How to stop puppy from biting

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Doggo01

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I have a GSD puppy who is just over 5 months old. She very lively (as is any other puppy who is her age). She is still nipping and biting quite badly at the moment and as you can imagine, really hurting us due to her size. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a GSD as a pup and so I am looking for some advice on whether it is normal to bite at this age and how can I work to get her out of it.
I understand it’s all part of having a puppy but she is leaving quite bad marks when she bites and I really want to set her up with the right start. Thanks in advance.
 
I think you need to be firm so they know not to do it, but then show them what to do.... I fostered a puppy who was nearly 9 months old and he was still mouthing and teething a lot, but as long as he had a decent chew like stag bar he was fine. Occasionally he would find something else to bite or chew and I would redirect him to a toy.

also she could sometimes be doing it out of boredom, so make sure she is stimulated enough with walks and games

i'm pretty sure GSD puppies are known as Land sharks!!!
 
Why are you letting her bite you? Tell her NO! sharply and remove your hand, if that's what she is biting. By all means, give her a toy to distract her but don't let it be a reward for biting you. Pups, of any breed, do chew but the owner must stop them. Make sure that she has plenty of chewy toys to play with.

ETA, please do NOT yelp that could encourage her to bite, if she thinks you are playing, or if she thinks that she is winning her game. You are not trying to appeal to her better nature, you are teaching her that she MUST NOT bite.
 
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I am old fashioned - I would avoid giving the puppy the opportunity to bite me, and if it did happen I would smack said puppy lightly on the bum and say firmly 'NO!' to reinforce that this behaviour is not allowed
 
If she bites, move away from her and ignore her until shes calm again. Biting is totally natural, its how dogs play, but she needs to know you are not a dog therfore not willing to play like a dog. Cross your arms and stand with your back to her, or remove her from the room until she knows one mouth is one too much.
 
Luna is going through that stage now, same age but a husky. She gets told a sharp “no” and hand/arm is removed. She doesn’t bite hard thankfully, has never left a mark. Her and our other dog do play fight and bite each other a lot, and as well as the toys they have to chew, it is working for us.
 
Doggo01 said:
I have a GSD puppy who is just over 5 months old. She very lively (as is any other puppy who is her age). She is still nipping and biting quite badly at the moment and as you can imagine, really hurting us due to her size. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a GSD as a pup and so I am looking for some advice on whether it is normal to bite at this age and how can I work to get her out of it.
I understand it’s all part of having a puppy but she is leaving quite bad marks when she bites and I really want to set her up with the right start. Thanks in advance.
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I used to use my fingers and tap their nose and say NO!! in a firm voice. Move your hand then ignore him till he calms down. Have a look at Caesar Milan for nay tips
 
ILuvCowparsely said:
I used to use my fingers and tap their nose and say NO!! in a firm voice. Move your hand then ignore him till he calms down. Have a look at Caesar Milan for nay tips
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Sorry I would NEVER recommend Caesar Milan - he is a complete idiot who has been proven to be such!!! Use common sense instead, please...
 
Puppies learn bite inhibition from their litter mates - each time they bite too hard and hurt, the other puppy squeals, and the biter knows he has hurt and needs to be a little softer.
When the puppy bites you, if you squeal, apart from feeling like an idiot, you have continued to enable him to learn that he has just bitten too hard. Do it every time he bites hard enough to hurt and he will learn to inhibit his bite to a level that no longer causes any harm.
It works. I learned it from Dr Ian Dunbar, one of the "old school" behaviourists and have used it successfully several times
 
Don't smack them - it's just the resource of those who don't know how to positively reinforce. Don't let her get any fun out of biting you. Biting means you get up and leave the room or area - you had to show her it doesn't reward her to bite . If its biting because she's bored play with her, give her a toy etc. replace your hand with a chew. At 5 months you'd nearly hope she'd be out of it so I'd consider a good positive trainer/help to show you the way.
Smacking gains nothing.
 
The way I deal with inappropriate biting is to have a toy to give to pup as soon as they start mouthing. Immediately instigate a game with the toy and redirect them from your hand/leg to the toy.

