biting fingers and toes

[Stephandy]

Hello to all,

My wife and I just got our new Cairn Puppy last weekend. He is now 14 weeks. When we first got him, he was a little sick so a little lethargic. After a few days, he is now more energetic and playful. One of his favorite activity is chasing our fingers and bite it. I follow the books and give him a chew toy everytime he does that, but he quickly lose interest in the toy and start going after the fingers and toes again. What can I do? I tried to pry and keep his mouth open (which he hates) when he bite my finger, but that just infuriates him more and go after the finger a little harder. I dont think I will try it again because I think it is more harmful than helpful. Do you guys now what else we can try?

p/s, can you guys let me know what is a good book on Cairn? If I want to buy one book that will be a pretty good reference book that we want to keep around the house, which one should I buy (title and/or author)?

Thanks

[rojo]

you might try, The New Complete CAIRN TERRIER by John T. Marvin...You can get a used/new copy from Amazon...

Roho

[Guest Shaun]

I am having the same problem as you!! Mine is only 10 weels old, but he's always nipping at my toes and fingers!! Whenever I put him on the ground he would jsut attack my feet. He's so aggressive and it's getting really annoying to me. Today he bit my finger so hard that he actually cut me.

[CarCarDawn]

Hi! I am not an expert but I have gone through the same thing that you are experiencing. It is a phase that they go through as puppies but at the same time you need to stop the agressive behavior. I would always grab Riley's mouth - - hold it shut - - while telling him "NO BITES"!! I know this sounds silly but it seemed to work on him. When he got extremely aggressive I would put him in a small room all alone - - just like a "TIME OUT" for a kid! Eventually he understood that it was wrong to bite. Don't give up - - this takes a lot of time!!!

Today - - Riley is one of the most loving, affectionate lil guys - - he is almost a year old and "NO BITES"!!!!!!

[mOmOfaBe]

When Abraham was that small, and tended to get a bit too wound up, I put him in a chair by himself for a short time out and told him that was bad, etc....This worked great until he figured out he could jump out of the chair, but by that time we also had a better understanding of each other.

Good luck

[janko77]

I agree with CarCar Dawn. You have to be consistent and be sure to stop the behavior when it happens.

We always replaced the hand or finger with a toy as soon as we could with Dudley. If you feed that instinct with a toy, the hope is that he'll go for the toy first later on.

Best of luck.

[Stephandy]

I am trying the method of holding his muzzle and stare at him until he looks away. I tried the toy before, he always go after the hand that is holding the toy. I think the holding the muzzle works a little bit.

Thanks everyone.