Massager Turned Training Tool

As cute as Sobe is when he's playing, the minute he sinks his tiny dagger teeth into my hands, feet, clothes, or other non-chew toy items, it can quickly become annoying.  He was biting my pants the other night and I gave him a push saying, "No!" but he would jump right back at me, thinking it's a game.  I shoved him away a couple more times and said, "NO!" in a louder, stern tone but it was still useless.  Sobe became relentless.  He really tested my patience with the biting and I must admit that I did what every professional trainer out there would frown upon:  I gave Sobe a spank on the butt.  He was shocked at first and jumped aside but in a couple of seconds, he darted right back for my pants.  I felt hopeless and I didn't want to just walk away because that would mean that he got his way.  I felt the need to make him stop. 

While I sat on the floor trying to come up with a plan, my eyes fell upon a little electric hand massager I had gotten for Christmas one year.  The massager has three nubby legs and vibrates when you press a button.  I grabbed it and while Sobe was preoccupied with gnawing on my pants, I pressed the massager's nubby legs against his butt, pressed the button to buzz him, then quickly turned it off and hid the device behind me.  I said, "No bite!" The buzzing shocked him and he quickly jumped away and tried to see what caused it.  After a few seconds, he turned his attention back to my pants and started to go for it.  I buzzed him with the massager again, and he darted away, shocked.  I repeated, "No bite!"  This time, he walked away from my pants.

I tried this again when I found Sobe chewing on Rick's bookbag.  I initially told him "No bite" but when he didn't listen even after a few times of me telling him, I used the massager.  He would quickly stop.  I used the massager in a couple more instances when he was overly hyper and chewing away on anything other than his toys.  Thanks to the massager, he is already responding to "No bite" pretty well now. 

In case anyone thinks it's torture, the massaging tool is not painful at all (it's meant for us humans without the thick fur!).