Is your pup having plenty of appropriate chewing opportunities throughout the day (raw bones, stuffed kongs etc)? Pups need to bite and so by providing alternatives three or four times a day you are allowing them to perform this necessary action.

Whichever method you use, the main thing is to be consistent an don't swap and change methods as you will just confuse the pup.
 
Lévrier;13677009 said:
Sorry I would NEVER recommend Caesar Milan - he is a complete idiot who has been proven to be such!!! Use common sense instead, please...
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Yet you just posted to slap it on the arse...hmmm
 
Also worth remembering that bitey pups are often tired and overstimulated pups... naptime or chewtime then naptime in a crate or quiet room is a good idea if they've gone particularly persistent with the biting.
 
SusieT said:
Don't smack them - it's just the resource of those who don't know how to positively reinforce. Don't let her get any fun out of biting you. Biting means you get up and leave the room or area - you had to show her it doesn't reward her to bite . If its biting because she's bored play with her, give her a toy etc. replace your hand with a chew. At 5 months you'd nearly hope she'd be out of it so I'd consider a good positive trainer/help to show you the way.
Smacking gains nothing.
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Yeah because we managed years and years before the modern fashion of 'positive reinforcement' resulted in a lot of undisciplined ignorant puppies....and kids..... :p In the right hands it can be very effective, in the hands of the effective it can be a load of rubbish

My evidence to support this? A lifetime of seeing people train their puppies/rescues very badly....
 
JillA said:
Puppies learn bite inhibition from their litter mates - each time they bite too hard and hurt, the other puppy squeals, and the biter knows he has hurt and needs to be a little softer.
When the puppy bites you, if you squeal, apart from feeling like an idiot, you have continued to enable him to learn that he has just bitten too hard. Do it every time he bites hard enough to hurt and he will learn to inhibit his bite to a level that no longer causes any harm.
It works. I learned it from Dr Ian Dunbar, one of the "old school" behaviourists and have used it successfully several times
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Or, when the litter mate squeals the biter thinks he has just become top dog. If you want to teach your pup not to bite, do what his mum would do which is definitely not squeal! If mum doesn't want to be bitten, she makes it *very* clear that she isn't playing.

The best way to stop your pup biting you is to not give him the opportunity in the first place.
 
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In my experience yelping with a GSD just makes you prey.

I'd give a correction for biting you and a redirection onto a toy or ball. This will stand you in better stead if you ever want to train the dog for any sports or activities. And a GSD's head won't fall off if you correct it, I promise.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Or, when the litter mate squeals the biter thinks he has just become top dog. If you want to teach your pup not to bite, do what his mum would do which is definitely not squeal! If mum doesn't want to be bitten, she makes it *very* clear that she isn't playing.
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Not true - puppies play bite each other, not their dam, they already know not to do that, because they accept her as "top dog", which is why you can PREVENT it (as opposed to interrupt it) by taking control of their eating and movement. Only a couple of weeks ago I was interacting with a puppy in a garden centre, and when she tested her teeth on me, the squeak stopped her mid bite, two or three times. She had never met me before so status didn't come into it.
 
I have tiome for Cesar Milan, in that somethings he says are good. TBH Monty Roberts sometimes comes out with some sense, too. (Different training types of different species I know but call trainers can have some positives generally.
Anyway, before this goes off on another pro/anti CM I cannot see how positive training is going to stop a dog biting you? I am with Levrier here, although I wouldn't smack from day 1, if they bite I say no and stop all interaction. If it persists they would get a smack.
 
JillA said:
Not true - puppies play bite each other, not their dam, they already know not to do that, because they accept her as "top dog", which is why you can PREVENT it (as opposed to interrupt it) by taking control of their eating and movement. Only a couple of weeks ago I was interacting with a puppy in a garden centre, and when she tested her teeth on me, the squeak stopped her mid bite, two or three times. She had never met me before so status didn't come into it.
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I am afraid that it *is* true. Squeaking at a pup that doesn't know you, just shows that it stopped playing to listen to the noise, which happened to interrupt the biting. Far better ime to not allow them to bite you in the first place. Dogs need to learn that humans are NOT dogs and that the rules for playing with people are different from those for playing with other dogs. We don't allow foals to play with humans like they do with other foals, because they so big from day 1 that it is dangerous, so why on earth would you allow a pup to treat you like another pup? I find that people do a lot of silly things with pups because they are small and adorable, that they would not want an adult daog, of any size, never mind a big one to do.
If they can learn very quickly not to bite mum, they can learn very quickly not to bite people. And I have started a lot of pups which have grown up to be polite, playful, happy big dogs, over the last 50+ yrs.
If squeaking works for you, fine, but I really don't think that it is wise to advocate it to a novice owner.

