difference between teething and biting?

[papayasareyum]

We’ve got a miniature breed puppy, aged 4 months. She’s very bitey. I can’t tell if it’s teething or is starting to become aggression. She can really hurt. She growls sometimes when she’s nipping our hands. We have tried yelping when she does it, but that makes no difference. We walk away and that makes no difference. Is this normal puppy behaviour? We’ve had puppies before and they haven’t been as bitey as this

Mine was very bitey (cocker) and yes it hurt. We just ended up doing timeouts so if he started we would remove him for a few minutes to calm down and repeated this as often as needed. Often he was bitey because he was over excited so calming down or having a nap helped.

He grew out of that phase eventually

I think that she is still learning what is appropriate play. My dog is nearly 2 yrs now and he makes the most awful growling noises when he plays! If you didn't know him, you would think that he was really aggressive, but it's all play.

I never found that the yelping thing worked, but putting him away from us, stopping the play session and a 'ah ah' sound sorted him out. He is fabulous.