Puppy just bit my 5 year old - please help me!

[Silentnighttwo]

10 week old working cocker puppy. She’s feisty and has nipped before (I yelp and then turn away and refuse to interact). But generally she’s loving and gentle.

Today she was playing in the garden with my son, running around. I was watching and he wasn’t teasing her. It’s a game they have played lots.

Suddenly she lept up and bit him on the crotch. It’s a proper hard bite, she has left two bloody and bruised teeth marks.

He screamed. I shouted at her, clapped my hands and shouted at her to sit. She kept trying to bite him and I had to pull her off. She’s now in her crate.

Please help! How do I make sure this never ever happens again?

In what way feisty?
They call it mouthing but it hurts! Ripped clothes and damaged skin.
Don't make a noise. Substitute you for a toy. Every time.
Frozen carrot, stuffed and frozen Kong or nylabone to chew.
Running children are exciting. You need to supervise play better and intervene to prevent situations like this. (We had ours on a long line for ages!)

Thank you so much for the kind responses and reassurance. I was panicking and I really appreciate it. She is my 1st dog, but not DH’s and yes, he does plan to work her. Her gun dog training is booked.

I did a lot of reading before we got her, also posted on here and spent time with friends who have working cockers. We already have a puppy trainer to help me with general questions and obedience (we’ll go to classes once she’s had her injections). Fortunately she was due to come round again this evening and she was able to talk me through it and give me some useful tips (some of which are mentioned here - so thanks again for that).

I was closely supervising DS, that is how I saw it happen. They have never ever been left alone together. I realise now they should not have been running, I will carefully monitor and limit their time together.

The handful of snide and judgmental posters on here wont put me off coming to MN for advice. Nor will I rehome a dog who is loved, cared for and (apart from this) settling in well. I may be a novice but we did not get her on a whim, she is now part of our family and we will do everything we can to make it work.

You will. Of course you will. The early days are hard.
With regards to supervising. It's not enough to see it happen. You need to be right there. Dog on a lead or actively showing DC how to interact. Eg if a child and the dog go for a ball at the same time are you close enough to ensure the child doesn't get bitten?

Don't let it get to the point where the dog is would up. They are highlybstrung anyway. I'm sure the OP will do some training bit as the puppy is only 10 weeks I'm sure it probably hasn't learnt much in the, what, 2 weeks OP has had the pup.
Also they weren't left unsupervised, OP saw theincident happen.
Puppies do this, I wouldn't worry too much.
Creating her was not cruel OP, ignore that.

There's a difference between in the same space and keeping a vague lookout level of supervision and being close by and able to intervene before anyone gets bitten.
My pup only had two speeds. Wound up and konked out!!

Sorry about the typos, phone smashed today.

Don't leave pup unsupervised when playing with the kids. I have a lab who is 9 months old - she's calmed down a lot now but I still wouldn't leave her unsupervised with my youngest children as I think at times she can still get too excited playing, I honestly think some puppies don't realise that children aren't other puppies and so will try and play with them in the same way!
Make sure your pup gets plenty of mental stimulation as well by doing short bursts of regular training throughout the day.

Sorry op just saw your update while I was writing that! Apologies about the unsupervised bit.

I can remember googling 'When will my Springer stop biting'?

Those puppy teeth are nippy.

Op baby gates everywhere are you friends! Have gates on all the main rooms to easily seperate puppy and child, don't use crate for punishment.
Some good advice here, but plan for lots of off lead excercise very soon in a secure location.

Our Working cocker is now 11 months old, and although l have had large dogs all my life he really is a handful.

Retrieving and running regularly are essential, as is teaching new things several times a day to engage his brain(this calms him)

Constantly varying activities is essential as is keeping excitement down in the house, don't let him rush to the door, and tell visitors to ignore him on first entering and only pet him when he is totally calm.

The biting is perfectly normal, hence seperation is essential, as are big chews for him, ie when you want him to settle whist you are busy , make him sit and give him a chew. Take it away once you are paying him attention so that it is new and exciting next time you need him occupied.

