How do I stop him biting?

[Crumpet1]

It's really wearing me down, being constantly bitten. Puppy is about 11 weeks now but he always goes to bite. He's your average amount of bitey during the day but on an evening when all I want to do is sit and relax he goes mental and becomes quite aggressive. He has a variety of toys that I alternate, I will play tug of war with him while I'm sitting but then he starts lunging and will not give up. I'm trying hard to be really positive with him but I just can't take this biting of me and the children.

Yup. High energy all right!

With those genes he should have a great nose too. Try hiding things for him to find (very very small pieces of cheese or salami work well) and pick a command - we use 'seek them'. Generally gives me ten minutes peace! Don't try when he's already overtired though, he'll go mental. technical puppy rearing term

Have you tried encouraging going to bed with a command? SconeSpaniel knows that 'snuggle down' means go to bed. Even if he doesn't always do it! It just gives them the nudge that settling is a good idea.

Crumpet1 it is hard and it is exhausting having puppies -

He is over tired when he gets manic, bitey and jumpy. Try putting him on a lead and get him to sit by you when you are chilling. He needs to learn to settle as much as being trained and exercised. You could give him a special chill out mat and let him sit on this with maybe a chew or stuffed kong. Although I would give him nothing unless he is chilled then I would give a small treat or a gently stroke. Ignore all jumpy manic behaviour.

He should be learning the word NO simple and clear. We've always trained our pups with that from day one. They do need some "rough" play though like they would naturally play roughly with their siblings and we trained ours to let go if someone makes a noise like they're in pain. It's difficult to explain how we did this but it just naturally developed in pain - I think we probably moved the body part away noticeably with a corresponding "ow" and then the play stopped.

He sounds tired and cranky. We went through a phase of this with my cocker pup. The thing which helped was leaving him to sleep. I learned about the growing sleeps on here. He would kip when we were home but he would if we went out. So we went out for a couple of hours every day and he slept through it as soon as we had left. Sometimes he didn't even wake when we got home. this calmed him down a lot back then

Crumpet we have a 10 week old Golden Retriever puppy and I feel your pain ( literally).
We have done everything suggested here and taken advice from our vet but it still like living with a small shark sometimes, he especially goes for DD, probably because he sees her as a playmate.
We have puppy classes starting soon and are ramping up the training in the hope that helps too. It IS normal puppy play behaviour but it doesn't mean it hurts any less and DD gets quite upset and takes it personally and DS would quite like to send him back.

I have a 17 week old crocodile puppy and they do get better. Mine gets told ah if his teeth make contact and then ignored. The kids know to stand still and ignore him if he gets bitey and It does work.

Mine goes in his crate for down time when he's tired, if I didn't he would just keep bouncing and then gets very mouthy.

He does the jumping at faces thing when he gets over excited (reason why the kids are told to stand up). It's all normal puppy stuff

Mine is 13 weeks now, he is pretty good during the day but evenings are when he has his mental,moments. If you are playing with him and he starts to bite, stand up and ignore him til he stops and then when he stops start playing with him again. He wants to play, but puppies play with their mouths. Once it registers with him that the fun stops if he bites and only starts again when he stops he will gradually stop biting to make the fun continue.
Have you thought about taking him to puppy training classes? It will give you more confidence in how you train him and give you the chance to get expert help for the problems you are struggling to contain. It's also good for socialisation with other dogs which is massively important at this age.

Yep definitely like a small land shark! He's manageable during the day but on an evening he goes wild. We give him lots of opportunity to sleep but he fights it so much.

He sounds pretty bored, if you've got time to sit and relax on the sofa then surely you have time to spend 5 minutes engaging the puppy's brain with a bit of clicker training. That'll wear him out faster than physical exercise

He won't do any sort of training at that point chubby.

He will if the treats are strong delicious smelly enough.

Where did he come from?

Was he raised in a family environment with his mother and siblings with plenty of space and separate food bowls?

Not saying this applies to your dog op, but sadly, sometimes puppies who have had a less than ideal start in life (ie who have had to compete for attention, food and space) ie have experienced lots of stress have been hot-wired to become a bit bitey and aggressive.

Could you get her to a good puppy class?

Agree with Backintherealworld, as you probably already know, puppies between eight and 18 wks need to get out and about as much as possible, and be as exposed to as many different sights, sounds, smells and experiences as possible to build their confidence and reduces anxiety levels (and in turns reduces aggression). Your puppy is at the key age for this.

He needs to mix with lots of different people and different dogs: for example, your puppy might benefit from interacting with an older bitch who would gently reprimand him a bit for biting?

And definitely ignore the negative and reward the positive every time.

I'm no expert, but I'm not sure I entirely agree with others on here who say "he's a puppy, he'll grow out of it". He may do, but I don't like the sound of the "lunging" you describe and I think it would be better to get some help with this now in case it gets out of hand later. Besides, you don't really want anything at this stage to adversely affect your bonding with him and your family.

Good luck op!

My puppy is 13 weeks & she is the same, she often goes for my face. It is usually when she's overtired, she does go manic. We have seen a pattern to this & have learnt to get her to settle by just sitting with her & offering one toy to chew. Otherwise she goes in her crate. We are starting puppy class today, so am hoping that helps.