Biting problems

[Honeybearmom]

I have a 5 yr old shihtzu I also recently adopted a puppy. She is a terrior× at 15 weeks she is 16 pounds. I have her the puppy enrolled in classes and she does quite well in public and class. However at home she bites and tries to eat my furniture. (Bed and couch). I have tried collar grab down, redirecting, time out... She continues to bite me and my room mate. Please help Im at my wits end.

She’s teething, it’s normal behaviour

I take it by bite you mean chew and not drawing blood that is?

Puppies draw blood given half a chance, especially teething ones!

Loads of toys and chews to offer as replacement for human

@Smotheroffive bad choice of words, I’ve had nips from my pup which have drawn blood. I should have said aggressive biting

She's teething - totally normal.

Please don't grab her collar and move her around with it!

Yep, sounds normal. As I once read on a thread about similar issues "all puppies are arseholes, you will have weeks of this".

It became a mantra in our house.

Don't use her collar to grab or move her, don't use physical force to hold her down. This will make things worse. Remain calm, redirect her to something better and try not to accidentally reward bad behaviour with attention she doesn't get for doing something good. Make peace with the fact that you may have to redirect etc her every day for weeks before she finally 'gets' it.

Don't leave her alone anywhere she can chew furniture or anything else valuable or dangerous.

For teething, I found frozen teething toys and frozen carrots good for redirecting.

We're now so far down the line I cannot really remember when Battendog stopped biting people but know it took longer with people who he found exciting. Nor can I remember when he stopped chewing things but I know it was several months before he could be trusted anywhere except the (puppy proofed) kitchen without supervision.