Bit despairing and need advice

[Queenofknickers]

We have a 15 week old border collie/possible staffie cross who knows who we got from a rescue. She and all her littermates were rescued at birth. She is lovely but bites all the time, not hard enough to really hurt but enough to put you off having her near you. She's got loads of chewy toys etc. She started kennel club puppy lessons last week but it was just meeting - I need her to learn some control! I've never had a dog before and I feel like I should be instilling some good habits.... Any tips?

[Isthatwhatdemonsdo]

We have a 14 week old black lab and she is a biter when she's in hyper mode as was our golden retriever.
When pup bites we say no biting and redirect to one if her chewy toys, or I walk away and ignore her for a few seconds.
It's starting to work. I would recommend the book The Perfect Puppy by Gwen Bailey.

[PacificDogwood]

I've not had a dog in decade and am mainly a yearning lurker in The Doghouse, but just to say 'mouthing' is pretty normal for most puppies; some breeds (labs for instance) and some individuals more than others.

Keep redirecting/distracting, don't punish the biting and crucially don't reward it (no fuss, calm assertive 'no' and walking away is good), reward good behaviour (like give a treat when she allows tummy rubbing without mouthing) and give it a bit of time.
Time and training will do the trick

I am very at you getting puppy cuddles btw...

[Toooldtobearsed]

I have a black lab pup too demon
Knickers - I found with mine that if the 'mouthing' got a bit over enthusiastic, he would stop if I yelped, as though he had really hurt me?
He would stop, look very puzzled and usually start licking me better.
Now that his big boy teeth are through, he very rarely bothers

[airforsharon]

Hi Queenof I've just started a thread on a very similar thing - 14 week old Sprocker who's not biting very often but when he does, ouch!

[Lilcamper]

I just had this in C & P for elsewhere:

Biting is a normal puppy behaviour. Puppies investigate the world through their mouths. If it is within reach, it will probably be picked up and chewed! If it is exciting and moves fast it will definitely get bitten. Dogs play by using their mouths because they don’t have hands.

Puppies need to bite and they need to play. What he/she is doing is simply trying to elicit play. Play is by far the best way to bond with your pup and is a great way to reward him during training.

Use tug toys that he can bite. Old knotted towels or a favourite toy with string attached. Unwanted dressing gown cords are ideal. You need to encourage him to bite one end of the toy whilst you hold the other end. Then you can have a great game together without getting bitten.

Ensure your tug toys are long enough and soft enough for your puppy to happily bite. Your toy should touch the floor whilst you are holding the other end. This allows you to animate the toy and keep the game low to the ground and not encourage jumping up. It also puts distance between teeth and hands.

Keep these interactive toys out of your pups reach whilst they are not being played with. It will keep them more novel which means the pup is more likely to want to bite and play with them when given the opportunity. Plant toys around the house and garden (out of puppies reach) so you have them easily accessible and as much as possible, take the game outside.

Rotate chew items that you leave on the floor to also keep them interesting.

Do not play with your puppy unless you have a toy for him to grab. Don't let anyone in the house roughhouse with him or roll about on the floor with him.

Start by animating the toy on the floor and saying 'getit' every time your pup grabs the toy. You hold on to the toy and let him grab it and shake it. Let go of the toy sometimes so that puppy is encouraged to come back to you to get you to start the game again.

Also teach a word for letting go. To do this you simply stop the game by putting a finger in pup's collar and keeping hold of the toy, release the pressure on the toy so that it becomes boring. As soon as pup lets go say 'thank you' and immediately invite him to grab it again with a 'getit'. He will quickly learn to let go when you stop playing in order for the game to start again and eventually the word 'thankyou' (or your word of choice) will become his cue to let go.

Once your pup is getting the idea of the game then you can start to add in a 'sit' 'are you ready' before the 'getit' and before you know it you have a dog sitting and waiting patiently for the game to start.

[Owllady]

Collies are particularly mouthy imo!
Simple high pitch is and ignoring with back turn works. Mine can still be a bugger sometimes though

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

How do you explain all this to small children who's reaction to being mouthed is to scream and run? Thereby making puppy even more excitable and mouth even more?

My boy is quite old now. I did all my dog training before I had kids. We really want another dog but part of me is dreading trying to train a puppy with small children in the house.

Will follow this!

[Lilcamper]

Teach your kids how to be around dogs

[PacificDogwood]

Ilovemydog, I grew up with a number of dogs and remember a very mouthy rescue puppy we got when I was about ?7 or ?8. I was not tiny but intimidated by these razor sharp little milk teeth.
Both the puppy and I learnt really quickly: me, how to not encourage playful biting by not winding her up and making her even more excited than any hyper puppy is anyway, and her, but letting go (usually with her tail between her legs) when she got it wrong and I yelped.
A loud high-pitched yelp is definitely recognised as an 'ouch, let go, too hard!'

To be fair, the whole puppy thing is why I am a. waiting a bit longer for DS4(4) to grow up a bit more and b. I probably won't get a pup, but a young rescue dog when the time is right.

No, that was not me, just there, on the Dog's Trust/Local Rescue/GAL websites, not me, no siree, must be a case of mistaken identity

[Ilovemydogandmydoglovesme]

Gosh Lilcamper why didn't I think of that.

My dc's are seven and five and totally useless around dogs. Our boy just tolerates them, he doesn't like them or pay any attention to them. Not like he does with us. Whenever we meet another dog and they're allowed to play, it usually ends up with them screaming and crying and running away with the pup chasing after them in excitement. So frustrating. I'm dying to get another pup, preferably before my boy is too old to tolerate it, but the dc's are going to make it such hard work.

[LEMmingaround]

Puppies do this - it will go on for a bit longer but they generally grow out of it. What you need to do in the mean time (you and everyone else who has contact with the dog) is to ignore the dog when she bites you. No shouting, no looking at the dog, just get up and walk away, fold your arms and ignore ignore ignore - she will soon learn that biting gets her zero attention and that is after all part of the reason she is doing it in the first place.

[lulalullabye]

Saying a firm no and walking away works with persistence. Same with licking. If they jump up just turn your back to them and they get bored pretty quickly. With the biting, if it persists, the 'yelp' thing works brilliantly.