Keep asking for advice from trainers and read gundog magazines.

Don't let your son be put off, explain everything pup does and why.

Good Luck

Like Wolfie said - closely supervising means within arms’ reach, not “I was watching”. I have a son and a dog. He is never in her immediate vicinity without me being close enough to stick my arm between them if the worst were to happen. And my dog doesn’t even have proper teeth! I think there’s a big piece of work to do on training your son, not just your dog.
Can you get him some books, and find a handling class for children?

Lastly, I missed the part about the crate from your OP. A crate is meant to be a dog’s safe space. Don’t ever use it as punishment. Especially not when it’s your fault in the first place.

It may sound like people on here are being harsh, but if you read through the doghouse board, you will see thread after thread of people like you, who haven’t had a dog before and underestimate what’s needed for a dog and small child to live together. It often ends badly for the dog, and that does colour people’s views. But a dog is a living, breathing member of the family so it’s really important that people understand they need to get things right.

Sounds like you have it all in hand, OP. I’m sure with the input of the trainer and the gun dog training she will soon focus on channeling all that energy into things other than jumping and nipping.
Our working dog was a bouncy, mouthy sort too at that age. DC was also 5. No chasing games and no Tuggy with him either, as she refused to see him as someone to relinquish the toy to (tried to move up the toy to nip his hand to make him let go, so that game was banned until he was older and she was more sensible).
Enjoy her, she sounds lovely!

It's hard

Some days it's even harder

Puppies manage to test every strength you've got. But they do grow up.

It's a wonder to me that working bred Cockers so popular these days (although I suspect for many - not you, yours is for a reason - it's because they can be so much cheaper). They are very high energy dogs that need a purpose, so it's great that yours will have one.

For those saying they need a lot of exercise, I'm sure you/your husband know this but at this age they need MENTAL exercise rather than a lot of physical exercise. Even at 5, your child will be able to help train the puppy, teach tricks etc. so work on that to quell the excitement levels.

I picked a working cocker as I liked them better than those bred to the show standard. Price was the same as for similar show type dog. I agree that they 'like' a purpose and that is to hunt. I disagree that they are high energy dogs that need lots of hours of exercise. On attending gun dog training by people who live and breath and train gundogs it was clear that long walks aren't actually something that the dogs really want as they want to hunt.

As soon as I swopped from lots of exercise to hunting games my dog loved it. The downside is I no longer go for long walks as they are totally boring for the dog

Please check the methods that the gun dog club use.

Some are still quite “old school” sadly.

I no longer go as we now do agility and I can't put the time in to practice both but went for over a year and was very happy with the trainers. Much better than general training classes as they clearly understood how spaniels tick whereas we were flailing about at general training wondering why we weren't progressing.

Take the puppy to obedience training classes if no improvement get rid of it.

Well aren't you delightful Flamingosnbears

‘Get rid of it’

Nice, should she also get rid of her son?

All puppies bite and mouth - it's how they learn about the world. There's no need to rehome it or get rid of it

Consistent training and a lot of patience - they grow out of it eventually. It just takes time and a lot of repetition. It's often one step forward, two steps back with puppies but they will get there if you keep at it.

Hahaha Flamingo you get that this is a 10 week old baby puppy exploring the world? It's not bad behaviour or a training issue.

This might have been wrong but when my puppy bit or nipped - not mouthed or chewed - I held is jaw together (gently) looked him in the eye and said no.

I would also just take my hands away and end any play until hv calmed down. He can now still be a bit mouthy with people who let him get away with it but he never nips.

I never let him chase anyone. Chase is a dog on dog game. Kids will naturally let dogs chase them this should never ever be allowed or encouraged. The dog can't tell the difference between a child playing and a child running in fear.

You should never hold a puppy's mouth shut like that. No doesn't actually mean anything.
Puppies mouthe
They should be allowed to do so. Just on appropriate things.

I held is jaw together (gently) looked him in the eye and said no

Do you think the puppy had even the slightest clue why you did that? He didn't.