# Squirt gun for bite inhibition



## neobot85 (Dec 10, 2008)

We've been trying lots of different methods for bite inhibition....yelping just makes him bite harder, ignoring him somewhat works, but we've been doing that for a few weeks now and he still bites (hard!). He's 6 months old now (still teething), so I'm beginning to worry. Most of the bite inhibition stuff I have read talks about 2 and 3 month old puppies.

So we've decided to try a squirt gun. We're always going to have this on us when we come up to him and see how it works out. Have any of you had permanent success with a squirt gun?


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## Marsh Muppet (Nov 29, 2008)

Depends on the pup. Mine (retriever) thought it was the BEST GAME EVER!


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## Darkmoon (Mar 12, 2007)

When you yelp, do you end the game and walk away or do you just sit there? You HAVE to end the game and walk out of the room or walk away. The game is done and your not going to start it again for a little bit (5mins or so).

My Dog things the squirt gun is the best thing in the world. It's a game to him. Stick with the yelping and ending the game. It does work, but you have to make sure to end the game right then and there, that very second.


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## Curbside Prophet (Apr 28, 2006)

And don't forget to grumble about how your dog is a filthy, nasty cur when you do walk away. Dogs read body language very well, and you could just yelp and calmly walk out of the room, but I like to be dramatic about my disappointment, especially when teaching bite inhibition; by cursing at the dog your body language will follow, painting a clearer picture between play and disappointment. You don't have to yell or be scary, just act upset.


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## Snoppykins (Dec 19, 2008)

Darkmoon said:


> When you yelp, do you end the game and walk away or do you just sit there? You HAVE to end the game and walk out of the room or walk away. The game is done and your not going to start it again for a little bit (5mins or so).
> 
> .



That works for our dog as well. No matter how much you might not feel like getting up and leaving you just have to. It is worth it when your not getting hurt!!!


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## Bearjing (Oct 24, 2008)

I tried it with my pup Bo (mutt) and she thought it meant playtime too.


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## neobot85 (Dec 10, 2008)

Snoppykins said:


> That works for our dog as well. No matter how much you might not feel like getting up and leaving you just have to. It is worth it when your not getting hurt!!!


What about when we lift him on the couch with us and he starts biting us (or anytime he isn't tethered)? Leaving him is OK when he is tethered, but we can't leave him untethered if he starts biting us (one, for his safety, and two because he'll just chase us as we walk away).

Some people say to put him someplace safe, but as we're doing this, he is biting our arms and hands. Doesn't the removal of play need to happen immediately?

Or maybe we should hold off on putting him on the couch until he learns bite inhibition?

Also, I wanted to clarify that this isn't just putting our finger in his mouth. He'll actually clamp his entire mouth down on our arms and hands and bite.

Thanks for the suggestions so far!


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## Snoppykins (Dec 19, 2008)

Have you tried bitter apple? A lot of dogs hate the taste. Our lab/samoyed mix happens to love it. I heard labs like it. But your dog may hate it and it can help.


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## Squeeker (Dec 15, 2007)

We tried the yelp/ignore/time out for our pup, and it didn't work. We ended up taking a small glass jar and putting 5 pennies inside. We would shake it hard and fast when she would nip, and it would startle her enough that she would stop. We then would redirect her or leave the room, and that put a stop to the nipping within a week.


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## Snoppykins (Dec 19, 2008)

Squeeker said:


> We tried the yelp/ignore/time out for our pup, and it didn't work. We ended up taking a small glass jar and putting 5 pennies inside. We would shake it hard and fast when she would nip, and it would startle her enough that she would stop. We then would redirect her or leave the room, and that put a stop to the nipping within a week.



That seems to be affective because it will stop them during the act. I am going to do this and see how it works


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## Squeeker (Dec 15, 2007)

Just be careful that you don't inadvertently scare your dog - don't want to make it afraid of loud noises. We knew our dog was fine with loud noises before we tried this.

We didn't use the water gun method because our dog is not all that fond of swimming yet (limited exposure) and didn't want to turn her off of having water splash in her face.


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## Shameless (Dec 11, 2008)

Nebot, stop lifting the dog on the couch if it is biting you. Simple solution. When dealing with dog issues, think simple. That is usually the simplest answer. Not trying to be a smarty pants, just being serious. If your dog bites because you bring it onto the couch at YOUR level of pack stature, that could mean to the dog a challenge or to the dog that it's pack status has been elevated and it needs to reevaluate its place in the pack. Just my observation from a post. Would really need to see it to truly evalute it though. Sorry.


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## vidave (Dec 20, 2008)

Hi,

I don't know about a squirt gun, but something that really helped my sister with her puppy was the program below.

It might be of help to you.

Regards,

Dave Sweet (Dr.)


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## GroovyGroomer777 (Aug 21, 2008)

Squirt gun worked on my english bulldog because he hates water. When he would hump my female, he would get a squirt. He hasn't done it in 2 years. The lab mix however, will just try to lick the water.


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## winniec777 (Apr 20, 2008)

I'm not a big fan of aversion training. The only kind we've used is bitter apple spray to deter chewing (spray the object being chewed, not the dog). I'm not sure all dogs understand that a spray of water in the face means "stop biting me!" Other dogs don't spray water or shake a can at another dog when they want the other dog to stop doing something. 

Your dog is trying to play with you -- that's a positive thing. The goal is to teach him _appropriate_ ways to play with you. Not to turn play in general into a negative thing. Ignoring the behavior and refusing to engage really does work. It takes time, true. Remember that your arms and hands look like paws to your dog. The more you push at him, the more exciting it is and the harder he'll bite. I would suggest saying "Ouch! You dirty dog!", standing up, turning your back, folding your arms, and turning your eyes away to avoid eye contact. Hold that position until he calms down. Praise and reward good play behavior you like. If he's overly excited, get up and leave the room for 30 seconds. Come back in and continue to ignore him. You have to be consistent and react the same way every time. Soon he'll learn that biting gets him nothing and good play gets him good things. 

Patience helps. Our dog was a real aggressive biter. It took 6-8 weeks to get her to stop biting so hard. Gradually it stopped altogether as she matured.


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## Cheetah (May 25, 2006)

My two just LOVE any kind of squirt bottle/gun, and I don't have a problem with that because I don't want them to be afraid of water. Also, yelping didn't work for me either. like you said, it made Shippo just bite more (corgis are naturally nippy/mouthy anyway). So instead of acting like a puppy, I did my best to act like the mother dog berating an unruly puppy.

During play, if he started biting, I started barking out a loud, low, deep "OUCH!!!!!" If he continued after that first ouch, I'd do it once more, get up, leave the room and shut the door for a minute. And as Curbside mentioned, I made sure to be dramatic about it, and as I left, I'd mumble things under my breath etc. lmfao. It was the only thing that worked for him!

After a minute, I came back like nothing happened and if the biting started up again, I'd just repeat the whole process. I practiced this from 12 weeks to 5 months during play and it taught him some amazing bite inhibition.


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