Time to Catch Up!

I’ve never been good at giving a Cliff’s Notes version of anything, but since so much has happened since the last time I blogged, I’m going to try my best to summarize:

·         Margot and Luke continued to have random incidents of aggression at the dog park, so a couple of months ago I put my foot down and decided that I wasn’t taking them back until I had taken at least a couple of obedience classes with Margot.

·         Zach and Kristy’s downstairs neighbor, who is quite old and who is also the only tenant in their apartment building who doesn’t own a dog, complained to their landlord about Frank barking “non-stop.”  Zach and Kristy were afraid that they were going to be asked to get rid of their puppy, so I volunteered to crate-train him at my house.  I slept on a futon mattress beside his crate for a couple of nights, just like I did when Margot was a baby, and then Kristy started sleeping over at my house so that she could correct him during the night instead of me.  After a week of this, Frank was much, MUCH better in his crate at night, and he started sleeping back over at his own house again.   Despite the fact that Frank’s toleration of his crate at night had improved by about 95%, he did develop a potty schedule where he’d wake up at 4:00 am, bark, and then Kristy would immediately let him out to take him outside to pee.  Then, to keep Frank quiet, she’d put him in the bed for the rest of the night/morning.   Unfortunately, the downstairs neighbor wasn’t very tolerant of Frank’s one time per night, 4:00 am barking, and she decided to complain to the landlord again.  As a result, after all of mine and Kristy’s sleepless nights trying to get Frank used to his crate over at my house, Zach and Kristy have decided that they have no other choice than to allow Frank to sleep in their bed at night.   We have also become Frank’s doggy daycare, as they crate him over at our house during the day.  It’s the only way to keep their crotchety, old neighbor (and the landlord) off their backs.   Subsequently, they have amped up their search for a house.

·         Luke has been a terror over the last month.  It’s funny, because whenever you look at him, your heart just melts because he looks like such a sweet, innocent dog.  You can’t imagine that this dog would ever misbehave, but, oh, does he ever!  In the past month, Luke has chewed and destroyed not one, not two, but three TV remote controls!  I just keep the replacement remote on my Amazon wish list now so that I can pull it up quickly and order a new one whenever we find one destroyed.  Justin and I are trying to remember to put the remote up on the mantle whenever Luke is in the living room by himself, but the other day I went upstairs to take a shower and forgot.  I was seriously only upstairs for about ten minutes, but when I came back down, I found another destroyed remote. 

Perhaps even worse than the destroyed remotes, however, is the fact that we came home last week to find that Luke had peed on our BRAND NEW sofa!  I mean, what dog just pees on a sofa?!?!?  Um, that would be our sweet, innocent-looking, little Luke.   Needless to say, Luke is now being crated just about every time we leave the room for more than a few minutes.  He hasn’t had any problems with staying in the crate, though, which is a relief.  He and Frank even share the crate during the day when we all go to work. 

Okay, that just about brings us up to date.  The main thing I wanted to talk about is the fact that Margot has now enrolled in obedience training at Petco!  FINALLY!  It turns out that the dog trainer, Claire, had fallen ill suddenly with some gallbladder issues, which is why it took her so long to get the classes started.   After she told me that, I felt bad for being so frustrated about her not calling me, but Claire is doing fine now, and classes started three weeks ago.

There are two other dogs in Margot’s class, Sully and Zoe, who are both around Margot’s age.  Sully is a beautiful, white, rambunctious, male Pit mix who is FULL of energy!  Zoe is a cute Boxer female, who is probably one of the more mellow Boxers I’ve ever met.  Margot was a bit anxious during her first class, as was I, because Sully kept trying to initiate playtime with Margot, and Margot would have been happy to oblige, but of course we wouldn’t allow that to happen during class.  So, as a result, Margot would let out these loud barks and moans/growls, which Justin and I recognized as just sounds of frustration for her, but to everyone else, I was afraid that everyone else was mistaking Margot’s behavior as being a form of aggression towards Sully.  We kept explaining to Sully’s parents and to Claire that Margot isn’t used to meeting new dogs while on her leash.  She’s used to being set free at the dog park and being allowed to do the usual doggy greeting ritual of sniff-sniff-PLAY!  They all seemed pretty understanding, and Claire even gave Margot, Sully, and Zoe an opportunity to interact a little more towards the end of class that day.   At the following week’s class, Claire even allowed the pups to have a play break and made all of the owners leave the training area to give them room to romp and wrestle.  Ironically, as soon as all of the owners left, our puppies became so concerned that they no longer wanted to play together.  They just wanted us to come back! 

