Advice on managing puppy biting with three young children at home

[DisneyDreaming2026]

Hello,

I am considering getting a puppy to add to our family.

I am pretty much decided on breed etc (I'd like a Working Cocker Spaniel).

We are used to having pets/dogs and are aware of the time and costs involved.

The only thing that is putting me off is managing the puppy biting stage with three young children. Any advice on this please?

Thank you x

Yes. The dog trainer (qualified behaviourist) said don't use the term bite-that a puppy nipping is not the same thing as a dog which bites. Redirect them each time, and obviously don't ever leave young kids alone with dogs.

Divide and conquer. Keep the kids away from the pup and the pup away from the kids, unless you can supervise. I bred two litters of labs and the only one that was returned to me went to a lady with three young children. Pup nipped at the kids and made them cry. Eventually they were all scared of it and she asked me to take it back. I told her to keep them apart, supervise the pup and get a trainer, but she was just done with it.

They are known as ‘cocker-diles’
I had a wcs puppy and the biting was bad! The ends of my trousers were shredded and it was painful!
As has been said, you can’t stop the biting - puppies need to bite.
It’s up to you to provide suitable outlets for the biting - chews, long toys, no access to tiny hands and feet………

Op we have a wcs, my first memory of him is him repeatedly jumping up as only a few month old on my eldest who was then 15 yo and 15yo panicking as he repeatedly bit at him. I can’t imagine what would have happened if it was one of the other kids.

We’ve gotten over the bitey bit by handing him off toys until he started picking them up until biting BUT he was hell on earth for a year and a half. I used to cry over him. I honestly believe cs are not for young families, they’re for teenage or adult families. Although after this I don’t think dogs are good for young families at all. I think it’s too difficult to split time between them. Spend the time you’d spend training the dog, taking him out at night, the early mornings etc with your kids instead.

What kind of work are you thinking about? Do you have a trainer sorted? Maybe getting advice from them would be more helpful once you have the dog and they know you and your family.

Also, a working dog is very different to a family pet. From the DC point of view, not much fun.
As for the biting, I had a puppy & 1yo 😱. But, by this point I had a lot of experience with dogs and puppies. Plus even with my experience I did not think a WCS would be right fit for my young family. I went for something a lot calmer, less needy and un-phased by almost anything.

To answer your question: Plenty of toys to give or swap, calm play with the DC & time out for all if it gets heated. I think involving DC in training and showing them how to make the dog sit, down, come and other fun tricks... is also good. Because your DC will get to a point when they will dislike the puppy because of biting or because puppy destroyed a toy or pooped on their favourite blanket. Giving them the tools to "control" the dog will help getting them back on track.

My daughter’s 13 year old working cocker has lived with me since I retired. She never was a particularly bitey puppy, though she was very destructive until she was about 5 years old.

I don’t think three is a good age for a child to live with a high-energy working breed puppy. The child is simply too young to understand the consequences of leaving stuff within puppy’s reach, too young to know how to respond if puppy is being…. challenging. I don’t think it’s fair on either of them, and would wait another year or so.

I told my DC to turn their back to the dog and cross their arms up across their chest. Keep turning away from the dog and it soon gets bored..

We’ve a staffie pup, DD was 9- she basically avoided the puppy and went straight upstairs until the evenings when pup was calm. Puppies bite and it hurts like hell, our pup also jumped and flew at you whilst biting. I still have a scar on my thigh where she jumped up and bit me.
The problem is everyone will suggest crates, kongs, redirection but you’ll still get bit even with those things. You also shouldn’t walk or exercise a puppy too much - will damage growth plates.

You’ll need to have areas the puppy simply cannot get to.
The biting went on for perhaps five months in total. She’s lovely now, but my god we all had the puppy blues.

Why just why?

OP I bet you regret posting now! My advice is to have confidence in yourself, you know how to manage a puppy, teach the children to respect the puppy and don’t let any of them get overtired. I think it’s lovely for children to grow up with dogs. The only other thing I would say is why not get a springer puppy, they are so soft mouthed and I found easy to train not to bite when they were puppies. Good luck and do what you think is best.

Most breeders wont sell to a family with a child under 5.
The potential for a serious accidential injury for the puppy or the child is too high.
You cant explain to a 3 year old that they need to be calm and leave a puppy alone and the puppy wont be able to lie down and leave the child alone either.
The only way round that is 100% supervision of thr puppy and the toddler whilst they are awake which basically means you wont be able to do anything else, including go to the loo.
Crates can help but you cant use them all the time and small fingera can still be poked into the crate.

A working cocker is a brave choice as they’re known to be particularly bitey and for quite a long time. They don’t call them cocker dukes for nothing. Could you be persuaded to go for a lab? We got our last dog when our youngest was 3. You have to prepared to supervise a lot and just accept that puppy teeth will draw blood. A lot will depend on the kids temperament as well.

If you’re set on getting a puppy, we found the best way to deal with the biting phase was to take attention away from our puppy. We had a baby gate on the door of the kitchen/family room and if pup got bitey we’d all get up, leave the room and shut the gate on him.

He soon realised that biting people would mean nobody wanted to be with him but as soon as he was calm then we’d be back.

Obviously we had lots of chew toys for him and would try to use those as a distraction first, but sometimes puppies get overwhelmed and can’t control their behaviour. Bit like toddlers really.

We put in a lot of time and effort with ours and he grew into a beautiful and really gentle dog. But he was always hard work and I wouldn’t have another cocker.

Keep the children In Their bedrooms for the first few months. Biting tends to settle down when puppy is about 18 weeks old so only 10 weeks to confine them to barracks. Be ok after that. Keep an eye out for resource guarding, cockers are bad for it and could get bad with kids.

