Puppy biting

[KittenInTheTree]

thank you everyone I will continue with what I am doing. Like I said, I am aware Rome wasn’t built in a day. I’ve ordered some more chewy toys for us to play with.
Kitten - I find your last sentence quite unnecessary. I have posted on here asking for help after reading and watching a wealth of information online, most which is conflicting. I know this forum has many experienced dog owners and I would get good advice, not to return my puppy to the breeder!

It might not be the sentence that you wanted to read, but it is nonetheless true. For all anyone on here knew, you were posting whilst secretly hoping that someone would suggest it. Some people do that. However, if the mere thought of returning your puppy to the breeder is abhorrent to you, then good. Hold on to that feeling. Cherish it. In the inevitable future instances of canine induced havoc, think back on how that sentence made you feel. It might help a little, and if nothing else, you can at least choose to be angry at me having hurt your feelings instead of at whatever antics your puppy is up to. Doubtless this post will be of similar use.

 

[CorvusCorax]

Still laughing at 'Labradors are the worst'

Malinois v Labrador

 

[Spotherisk]

Malinois scare the living daylights out of me, as do American bulldogs. Labs are so easy in comparison, I don’t think any of ours have teethed on his. My lurcher spent months teething on me but I’d been through it before and knew it would pass.

 

[Nasicus]

Some good (and awful!) advice on here, but just wanted to say that rest assured it does get better! Puppy teeth are the worst, like little razor blades, much less painful when the adult teeth come through! It can take them a little while to develop bite inhibition, but as long as you are consistent in whichever method you choose, they will get there in the end

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Still laughing at 'Labradors are the worst'

Malinois v Labrador

We have found that Labs in general are worse than Rotters, their chewing phase lasts longer! I think the worst we've ever had were the JRT's but they were worse in every way! Never again!
We currently have the best of all worlds, 2 x adult Labs, 1 x6 mth old Lab and 'daycare dog', 1 x 12 mth old Lab. The youngsters play together, the older ones put them in their place when they get ott and 'Nanny' plays gently with the babies when she feels that they need it.

 

[NinjaPony]

You are doing the right things OP, some great advice here (and some terrible advice…)

I always think people underestimate how tired puppies get, we used to have a playpen for my papillon puppy (partly to stop the cat stealing her toys/food/water…) and we could pop her in with a chew or a toy whenever she got a bit over excited. After a few minutes we would come back and find her asleep! Mine loves crunching on carrots to fulfil the chewing urge. I tend to say ‘no!’ firmly, and replace my hand with a toy instead. If she kept going and lunging, I would fold my arms and turn my back on her completely until she stopped, then give her a toy and play. For my dog, removing attention was the worst thing you could do, all attention (even telling her off!) was better than no attention so removing the source of attention is the quickest way to get her to behave herself. This worked very well with barking for attention; it drove us mad for a bit but paid off in the end.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

Still laughing at 'Labradors are the worst'

Malinois v Labrador

I would love a Mali, they are stunning dogs, but know i would never ever have the ablity to own one.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I think I have been incredibly lucky, none of my 5 collies have been biters as pups. I did view one litter where the pups were like piranhas round my ankles. I decided against one of them as I didn't think it was fair to inflict one on the two older dogs I had. Jesse used to race round the living room, hurling herself on and off the chairs until I gave her time out in her crate.

 

[Petalpoos]

My curlies all went through a ‘mad bitey phase’ that lasted for a few months as puppies, but they get over it. I found that you could never have too many toys and chewy things, preferably secreted in every chair, table - everywhere really, so you could always have one ready to pop in the little shark’s mouth. My mid-80s sister with very thin skin used to wear gardening gloves when she visited ?

They always seemed to be worse around 7 in the evening, but after 10 minutes or so of playing they would stagger off to their bed and instantly drop fast asleep. My current curly still likes a good play early evenings, but now it’s just tugging and ball throwing games and no band aids are needed. As the other posters have said, they do get over it, eventually!

 

[Parrotperson]

I too am thinking over tired!

My jrt is 11 months and he’s still an idiot when’s he’s over tired.

