6 Mo Pup Bit me!

[BoomerSooner]

I need to preface this thread with: Eva is NOT aggressive at all. She licks and plays most of the time but never shows aggression!!!

Eva was a handful during her mouthing phase during teething but she is coming out of that phase. We taught her "no biting!" very well! She understands exactly what that means and 9 out of 10 times she will stop mouthing as soon as we tell her "no biting!".

Last night my boyfriend and I were playfully rough housing and Eva watched from about 4 or 5 feet away with no problem. However as soon as our playfighting became "ouch! immuna get you - you're in for it!" (all in fun between my boyfriend and I) She must have thought it was a yell for help from my boyfriend...

Quickly after the empty threats during our playfighting escilated in volume, Eva lunged at me and started pawing me to leave him alone (this didn't hurt at all) so we started laughing and continued play fighting. Then Eva got upiddy and legitimately bit my arm hard enough to leave red spots and indents in my skin. Because she didn't break my skin, I'm assuming it was a warning bite - not a bite to hurt me.

My question is, how do I break her of this all together?! We have "no biting" down perfectly! But she gets so protective of my boyfriend! I'm worried that this aggression will progress if we don't nip it in the bud!

Additional Facts:

-She is in her 4th week of obedience classes and does great!
-After she bit me I grabbed her muzzle and said "NO BITING!!!" and she quickly began licking me and pawing me to say "I'm sorry!"
- My boyfriend also told her "No biting! Bad girl!" after she bit me so she would know her master was unhappy with her as well.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR HELP!!

[msvette2u]

Don't roughhouse in front of her.

[BoomerSooner]

Originally Posted by msvette2u

Don't roughhouse in front of her.

I'd hope there is another method to help the situation... We can personally use your suggestion, but if there are kids around rough housing or my boyfriend rough housing with future kids she is still a threat...

Is there any training for this??

[Nickyb]

Originally Posted by msvette2u

Don't roughhouse in front of her.

This......

[kiya]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

I'd hope there is another method to help the situation... We can personally use your suggestion, but if there are kids around rough housing or my boyfriend rough housing with future kids she is still a threat...

Is there any training for this??

Teach your dog to play appropriately specially when there are children involved otherwise it's just an accident waiting to happen.

[BoomerSooner]

Originally Posted by kiya

Teach your dog to play appropriately specially when there are children involved otherwise it's just an accident waiting to happen.

What would be the appropriate correction for childs play? I realize if she snips at them what I need to do. But how do I set her up for success? Allow 1 child at a time and practice to "no biting" command for a while before I can trust them with her?

[Sunflowers]

I never understood why people like to do this. Dogs understand it even less. If you must do it, do it out if the dog's sight.

[kiya]

If you use dog toys or balls to teach the children the proper way to play with the dog, there shouldn't be a need for any "corrections" just like with a puppy redirect with a toy.

[MaggieRoseLee]

Originally Posted by Sunflowers

I never understood why people like to do this. Dogs understand it even less. If you must do it, do it out if the dog's sight.

I agree. We get a dog with protective qualities and then push their limits (specially with a young dog that's going thru confusing stages of their own) and expect them to be able to REASON real threat from not.

Your play is stressing your dog out. Since the easy fix is to stop the rough housing while your pup matures, I'd go with that. No corrections, no stress, nothing but adding to your happy calm puppy's life while they continue to get trained and socialized to mature to a great dog.

[Liesje]

Originally Posted by BoomerSooner

What would be the appropriate correction for childs play? I realize if she snips at them what I need to do. But how do I set her up for success? Allow 1 child at a time and practice to "no biting" command for a while before I can trust them with her?

You set her up for success by only allowing her to play in her style when/where it's appropriate. One of my dogs plays very nice with my older mutt but if he tries to play with my younger GSD it escalates into fighting. There's nothing wrong with any of the dogs or the play styles, but not every dog can be "trained" to play different ways depending on the situation. It all depends on their temperament, drives, threshold, etc. That is just part of who the dog is. If the dog's play style or reaction to play is not appropriate, then keep the dog away. I would not correct the dog because the dog is not really wrong and can't know any better.