Does anyone know how to stop a pitbull puppy from biting?

cmbajr

Active Member
I have a American pit bull terrier named skunk and he's a little over 2 months old now and he is a VERY hyper puppy and when he gets hyper he likes to bite and I was wondering how to get him to calm down and play nicer. Iv tried flicking his nose, pushing him away and telling him no in a firm voice, putting him in his crate for a time out but nothing works. He's a very sweet pup and is protective over me and my girlfriend but when we let him out of hs crate in the morning he just goes nuts running around the room wanting to play... He broke my bong 2 nights ago cuz I left for 15 minutes to go to the store and when I came back the bong was on the floor in 3 pieces. I'm not abusive and don't want to train him to be people or animal aggressive but he's making no progress on hs biting phase. Any advice?
 

thowedoff1994

Active Member
I have a American pit bull terrier named skunk and he's a little over 2 months old now and he is a VERY hyper puppy and when he gets hyper he likes to bite and I was wondering how to get him to calm down and play nicer. Iv tried flicking his nose, pushing him away and telling him no in a firm voice, putting him in his crate for a time out but nothing works. He's a very sweet pup and is protective over me and my girlfriend but when we let him out of hs crate in the morning he just goes nuts running around the room wanting to play... He broke my bong 2 nights ago cuz I left for 15 minutes to go to the store and when I came back the bong was on the floor in 3 pieces. I'm not abusive and don't want to train him to be people or animal aggressive but he's making no progress on hs biting phase. Any advice?
good luck wit that one.....mine is 4months old and he ate my laundry floor out....i moved him to the patio and he eats the wood off the patio door ...hes even ate my electrical socket out the wall...im surprised it didnt bake his crazy ass....but whats strange is he wont eat the chew toys!!!!! im like wow!!!
 

xKuroiTaimax

Well-Known Member
Mouthing and biting/chewing is natural puppy behavior. Make sure he gets lots of exercise, has chew toys and when it comes to biting people, he should have learned from the squeaks of his litter mates how much biting is too much.
 

cmbajr

Active Member
good luck wit that one.....mine is 4months old and he ate my laundry floor out....i moved him to the patio and he eats the wood off the patio door ...hes even ate my electrical socket out the wall...im surprised it didnt bake his crazy ass....but whats strange is he wont eat the chew toys!!!!! im like wow!!!
I know how that is... He ate the sensor bar cord to my wii and now my girlfriend is mad cuz she uses the wii for Netflix and can't watch it now. But mine atleast chews on his toys. Hell there isn't anything the little bastard won't chew on. I'm afraid to get new shoes seeing what he did to my recent pair :/
 

cmbajr

Active Member
Mouthing and biting/chewing is natural puppy behavior. Make sure he gets lots of exercise, has chew toys and when it comes to biting people, he should have learned from the squeaks of his litter mates how much biting is too much.
I know and I need to be more patient but when I try to correct him and he just ignores me I get frustrated cuz I have no choice but to put him in his crate but I hate leaving him in the crate for so long. I want him out more but he won't listen.
 

Vindicated

Well-Known Member
I have a six month old German Shepherd x Beagle Cross. For the past few months I've had her in group obedience training. There was a guy who had a beautiful five month old blue noise pitbull training along side me. Complete opposite personalities. Mine being very food motivated and his being very toy motivated.

Anyway, to biting, all puppies do this. You want to start by giving them something they will want to chew for a long time. I like to give my pup bully sticks, which are gross if you know what they are, but my pup goes nuts for them and they last for days. I also like to use Kongs. I pour a marble sized drop of peanut butter at the very end, then toss in 1-2 pieces of her kibble or a treat (e.g. boiled chicken, cooked liver, pea size bite of string cheese, etc), then I make it hard to get to by stuffing a cut carrot or doggie cookie into the whole.

Once you've address their need to chew then you need to work on appropriate ways to play with your pup. If you want your pup to learn how to wrestle and be tough, get her socialized and used to playing with other dogs her size. Avoid tug-of-war games until her manners are better. Teach her how to catch treats and soft toys, then work on her coming to you and dropping the toy in your hand.

Next, teach her what "stop biting" or "no bite" means. The way I did this was as I was playing with her, whenever she would playfully bite my hand I'd go frozen. The second she released (even if it was just to give me a weird look) I'd go into party mode, tell her good girl, and give her a "jackpot" which is where you give maybe 3-5 treats, one at a time. If you just give them a handful of treats to the pup that's one feeding and ends quickly. By slowing it down and going , heres one treat *gulp*, heres another *gulp*, etc. and making the whole thing fun she'll be more likely to stop biting the next time you freeze. After she's learned the game or around the six to tenth round, you want to start assigning a name to this trick. This is when I say "Stop Biting" and immediately freeze. Pretty soon she knows no biting. After 40 times you can stop giving treats every time and just do it randomly.