You have so much fun ahead! Be calm. Repeatedly (there all different. Some catch on quick others take more time) replace you with a toy. Play for a little bit if they ignore the toy. But learn when pup is tired and needs to sleep.

I use a crate phrase. so ‘off to bed’ when he’s goes in. That way when you say it again and again he gets the idea.

You’ll be fine. Deep breath. And press the puppies are fun button!!! ?

 

[PurBee]

The best way to avoid having a puppy bite you is to have 2! They play fight almost all the time, except when they are asleep, which helps the owner to understand why a single pup wants to chew the owner so much!

Often on this forum posters are constantly advised to have their yearlings/foals with a herd to socialise to prevent behaviour problems. Single puppy problems are born from the same socialising angst - and the remedy is the same.

My gsd pup had a 7yr old dog to interact with - it was great for them both - she kept him exercised and young, he taught her adult manners. He put up with her jumping on him, biting him, etc, and told her ‘no, enough’ by showing his teeth, without having to take it further. I got the best behaviour from them both towards me. It was a delightful pup growing-up journey instead of harrowing.

OP - if you dont have the capacity for another dog in the home, do you have friends/neighbours who have (nice/sane) dogs to introduce your pup to for social time? Is there maybe a local facebook page for local dog owners to post on and ask?

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Often on this forum posters are constantly advised to have their yearlings/foals with a herd to socialise to prevent behaviour problems. Single puppy problems are born from the same socialising angst - and the remedy is the same.

My gsd pup had a 7yr old dog to interact with - it was great for them both - she kept him exercised and young, he taught her adult manners. He put up with her jumping on him, biting him, etc, and told her ‘no, enough’ by showing his teeth, without having to take it further. I got the best behaviour from them both towards me. It was a delightful pup growing-up journey instead of harrowing.

OP - if you dont have the capacity for another dog in the home, do you have friends/neighbours who have (nice/sane) dogs to introduce your pup to for social time? Is there maybe a local facebook page for local dog owners to post on and ask?

Of course at 9 weeks OP's pup is too young to mix with dogs outside the family/very well known to be healthy. Some breeders advise against having 2 pups together, I think they are bonkers.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Of course at 9 weeks OP's pup is too young to mix with dogs outside the family/very well known to be healthy. Some breeders advise against having 2 pups together, I think they are bonkers.

Yes, but everyone else thinks we’re mad, but looking at my two playing together in the river today, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

[Clodagh]

There is absolutely no reason why single dogs cannot be perfectly happy. I also think people are insane to get litter mates. Socialisation is important but having a dog that doesn’t need you because it has its own friends is not really the whole point either.
I have litter mate beagle pups here at the moment and they are great and it’s lovely watching them play. Yes they wear each other out. They also wake up and start playing at 5am.
It’s double trouble +1.
This is aimed at OP, not PAS and CT who I know are committed to siblings. There’s a reason most people aren’t.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Yes, but everyone else thinks we’re mad, but looking at my two playing together in the river today, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Me neither! I am happy to play with my dogs and do it often but I'm not into bitey face, or what we call Norman Hunter (bites your legs), so my dogs would miss out. I also learned long ago not to swim with a dog. It is a fallacy, ime, that they would rather be with each other than with their owner.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Me neither! I am happy to play with my dogs and do it often but I'm not into bitey face, or what we call Norman Hunter (bites your legs), so my dogs would miss out. I also learned long ago not to swim with a dog. It is a fallacy, ime, that they would rather be with each other than with their owner.

Looking at Goose clambering on Bear to get the ball today, I think my idea of swimming with my dogs is a romantic folly! Mitch was trying to play bitey face with Goose, they were having an absolute blast!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Looking at Goose clambering on Bear to get the ball today, I think my idea of swimming with my dogs is a romantic folly! Mitch was trying to play bitey face with Goose, they were having an absolute blast!

Lab bitch decided that she needed a rest and climbed onto my back when we were swimming in the sea! I had scratches on my back for ages!

 

[Cinnamontoast]

I have litter mate beagle pups here at the moment and they are great and it’s lovely watching them play. Yes they wear each other out. They also wake up and start playing at 5am.
It’s double trouble +1.

