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The doghouse

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Original poster

13 week old puppy biting - please help!

13 replies

Sillysausages007 · 31/07/2017 18:38

Help! We've had our cockapoo for a couple of weeks. He's adorable, cute, enthusiastic - and nips at everything. Spends his life either asleep or at 90 miles an hour, mouth open, nipping at things.

So far he's nipped holes in 3 pairs of trousers, not to mention various fingers, arms and, for some reason, heels of your feet. I have absolutely no idea how to stop him from doing this. I know he's only a baby (is he teething?), but our DC are afraid to come near him because of his teeth, and I can't say I blame them.

Will he grow out of this? Looking for some glimmers of hope here.

OP posts:

CornflakeHomunculus · 31/07/2017 18:48

Puppies biting is both completely normal and a necessary part of their development.

With all mine I've found the best thing to do is redirect them onto something they can bite and chew at. Toys like fleece tuggies or stuffingless soft toys are great for this as you can wiggle them around on the floor to make them more enticing. Keep one on you all the time and have them strategically placed around the house so you've always got one to hand and any time the puppy starts biting then he gets redirected onto a toy.

This guide to dealing with puppy biting is well worth a read.

If they're worse in the evening (which is very common as they're getting tired) then you can try and pre-empt it with a bit of training or a brain game which sometimes helps.

Kittenswithattitudeandchickens · 31/07/2017 19:23

I had this with my Labrador. If he nips, yelp (sounds mad I know) and turn your back on him. Don't engage with him til he stops the behaviour. I also found it useful to give him a frozen carrot when he was teething.

somewhereonlyweknow123 · 03/08/2017 19:41

i second the yelping, its what there litter mates would do and it helps promote there bite inhibitor and learn its not ok

Lucisky · 03/08/2017 19:57

I had the same. At 8 months now she has just about stopped unless she gets tired and/or overexcited. Yelping didn't work, it just encouraged her, but withdrawing and ignoring her did. She was a terror for biting the back of my ankles, and it really hurt, and yes, I too have holes in clothing! They grow out of it, eventually.

AnUtterIdiot · 04/08/2017 08:36

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

AnUtterIdiot · 04/08/2017 08:37

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AnUtterIdiot · 04/08/2017 08:37

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

haveacupoftea · 04/08/2017 08:38

Yep the advice you've been given is good, he's looking for feedback so you yelp to let him know he's nipped too hard. Get him some toys he can bite and chew at but you'll just have to learn to be patient as it's just a phase. I find it quite sweet as it means they want to play

Char22thom · 04/08/2017 08:43

We had a cocker spaniel similar to this, we did the yelp and stand still thing, which didn't work for us as she just kept nipping and jumping up. We had to put her in 'Time out' by saying a firm no then putting her kitchen and shutting the door or leaving the room and shutting the door. Only a few times but then "no" was enough to stop her. Its important to identify why your pup is biting, what is she trying to tell you? In our case she was just excited and playful and needed to be trained, sometimes pups nip/bite because they are telling you (or children usually) to leave them be or give them space.

viques · 04/08/2017 08:43

There is a really good series ATM about life with a puppy. The last one I saw had a poor pup who was nipping because the family were not reading the signals about the pup wanting to rest, whenever the poor thing tried to go in its crate or bed the kids kept disturbing it, so it nipped.

viques · 04/08/2017 08:44

Cross post with char!

BiteyShark · 04/08/2017 09:08

My cocker was a bitey shark when he was a puppy and over excited or over tired. Making a noise like ouch made him worse. Just like Char22thom what worked was a quick timeout in another room or the crate. He would then either calm down or go to sleep.

I sympathise as I had holes in my jeans from when he would launch himself and hang on with his teeth. It does get better so hang on in there.

StatueInTheSky · 04/08/2017 09:28

for the ankle/trouser biting....use the closeness to your advantage, one of our GSD pups was a bugger for this. Walk slowly, and take a prized toy or treat to distract from your ankles
The slowness helps make it less fun, the toy distracts from your trousers/ankles and if you add in a command like "stay close" or "heel" then they are learning something

for the Witching Hour biting we would sit on the floor and play...any biting meant whoever was playing would fold arms/look away/"ow" or "no!" or "ahh" ....pup would usually be a bit horrified and stop, as soon as they stop and settle they get praised and the fun begins again. The highpitched noise can overexcite some pups, so we always keep it low and short.

if you are consistent then it really only takes a few days for this to be sorted, but you do have to get everyone on board.

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