3 month old puppy won't stop biting 10 year old daughter

[ChaoticLiving]

I know puppies bite, and we've been trying to train Bubbles not to bite us (we've had her for a month now). She does really well with me, pretty well with my husband and two older boys (16 and 21), but she just can't leave my 10 year old daughter alone.

We've tried the yelp and ignore, which doesn't work because Bubbles will just bite any part of my daughter that she can reach (usually her calves or shorts). So my daughter can't really ignore her. And I think my daughter's yelp sounds like a squeaky toy. It sure doesn't stop Bubbles from biting her.

Our house has a very open floor plan, so we can't really baby gate sections of it or close doors. We do have a room that we can give Bubbles a time-out in, but I'd have to drag or carry her to it. That seems like she'd be getting attention from me whenever she bothers my daughter, which doesn't seem like something to encourage. Plus, it's the room her crate is in and I don't want her to learn to dislike being in it.

Should I let her walk around the house dragging a leash so I could step on it and let my daughter escape when Bubbles bites? Then come back and interact with her when she's not barking at her?

This evening, Bubbles was following my daughter around the kitchen trying to engage her in play by nipping at her. My daughter was doing her best to ignore it, but then Bubbles' tooth scraped her calf hard enough to draw blood. Not a huge amount, but it took about five minutes to stop bleeding, and she kept saying how much it stung.

At least it doesn't seem to be aggressive behavior - I think Bubbles is just trying to play with her. Although I'm not so happy with Bubbles' response sometimes. She's fine with food, and lets people take things out of her mouth no problem, but with this play biting, if she gets pushed away (from any of us), she comes back even stronger and with a growl.

Yes, Bubbles gets lots of exercise. She gets to go on a long walk every morning and most evenings and sometimes during the day. Since it's summer, we also have time to take her out and just let her run around and play several times during the day. Sometimes it's just free play on her own, and sometimes it's chasing toys or sticks we throw. But it's frustrating because often she seems calm and lying down outside, then goes crazy biting and pestering and running around inside. When we take her outside again, she'll just lay down and chew on a stick or sniff the breeze, and then inside again and she's wound up! So it's a) hard to tire her out outside when she just lays down and b) hard to tell when she's really tired out or just faking it outside.

One of the reasons I got a Great Dane is because they are such gentle dogs. I know there's the puppy crazy phase, and teething is always an issue, but good grief! How can we teach her that my daughter's not a toy? She doesn't seem to respond to "no" at all anymore, even though I try not to overuse it and instead redirect to something appropriate (don't chew the book, here - chew this toy).

I really want to put a stop to this!

[WeLoveOur7Dogs]

You know how when someone is tickling you, and they won't let up, it's only funny for so long? And sooner or later, with some people, you let them know in no uncertain terms you've had enough? This is sorta the same thing. Dogs do the same thing with biting each other. In a litter, there are passive pups and there are fiesty, outgoing pups. Some pups will take alot from another but they all eventually "have enough" and then they let the other pup know. When they do, it's obvious what they're saying.

Bubbles for whatever reason as chosen your daughter as her playmate and is treating her like a littermate. If Bubbles is relentless, you need to correct her instead of just ignoring her. In my house, she woud get a progressive correction until she quit. You may have to grab her scruff a little. Keeping a leash on her will give you (and your daughter) a handle to better control her and is a good idea as your hands on the leash are further from her mouth. Remember to play with and re-engage her when she calms down.

In addition to teaching your daughter how to correct the pup, you need to have her help with regular trainng sessions. This will hlp Bubbles understand that she must listen and obey commands from your daughter. Who does Bubbles's care and feeding? She should help with that too.

[Mirababy]

Hi I rarely post, but this was something I went through with my girl Mira and my daughter, so I thought I'd mentioned what we did.
Kamryn was 6 when we got Mira and she's pretty small for her age, she's still only 44 lbs at 9 years old, so Mira could overwhelm her even at two and three months old.
Kamryn got so tired of being her object that she told me she wished we had never gotten Mira.
Mira knew (was learning) her basic commands like sit, down, and stay (or wait, for food), watch already, but in her worked up state didn't always listen.
Basically Kamryn and I worked on two commands together with Mira, Leave it and Enough. Also these commands were proceeded with the AHH AHH sound that Mira learned from the start that she was doing something I didn't like.
Mira was pretty stubborn, but she did learn, the key is getting your daughter to learn to train her too so your pup knows even she has to be listened to. Kamryn was pretty serious about learning to do this (and watched A LOT of It's me or the Dog, I like her training methods a lot too).
Later we added more things in and Kamryn learned how to feed her too, today Kamryn can get Mira to listen almost as well as me. She also taught her some tricks, Bow and Crawl

