Puppy Training and Guitars

[shreddermon]

So we have a new pup, she's about four months old now. Lots of energy and lots of training to do. As you might expect, she's already teething and started biting everything. We have a good handle on how to deal with biting / nipping at people. However, she's also biting at stuff - baskets, curtains, furniture, you name it.

Luckily, she's not around my guitars for very much during the day. However, I've already seen her sniff at them out of curiosity, and even try nipping a Floyd arm once or twice. It's probably only a matter of time before she tries to chomp on wood or other guitar parts.

So how have folks dealt with this when training a puppy? And how have you prevented damage to your guitars? Short of just keeping them in their cases, I mean. I'd prefer to not do that. Then again, considering I've injured my finger and won't be playing guitar for a while until it heals better (a whole other story), maybe I should just do that. ...But avoiding it now doesn't necessarily solve the problem. She still won't be trained not to bite them. So it may just defer the issue until later, when she's a little older and less trainable.

Thoughts, suggestions would be appreciated.

[shreddermon]

No dog people here? So I guess the JCF is populated by a bunch of old hoarding cat ladies, instead? LOL

[DRM]

First, teething itself will be the problem. Hit any hard, flat surfaces at puppy height with Grannick's Bitter Apple spray (worked great with my lab/rottie mix) and just focus on reinforcing what is and isn't okay to chew on while they're teething. Everyone has opinions on how to train dogs, but consistency is the key.

Deer antlers tend to keep dogs going for hours if you need to give them something to chew on. If your dog prefers softer chewables, then a Kong filled with a little peanut butter will do the trick.

You're gonna want to keep the guitars in their cases for the next few months, and make sure your pup has plenty of exercise and toys of varying hardness to chew on.

[shreddermon]

Yep, pretty much doing all of that. She's a ball of energy every time after a meal. And that's when the biting gets bad. Just wish this phase would go quicker. LOL

[Razor]

Some good chew toys, and your foot to her ass will let her figure out what's acceptable, and who the boss is real fast. They learn pretty quick what they can and can't do if you're consistent. For God's sake keep the guitars in the cases though. If she gets into them because you've left them out there's no one to blame but yourself.

[toejam]

No dog people here? So I guess the JCF is populated by a bunch of old hoarding cat ladies, instead? LOL

Yes.

[Number Of The Priest]

Love dogs (but don't have any myself). Gonna need photos.

[DRM]

My pup on his first day home.

[shreddermon]

[shreddermon]

Yes.

I always wondered why you sometimes smelled like cat piss, TJ.

J/K! LOL

[toejam]

I was always a dog person, but then got my first cat in 2001 after my psycho ex-wife left. It kept her away, because she hated cats, especially black ones!

A few years after that, I got another cat from my aunt. When I met my current wife, she had 3 cats, so when she moved in, we had a nice little Brady Bunch of 5.
We're down to 3 now, but we may eventually get a dog once they're all gone.

[shreddermon]

Warding off a psycho ex with a black cat? That's some next level relationship-management wizardry, my friend.

[toejam]

Indeed!
Beautiful little pup you've got there, Pat. You, too, Dave!

[DRM]

Thanks, brother! He's a big sweetheart.

[xenophobe]

My last dog, Shadow... she was a great dog, but when she was young, one time I left a pizza box open and left the room, came back to the pizza on the ground... I grabbed it, screamed at her, pulled her outside. Verbally scolding her the whole time. I threw the whole thing at her and then the box. Then I grabbed a piece and put it to her mouth telling her to eat. I never ever hit her or anything. She usually had an open door to go in/out as she pleased, but I'd close the door till late when she was out for punishment.

After that, I could leave the room with a steak on the couch, she wouldn't touch it. But she quickly learned that anytime she was patient I would give her a portion of the steak and all the scraps, so she learned patience.

I did something similar with the first few things that she chewed up, but always made sure to have something to give to her as her own gently and soothing. She did learn that if I didn't give her something specifically to play with that she shouldn't fuck with it. My dog knew when I gave her something that it was hers.

Dominance training is a must... how I did it is that when she felt like play fighting, we'd play fight, then I'd randomly wrap myself over her so she couldn't move... and would hold her to the moment she'd get scared and let go.

It's also good to talk to them a lot. If you talk to your dog as you raise it, they start understanding words more quickly and then simple sentences, and with the understanding you build a stronger bond. She understood simple sentences... like eat your food and then we'll go to the park or for a walk. She understood the difference between go away and move. And "go" as part of an intransitive adverb... "go fetch" "go away" "go eat"... the word "go" would leave her sitting there tilting her head at me waiting for the command. And a lot more that I don't remember.

You should never physically hurt or abuse a dog, but you shouldn't be afraid to show some emotion and putting the fear into them is sometimes necessary to get a point across. Dogs helped humanity evolve, they can read us very well... add in a smart dog that's learned several hundred words, simple child talk and emotion will go a longer way than you might imagine.

My dog never knew to fear my fist or a foot... A hand, fist or foot raised or a pretend punch wouldn't make her flinch unless I touched one of her whiskers. She would just look at me like I'm stupid for trying. Because she never experienced that.

She was the most amazing dog I've owned, mostly because of all I've learned having dogs. You can't let them think they're Alpha and you really need to talk to your dog as if they were a learning child. Because the most important thing to an acclimated and socialized dog is to make you happy. But you do need to try to bridge that communication gap. I know that sounds silly, but it's really true.