So now she knows what no biting means, but because she's in that teen phase she might still want to bite you just for the fun of it. They're dogs after all. So when this happens, you first tell her to stop, if she doesn't, then immediately end the game by walking away or removing her from the pack. A lot of trainers I know use crates and will tell their dogs "uh oh, sorry, go to bed." I just go "Hey. Stop Biting. No? 'Ganja' Timeout." Then I pick her up, walk her into the kitchen and make her stay in the corner away from everyone else. Sometimes she fights, but I don't yell or make it a big horrible thing. Its normal to have to give her a time out a few times a day, but over time her biting becomes a lot softer and is more of a tease.

You really don't want to stop biting completely. You actually want to first train her to have a soft mouth. Meaning to bite with very little or no pressure. In order to do this, initially biting lightly is tolerated, but biting hard gets timeout. Eventually biting lightly gets timeout and biting without pressure becomes acceptable. The reason for this is say one day a neighbor's little kid pulls her ear or tries to kiss her on the face. Most dogs would naturally bite to defend themselves. Well if she has a soft bite, chances are nothing is actually going to happen. It'll be more of a warning.

FYI, I'm not a trainer myself. I just been through it, watched lots of video training on you tube, read a few books, and asked a shit load of questions to my trainer.
 

scroglodyte

Well-Known Member
every time he does it, shake him by scruff of neck and yell, "stop." do it til he yelps. terror is what they understand. just watch a bitch with her pups. rough stuff.
 

VTMi'kmaq

Well-Known Member
Congratulations on owning one of the most loyal breeds there are! Now realize youve gotten an athletic breed that requires an athletic owner byt hat i mean at LEAST 1 hour of vigourous excercise a day9preferably a walk where you can unleash him and let him run his ass off in the woods or in a park or on the beach whereever you can get away with it responsibly, its imperative that you build strong behavior patterns at an early age, vindicated post was good. I have a red nose pitbull/american bulldog mix and a beagle/pug mix(pugle) i can totally relate to shit being broken chewed beyond recognition and that phone call to my cable provider explaining that there remote no longer exists! I had to excercise them more than i wanted to but it payed off with really mellow animals in the long run.
 

bluntmassa1

Well-Known Member
smack him on the nose with 2 fingers and say no in a stern voice every time he bites (every time) you can't let him get away with it once. it takes a while but my puppys almost 7 months and don't bite at all but I was a bit rougher on him when he fucked with my 2 year old he learned real quick not to fuck with her. those rawhide chips are great to get them to chew on too I always buy a big bag at walmart for under $10 and give him one every time he starts chewing shit. also get him playing games like fetch, tug a war etc then when hes happy to see you he will want to play games not play fight. you don't want to play fight with him much either my last pit I use to play rough with all the time but one day I got in a fight and he thought it was play time he was jumping up and biting me till I punched him clean in the face that fucker almost got my ass beat.
 

dirtsurfr

Well-Known Member
I got a 6 month old that chews on every thing, but I love the heck out of him.
He's given me a smile every morning since I got him.
 

gaztron3030

Active Member
You can try using a squirt bottle and squirting them everytime, some dogs hate that.
Don't know if it's been mentioned (long posts) but make sure you hold his head against the ground and growl with your face close to the pups, this is what would happen to him if he pissed off the alpha and he will learn you are the boss.
 

gaztron3030

Active Member
every time he does it, shake him by scruff of neck and yell, "stop." do it til he yelps. terror is what they understand. just watch a bitch with her pups. rough stuff.
I think it's more dominance they understand than terror, I've seen dogs get beaten enough that they piss themselves and run away to hide when their owner raises his voice. Not nice and was too much. But you are right on Scrog they understand physical dominance and the mother teaches them to stay in line
 

scroglodyte

Well-Known Member
ps...................the "stop" command will work with any behavior and is the keystone of dog training. its not "good doggy" its not "bad doggy"......its stop doing what you are doing. praise him/her highly when they listen. treats are good.
 

budlover13

King Tut
i've always bit the dog back personally. Works like a charm.

That being SAID, i've never owned a pitbull lol.
 

dirtsurfr

Well-Known Member
I'd bite mine but I usually don't have my teeth in.
I did try, but gumming a dog ear just gets hair in your mouth.
 
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