For the enough command I would play with Mira with one of her stuffies (or other favorite things) and let her get into it, then take it away become still and say Enough. Then if she was pretty calm I would start the game again, if she was hyper I would make her sit and wait for a couple of seconds and start again if she was calm.
I would let her get pretty riled up as the sessions progressed because when she would go after my daughter's arms as she walked by or chased her she'd be in a riled up state. I wanted her to learn that even when she reeaallly wanted something she still had to listen.
Kamryn learned to have her stop (saying Enough) and then sit when she began to come after her (treats were involved with Kamryn so she became a "really good thing" in Mira's mind )

I taught the leave it command so I could control her from afar when Kamryn didn't see her coming or wasn't able to get her to listen at first.
That's a little harder to write out for me so I would suggest looking up some good videos on how to teach it ( I learn better that way anyway, seeing it).
Both of these commands come in handy for so many things if the dog learns them well, finding something gross on a walk (leave it), and starting to react to another dog on a walk, (enough and leave it, used at the First sign the dog is begining to get riled, then a Let's go and keep walking).

Good luck, I hope this helps and at least lets you know there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh yeah, having her drag a leash so you can get and control her as she's learning is good too, I never did it and I'm sure if I had things would have gone faster because the corrections are faster.

Dawne

[Jehn]

I went through this with Ludo. My daughter was 15 months old when we got Ludo at 8 weeks. He would tug at her clothes, nip at her arms and hands in an attempt to engage her. It was VERY frustrating, but I anticipated this happening.

What I did to help the situation was I'd get down on the floor with Ludo and Teaghan and play. I decided when it was play time. She would throw him a ball or a toy and could take it from him with no problems. When she got bored(as most 15 months old do) and didn't want to play any more she'd wander off and that's when he would start the nipping. I would grab his scruff and give him a firm "no" and playtime would end. Teaghan would continue to do her own thing and he kept going at her, but each time he was greeted with the same response from me. When he'd finally retreat and lie down for a bit and be calm, I'd engage play time again. After about a week the nipping was greatly reduced, but he still pawed. I no longer had to grab his scruff. A firm no was enough to stop him from pawing at her.

Now he's 4 months old and the two of them walk around together. He'll give her kisses, bring her a toy and they'll play together for a bit. When she is done playing she walks away. He'll still walk up to her, but now he licks her to try to engage her. If she isn't interested, she pushes him away by his snout and he goes away.

Every now and again he gets a little too excited and that paw goes up towards her, but I just say "eh" and he stops.

It was A LOT of work! Tons! I'm sure once he hits his teens he'll need retraining, but for now everything is good. They are still never left unsupervised. When I want to play with only Teaghan I have to crate him still. He thinks play time always includes him. Reading her a book is crazy! He "roo roos" the entire time. LOL So training is always ongoing, but the big thing of him nipping is addressed for now.

[ChaoticLiving]

Hi I rarely post, but this was something I went through with my girl Mira and my daughter, so I thought I'd mentioned what we did.
Kamryn was 6 when we got Mira and she's pretty small for her age, she's still only 44 lbs at 9 years old, so Mira could overwhelm her even at two and three months old.
Kamryn got so tired of being her object that she told me she wished we had never gotten Mira.
Mira knew (was learning) her basic commands like sit, down, and stay (or wait, for food), watch already, but in her worked up state didn't always listen.
Basically Kamryn and I worked on two commands together with Mira, Leave it and Enough. Also these commands were proceeded with the AHH AHH sound that Mira learned from the start that she was doing something I didn't like.
Mira was pretty stubborn, but she did learn, the key is getting your daughter to learn to train her too so your pup knows even she has to be listened to. Kamryn was pretty serious about learning to do this (and watched A LOT of It's me or the Dog, I like her training methods a lot too).
Later we added more things in and Kamryn learned how to feed her too, today Kamryn can get Mira to listen almost as well as me. She also taught her some tricks, Bow and Crawl