As for the classes themselves and what we have been learning, so far I am pleased.  The first class was very basic.  Claire just wanted to get the dogs used to the fact that we will reward them with treats whenever they do something that pleases us.  She also wanted to get started on teaching them one of the most important commands, “Come.”   She introduced us to The Name Game, which is when one person has the dog’s attention, and the other person then says the dog’s name.  If the dog turns his/her head towards the person who said his/her name, then that behavior is rewarded with a treat and praise.  If the dog doesn’t look right away when his/her name is called, the other person is NOT allowed to repeat the dog’s name, which actually takes some practice because you naturally want to call the dog’s name again if he/she doesn’t respond the first time.  However, instead of repeating the dog’s name, the other person is supposed to just make noise until the dog finally looks at them, and then that gets rewarded with another treat and praise.   Justin and I will practice this exercise at night while we’re watching TV, especially if Justin is sharing his apple or some popcorn with the dogs.  While Margot is staring at Justin’s snack, I will say her name, and then we reward her with a bite of Justin’s snack whenever she looks at me. 

As for teaching Margot the “come” command, all Claire has us do is show Margot that we have a treat in our hand, then say, “Margot, come!” before running down the aisle at Petco.  If Margot runs after us, we “jackpot” her, which is when you reward her with five treats, but given to her one at a time.  We’ve practiced this command at all three classes, and during our last class Claire extended the distance in which we ran from Margot to see if Margot would follow us the whole way.  When Margot did, indeed, follow us the entire length of the aisle, Claire seemed very impressed and kept praising Margot for being so smart.  However, all this time, Justin and I have thought this exercise was kind of silly.  I mean, after showing Margot a handful of treats and then running away from her, of course she is going to chase after us!  We couldn’t believe it when Claire said that a lot of puppies in her classes haven’t been following their owners all the way to the end of the aisle the same way Margot did.  However, when I went over to Zach and Kristy’s that evening to practice with Frank what we learned in class that day, Frank did not chase after me when I practiced the “come” command with him.  So, I guess Claire was right.  Not all dogs are as eager to chase their owners for a handful of treats as Margot is.  That being said, I’m still not convinced that Margot is actually learning the “come” command.  I still think that she’s just chasing us for treats.  Unfortunately, this is the one command that Justin and I haven’t been able to practice with Margot much at home.  It’s just too difficult with Sam and Luke in the house because all they do is interrupt our training exercise by trying to get a treat for themselves. 

During our second training class, Claire taught us how to train our puppies to “sit” and “lie down” by luring their noses with treats.  Margot, Sully, and Zoe all knew the “sit” command already, but none of them had learned it the way Claire taught us that day, which is to hold the treat in front of their noses, and then slowly raise your hand up and over the top of the dog’s head.  As the dog raises their head to follow the treat, they will naturally sit.  She told us that the reason it is important to train them with this method is because, eventually, they learn to respond to the non-verbal command of simply raising your hand, even if you don’t have a treat.  The same thing is true for “lie down.”  To get them to perform this command, Claire had us hold the treat in front of their noses, and then we slowly lowered our hands to the ground until the dogs finally laid down to receive their treats. 

At last week’s class, Claire proved to us that our dogs were already learning non-verbal commands when she held up her hand to Zoe, and Zoe immediately sat.  Justin then held his hand up to Margot, and she immediately sat, too.  Then, Justin made the “down” gesture, and Margot laid down!  We also learned the “stand” command that day, and by the end of class, Margot was even standing with a non-verbal hand gesture!  I was so proud, I could’ve burst!  Margot also did really well with the other exercise we did last week, which was sitting by our side on command while walking.  We would walk a few steps, then stop, and tell Margot to sit.  If she sat by our side facing the same direction in which we were walking, she received a reward.  However, she did not receive a reward if she circled around to face us first before sitting, but Margot only did that a couple of times. 