ETA, my dogs think of me as 'top dog' because that way, they do as they are told, it's called 'training'.
 
not GSDs but personally have never had the loud 'ouch' and then ceasing all contact not work with a dog-even older dogs who's bite inhibition might be less than I am comfortable with (ie my last rescue who was a staffy cross and 5yo and Fitz who I got at 7 months). with a young pup I would do the loud 'ouch' and then redirect. if that isnt sufficient you up the anti to leaving the room.

the only time I've seen it not work is when the handlers are inconsistent and/or encourage games where boundaries are muddled (thinking of a friend's dogs here).not saying I would never or have never smacked but have not found it necessary for a pup and bite inhibition-generally established by 3-4 months in breeds I've had.

I have no time for either CM or MR ;)
 
I can't remember ever having to smack, or even tap a pup for biting. A firm, well-timed 'No!' has always been enough to stop Labs, GSDs and Rotties. That and not putting your hands in biting position, as MoC says, don't muddle the boundaries.
 
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I've followed the Ian Dunbar approach (recommended by several posters above) to bite inhibition for both my pups and found it really successful and it is worth reading his explanation of why you should reduce the force of the play biting first, before extinquishing it completely. I also agree with one of the posters above who said that sometimes pups do this when they are over-tired - ours would sometimes be almost be in a frenzy and when she was like that we find the best approach was just to pop her in her crate, when she would promptly fall asleep!
 
TGM said:
I've followed the Ian Dunbar approach (recommended by several posters above) to bite inhibition for both my pups and found it really successful and it is worth reading his explanation of why you should reduce the force of the play biting first, before extinquishing it completely. I also agree with one of the posters above who said that sometimes pups do this when they are over-tired - ours would sometimes be almost be in a frenzy and when she was like that we find the best approach was just to pop her in her crate, when she would promptly fall asleep!
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^ This; we did Ian Dunbar religiously, and stayed consistent even when everything seemed to be totally failing with the terrierist. I think my Google search from when he was 5 months is basically a history of "is my puppy biting normal" (answer: yes) ; "at what age should my puppy stop biting" (answer: it depends on the dog) ; "help my puppy is hurting me with his biting" (answer: stop worrying; he WILL get there); "how many adult dogs actually bite their owners" (answer: not many at all so really, stop worrying now) and other stuff like that ... We never raised our voices, never told him off in the real sense, but stuck to Dr Dunbar's strategy (because it made behavioural sense to me - I am a behavioural psychologist so I had to have faith in the system!) ... and suddenly overnight, the biting ceased entirely. I couldn't quite believe it (the Google searches then looking something like "do dogs sometimes stop biting but then start again?" and things like that :) ) .... Now when he's starting to zoom, he rushes off to the toy box and interesting in that mode he always selected a hard toy that he can sink his teeth into. If he so much as looks mouthy (sometimes he gets a devil glint in his eye!), then we consistently walk off and don't interact for a while .. He's 9 months and FINGERS CROSSED we haven't had any problem since.
 
Clodagh said:
I have tiome for Cesar Milan, in that somethings he says are good. TBH Monty Roberts sometimes comes out with some sense, too. (Different training types of different species I know but call trainers can have some positives generally.
Anyway, before this goes off on another pro/anti CM I cannot see how positive training is going to stop a dog biting you? I am with Levrier here, although I wouldn't smack from day 1, if they bite I say no and stop all interaction. If it persists they would get a smack.
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I was a bit unfair to CM before. I am kind of neutral about him these days. Like most dog trainers, he has some methods and ideas I would agree with and others I disregard completely. It is all about making the right choice for the dog in front of you because, as well know, one size doesn't fit all.
 
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