Hopefully they’ll start to wake later: mine appear to be sleeping later, although decided to ‘play’ by ripping up a bed at 6.30 yesterday, but were silent until I got up today. I’d love to get rid of their crates, but currently they’re useful to pop them in if I‘ve fed them early so I can go back to bed!

The friend who looked after my two when they were little has just got 2 dachshund x cocker puppies. No idea why someone has done that cross, seems unusual.

I think lone dogs can be and are fine, that’s how most people do it. I do think I’ve had it easy in ONE (and only one!) respect and that’s the lack of concern over separation anxiety, although obviously having another dog does not necessarily mean one won’t suffer from SA.

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Lab bitch decided that she needed a rest and climbed onto my back when we were swimming in the sea! I had scratches on my back for ages!

Don’t think I’d have that problem, the boys don’t stop! Everyone we met mentioned their energy/liveliness. They seem to be massively energised by water. ?

 

[YorksG]

If you have two pups together, you have to be interesting to them, so that they don't learn to ignore you. One of the rotters was quite happy to leave her sister and her people to get into trouble?. I'm pretty sure she'd have been the same if she'd been an only dog.

 

[Sandstone1]

Omg ??? never heard of the likes
I didnt say say melt her face into the carpet. ??
im gonna shut up now ?

Probably best as your training method came out of the ark.

 

[Sandstone1]

Labrador pups are the worst for biting and chewing.Get over feeling mean about putting the pup in the crate - when you feel you have to use the crate.Correct the pup smack her nose gently and say NO.They do grow out of it and its a phase you will have to go through.

Utter rubbish. You have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Btomkins]

My Doberman pup was a nightmare for puppy biting for the first few months. Me and OH looked like we’d been in the wars. Hands, arms and legs all scratched up badly - it was really painful!

Keep on with the distraction techniques and replacing yourself with something that is appropriate to have a good bite of - toys, kongs, chews. If pup gets too much then a time out by either removing yourself from the situation or placing them somewhere boring and calm like the crate. Looking back we were overstimulating and she found it very difficult to switch off and learn to just be calm and ‘boring’. I think as a watch/guard dog breed she will always be quite switched on ?

It’s pretty much cracked now at 6 months, she’s soooo much more gentle on the odd occasion she gets a bit bitey and even then it is absolutely not painful. She gets better every day but do expect some testing of boundaries and regression at points.

Good luck, pup is beautiful.

 

[Jenko109]

I go with a verbal shock, 'ACK NO!' followed by giving them something 'correct' to put in their mouth.

I certainly would not be smacking. In fact, I think this could potentially make the behaviour worse.

 

[Clodagh]

I certainly would not be smacking. In fact, I think this could potentially make the behaviour worse.

I was thinking that, unless you are going to clump it hard enough for it to calm down ( see stars perhaps) surely a smack on the nose is just dog play biting back, especially if they are doing it out of hysterics.

 

[skinnydipper]

I certainly would not be smacking. In fact, I think this could potentially make the behaviour worse.

I have seen a few young dogs for rehoming by owners recently, some only a few months old and its a case of someone take this dog now or he/she will be PTS. Reason given is that the dog has bitten someone in the home.

It's heart breaking that a dog could lose its life due to mishandling or poor choice of breed for lifestyle.

 

[ecb89]

Thanks everyone for your replies. Tried to be really consistent today with replacing my hands with toys and putting in her crate at the slightest hint of it getting too much.
We are off to see my sister who has a dog tomorrow so hopefully he can put her in her place a bit

 

[Esmae]

The best way to avoid having a puppy bite you is to have 2! They play fight almost all the time, except when they are asleep, which helps the owner to understand why a single pup wants to chew the owner so much!

Agree with this. My whippet pup is chewing 7 bells out of my older dog and ignoring us! Brilliant!

 

[AmyMay]

We are off to see my sister who has a dog tomorrow so hopefully he can put her in her place a bit

??????

 

[Jenko109]

You have to draw a line somewhere though. Your adult dog is not there to entertain the puppy and should not be expected to endure it relentlessly, if at all if they are not willing.

Some dogs are too mild mannered to tell a puppy off when they have had enough. We need to be sure that we recognise that enough is enough and give the older dog quiet time.