# puppy nipping children



## Hoody (Sep 5, 2011)

Hi,
I have a beautiful 8wk old M V pup. I also have a 3 and 5 yo (children) Red our pup is settling in to the family really well and we all love him to death already. I know nipping and chewing is all part and parcel of having a pup but i would love some tips or advice on how to handle it. We are still trying to train him not to jump on the children but as you can imagine he gets over excited at times and hangs off their clothes, arms, legs etc. His teeth are so sharp and he has drawn blood. I am working on training the children on how to tell him NO and DOWN and to mean it. At the moment when he does this we tell him NO in a firm voice then make him sit and then will pat him etc if he doesnt calm down i have to put him in his crate until he calms. Is this ok or am i using the crate incorrectly? 
TIA
Hoody


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

I can't advise you about using the crate for punishment, as I don't even own one. Really, you shouldn't be attempting to punish a puppy for behaving normally. In this situation (just my opinion, of course), I think it is just as important to supervise your children as it is your puppy. If they giggle and squeal, it excites the puppy, and he goes a little bonkers with the playing, jumping up and nipping. And since the Vizsla is known to have a very high energy level, the breed is also not known to be great with small children. As he grows bigger, he will likely knock the kids over in play, too... so constant supervision is key. 

p.s. I was just wondering if you'd had a chance to watch the little "Dogs 101" video about the Vizsla. Here's a link to it, just in case... 
http://animal.discovery.com/videos/dogs-101-vizsla.html

Maybe someone with crate experience will also offer help...


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Hoody, try and have a little peruse of RedBirdDogs blog. He has lots and lots of great training tools to use and suggstions to try. 

My suggestion is not to use the crate as a punishment. the crate is meant to be a haven. A den. A retreat from things. A reward. Perhaps a time out in the laundry, or outside the house is a better way to draw attention to the behaviour.

But, puppies play bite and I kinda am reluctant to punish one for it. Intervene, teach the kids to control the puppy, ensure you have the ability to recall the puppy when required, always monitor them, but don;t punish the puppy for doing what is normal.


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## redbirddog (Apr 23, 2010)

Hoody,

Try this one.

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2009/10/i-read-they-were-good-with-kids.html

There are good books on puppy training out there.

You have to teach your dog that it is at the BOTTOM of the pack order and the kids are above him. They should feed the pup most of his meals. They should make him sit first.

You have three small pups. Two with two legs and one with four. You've got your hands full. 

redbirddog blog is my attempt to share what we have learned. 

Best of luck. 

Rod a.k.a. redbirddog
http://redbirddog.blogspot.com


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## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Great reading! My wish is that anyone considering getting a Vizsla puppy will take a minute to read this first. Thanks, Rod (a.k.a. redbirddog)!!


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## kellygh (Oct 25, 2010)

Hoody-Congrats on your pup! I decided to chime in, because I have 3 young children (ages 9, 6, & 4). They were younger when we got Pumpkin now 12m. As others have said, & you know, training the kids is the biggest battle! We are still in the process  Although others do not recommend it, we sometimes did crate Pumpkin for a timeout. It was never done in anger or following a series of reprimands, but like my kids (me too), there are occasions where a safe space is needed to collect the energy, take a deep breath etc. It is most often my kids who get the reprimand and run through a series of exercises. If P gets rowdy, I might ask the kids to leave the situation. The attention is withdrawn & only given when the energy has settled. They know to say "off" and "no bites," but it is most often their energy & lack of consistency that feeds whatever the issue is; therefore, nothing is better training, IMO, than supervision. The reality is I can not expect a newly 4 y/o to have "control" of Pumpkin. I also will not punish P for being exuberant in almost everything she does. She often "body checks," swings her side and rear next to your body to touch, & just that movement done quickly can level my youngest. It would not be unusual for her to start screaming, crying, squealing, or pushing P away. It is her reaction that then causes P to get excited, try to start licking her, or generally just being on top of her. That is not P's fault, and her behavior to start was a show of affection. I try hard to also predict. I know when our house gets more hectic, so I plan accordingly. If homework, dinner, and getting ready for sports practice is coming, then I make sure Pumpkin has had a nice off leash run. A tired pup is always a better behaved pup! Even when P was very young, 9 wks, the kids and I had her outside in the woods, playing by the creek, chasing toys etc. It was a good time for her to get energy out, teach the kids appropriate ways to interact, and watch for trouble areas. As P grew, jumping became an issue. P has became very comfortable dragging a line ie: leash or check cord. This is done to reinforce commands she knows. So, 2 older kids would get off the bus, and she would attempt to jump when greeting out of excitement. I would either already have the leash in hand or calmly grab it, and step on it as I said "off." Initially, she would attempt 2 maybe 3 x, but with consistency, it's much better. I had P in a AKC star puppy class as soon as she was old enough. I took my oldest daughter with me to watch (don't allow kids under 13 to handle). We take our kids with us in the field, around other people's dogs, all while constantly reiterating our "dog manners." We still have our moments, but with consistent training & supervision, we are in a pretty good place. A nice side benefit is my kids are slightly better at picking up after themselves ;D Toys left out on the floor are fair game. P loves our kids and is very tolerant. I attribute that to being vigilant about how my kids treat her, and nipping any behavior in P that I saw as her trying to hold rank over the kids. We had one instance when P was about 13-14 wks. where she softly growled at my oldest daughter. I reacted swiftly and firmly, not abusively, and we have never had an incident since. Good Luck to y'all. Vs & kids are a lot of fun, but it is work. We knew that going into though, and I can't imagine having our family any other way! Best wishes


