10 week old puppy

[Whywhywhy1]

We’ve had our puppy for 2 weeks now and he is 10 weeks. I’m at home with him all the time so have dedicated a lot of time to being with him, trying to toilet train him, play with him and help him settle. However I am really struggling with just how much he bites. I don’t really mean the stuff around the house but feet, toes, hands everything! He gets really manic about it and seems really aggressive, growling and yapping. He even goes for my nose, ears and neck. I’ve done the don’t react, turn away, don’t give attention etc but nothing works. I have never had a dog before and don’t know how normal this. I’m feeling a bit deflated and down about it which probably sounds ridiculous.

Totally normal and lasts ages. He won't be able to help himself for ages.

Just keep doing what you're doing - retracting attention, turning round, going to do something else, yelp if it hurts.

I genuinely thought this stage would never stop. We used tons of toys and that helped.

Worst was when she was overtired and had a last mental bitey marathon about 8 at night - she was a bit frenzied until she crashed out.

Thanks Laurie. Yes, that time is our frenzy time too!! What tine did your usually crash out? Whypup actually took himself to bed tonight at 10pm which is unusual. He must have tired himself out. Ha!

The heat today seems to have chilled him a bit

It is very wearing. Have you booked him onto puppy training? I found behaviour really improved once we started not so much due to the training itself but the mental stimulation.

Yes we are starting some puppy training classes after his vaccinations in a week and a half. It is wearing but as long as I know he’ll get through it I’ll be ok. 🤣

It’s so hard. I had no idea puppies were so bitey too. Especially the kids’ legs!
Ours is slightly less bitey now at 7 months.
Shoving a soft toy in his mouth helped. I think it’s a phase you just have to get through though. Lots of things to chew on!

Yeah we always have a toy to hand to give him but he will mostly dismiss it in favour of hands, feet, clothes, hair etc

I feel your pain. To be honest I’m not sure if what we are doing has an impact or whether they just grow out of it.
We always turn around. Yelling or saying ‘ow’ seems to excite him more. I often put him in a separate room if he’s getting ‘bitey’

It is getting less and less but still annoying. Wish I’d known this about puppies!

People say to react with "ow" or similar but it seemed to wind my puppy up more.

It got a lot better when he had all his jabs and could go out more.

What breed is yours?

Mine got better as he got a bit older. He would bite onto my slippers as I walked and hold on.

Mine is 14 weeks now and a baby shark!
She has calm moments and mad ones, where she tries to nip at everything and every one, so we try to always have a toy to hand to give her to chew. Sometimes that works, but I do have a few teeth holes in my arm!

And the mad zoomies in the evening..just before she crashes are unreal!!!

But she will outgrow the biting and hopefully we wil retain all our limbs

Ah yes, this distressed me a lot at first, particularly in the morning when I got up far earlier than I'd like just to take him in the garden and he'd literally attack my legs, ankles, feet, swing from my clothes, nip my hands etc. It made me feel very tearful and low as I loved him so much. As others have said, it improves gradually. Give him lots of other things to bite like soft toys, chew toys, best tip ever was a piece of antler from the pet shop etc. Don't lose heart, it'll get better. My pup is the love of my life now!

They all do this and have the mad half hour as well: I used to worry my puppy was actually psychotic. Of course he isn’t, he was just a puppy.

The one thing we found helped was to change what we wear so there was nothing flapping or dangling - my DDs sloppy cardigans used to really drive him crazy!

It does get better I promise! But it is wearing. Lots and lots of chews help a bit.

We used to squeal, just a very high pitched noise. The vet told us to do this as it's what his brothers and sisters would do to tell them they were playing too hard.
It worked for us.

What breed is the pup? It’s more normal for some breeds than others in my experience and in a very few pups can be a dominance/bravado thing which is a bit more of a problem than when it is just play. It’s also more common when they’re taken from their mums earlier because they get less time to learn manners.

Go to a pet store (or online) and buy every kind of bone, chew and large treat you can find. Experiment to see which ones he likes and how long they last. As soon as he starts biting give him a chew. Some dogs have a higher need to chew than others and they can’t be easily distracted by something else.

For anyone who wants to use the yelling method, make sure you do a high pitched ‘Ai ai ai’ noise and not a low ‘ow’. Also don’t move whatever it is he is biting while you screech. It does work with many puppies but not all of them.

He’s a cockapooo. I don’t know if it’s common with them or not but it seems the nipping is quite severe in terms of the frequent and ferocity