Training a dog to not bite is very simple. When they do, clap and say, "NO!"

They learn in about 2 minutes.

We got a puppy (border terrier) when DD was 8. Quickly enrolled in behaviour classes, ensured we showed the pup that DD was senior in the rankings (for example, we got her to stand over the dog, showed DD how to command the dog - things like ‘sit’, she taught the dog to high five). Puppy went through a bitey phase but we all withdrew and said no if she tried to nip. We ensured she had plenty of things to chew on.
The challenge will be with your youngest. They will probably struggle to command the dog. If you find a breeder that will sell to you, I’d suggest puppy training ASAP and get the whole family involved. It will be difficult though.

How good is DC3 at following instructions? My DSis had a young dog when my DC1 was born but he followed instructions very compliantly and wouldn’t wind up the DDog and would leave him alone if he was on his bed.

If you're asking on MN how to manage the puppy biting stage with small children, you clearly don't know how to manage a puppy around small children and shouldn't be getting one when you still have a 3 year old.

All 3 of my rescue dogs were given up by homes where there were small children and the owners couldn't adequately manage the needs of a puppy and pre schoolers. It really is tough with both and most would be owners underestimate the challenges and overestimate the capacity they have to oversee, supervise, walk, play, train, etc.

Puppies shouldn't be going to homes with under 5s in most cases. Too many end up being returned/in rescue and with behavioural issues because their homes couldn't fully meet their needs or they've been overhandled and overstimulated by children. Get an adult dog or wait until your youngest is school age and will have better comprehension of the rules for interaction with pup and impulse control around leaving him alone in his safe space, while sleeping etc.

No good breeder will sell you a puppy with that many children that young.

When badly bred, or owned by useless people, they are prone to resource guarding, separation anxiety, shadow chasing and all other manner of unpleasant behaviour. Bad breeding also = bad health scores. So given you're not going to get a good breed selling to you, you're going to have to be very prepared for a seriously disturbed dog, probably with a whole host of health issues.

Tbh I'm horrified someone on here had a toddler and a Golden Retriever. I can't imagine any of the Golden Retriever breeders I know selling a puppy in those circumstances. But I suppose, as I say above, there are bad breeders willing to make a quick buck.

It was me with the golden retriever and 3 yo. Plus an 8 yo. The puppy came from a reputable breeder, I saw mum, sibling and grandma. I was able to see information about the dad and the sibling was from a litter 3 years ago with the same pairing. Both parents were health tested/scored, KC registered and puppies were seen by a vet before we picked them up. We visited twice before getting the pup and the breeder was aware we had children. One other family who had a puppy from the litter also had an older child. The breeder was a childminder as well. The puppies were used to children and my children are used to dogs. The puppy has a clean bill of health from the vets, all shots, insurance. She has completed her KC Good Citizen puppy award and is going for her bronze award. She attends dog training class once a week and is well socialised and well behaved. She will be spayed after her first season on vet advice.

If you are going to have children and dogs you need to make a very considered decision but I certainly don’t think you should never get a puppy if you have children.

If you are going to have children and dogs you need to make a very considered decision but I certainly don’t think you should never get a puppy if you have children

I agree with this. If done correctly and with your eyes wide open it's a lovely experience all round. By correctly I am talking about the right temperament & breed of dog as well as a huge investment in time and effort to train the dog. I have memories of my 2.5 yo climbing over 2 child gates to get to the dogs basket where they slept together. A few years later and DC would move the dogs basket in front of the TV to watch their favourite programmes.... DC (then 14) even went to the vets with us when it was time to say goodbye. This is obviously very sweet and idyllic and not every dog will be happy about sharing with a toddler or small child. The dog was the one in a million when it came to my DC. But some dogs are just not suitable to be around small children.

I'm sure TheHungryHungryLandsharks knows her dogs well and they might just not be suitable or doesn't want to take the risk of inexperienced dog owners. I respect that.to many end up in rescue because people buy them as family pets on a whim.

If you are going to have children and dogs you need to make a very considered decision but I certainly don’t think you should never get a puppy if you have children.

I just don't think good breeders sell dogs to families with children that young - certainly none of the Golden Retriever breeders I'm friendly with, and would 'recommend', would.

We simply would never take the risk as @Ylvamoon says, that the dogs end up in rescue or even worse put to sleep because they bit a child. I have '10' as my cut off and most good breeders I know make it around 8(ish). Having a health tested dog and grandma and KC registered dogs does not make someone a good breeder, unfortunately.

I love Golden Retrievers. But they are prone to resource guarding and it's sadly becoming increasingly common as is reactivity (at least in the last few dozens dogs I've seen in the rescue). And they are a big dog. It's not like having a little poodle where if they snap it'll hurt...

It's particularly prevalent in families with children and it usually manifests when the dog is between 9 - 18 months (prime adolescent age) and therefore too strong to reasonably be wrangled with. I spend far too much time with the Golden Retriever rescue near me, helping re-home dogs who have bitten young children to ever think they make appropriate dogs for families with a young child.

If you want a working cocker you need to make sure it has work.

This
Our lab was a terrible nipper as a small puppy but he grew out of it when his big teeth came in. He wasn’t biting at all by the time he was a year old.
Now a gentle, daft 6 year old

I really don't understand the comments about the bonkers WCS, I guess all dogs are different! Ive had 2 and they have both had lovely natures - they are like a big cat around the house and just curl up to nap at your feet (unless you are doing stuff then he follows you around) and they had 2 walks a day which aren't excessively long either. Very easy to train and loves the kids - although won't take orders from them as i am the boss.
Maybe its about setting boundaries from the start about what is and isn't acceptable behaviour