Along with Purdy, we also have a Japanese Akita, Kaiser. The two get along great, but Purdy seems to think that "playing" consists of biting at his chops and legs, and occasionally areas that he'd prefer she didn't get her jaws around. She also does this with Daisy, my OH's parents' dog, and tries to do it with a few dogs she knows when we take her for walks. Sometimes, the other dogs are ok with it. It's all in the name of playing, so they'll let her pull and bite, but dogs run out of patience too. So when Purdy just won't let Kaiser be after a good 20 minutes, he'll bark and tell her off, and even bite her back, but she still won't stop. It's really getting annoying. We tell her no and she'll stop for a moment or two, but then she continues as if we haven't said anything.

Our vet believes this is because she was abandoned and didn't get to spend much time with the mother, so she never properly learned the ways of the road, so to speak. With mum and the litter, if she were to bite too hard or get annoying, mum would have told her off and she'd learn "puppy etiquette" but she never got that chance. Is there any way we can stop this? "No!" doesn't work, putting her in her bed and telling her to stay doesn't work, I've even tried biting her ear, but all she did was avoid me for 10 minutes (Ha)!

Has anyone else experienced this problem? Will she grow out of it or is there something we can do?

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Are you actually being serious that you bit her ear??

You need to teach her time out, once she gets too excited put her in another room until she calms.

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I'm serious. She didn't even flinch. She just looked at me like I was off my rocker and wouldn't go near me. Believe it or not, I was advised to do it by the vet. Apparently she looks to me as the mother figure and if I did it, she'd learn. Clearly, it didn't work.

We've already done that. It doesn't work. Even my mum doesn't understand why she keeps at it. (She's a trainer.)

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Harvey used to do this to frey, I used to do 10 mins of time out in his crate. I think your vet is slightly mental if he/she told you to bite her ear.

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Just out of curiosity what breed is she?? I think the bitey thing can be a common behaviour for herding breeds and terriers.
Do you think you could teach her a 'leave it' type comand for play. Maybe give her treats/fuss/or a game with you if she stops playing when you ask her to. You can always let her go back to playing when you have calmed her back down to standard doggy factory settings!LOL

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SUMMER...JUST SAY NO!

I love my furkids.
dogs-Adam, Hannah, Heidi.
cats-Banjo, Bess, Eric, Tootsie, Blossom, Gracie.
Syrian Hamster-Inigo Montoya.
Rats-Ezri, Audrid, Emony.
Corn Snake- Kiora.
Kenyan Sand Boa- Kushti.

RIP- Winter, Autumn, Leela, Spring, Gandalf, Summer,Jet, Pip, Moo, Lilac, Wild Thing, Patrick, Frisbee, Echo.

She's a Border Collie cross, but what's she's cross with, we have no idea. She knows "leave it", but she doesn't seem to think that it applies to Kaiser. I'd love to get a crate and use that as a time-out zone, but I've recently lost my job (Contract ended and they decided that they weren't going to offer me another because they could hire an Italian bloke for half my salary. So much for my 6 years of loyalty!), so money is scarce

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I got a massive crate when i had pheonix a dobbie cross for 20 pound through gumtree, look for ads that are selling them cheap but make sure you look at them before making a comitment to buy.

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Yeah its all fun and games until some sensitive part gets bitten with those sharp little teeth I found this online, has a couple of good ideas:

About Dogs - FAQ - How do I stop my dog from play-biting or nipping?

Thanks, I haven't used some of those! I'll give them a try

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this is how kody plays as well. hes very rough and tumble. skye used to just let him get away with it, but now she play fights back. i make sure that it doesnt get out of hand, but generally now that they are getting a bit older, they know when enough is enough.
he has on occasion tried it with another dog, which can be a problem, but i can read when hes about to get too boisterous and can move him away.

hes nowhere near as bad as he used to be though. timeouts do work as well but you gotta be consistent with it.

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6th Jan 2008 - 22nd July 2009