Biting again

[CleverQuacks]

Sorry to post about the same issue again but I am really at a loss what to do. My puppy is 14 weeks old and she is constantly biting. She bites legs, feet, and hands. It’s not mouthing. It’s run at you full force and bite. My arms and hands are covered in cuts (it honestly looks like I have been self harming) and she just drew blood on my middle sons hand.

I try putting her in her pen for a minute to calm down but as soon as she comes out it starts again.

Today she has had 3 fifteen minute walks. We have done ten minutes of training. Played tug, played ball several times during the day. She has endless amount of chews which I try to offer when she starts biting but she doesn’t want to chew them. She wants to bite hands. Is it time to get a behaviourist in?

[BiteyShark]

I try putting her in her pen for a minute to calm down but as soon as she comes out it starts again.

Time it so it's around 5 minutes to give her time to calm down. If it starts again then back she goes. 1 min is not really enough as she needs to have enough time to be calm again.

Also you really need to make sure you are not over stimulating her. Whilst it often looks as if you should be doing lots of things to train your puppy it is imperative they don't get wound up and things are calm especially at critical times like in the evening when over tired.

Today she has had 3 fifteen minute walks. We have done ten minutes of training. Played tug, played ball several times during the day. How many times has she had real time to just 'be', to chill and sleep. I play ball several times a day with my almost 2 year old but I manage it so it's just a few mins at a time and that he never gets worked up and he's an adult dog that can self settle rather than a hyper bitey puppy that is a toddler that can't recognise when to stop.

By all means get a behaviourist in if you need help in RL to manage the nipping. However I found that I had to take a step back and look at the trigger points and then stop them getting to that point. Don't wait for the nipping to get out of hand so watch if she is getting worked up and intervene then.

[CleverQuacks]

She really struggles to just “be”. She is always on the move! Sometimes I put her in her pen to have a sleep because she doesn’t seem to be able to settle by herself. I have to enforce naps. She will happily go to sleep once in her pen though. She doesn’t cry or anything

[BiteyShark]

Think of teaching her to settle and be calm to be just as important as any other training and yes that means stopping play or timeouts even though she looks like she could keep going.

[MsHomeSlice]

sounds a good deal overwrought to me

if she struggles to settle then you need to find time to just settle yourself and get her to do likewise. Like babies, if they think they are missing out there's little to no chance of them chilling

Start with settling with her, then move on to her being settled while you do something really dull in the same room, and so on.

[geekone]

I found when I started working from home again they sitting downstairs in the kitchen and essentially ignoring the pup while I worked it seems to really help.

If he gets bitey I just leave him in the kitchen to calm down. He is 29 weeks and a Giant type. He sometimes slams against the door but mostly makes a harrumphing noise and settles down.

[adaline]

That's far too much exercise - she's probably over-hyped. She should only be being walked for about ten minutes a day at her age - 45 minutes is far too much and you're setting her up for hip and elbow problems as she gets older.

Have you tried brain games to tire her out? Feed her meals out of kongs or toys that force her to work for her food. Or do training in regular, short bursts. If I'm home I do 40 minutes a day spread out in 5 minute intervals. It tires mine out even more than walks.

[CleverQuacks]

She does have her kong twice a day.

I thought the exercise limit was 5 minutes for each month of the dogs life per walk so she can only have 15 minute walks but you can do a couple through out the day. Is that wrong? Is it 15 minutes in total for the day?

[BiteyShark]

Yes you can do two a day but I think it sounds like quite a full-on day with walking (those 15 mins will be full on for her), training, chasing a ball, tug etc.

You don't need to fill her day up doing things and if she is going into full lunge biting mode the first thing I would say is calm the days down.

[CleverQuacks]

I will try to do a calmer day tomorrow. The reason I do so much with her is because if I am not occupying her with something then she is lunging and biting us.

[Ylvamoon]

Stop all play interaction with her as soon as things get a bit "heated / hyper" - that includes you and your children!
Obvious sign is raised high pitch voices, barking, snapping,...
Give her time out, redirect play to a toy or just walk away ... she will get the message that getting over exited isn't fun.

At 14 weeks, she is still learning how to interact with her human family.

[fourpawswhite]

Time out for the biting, every time. Straight into pen or cage.

Start fo using on the commands you want to use in training. So sit, lie down and specifically settle. Lots of information online about teaching settle. Really handy one to learn.

[BiteyShark]

The thing is doing lots won't stop the biting but will just prolong the inevitable but then she will be overtired and it makes it worse.

If there are trigger times then think of a routine that you can start which is a key to calming down. I never play after dinner time at all as this means we should all start to settle for the evening. My dog now knows this so when he's had his dinner and I am eating mine he takes himself off to the sofa or bed.

Maybe after her walks make sure you all just sit for a while so again in time she will learn that she needs to settle down.

Try and observe her cues before she gets bitey so you learn to recognise them and adjust what you are doing accordingly before it starts.

[adaline]

You can do up-to a maximum of 5 minutes per month of their age, up to twice a day. But I find that the more we exercise ours, the more hyper and bitey he gets.

He needs to learn to self-settle and to be on his own - frozen kongs are great for this and they'll help with the pain he has from teething. What chews does he have? Nyla bones are great and fairly indestructible and mine loves those rope too too.

You need to tire him out mentally as well as physically. We never feed ours out of bowls, for example, always in a kong or with a game. We also feed some of his allowance in training sessions so he has to work for his food.

[adaline]

I don't know why I keep saying him - I think because I have a male puppy!

Lunging to me implies she's over tired and doesn't know that it's time to stop.