For the enough command I would play with Mira with one of her stuffies (or other favorite things) and let her get into it, then take it away become still and say Enough. Then if she was pretty calm I would start the game again, if she was hyper I would make her sit and wait for a couple of seconds and start again if she was calm.
I would let her get pretty riled up as the sessions progressed because when she would go after my daughter's arms as she walked by or chased her she'd be in a riled up state. I wanted her to learn that even when she reeaallly wanted something she still had to listen.
Kamryn learned to have her stop (saying Enough) and then sit when she began to come after her (treats were involved with Kamryn so she became a "really good thing" in Mira's mind )

I taught the leave it command so I could control her from afar when Kamryn didn't see her coming or wasn't able to get her to listen at first.
That's a little harder to write out for me so I would suggest looking up some good videos on how to teach it ( I learn better that way anyway, seeing it).
Both of these commands come in handy for so many things if the dog learns them well, finding something gross on a walk (leave it), and starting to react to another dog on a walk, (enough and leave it, used at the First sign the dog is begining to get riled, then a Let's go and keep walking).

Good luck, I hope this helps and at least lets you know there is light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh yeah, having her drag a leash so you can get and control her as she's learning is good too, I never did it and I'm sure if I had things would have gone faster because the corrections are faster.

Dawne

Thank you so much for posting! Your situation sounds exactly like mine. It's funny you mention It's Me Or the Dog, because we are huge fans too. I think we've seen every episode at least once! We also like My Cat From Hell. Victoria and Jackson are great! What I love about Victoria is that she gets the dogs to obey because it's what they really want to do, not because they're forced to.

My daughter does help with the training (and the general care), and Bubbles actually listens to her pretty well, except when she's wound up and just trying to engage play. Part of the problem is that my daughter is too much of a little mom, and is constantly telling Bubbles "no" instead of redirecting her behavior. So the word is overused and loses some of its power.

I had her read your post too, and she thought it would be very fun to teach Bubbles to bow and crawl! She also added that she'd like to teach her to shake.

Excellent description on the Enough command. It sounds like a lot of work, but a great idea so I'll try it. I did teach my first dog the leave it command, but that was nearly 25 years ago, so I will look at some videos to remind me how to teach it!

Funny thing about dragging the leash around, which we tried today. When the leash is on Bubbles, she doesn't get as hyper, and likes to carry the leash around in her mouth instead of mess with my daughter! So it works as a distraction, but it doesn't look like I'll be able to use it to aid in correction.

Thank you for giving me such detailed ideas!

[ChaoticLiving]

Bubbles for whatever reason as chosen your daughter as her playmate and is treating her like a littermate. If Bubbles is relentless, you need to correct her instead of just ignoring her. In my house, she woud get a progressive correction until she quit. You may have to grab her scruff a little.

In addition to teaching your daughter how to correct the pup, you need to have her help with regular trainng sessions. This will hlp Bubbles understand that she must listen and obey commands from your daughter. Who does Bubbles's care and feeding? She should help with that too.

I think Bubbles chose my daughter as her "littermate" because she's the youngest one in the family. Bubbles tends to do the same thing to all kids, so of course they don't want to have anything to do with her. I will teach her the "leave it" command as Dawne suggested, although it's a little embarrassing to say "leave it" about a little kid, especially when their parent is right there!

My daughter is already very involved in Bubbles' care, feeding, and training, so we're good there. Now I just wish I could get my husband and son more involved!

Thanks for your ideas, and for responding to my post so quickly!

[ChaoticLiving]

I went through this with Ludo. My daughter was 15 months old when we got Ludo at 8 weeks. He would tug at her clothes, nip at her arms and hands in an attempt to engage her. It was VERY frustrating, but I anticipated this happening.

What I did to help the situation was I'd get down on the floor with Ludo and Teaghan and play. I decided when it was play time. She would throw him a ball or a toy and could take it from him with no problems. When she got bored(as most 15 months old do) and didn't want to play any more she'd wander off and that's when he would start the nipping. I would grab his scruff and give him a firm "no" and playtime would end. Teaghan would continue to do her own thing and he kept going at her, but each time he was greeted with the same response from me. When he'd finally retreat and lie down for a bit and be calm, I'd engage play time again. After about a week the nipping was greatly reduced, but he still pawed. I no longer had to grab his scruff. A firm no was enough to stop him from pawing at her.