At last week’s class, before class got started, I also mentioned to Claire that Margot’s behavior at the dog park lately has been really disappointing me because she’s been showing some aggression towards other dogs and I can’t figure out why.  In fact, I had to leave the dog park early two days in a row last week because Margot and Luke were picking on this one certain beagle, who didn’t seem to be provoking either of them.   Claire asked if Margot was very socialized as a young puppy, and I told her that she was, very much in fact.  I then mentioned that this behavior seemed to start around the same time we got Luke, and I asked if that could have anything to do with it.  After all, Luke wasn’t raised by us as a young pup, he’s a male, and he definitely seems to have more of a desire to assert dominance than Margot does.  Claire said that it is possible that Margot could be picking up some of Luke’s behaviors, and she suggested that we try taking them to the dog park separately to see if they still behave this way. 

Later during class, Claire had given Zoe and Margot a bunch of toys to play with while she spoke to us about what we were going to learn that day (Sully was absent last week).   Suddenly, while Margot and Zoe were kind of milling around the toys together, Margot kind of growled at Zoe.  We immediately pulled her away from Zoe, but then I looked at Claire and said, “See?  What was that?”  Claire replied, “That was aggression.  It was probably due to these toys, and you had told me that Margot had some incidents with toy aggression, so I shouldn’t have even given them toys.  That was my fault.”  Then, as Claire was gathering all the toys and putting them away, I asked her what I should do whenever Margot behaves that way towards another dog.  I asked if I should just write that off as one single incident, or does this mean that Margot and Zoe simply do not get along?   Claire told me that, first of all, it was an isolated incident, and just because Margot showed some aggression towards Zoe over a toy doesn’t meant that Margot and Zoe are never going to get along.  After all, Claire pointed out that they had never had any trouble interacting at any of the previous classes.  Secondly, Claire told me that it is very important that I remain calm whenever an incident like that occurs and simply remove Margot from the situation.  She said that if I freak out and start yelling, Margot will feed off my energy and intensify her own behavior.   Thankfully, after the toys were put away, Margot did not show anymore aggression towards Zoe.

I decided to take Claire’s advice, and we took Margot to the dog park without Luke this past Sunday.  Upon entering the dog park, Margot seemed a little more anxious than usual.  She was growling at the other dogs who had come to greet her at the gate, and her fur was standing up on her back and neck.  I didn’t yell at her, though, and I simply let her enter the dog park off her leash.   I kept a close eye on her, and after a few minutes of non-aggressive butt-sniffing, her fur settled down on her back and she seemed to relax.  Everything was going pretty well, until a Luke look-alike entered the dog park.  For whatever reason, shortly after greeting each other, Margot started growling and wrestling a little too aggressively with the Golden Retriever, named Scout.  I remembered to stay calm, and I simply pulled Margot away from Scout by her collar.  Then, Scout’s owner ran over to Scout all worried and was saying things like, “Awww!  Scout, are you okay, baby?”  As much as I understand why Scout’s owner might have been a little concerned, I also knew that the incident was NOT that bad, and there was no reason to be THAT concerned.    Furthermore, I am a firm believer that you should never baby your dog like that unless something MAJOR happens, like if blood is drawn.  Babying your dog is like rewarding your dog for being weak, which is especially not a good thing if you are bringing your dog to a dog park. 

Anyway, I took Margot towards the bottom of the hill to find a ball as a way to distract her from Scout.  As we were looking for a ball, though, Scout came down the hill, and the same behavior started up again between the two.  It was like Scout was curious  and kind of wanted to play with Margot, but Margot was obviously playing much rougher than Scout had anticipated, which then frightened Scout and made Margot even more aggressive. 

After pulling Margot away from Scout the second time, and especially after the way Scout’s owner had reacted the first time, I then became a little worried that Scout’s owner might become angry at Margot and, subsequently, me and Justin.   In fact, that’s my biggest fear whenever these incidents occur at the dog park.  I’m actually more worried about what the other dog owners think of me than I am about Margot.  Anyway, I decided the best thing I could do was try to keep Margot as far away from Scout as possible.  So, I started throwing tennis balls for Margot at the bottom of the hill while Scout, thankfully, stayed at the top of the hill.  While Margot and I were playing ball, I started practicing her “sit-down-stand” hand signals, and I rewarded her by throwing the ball.  For the first time ever at the dog park, Margot seemed completely focused on me the whole time we were playing.  Even when other dogs would approach and/or run around us, she never took her attention off of me.  Justin and I also noted that Margot had responded much better to both of us whenever we called her name. 

