kizzie she was a drop off only 7 weeks if not younger and she was not even THIS much into biting! lol Your little one is crazy like Kizzie but even wilder it seems (AT that age but then again I corrected Kizzie right away) When Kizzie did this I would just tell her NO then right away hand her a toy that she CAN chew on! Kizzie was never a chew, we have never had anything in our house chewed up from our Chis (besides toys and one time when my mom was babysitting her she chewed up the Wii strap hahaha she was only 8 weeks, bad GRANDMA! lol) other wise she has NEVER chewed anything up because we corrected her RIGHT away with a toy! Yours reminds me of Kizzie SO much!!! Kizzie is a wild wild hyper Chi but with good training she's a good wild hyper Chi lol


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## Lesley (Jan 7, 2011)

I have had a little respite from the biting since last night, I am not suggesting the problem is corrected, as an over night fix would be a miracle. However, as we know the little man is teething, I went and brought an array of chew toys, one of which is an almost flat rubbery bone with some nobbly bits and grooves at one end and some nylon ribbons with knots in the other end. This bone is small enough that he can get his jaw right around it, and the knots right to the back of his jaw.

After sitting with him last night for nearly 30 minutes as he worked his jaw around the knots and nobbly bits (you could see the pleasure in his eyes) he hasn't really bitten fingers or toes since and just licks (occasional mouthing once or twice). Attack mode has been targeted only at his toys, and he has allowed me and my partner a chance to actually get ready for work. 

Now if he does start to mouth my fingers I have simply given him the bone and he straight away chews that instead. 

Ahhh my fingers and toes feel some what relieved at the moment for the break lol


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## Lesley (Jan 7, 2011)

This video is yesterday, when Radley decided that our kitty draft excluder was his! This is what he was doing to our hands & feet!?




And here he is today with the bone!






Bless him, he loves to lick the camera whenever we try & film him or take a pick. 

Anyway, total change in personality today


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## jesuschick (Dec 5, 2010)

That is also one of Hope's favorites. The line is called PetStages and there is a whole series of mini toys. I think we have gotten her most all of them-but she still, however, prefers gnawing on us! I even got her one that is a flat bear, I think, and he is filled with buckwheat and can be microwaved so that he can warm her bed.

Glad it is working!


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