Now he's 4 months old and the two of them walk around together. He'll give her kisses, bring her a toy and they'll play together for a bit. When she is done playing she walks away. He'll still walk up to her, but now he licks her to try to engage her. If she isn't interested, she pushes him away by his snout and he goes away.

Every now and again he gets a little too excited and that paw goes up towards her, but I just say "eh" and he stops.

It was A LOT of work! Tons! I'm sure once he hits his teens he'll need retraining, but for now everything is good. They are still never left unsupervised. When I want to play with only Teaghan I have to crate him still. He thinks play time always includes him. Reading her a book is crazy! He "roo roos" the entire time. LOL So training is always ongoing, but the big thing of him nipping is addressed for now.

That's the point I want to be at! I'm not sure it will work as well for me, because Bubbles nips at my daughter sort of randomly, whenever she's feeling feisty. So there usually isn't a playtime to end. But whenever we're having playtime and Bubbles nips, playtime will end, and resume when she's calmer. I will definitely have to start scruffing her for correction.

Thanks for writing and giving me ideas to work with!

[WeLoveOur7Dogs]

We dont use "leave it" for that command, we use "off". It doesn't matter what word you assign to mean stop biting, just be consistent.

When you "scruff" her to correct her, remember she IS a baby so go slow. Often only a little correction is needed. Be careful not to over correct.

[Jehn]

When you "scruff" her to correct her, remember she IS a baby so go slow. Often only a little correction is needed. Be careful not to over correct.

^ This! I should have added not to use a lot of force. I used the scruff as more of an attention getting method. I didn't hurt him, over power him or scare him. It was just a "hey! Pay attention to me. Don't do that." Kind of grab. I never want to scare him. I didn't want him fearful of Teaghan. He just needed to know that what he was doing wasn't acceptable.

Ludo plays with a lab puppy that's a couple weeks younger than him. The people who have the puppy also have a 3 year old lab. She is the "moderator" when they play. Most of the time she spends correcting the lab puppy when he'd get a little rough with Ludo. It was interesting to watch. Both pups responded great to her corrections so I stole the behavior correction from a dog. LOL It worked!

[Mirababy]

Well I'm glad I could help There are so many people on here with tons more experience and training ideas, that I hope pop on too.
I noticed in your introduction post that your first giant dog was a Saint/Dane mix, that's what Mira is
To me she's more Dane acting and looking (for the most part) than Saint, she's very high energy, most Saints I've met have been sooo mellow lol. Although she has those times too, she does most everything Dane, Roo Rooing, talking back, the FEET thing (more her big head now if I ignore her roo roos to go out for too long) she tries to use her feet to get attention, I had to teach her a NO FEET command.
Unless she's asked to Shake or give a High Five, sometimes she does a Double High Five, she loves using her feet, she will have a toy in her mouth and play 'soccer' with another! So funny

I love Victoria too, and have learned so much from her show (I've seen just about all of them too LOL). Her methods may not be for everyone, and can be time consuming, but I do feel her results speak for themselves and most Joe Public can use them safely.

With Bubbles and your daughter, with consistancy, it will finally sink in, your daughter has a great start. Mine also had a hard time at first being (sounding) stern enough, so I was always there to help make sure Mira followed through if it wasn't working with Kamryn. Sometimes it gets worse before it gets better, but try to have your daughter stay as calm/firm as possible. If the word no is ignored now change it to something else, a sound or new word.
And since you're trying the leash dragging you can step in and redirect for her at first.
Kamrym learned to put her through some of her commands once she got her attention, and as I said treats were key for Kamryn, Mira is very food motivated!
Since Bubbles is behaving better on lead praise her for her good interactions with your daughter too, saying good gentle or whatever word you use for her quiet playing. Always keep lessons short and try to end on a possitive note.