After a while, Scout’s owner actually approached me and commented about how well Margot was doing with performing those commands.  I was beyond relieved that she didn’t seem upset at all about Margot behaving aggressively towards Scout earlier, and I was very flattered by her compliment on Margot’s training.  As we talked, I told her how glad I was that she seemed so understanding about those two prior incidents between Margot and Scout, and she assured me that those types of incidents happen at the dog park all the time.  Not only that, but she said that Margot’s not the only dog who has ever gotten aggressive towards Scout.  She even kind of blamed Scout for “egging dogs on sometimes, “ like when she followed me and Margot down the hill earlier.  Again, words cannot even express how relieved I was to hear these words coming from this woman that day.

I went home that night feeling very positive, not only about our visit to the dog park, but about Margot’s training in general.   Seeing Margot respond better when we called her name, and especially seeing how attentive she was to me while we were playing ball, despite all of the distractions at the dog park, proved to me that these obedience classes are going to be worth the time and money when it’s all said and done.  Also, thanks in large part to my conversation with Scout’s owner, I learned that day that I can stay calm, diffuse an incident of aggression with Margot, and I shouldn’t waste any time worrying about what the other dog owner’s think about me or my dog.  After all, by removing Margot and distracting her in order to prevent any further incidents, I am being a good, pro-active dog owner, and hopefully the other dog owners will recognize that.  In the meantime, I’m feeling pretty confident that Margot will continue to do well in her obedience classes, and these types of incidents will occur much less frequently in the future.

"Sit" and "Lie Down"

Margot felt like showing off for you guys a little this morning.  Well, sort of.  She was a bit too excited about getting her treats, so she didn't stay in the lying down position for very long.  Haha! 

A Few of My Favorite Things (So Far)

No matter how rotten Margot is behaving (and trust me, last night she was PURE rotten), I can’t help but love the fact that she has recently decided that she prefers to play in my lap more than anywhere else.  She can be running all over the place, chasing a toy, terrorizing Sam, etc., but inevitably she will always come charging straight back to where I sit cross-legged on the floor and leap/flop right into my lap.  Sometimes she just sort of “tags” me, as if I’m her home base, and then she takes off running again, but most of the time she actually prefers to just stay in my lap to gnaw on her chew toys.   I really need to have Justin take a photo of her doing this in the near future because there will soon come a day when she’s too big to play in my lap like that.  :'-(

Another thing I love is the time that Margot and I spend in the bathroom together each morning while I get ready for work.  I started bringing her into the bathroom with me when she was around 7 weeks-old because I don’t want to leave her in her crate all morning, especially after she just slept in it all night and we have to put her back in her crate before we leave for work.  So, every morning I grab a couple of chew toys and a couple of biscuits, and I carry them and Margot to the upstairs bathroom with me so I can start getting ready for work.  She doesn’t like it when I disappear behind the shower curtain, and every now and then she actually takes a little peak to make sure I’m still there, but usually she just lies on the bathmat and kills time by gnawing on something.  Unfortunately, while I’m in the shower I can’t keep a close eye on her, and sometimes she finds something to chew on that she shouldn’t.   For example, the other day I accidentally forgot to put up the cord to my straightening iron, and I found her chewing on it when I got out of the shower.  Thankfully, my straightening iron is still functional because she didn’t do too much damage to the cord, but I haven’t made the mistake of leaving cords within her reach since then.  This morning, I came out of the shower to find her chewing on the pajama bottoms I had taken off just moments earlier.  Again, lesson learned:  stop being a lazy slob and put discarded clothes in the hamper! 