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## SandraDee (Oct 19, 2010)

I have a 3 and a 5 year old and Scout is a year old tomorrow, we've had him since he weas 7 1/2 wks old.

Like others have said my kids were far harder to train how to behave around then dog, then training thhe dog. My youngest still has issues with boundries and knows exactly what to do to get the dog basically bouncing off the walls, It drives me crazy.

When Scout was new, the kids were not allowed to be alone with him, ever. If they were kn the floor with him, my husband and I were with them, if they were running around we were there supervising. If the dog got too nippy with them, he was removed from the situation and my kids were also removed from the situation. We never put Scout in his cage for a timeout. He was just picked up and put elsewhere in the room and w made to stay untik he calmed down (and my hands took the brunt of his trying to escape from his timeout ). My kids had to go sit on the stairs for their timeout. It was really no different to my kids getting timeouts if they were fighting with each other. It only took a couple of weeks to get him to stop biting them.

Even now he still gets bitey (as my kids would call it) when he gets really escited. The difference now is that my kids know if that happens they stop eveything immediatly and just walk away from the dog. Its more of a punishment for him to not have a playmate then it is for him to get tucked away in his crate.

He also now fully understands that he is low man on the totem pole, asd he knows that if he does something to the kids, the pack leader (that would be me) will bring the wrath  so he is really good at taking a lot of crap from them.


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## Adelle25 (Sep 4, 2011)

Hello 

If the crate is where he sleeps NEVER use this as a punishment place, he will get a bad association with it and u will find he might not want to go in there. 

I dont have children but if Copper becomes to excited and bitey i ignore him and move away (i realise that this is a problem moving the chids all the time) Also if Copper barks i ignore him and then praise him when he is quite. 

My sister has children and if they run Copper will run after them thinking it is a game, i do have to watch him like a hawk around the kids. 

Great reading Rod 

A


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## harrigab (Aug 21, 2011)

redbirddog said:


> Hoody,
> 
> Try this one.
> 
> ...


superb reading RBD, I have 2 boys, 5 and 6, I spend as much time trying to train them as I do Ruby. I'll get the eldest to read the article to his younger brother.


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## Ozkar (Jul 4, 2011)

Rod's got some great stuff on his blogg and I would recommend attempting some of it. 

The reason I now have Astro, is that the family were unable to deal with a 2 and a 5 year old as well as puppy. Although, they should have thought about this in more depth prior, I am happy they didn't, as I now have one of the best Vizslas I have met. Astro is turning into to the best little boy and it makes me wonder how little effort they must have put into him, as I put minimal effort in and am getting massive rewards from him. 

two walks per day, two to three ten to twenty minute activity sessions and lots of cuddles and the boy is a happy camper.

Back to your puppy, when Ozkar first came home at 8 weeks, we had a little 4 year old Russian girl staying with us. She didn't speak any English and it she was not dog confident, so she would scream everytime Ozkar came near her. We had to train her more than the dog. In the end, Ozkar was great and the only time he ever had a nip at her, was when she was being nasty to him, which she had a tendancy to do and we had to monitor her closely.


Time and consistency are the only solutions.


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