# Puppy Won't Stop Jumping and Biting



## mybubbles65 (Jul 12, 2011)

My 14 week old puppy is always jumping at me when I'm watching TV. She also bites. I push her off and say "off". She will immediately do it again. I say "off and push her down. She keeps doing it and adds growling to it. Pushing her off makes it worse. She seems to think it's a game. I grab her by the scruff and say "off" but she just gets more aggressive. I think she's showing dominance over me because she doesn't do this with my husband. How do I stop her from jumping and biting and show her that I'm the boss?


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## lisak_87 (Mar 23, 2011)

How much exercise and interaction is the puppy getting? In other words - how often is the puppy expected to entertain herself while you watch TV?

Do not push the dog away or grab it by the scruff. This WILL be percieved as play. Instead, stand up, cross your arms, and turn your back to the dog. Do not speak, don't do anything except turn your back. When pup stops jumping, turn around and praise her.

As for biting, if the puppy bites you, give a high-pitched "YELP!"...if she stops biting...pause for a second and then play with her again. If the yelp alone is not enough, Yelp and then stomp OUT of the room, slam the door..whatever...point being you're leaving - bite = you get upset and stop play (which is how puppies learn bite inhibition). Come back into the room a few seconds later and praise/resume play again.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

I agree, pushing may be seen as an invitation to play. And, yes, for the jumping, turn your back. It makes you boring, and doesn't make it rewarding to jump on a person who's back is turned. Also, in the way dogs communicate with each other, ending visual contact like this is kind of like saying "We're done here, stop that."

And, check out the sticky, "The Bite Stops Here." basically, when he bites, make a loud noise. [Some puppies get more excited by high pitched yelps, so if that's the case you might want to just say "ouch" loudly.]

If he immediately goes back to biting, you make the noise again, and then leave the room for 20-30 seconds. Then, come back and go about your business.

If he goes back to biting again, start all over.

Yes, it's irritating to keep getting up and leaving the room when you're trying to watch tv. But, if you're consistent, and patient, it will work. My fiance was bad about this; he didn't want to interrupt his tv time. AND, he didn't think it would work, but it did!  

It WILL take a bit of time. So, stick with it and do it EVERY time he bites. If you give up because you don't think it's working, and you try something else, that's just confusing to the puppy. Give it time!


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## Sendiulino (Jun 20, 2011)

For me, turning my back and ignoring my 15-week-old Eskie is pretty much useless. It doesn't matter how boring I look.. she finds a reason to be interested. My pants, my feet, the carpet near me, everything becomes a target if I ignore her. She never stops. Ever. _Ever_ 

So I've found that it is actually better to just engage her (she has to do a command first though to break the cycle.. that way she doesn't get attention for biting or jumping, she gets the attention for _sitting _or "down"ing). If she's jumping and biting, I find it means that she has energy to burn, and it is better if I try to play with her or take her out which satisfies her boredom and/or energy level.

I took a video of our puppy's behavior and showed it to some people on another forum, and one of them made a comment to me that has stuck with me and probably always will: "What I see is a puppy who is desperate for attention."

That may seem like a bad thing and something not to be rewarded, but what if you looked at it another way: What if your puppy is just flat out not getting enough attention to satisfy her energy level and/or mental activity? Dogs need tons of attention and exercise and also mental stimulation as well, else they can grow up to have a whole array of behavior problems. And while we as humans tend to think we know what is "enough" attention.. dogs are a whole other story.

Suddenly I felt really, really _guilty _for perhaps looking at things the wrong way. 

So in essence I've simply been ramping up my interaction with her. Instead of my deciding that she's had enough activity, I've learned to view her behavior as a sign that she has in fact _not_ gotten enough attention at all. And now, having done it this way for a couple of weeks now, I actually see far fewer instances of her negative behavior over all. So I think I probably guessed correctly.

As a result, I no longer 100% agree with the whole "ignore the puppy / be uninteresting" mind-set. I do believe it has some merit, but I also believe there are other ways of looking at the situation. 

Oh, and yes, if the dog is getting more "aggressive" (it isn't aggression though, not really) by the grabbing / pushing, it is being interpreted as you playing with her most likely.

All in all though? What I've learned over the last 5 weeks of having Sam here with us, is that 1) this is very normal puppy behavior and 2) not every technique works the same for every puppy. So figure out what works and go from there.


Edit: one way I recommend "stimulating" the dog is to go into a training session for her commands. I find this always gives Sam a lot of satisfaction (and treats). She gets to be mentally stimulated, physically exercised, and rewarded for good behavior. Win, win, and win.


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## xxxxdogdragoness (Jul 22, 2010)

Yeah I have found that the high pitch yelp gets pups more excited, I just use an "ouch!". Leaving the room when I get nipped hard is very god & believe mr it works!


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## katG (Jun 27, 2011)

I would try a few things:

1) Correct with a word that means STOP for you (whatever word you use... don't use NO because it is a common word you say a lot in conversation). If the dog repeats the behavior, remove him from the situation. Have a leash on him and tether him somewhere where he can still see you (look at what he's missing out on) but can not get to you. IGNORE if he barks or does anything... let him go crazy if he wants to. Once he is calm, wait a moment and untie him. If he repeats the behavior, back to time out. 

