[2kidsNadog]

Cody is 9+ weeks old now and has taken to nipping my son's pants whenever my son is not one with the couch. My son is 8 years old and Cody does listen to him most of the time, but we're all having a hard time convincing Cody that Evan's pants ARE NOT there for his chewing needs. Cody occasionally nips at my pants or my DH's pants or my DD's pants (she's 4 1/2), but he ALWAYS goes after Evan's. It got to the point last Friday that I sprayed Evan's pants with Bitter Apple. I'm about ready to start washing his pants in Bitter Apple if that's what it takes.

Any ideas on (1) WHY Cody seems to only go for Evan and (2) How to stop this? It's driving us all nutty!

TIA

 

[blueteal]

Oh I remember this well.
Have your son turn his back to your puppy and fold his arms
and firmly tell puppy NO EVERYTIME he tries to go for the pants.
This is what worked for us, but it did take some time. If puppy learns that there will be no puppy play time when he does this then he should get the idea to stop doing it. You can also try giving the puppy one of his toys every time he tries for the pant leg. Good luck

Sue

 

[2kidsNadog]

Evan does turn his back, but then Cody just nips the back of his pants. In fact usually Cody is nipping the back of the legs or the butt of Evan's pants. Evan tries walking away, Cody follows and latches on or stays attached so Evan is basically dragging Cody.

Maybe we need new toys because try as Evan might to entice Cody with his rope or favorite frisbee or bone, Cody won't budge - he prefers to stay latched to Evan's pants. I should take a picture because it is humorous when Cody latches on and won't release (we don't LOL though because we don't want to encourage Cody).

 

[ellabee]

My pup does that too, he's 13 weeks old

We tried the arms-folded-back-turning too, but Dexter did the same thing as your guy - he'd just nosh on the back of the pants/skirt/whatever. I believe in "withdrawing attention" as a teaching tool, but in this case it wasn't getting the desired effect.

Soooo, whenever Dex gets his puppy crazies, and wants to tear holes in our clothes, I gate him in the kitchen until he settles down. He knows that kitchen=time out, and he doesn't get to interact with us. When he settles down, he can come out of the kitchen. If he's still not over himself with the nipping, back in he goes.

The other thing I do is to re-direct his chewing by always having one of his chew toys within arms reach. He likes to sit in my lap and gnaw on one of his chewies, so I'll sit on the floor, and stick whichever one I have in his mouth. Then I hold it FOR HIM while he chews on it. That gets his attention off of 'pants' and onto 'chewie'. I let him settle on my lap for a minute or two, and by then he is so focused on his chewie that he leaves the pants alone.

The third thing I find to be true is to try and get your son to NOT anticipate getting pounced. If your dog is relatively calm, have your son WALK calmly to wherever he's going in the house; if he runs your dog might think he's playing a chasing game. I tell my daughter to WALK, or else Dex thinks she wants him to play, as they do in the yard.

Hope this helps!

 

[cocoandjane]

Do a search for the topic "Biting Problems Help!....."

Some ideas there.....

It will pass with your consistency at using whatever method works.....
people kept telling me "Patience!!!!"

I have no clothes, pant's legs, robe, or long dress hems, sleeves....without holes in them now....due to the same problem!

Good Luck!

8)

 

[lmtoth2]

Hi-

Our Dexter did the exact same thing at that age. The good news is that it stopped the bad is that it took him around a month to really cut it out. Then he went onto the humping stage...all this unwanted behavior seemed to stop by 4-4.5 mos for us. We did as was suggested (turned our back to him, gave him time-outs)...it just took awhile to improve. The bad thing is that your son is young which makes it harder. The suggestions in this thread are very good advice! Good luck.