I forgot to mention in my other post teaching Bubbles to use her mouth gently if you haven't started already. Mira was a land shark to us all when we got her (we got her at 6 1/2 to 7 weeks old) too soon to be away from mom and siblings.
I spent the most time with Mira always with me, so we had lots of opportunities to play/train. If she was hanging out with me on the bed for example with her stuffie (always on hand to stuff in her mouth to stop the biting!) if she went after me sometimes I would let her (or I started it), to see how hard she would bite me, if she gently mouthed my hand I told her 'good gentle' then ended it with her toy. It took a bit (with some bumps in the road here and there especially around the teenage phase) but she is sooooo gentle with her mouth now at almost three years old.
I will "sometimes" play wrestle with her now (very short sessions) just to keep up the "gentle/enough" training, we end with a game of tug with a stuffie (her favorite thing). She barely puts any pressure on my hands, I just get slimed
I don't let my daughter play with her like this though, she plays other "safer" games with Mira.

You sound as you have a great start though, stick with it and tell your daughter (and yourself) it will get better!

Take care, woo that was long, sorry
Dawne

[ChaoticLiving]

^ Both pups responded great to her corrections so I stole the behavior correction from a dog. LOL It worked!

Haha! That's great! I've tried it a couple of times, and it seems to work. I think Bubbles really wants to be a good dog , I don't think it will take too long. We'll see.

Now if I can just get her to stop barking at my husband. He wasn't crazy about having another dog to begin with - he just knew I really wanted one. So having her appear to not like him so much isn't doing great things for their bond. I wanted her to win him over!

[ChaoticLiving]

I noticed in your introduction post that your first giant dog was a Saint/Dane mix, that's what Mira is

Kamrym learned to put her through some of her commands once she got her attention, and as I said treats were key for Kamryn, Mira is very food motivated!

I forgot to mention in my other post teaching Bubbles to use her mouth gently if you haven't started already.

Was Mira's mom or dad the Saint? Our dog Woosha's mom was a Dane, and she certainly seemed more dane, just with a bigger head. Woosha means "dog" in Amharic, and we had just moved back to the States from Ethiopia, so it seemed appropriate.

Bubbles is very food oriented too, so I think it is a great idea to have my daughter use treats a lot. My husband and son too! Bubbles loves me best, and I don't want the others to feel so left out. If I could just convince them to spend more time with her I think it would all work out, but it's even harder to train a husband and a 16 year old boy than a dog!

Teaching Bubbles to use her mouth gently is a great idea, too. I'll start working on that.

So, am I supposed to have any time left in the day to do anything other than work with the dog? I knew having a puppy was a lot of work, but I don't remember it being this much! But the rewards will be worth it.

[Mirababy]

Mira's dad was the Saint, and from certain angles/ear sets you can see the Saint in her head if you know it's there, her legs are pretty thick too. Most people that meet her think she's all dane, if they get closer they can see her fur is a bit longer and she has some slight waves going down the middle of her back.

I loved the name you chose for your baby, I love names that mean something, even if it's silly
Mira's is short for Miracle, she was born by c-section and they were certain she would be dead (another of her littermates was), but she was fine so they called her Miracle, I kept it because it suited her and she is our miracle

Working with a puppy is hard (but fun to me ) work, but if you keep the training sessions short, you can fit in a few a day, squeeze them in for everyday moments.
As I read somewhere else, if you're working in the kitchen teach a sit stay, or a down stay, and depending on if you don't want her in the kitchen at all do it at the doorway so she's learning both lessons at once.
Working in the yard, same thing, each lesson doesn't have to be long, the more they do it the more ingrained it is.
Of course Puppy/obedience classes, where more intense formal learning happens, are best, those shorter sessions help enforce and stick the formal sessions. Although I would have liked to take classes I made time for more serious lessons at least twice a day for 10 to 15 mins. at a time when she was younger and a bit longer/harder as she got older.

It's so worth it in the end, having a giant uncontrolable dog is a nightmare, and the bond you form with them as they learn is priceless. It will feel less like work as she learns and becomes a well mannered big girl. I love watching the wheels turn in a dog's head as you ask something new of them and they "get it"

As for your husband and son, you can't make them want to work with her, but maybe ask that they spend even five mins every once in awhile putting her through her paces, just so she knows she has to listen to them too. Show them how you do it and ask that they try and do it just like that so she doesn't get confused. As she learns they may enjoy seeing what they can teach her and get more involved.
One of my older sons makes Mira do every trick she knows when he feeds her, before she can get her food. I can see her thinking "enough already, Mom only makes me sit, wait and watch...." but she does it LOL

Dogs learn the people in the house that they can "get one over on" and will take advantage The more people working with her will help the training go faster too, put it that way to them.

Dawne