2) Completely ignore if you can. Just don't react at all do what he's doing (obviously if he's biting you this isn't really possible, but if its just jumping and barking while you're on the couch you may be able to just thoroughly ignore). When he knocks it off, praise him. 

3) Remove yourself from the situation. Stand up and walk out of the room. If he follows you and barks so be it, continue to ignore. If you have to, put up a gate of some sort.

4) Keep a leash on him and when he starts jumping at the couch, say your stop word and step on the leash so he physically can not jump. Ignore. Praise for good behavior.

I think no matter what you do the bottom line is to not get aggravated and yell and push etc etc. It will just excite the behavior. Its kind of like with kids- any attention is better than no attention! If your dog realizes that the behavior isn't going to do him ANY good, by seeing it gets no reaction out of you, he will likely stop. If you're on the couch and he sits quietly pet him and tell him he's good! You also could give him something to keep him busy if you just aren't in the mindset for training and feel yourself getting aggravated, like a kong with treats in it. 
During playtime whenever teeth touch skin, stop playing. He will learn that in order to get your attention he has to be polite and play by your rules.



dogdragoness said:


> Yeah I have found that the high pitch yelp gets pups more excited, I just use an "ouch!". Leaving the room when I get nipped hard is very god & believe mr it works!


The yelp and ouch both excite my puppy. The only thing we've found works is making a deep, loud barking noise lol


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## Greater Swiss (Jun 7, 2011)

mybubbles65 said:


> My 14 week old puppy is always jumping at me when I'm watching TV. She also bites. I push her off and say "off". She will immediately do it again. I say "off and push her down. She keeps doing it and adds growling to it. Pushing her off makes it worse. She seems to think it's a game. I grab her by the scruff and say "off" but she just gets more aggressive. I think she's showing dominance over me because she doesn't do this with my husband. How do I stop her from jumping and biting and show her that I'm the boss?


We had similar problems, except we haven't done the pushing thing. We would sit up and not push, but guide her down to all 4 paws (no scruffing!) and try to remind her to sit. if she walked by us on all 4, we would give her a treat  Takes a long time to sink in that it is truly good to not jump up, still working on it, but it is getting better. 

It isn't aggression, it is wanting to play, and wanting love and attention, plus trying to learn how the world around them "works". As for dominance....she is a puppy! Think of a child who wants their way, tugging at clothes, crying and being...well, brats....and sometimes a kid will want mom or dad more....do you give as much attention as your husband? The same kind? We've got this issue as well to some degree.

One other thing, and I don't mean to criticize, we came to this conclusion about ourselves (specifically with wanting to watch TV and flake on the couch)....if you wanted to just kick back on the couch often, having a puppy in the first place was a bad idea. We usually feed ours from a kong in her crate if we really need some "couch time". Gives us a break and she's got something to do!  Of course it has to be kept in mind the crate isn't somewhere to "stuff your puppy" because you don't want to deal with it for long periods, but it does help to give a break, especially on a bad day.


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## JuneBud (Feb 17, 2010)

Ramping up the attention with play and outings is good advice. That works for my Eskie too. If he starts getting obnoxious I know I haven't played with him enough or walked him enough. Eskies aren't clingy dogs and sometimes you forget that even though they are independent souls, they still need the stimulation of activity and play.


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## titiaamor (Nov 17, 2011)

I know this was posted months ago, but I wanted to add that it felt really good to me to give more attention to my puppies when I thought they were asking for it. "Ignore' is a good idea, but different dogs have different needs. I've heard it said that you only engage the dog when you want to, but I also think it's a good idea to be sure basic attention needs are being met.


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## doxiemommy (Dec 18, 2009)

The problem with this is, puppies need to learn a bit of independence as well. So, if you give more attention to your puppies when they ask for it, you're really reinforcing the fact that they can bark or nip or jump up or whatever to get your attention and you'll give it. This kind of prolongs their habit of barking and nipping (or whatever they do to get your attention). So, while it may seem cute and sweet and feel good to give them attention now while they're puppies, it's not going to be so cute when they're full grown and you have things to do.

So, part of raising a healthy, well adjusted pup is teaching them to be independent, and not reinforcing certain behaviors.


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## titiaamor (Nov 17, 2011)

doxiemommy said:


> The problem with this is, puppies need to learn a bit of independence as well. So, if you give more attention to your puppies when they ask for it, you're really reinforcing the fact that they can bark or nip or jump up or whatever to get your attention and you'll give it. This kind of prolongs their habit of barking and nipping (or whatever they do to get your attention). So, while it may seem cute and sweet and feel good to give them attention now while they're puppies, it's not going to be so cute when they're full grown and you have things to do.
> 
> So, part of raising a healthy, well adjusted pup is teaching them to be independent, and not reinforcing certain behaviors.


I agree completely, doxiemommy. It is a delicate balance- enough attention to meet their needs, enough time entertaining themselves so they are healthy. 

I do think sometimes the 'ignore' message can be overplayed. But so can time together. My friends had a very small dog who could not do anything alone after having been carried around in purse for 1.5 years straight. 

Balance.


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