Biting!

[MilkTrayLimeBarrel]

12-week old pup is biting us both around the ankles and jumping up and biting arms and hands - has drawn blood on a few occasions! Have tried yelping and standing still, distracting with a toy and saying No - not working! I know it is normal for them to be bitey but any advice on how to reduce it and also when do they stop???

Yes some pups are very bitey. The only thing that really worked for mine was a time out so I either removed myself or him for a few minutes so play stopped and he couldn't continue to bite me

Yelp, and then walk away. No attention- the fun stops once they bite.

Distract with a toy they can bite.

If (s)he's crated, get them used to people walking past it, so that they get accustomed to the fact that play only happens when yoU bring toys out.

Praise them when they don't bite, especially after you've walked past them without incident.

Biting is natural for a puppy. Your yelping doesn't help; it makes the problem worse. In a normal dog "family" the mother would let the puppies bite her and yelp in pretend pain (she'll also pretend to be defeated and roll over at times). This is meant to give the puppy confidence and build their doggie abilities.

Remember that if your puppy thinks that biting people is no big deal, they will continue this behavior, and what is bearable at this age can become a serious injury later. If you never train biting out of them, they never learn that this is not an acceptable way to interact with humans. The worst case scenario is that the dog has to be put down one day; so this isn't just about convenience. In the seriousness of it, this isn't fundamentally different from doing whatever it takes to make sure your toddler knows that they cannot play with the stove.

You're overcoming nature, so you have to make sure that every incident of biting is a negative for the puppy. You want to speak the dog's language. Mimic mother dog behavior. If a pup does something that mummy dog needs to correct, she'll grab pup by the neck in a little nip and make a noise. This isn't a nip that hurts; it's a nip that gets attention. Dogs are physical and they respond to physicality.

You can mimic mum dog's behavior by quickly grabbing the pup at the neck and releasing fast, with your fingers stiff like mummy dog's jaw would be. Your fingers are the teeth, essentially. Mum dog will "bite" but she's really pulling her punches and it doesn't hurt. Just like mum dog, you're using your fingers to get puppy's attention with a strong grab that can't be ignored, but which doesn't hurt. You're not restraining, either. You let go immediately. Accompany this motion with a sound--it can be no!, stop!, Ah!, tsk! or anything else you like. Just make sure it's the same every time for everyone in the family. End play and walk away.

These three things will quickly teach the puppy that biting people is not an acceptable (or fun!) way to interact with them. At the same time, teach her other fun ways to be with your family, such as walks, toys, fetch, running, or anything else she enjoys.

Terrible, awful advice that could result in a pup scared of human hands. Dogs aren't stupid, they know we are another species.

I would not be rushing to grab the puppy for biting. I can only see 2 scenarios there....

1. It is unpleasant enough to act as a deterrent, in which case you are teaching the puppy that a human reaching their hands out quickly is something likely to lead to an unpleasant experience. By the time he grows up, at best you have a dog that always tries to avoid you when you reach for the collar - pretty irritating/dangerous when out. At worst the dog is going to dislike it so much he's going to try to do something to stop you (snarl, growl, bite etc).

1. It is not unpleasant enough to act as a deterrent and so useless.

The rest of the advice about being clear it has ended play and showing the dog there are much better ways to interact and have fun is absolutely sound.

Mine was BITEY, my hands were covered in little nips (some are still healing). Yelping didn’t help. We used to try to stuff a toy in his mouth - sort of worked a bit, maybe. Occasionally he got shoved off with a loud “no” (because it bloody hurt!). He is 5 months now and biting is all but gone in the daytime. He still does it in the evening a bit when tired. He grew out of it!

Watching with interest bitey puppy too pulls clothes growls barks and bites to get attention (while he is getting it) I stand up and turn away and avoid eye contact. Not sure it's working

The issue I found with just standing up and ignoring them is when they still are trying to bite your ankles, feet and jeans it made no difference. By removing me or much better removing him behind a baby gate or in his crate he clearly got the message that play really did stop when he was too bitey. Also when he was doing it because he was tired and over stimulated it gave him a chance to calm down and have a quick nap.

bitey yes I am finding that too agh. However when I am outside and he does this i sit in a garden chair with my hands in my pockets and that is working. I need to get the baby gate out for inside 😊

I hated Eric's nippy stage, the yelping didn't work nor turning our back so he got a time out behind the stairgate preceded by an "Ah!". This worked surprisingly quickly because he hated being separated from us and ignored for a few minutes. The "Ah!" still works to stop him doing something he shouldn't even now and the stairgate went years ago.

Puppies bite. It's what they do. Always have something you don't mind them chewing to hand. Replace parts of your anatomy with the chew toy.
Don't yelp. Can just overexcite them.
Never grab a puppy. Awful advice. They grow out of mouthing. It isn't aggression. It's a natural part of exploring the world.

I agree with "time out" suggestions. Also, watch your puppy during play. When it gets a bit heated or over exited stop the play. Good things to do are taking the toy away and waiting for puppy to calm down and either sit in front of you or making eye contact. Continue play once you have the desired CALM behaviour- at this stage puppy will probably jump and bark which should be ignored. Puppies soon learn that all the biting and nipping is no fun for them.

Kinders advice is one of the worst I’ve read on here. Ignore it.

You do not need to use any physical punishment to stop the biting.
First of all just remember that what your puppy is doing at the moment is perfectly normal. I cried many many times when my dog was at this stage!

Definitely recommend the time out method. As soon as he starts biting pick him up without talking to him and put him in time out. Even just for a minute. He will soon realise that biting people = time out alone

The more you run away from his biting the more he will see it as a game. You’re not a dog and you’re not his natural mother, the yelping thing rarely works.