I’ve also started practicing commands with Margot while I’ve got her isolated in the bathroom away from Sam and Jocie, because it’s actually very difficult trying to train her with her big sisters around.  Sam is a treat hound and goes NUTS as soon as she hears me tell Margot to “sit.”  She knows that means that the puppy is about to receive a treat, and she’ll be damned if she’s going to miss out on that!  So, Sam always interrupts our training sessions by barking and trying to get in between me and Margot, and Jocie usually comes running whenever she hears all the commotion and starts demanding a treat, as well.  It’s total chaos and can be quite unproductive, so I usually try to spend some time training Margot alone out on the back deck  after Sam and Jocie have gone inside and now also while I’ve got Margot in the bathroom by herself in the morning. 

Here’s a little video I shot this morning.  You can see how Margot is so good at sitting that she will actually do it before I even have a chance to give her the command.  I also ask her to “lie down” in this video, although I only just started teaching her this command a few days ago and she doesn’t quite get it yet.  I wasn’t able to film this because I had a treat in one hand and my iPhone in the other, but I also use a hand gesture whenever I give her the command to “lie down” by lowering my hand, palm down, and touching the floor.  This morning, each time I lowered my hand to the floor and said, “Lie down, Margot,” she would actually raise her paw and kind of wave at me.  It made me wonder if, by using that hand gesture, she may actually think that I want her to make the same gesture with her paw.  Haha!  I’m really only half kidding.  I’m sure she’s probably waving because she just wants me to hurry up and give her a treat since she’s already sitting like a good girl, but then again, Margot is a Puppy Genius….

For the most part, though, Margot is pretty good while she’s in the bathroom with me.  Sometimes she gets a little whiny because she wants me to sit in the floor so she can play in my lap, but unfortunately I just don’t have time.  I’ve been trying to make up some hours at work since I had to take two sick days a couple weeks ago (stomach virus), which is why I haven’t had a lot of extra time in the morning lately, but after this week I may try to adjust my schedule so that I can actually sit and play with her for about 30 minutes before I leave for work.  In the meantime, Margot usually just ends up passing out on the bathmat a few minutes before I’ve finished getting ready, and then I carry her sleepy little body back downstairs and put her in her crate. 

Finally, I love how interested Margot seems to be in music, particularly orchestral music.  I discovered this the very first morning that I brought her into the bathroom with me.  I always turn on music before I shower, and when I did, Margot stopped dead in her tracks, turned to look at my iPhone dock, and then actually walked toward the sound.  I realized that she had never really heard music before, as we usually left the TV turned on to a random television station at night because we thought that hearing people talking in the other room would keep her from feeling lonely.   

Later that evening, as Justin and I were watching a movie and playing with Margot on the couch, she suddenly stopped and looked at the television during a scene that involved a rising orchestral crescendo.   At first, we thought that it was just the rising volume and intensity of the scene itself that caught her attention, but she reacted the same way a little later on during a scene that had a violin playing softly in the background.  We laughed at how interested she seemed to be in the music, and I told Justin that she had reacted very similarly that morning when I turned on my iPod.  So, ever since then, we have left the TV tuned to the classical music station each night when we go to bed.

I realize that this probably sounds ridiculous, especially since I already jokingly refer to Margot as a “puppy genius,” but I swear that she really does seem to prefer orchestral-type music to any other kind.  This morning was a perfect example.  I was listening to the “Cool New Music: Summer 2012” playlist on the Songza app, which consisted mostly of indie-type songs from artists like Fiona Apple, Passion Pit, Walk the Moon, etc.  Margot was just playing and doing her usual thing the whole time the music was playing, but then a really pretty instrumental song came on that featured a lot of violins and wood instruments (I wish I could remember the name of the song and/or artist), and, once again, Margot stopped what she was doing and turned to look at where the music was coming from.  I guess there’s just something about those types of sounds that grab her attention more than other instruments, such as drums and guitars.  No matter what that reason may be, we think it’s pretty darn cute.

Socializing, Sitting, and Still Play-Biting

Miss Margot had quite a weekend!   It started on Saturday morning when Justin and I decided to take her with us to Petco.  I wanted to buy her some Nylabones because HOLY CRAP does she want to bite everything right now (more on that later).  So, I grabbed the little blue harness that Margot wore just one week ago when she went to her first vet appointment, but when I tried to fasten it around her it was short by at least a couple of inches!  Our little baby is getting so big so fast!  So, we had to lengthen the harness straps as far as they would go, and then immediately added “New Harness” to our Petco shopping list.

