Ripped to shreds

[rippedtoshreds]

Puppy advice please.
We have a springer. Got her at 8 weeks and now she’s 13 weeks.
She’s settled in pretty well, sleeping midnight til 6.30, has had someone home with her pretty much solid since we got her. She’ll settle in her crate in the day time.
She’s eating fine, playing fine etc.
The problem is the bloody biting. It’s horrific. From 6.30am until bed at midnight she just bites, pounces, attacks.
She jumps up for affection and as soon as you pick her up she’s ripping your hair out, or puncturing your hands and arms, even biting noses and faces.
You only have to walk from one side of the room to the other and she’s hanging off your trousers growling or off my shoe laces or slippers.
Every single person who’s come to visit her has puncture wounds in their hands.
The kids are covered in scratches, little bite marks, their clothes are ripped and this is literally happening when walking from the lounge to the toilet. They are separated by stairs gates the entire rest of the time.
If I want the kids to come in the kitchen for lunch then I have to pick them up over the stair gate and carry them to their chairs or they get attacked and bitten on their legs. The whole time the dog is hanging off my jeans biting me while I’m carrying the kids.
We put her in her crate for a minute to calm down, but as soon as she comes out she’s attacking again.
My parents are desperately worried that we’ve got an aggressive dog around the kids, even though she’s only 13 weeks old.

She’s from a registered breeder and is pedigree.
She can’t go out yet as hasn’t had all of her jabs, but I play with her in the garden chucking a ball for 15 minute spells. If anything this ramps up the aggression and she’ll come in all wound up and attack even more.
We take her for car rides and to meet friends dogs which wears her out slightly.
Evenings are the worst. She almost goes into a frenzied attack and we will be sat on the sofa and she’ll just fly through the air at you and basically attack you.
If something has scared her then she’ll attack too.
My LO bought a balloon home from a party. The dog saw it on the other side of the room, started barking manically and then just ran around in a frenzy biting everyone.
I’ve had experience of puppies before, but have never experienced such a bitey aggressive puppy.
Please tell me this is normal for springers and she’ll grow out of it?
I’m so worried that she’ll be an aggressive dog.

Our cocker was horrendously stinky. It was the folds around his mouth but it took years for us/the vet to work it out.

Picking up is a total no for me. Knee up at the first sign of a jump. Is she intelligent or not? Intelligent is complicated.

8 weeks seems young to me. She wouldn't have finished being put in her place by mum.

No petting unless sitting. Working dogs live on the floor. They really do. She's getting confusing signals about her place currently.

The biting though is beyond my experience. My spaniels and labs have often had stuff they carry around. Soft toys, pants, socks, slippers.

Harness not necessary but lead training vital.

How about sending her off for gun dog training. I couldn't bring myself to do it but my parents always did.

The breeder we got her off would gun dog train her.
But I kind of don’t see the point, as we would never do that kind of sport. It’s very very expensive, and she’d go back to living in a kennel for the training as the majority of gun dogs obviously live outside, which after 5 weeks of central heated luxury I don’t think she’d enjoy!
If things get bad though then I’ll be tempted!
And yes to the folds around the mouth. I think that’s why she stinks. And her ears trail in her food and water bowl and smell like fishy dog food!

You don't need to send them away to do gun dog training. I did gun dog training with my cocker with someone who trains working dogs including spaniels. First the puppy classes then the basics.

Was a bloody good thing to do as it really made me understand spaniel traits (general obedience training wasn't doing anything for us but working with his instincts really helped). However gun dog training won't stop the biting. That's just normal puppy land shark behaviour.

And so it starts tonight.
I’m in the bath and husbands grumbling downstairs that the dogs on her first time out of the evening for biting his face.
We really really need to get these evenings sorted.
Perhaps she literally needs to go to bed at 7pm and sleep 7-7 like a baby. I’m clueless re what to do.

How on earth was she anywhere near his face? That’s why training and socialisation is so good. Gives the buggers something to think about. Mine will ring a bell with her nose. Turn one way or the other. Follow a hand. Go to her “mat”. Stop. Many completely useless things. But they make her think.

So, she went in the kitchen for time out for 3 minutes. Came out and bit him within 10 seconds of being let back in.
So back in time out she’s gone.
Would you do this all night?
Or would you put in crate for 10 minutes?
Or distract? Toys seem to get her more hyped up at this time of night.
Kong works for maybe 10/15 minutes until she loses interest in the evenings.
It just doesn’t make for a very relaxing evening, especially as every time she’s in time out I’m panicking that she’s chewing the walls or eating the dining table legs.

