Last night watching tv with Diesel

[Nik]

Diesel is growing so fast! Last night we were watching tv with him and he kept trying to crawl over to me.. turns out he really wanted to chew on me. Can I take that as a sign of love? We are still working on the chewing thing.

 

[NYDDB]

He's cute!

Did you mean to post this in the Dogue de Bordeaux section? He doesn't look DDB.

 

[Nik]

He's half Dogue Du Bordeaux. His dad was full dogue du bordeaux. His mom was a pitbull mix. We rescued him a couple weeks ago. he was only 5 weeks old when we rescued him. Way too young to be on his own but I spent the first two weeks with him 24/7 taking shifts with my fiance. I got to meet his dad who looked like a picture perfect example of dogue du bordeaux as did many of his siblings. He seems to have only retained so some of the looks in build and in the face wrinkles and such. So yup meant to post it here but no he's not a pure blood. Just a rescue mix.

here is a pic of him with his dad

 

[NYDDB]

Ah, okay! Thanks for clarifying.

Blessings to you for taking him in and caring for him at such a young age... Looks like you and your fiance are doing the absolute best for him.

Oh, and the chewing stage will last for awhile. A long while, LOL.

 

[Nik]

Thanks!! We love him to death. But, yes I have a feeling the chewing stage won't be an easy one to get over. I'm just hoping I can redirect him to his toys more regularly and less chewing and biting of me. He hardly tries to chew my fiance at all. Mostly just me. He also gets more excited to see me and is more wound up around me. So I've been working on teaching him that I am not a play mate or a chew toy... he isn't quite getting it yet. But, we did have a small victory last night when I told him no to the chewing on me and he for the first time ever redirected on his own to the toys. One small moment but it gives me hope that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Of course today has been less successful so far but we're hanging in there. Eventually the victory moments will come more often. I'm sure of it.

 

[musicdeb]

Diesel is so adorable! He has such a smoochable face! Sounds like progress on the chewing. Good job, Diesel and dad!

 

[DennasMom]

What a Sweetie!
Yep - it takes a while.
Enjoy each small victory!

Lots of "yipes" (like a puppy sibling would make) and redirection to fun toys worked for us - eventually. Denna didn't completely stop using her mouth to grab at us until she was over 6 months old. It did improve little by little every day... but it was a Looooong process. Still, totally worth it!

He might also be looking for something just to chew for teething issues, too.

 

[Bailey's Mom]

Soooo cute! So snugglable! A black Dogue, this will be interesting. Oh, and the puppy chewing on human's...kids...they experience things with their mouth. We're still working on my daughter's half Dogo. He's approximately one year and even with a trainer's help, he flips back and forth from mouthing my extremities to licking anything he can reach. He's a lover, I expect the same is true of yours. We were told to say "Ah-ah-ah" Not ouch. Good luck.

 

[Nik]

ewlizbat - ya I've been working on variations of sounds/words to use prior to "no" to discourage the chewing, play biting, nipping. "ouch" doesn't seem to work well with him. I tried squeal, howl, pained puppy noises as an alternate over the weekend and that actually seemed to stun him into completely stopping and for the most part our weekend was relatively bite free (yay) aside from late last night (bedtime) when Diesel went absolutely insane. I was starting to think he was possessed by some demon last night. He wouldn't stop running in circles and alternately picking up and throwing every toy he had and that was after a long game of fetch, a game of tug and a day filled with some outside play time in the yard, short training sessions, and fetch throughout the day. I have no clue where all that excess insane energy came from.

Oh and the other thing I started doing with the chewing is after the "no" I've been saying "redirect" which was just subconsciously saying what I was thinking to begin but he seems to be starting to understand that "redirect" means focus on something else like a toy. Not a command I was intending to invent for Diesel but it may well turn out to be one he learns.

 

[Memphis]

Yes, I agree, chewing can be a real issue. Redirecting his attention to something else might be the key. Someone once said that dogs use their mouths, like we use our hands. The visual alone is quite profound! So he's probably wanting something to hold onto.

 

[Nik]

Yes, I agree, chewing can be a real issue. Redirecting his attention to something else might be the key. Someone once said that dogs use their mouths, like we use our hands. The visual alone is quite profound! So he's probably wanting something to hold onto.

Hi Memphis! Yes I felt like he would never learn not to chew on us but we beat that habit. Diesel now has the most gentle mouth you can imagine. He is also about 9 months old now... but he learned the gentle month many many months ago. Oddly enough he learned it from another puppy more than he did from us but I think that's because it is supposed to be their mom who teaches them and we just got him too young for him to be away from his mom but there wasn't much we could do about that... If it wasn't us then it would have been someone else or God Forbid a shelter for who knows how long.