Accidental photo taken on the way to Petco

I will admit that I was a little nervous about taking Margot out to such a public place since she hasn’t yet received all of her vaccinations, especially since I often see other dogs inside Petco; however, I’ve also been reading about how important it is to socialize your puppy between the ages of 8-12 weeks, and she is scheduled for her third round of shots this coming Saturday.  So, Justin assured me that Margot would be fine, as long as we kept an eye on her.   I should also note that this was Margot’s first experience with being walked on a leash, and she did great!  We took her for a mini-walk up and down the sidewalk to get her used to it before we finally got in the car and headed to Petco.





Margot was pretty scared when we first arrived at the store, and I had to pick her up half-way across the parking lot and carry her in.  Once we were inside, though, she decided she wanted down, and I was happy to oblige.  A few customers stopped to compliment her, and she was more than happy to allow them to pet her for a moment.  Then, as we were getting ready to check out, Margot spied one of the most adorable little puppies I’ve ever seen standing by her owner on a leash.  (The owner later told us her puppy was some kind of a Bulldog mix, but she had one brown eye and one bright blue eye, so there may have been a little Husky in her, too.)  Margot and the other puppy were a little unsure of each other at first, but after some preliminary butt sniffing, the two started wrestling a bit, and I thought I was going to die from the cuteness!  Then, after Margot’s new playmate left, an older lady asked if she could hold her.  Justin told her that she could, but warned her that Margot is in a bit of a nipping phase.  Thankfully, Margot was a perfect angel and just smothered the nice lady with face kisses as she held her.

Margot left Petco wearing a pretty fancy new ID tag, and we had a bag full of new Nylabones, a couple of chew toys, training treats, and a new harness for her.  From there, we drove to Justin’s parents’ house, as his parents are planning to pet-sit for us in a couple of weeks and we’re trying to get Margot used to them, their older dog, Samantha, and their house.   She had fun exploring the back yard and really seemed to enjoy their screened-in porch, but she was so exhausted from her adventures that morning that it wasn’t long before she was completely passed out.

Later that evening, I took Margot over to visit my friends, Susie and Shane.  I’ve been a little worried lately about Margot play-biting my friends (she actually drew blood from Kristy’s ear the other day), but I was pleasantly surprised by how well she behaved while we sat on Shane and Susie’s porch.  She just played with her toys, but also REALLY enjoyed sitting on the loveseat with Susie and watching the birds and people passing by.  Later, we took Margot inside to meet their cat, Pete, who happens to be one of the sweetest cats I’ve ever met.  Pete and Margot got along just fine, although they mostly just curiously followed each other from room to room. 

Then, the highlight of Margot’s day had to have been when we took her out into Shane and Susie’s backyard.  She had a BLAST running all over their little yard and especially through their landscaping.  In particular, Margot discovered that if she ran full-speed into the small, grassy plants that line Shane and Susie’s walking path, then she could BURST through to the other side!  We laughed so hard as we watched her plow through those grassy plants over and over again, as if she had just discovered the greatest thing on earth!  Then, Shane started playing with Margot, which was really sweet, but at the same time it made my “motherly” instincts kick in, as Shane was playing with Margot a little rougher than she’s ever been played with before.  It wasn’t that I was afraid he was going to hurt her, because Shane loves dogs and I know he knows how rough is too rough, but it was just the fact that Justin and I are currently trying SO HARD to break Margot from play-biting, and yet here she was rough-housing with Shane, which obviously included some play-biting, as that’s just the nature of an 8 week-old puppy.  I didn’t want to ask Shane to ease up, though, because, like I said, he really wasn’t playing THAT rough with her, and I didn’t want to sound like an uptight, overly-protective dog owner who won’t let her puppy have any fun.   They actually only played for about 15-20 minutes, but after Shane ended their games, he pointed out where Margot had “gotten him pretty good” with a few play-bites.  I felt bad and apologized, but Shane insisted that he had asked for it and that it was no big deal.  Needless to say, after such a fun and exciting day, Margot slept like a BABY that night.