Mine used to kick off around 6-7. After a couple of timeouts he would eventually settle with us whilst we watched tv. I used to find if it was me I would timeout quicker than DH and that would mean he got less bitey as I would stop the behaviour before it escalated. However, that takes practise and time to recognise the triggers from 'playing' to over tiredness.

Because she jumps up on the sofa and before you can put her down she’s straight in your face biting it.
I just want one single evening of peace and quiet and no biting. This is driving me bloody mental.

I think it just takes a bit of time to work out what works for your puppy. Redirecting to toys only worked for me occasionally whereas others find it really helps. Mine really reacted to timeouts but at the beginning it took quite a few.

Have you covered your crate?

When my cocker was an annoying, bitey puppy we needed to blackout the crate for her to calm down in it when we were home.

Just to warn, she didn't settle until about 10 months old and then promptly started adolescence when she was annoying as fuvk again. She properly settled at 18 months and from then onwards has been lovely and uber calm.

Keep her on a long line. If she’s on a lead you can prevent her doing what you don’t want her to do.

Yep her crate is covered. And I’m going to go down now and pop a lead on her.

If you need somewhere to do a time out it needs to be properly safe. Puppy pen or play pen. I have a whelping pen I used. Stops wall chewing.

I'm sure you're already doing this, but ensure your children are well trained to leave her completely alone when she is resting. The dogs bed should be a no-children zone (for now)

This reminds me of my dog when he was a puppy. He was a nightmare. He wasn't my first puppy but he'll definitely be my last!

He would go to sleep at 9pm and I'd look forward to it all day! But first I'd have to get through his maniac hour before he went to sleep.

But then he stopped all that, I don't even remember it happening and is the most soppy, loving and affectionate dog, so it will change.

It doesn't sound like your pup is aggressive. Either he's bored at some times, over stimulated at other times and combined with teething makes a bad time!

So, is this a stupid idea or not?
We’ve got her lead in the lounge and if she gets out of control I was going to put it on her and tether it to something so she’s with us, but can’t bite.
I was advised to do this by a behavioural specialist with our old rottie when toilet training him, but I don’t know if that advice is out of date or not.
So far she’s not been as bad as usual. I’m totally ignoring her. Not picking her up, or engaging with her when she brings me toys. Just sat here with a blank glaze at the tv. She’s chucking her toys around and being hyper. But not biting. Yet.
We did have a baby pen, but she chewed the wood and splintered it.
Update, she’s bitten my ankles twice but I’ve ignored. Shes hanging off my dressing gown and I’ve ignored her. She’s now biting my rug. Still trying to ignore her!

I'll just echo what ever one else is saying. Your pup isn't aggressive. Your pup is just a spaniel pup.

You should also have a distraction for her. Put loads of treats in your pocket and randomly make a noise that you'd like to use as a distraction. As soon as you make the noise give the treat. Do it lots and lots everyday. Soon when pup is doing something you don't like you make the noise the pup will stop and expect a treat, give her a treat.

We've got a spaniel pup OP. She's called Baby Shark.

Our only solace has been our older dog putting her very firmly in her place.... he will yelp or bark at her if she's being too much, and she seems to know she's gone too far. Her mouthing has massively improved in the last week.... she's nearly 12 weeks.

Hang in there.

All these other bitey shark dogs makes me feel better.
We call her Alana Piraña!
I have to say she seems pretty calm so far.
She’s gone to nip or hang off my dressing gown a few times. Each time I’ve just removed clothing from her mouth and stood up to watch tv without making a sound.
I reckon this is helping.

Update, she’s bitten my ankles twice but I’ve ignored. Shes hanging off my dressing gown and I’ve ignored her. She’s now biting my rug. Still trying to ignore her!

I would remove to kitchen (with baby gate on door, not doot shut) until she has calmed down.

I’m finding ignoring better than removing at the moment.
I only had to look at her in the eye a minute ago when I was checking what she was doing behind the sofa and she took that as a cue to run over and nip my leg.
I think removing her and saying no hypes her up more in the evenings. She thinks it’s a game and comes back even more bitey each time.

If she has that much energy then an evening walk might be a hoid idea.

You cannot tether her anywhere if the lead is attached to her collar you need a harness , not that I recommend tethering anyway , better to have her on a house line and attach it to yourself . ( still from a harness)

*good

For comparison, my nearly 3 year old cocker does a run with me every day (attached to a lead at my waist). We run 10-15km most days, in the morning.

She will then proceed to sleep, or at least lie down and chill, for pretty much the whole of the rest of the day/night. She might potter around to come for a bit of fuss. But she never has any energy in the evenings, she just curls up on the sofa or my son's bed all evening.