Yesterday, we decided to take all three girls for a walk together for the first time, which went really well.  I made sure not to let Margot walk ahead of me, which wasn’t that difficult, and Jocie and Sam didn’t seem to mind having Margot along on the walk.  So, the “puppy-free walks” idea may have turned out to be short-lived, which I actually consider to be a good thing, and we’ll probably start taking Margot for walks with us from now on.

Other highlights from this past weekend included catching Margot and Sam cuddling while taking a brief nap together and seeing Margot tilt her head for the first time when she heard a strange new sound on the television.  Of course, I was also very happy that Justin and I were able to capture both of these melt-worthy events with our phones. 

The only downside to this weekend was dealing with Margot’s nipping and play-biting.  Justin and I are trying to be vigilant with discouraging mouthing and correcting her whenever she bites, but I swear none of the “tried and true” methods I’ve read about are working very well (see previous post).  One minute I’ll think that it’s working and that Margot is starting to understand that we don’t want her to bite us, but then the very next minute she’ll go into full-on Landshark mode and won’t stop nipping, no matter what we do!  As I’ve said before, though, I don’t REALLY expect an 8.5 week-old puppy to stop biting, especially since she hasn’t even started teething yet (or perhaps she’s just now starting?), which is why the constant corrections and discipline feel very disheartening sometimes.  I know that eventually she’ll be old enough to understand, but for now it just feels like we’re constantly yelling and trying to discipline a wall. 

Last night, for example, while Margot was playing on the couch between me and Justin, out of nowhere she leapt onto my lap and bit my nipple!  OMG OWWWW!!!!!!  It freaked me out and hurt SO badly that I didn’t even think about performing the usual corrections, such as letting out a loud yelp or telling Margot, “NO!”  Instead, my knee-jerk reaction was to immediately pick her up and toss her back over towards Justin, and then I quickly walked into the other room so that I wouldn’t just go OFF on her.  Justin wasn’t even sure what had just happened, but he knew enough to give Margot a very stern, “NO!  No bite!  Bad girl, Margot!”  After about a minute, after I calmed down and realized that she hadn’t drawn any blood and the pain subsided, I returned to the living room to find Margot curled into a tight, little ball on Justin’s lap.  I sat down beside them, and then I instantly melted when I saw the pitiful little look on Margot’s face.  It actually brought tears to my eyes because she looked SO sad!  I think it was probably the first time Margot had truly realized that she had done something “wrong,” and our reactions must have really scared her.  Obviously, I tried to make up with her immediately by asking if she was sorry, and then I coaxed her over to my lap so that I could pet her and show her that I wasn’t upset anymore. 

At first, I thought this little incident may have finally prompted a breakthrough with Margot, as she certainly seemed remorseful for what she had done, but then, as soon as she realized I wasn’t angry anymore, she started biting my hands again!  I’m telling you guys, I consider myself and Justin to be extremely patient people, but this play-biting phase is seriously challenging both of our sanities! 

On a much more positive note, I think I can officially say that Margot has mastered the “sit” command, although I don’t feel like I should take much credit for teaching her because I swear the Puppy Genius has just figured it out on her own.  Margot learned early on that Justin and I won’t bend down to pet her if she jumps, so now she immediately sits as soon as she runs up to greet us in the morning or when we get home from work.   Also, I usually give the girls their treats in the kitchen, so Margot ALWAYS sits anytime she’s in the kitchen with me and/or Justin.  Because Margot had already figured out that the act of sitting would bring her a reward, all I really had to do was give the action a name and lots of praise, and in no time she figured out what “sit” meant. 

Yesterday, I decided to start teaching Margot the “lie down” command, but that one is obviously going to take a little more work.  After all, she has never automatically received any rewards for lying down before like she did with sitting, so this will probably be the first command that she actually has to learn.  I’m hoping she picks it up quickly, though, because that will also give me hope that Margot does have the ability to understand, “No bite!” 

In the meantime, if anyone out there has any advice regarding correction/discipline methods (other than the ones I’m already using), which you have successfully used to end puppy play-biting, or if you would just like to share your own experience with this frustrating phase of puppyhood, please feel free leave me a comment below.  Any and all feedback will be greatly appreciated.  :)