Puppy still biting at six months

[Hairybaker]

Working cocker spaniel. Is this normal? Usually only at night. He gets plenty of sleep during day (close to the recommended 18hours a day total).

We can be sitting on the sofa and he will jump up and start snapping at our hands/faces. Also a toe biter. Sometimes it is because he needs the toilet but other times feels purely aggressive.

Have tried the calmly walking out the room (easier said than done when he is biting your feet!), tried the yelping, tried saying a firm ‘no’, tried replacing with a toy.

It looks like most of his teeth are through and he has access to plenty of toys and chews but he prefers flesh!

Anyone else experienced this and when does it stop?!

Ps everything I read says they could still be biting at this stage but it’s more that I feel it’s aggressive (the lunging/baring teeth) rather than just doing it for teething

If he is a working type is he getting enough exercise and mental stimulation? If yes, does he need an enforced evening nap if it is towards the end of the day it happens as he could be over tired?

Is he rewarded for quiet/calm behaviour? It sounds like attention-seeking and will inevitably get a reaction.

You could avoid it by training a 'settle' in the evening and reinforcing that.
Also occupying him e.g. with a frozen kong or chew in his bed in the evening

He loves a kong (having one as we speak). He has had a nap in his crate for the past 90 minutes so hoping he will be calmer until bedtime!

Definitely gets enough exercise (3 walks a day, combined time of around 75mins).

Do some brain games but possibly not enough.

Have you reinforced him for being quiet/calm?
Or do you ignore him? It's common. Often we ignore our dogs when they're calm and doing the (non) behaviours they want.

Train a settle
www.dogstrust.org.uk/help-advice/training/settle-training

Then intermittently reinforce it with verbal praise, tossing treats (keep them accessible)

We definitely praise him for being calm (stroking him, soothing voice etc), but not so much the treats. Will read that link thank you

I think it is well within the bounds of normal behaviour for his age. My own dog was VERY bitey at this age but has grown up fine. I would second the idea of training 'calm down' or 'settle down' and reward for this. I remember using a house lead for the purpose as he would just pace or bomb around in the evenings when we wanted to rest!

Mine used to do this (also a WCS) when he was tired and we could set a clock by it. As soon as it started we shoved him out of the room for a few minutes until he had calmed down and just kept repeating that. Eventually it progressed to scratching his bed instead of biting us before collapsing to sleep.

In my experience, they do this when they're over-tired.

Figure out what time it happens (it's pretty much always within a 10-15 minute window) and pre-empt it. So, 10 minutes beforehand, give him a chew, a stuffed kong or put him in his bed for a nap.

They're like toddlers - once they're over-tired they're impossible

I’ve got a WCS too and mine did this too - all gentler ways to get him to stop biting didn’t work and eventually what did was walking out of a room and shutting him in the room, counting to thirty or sixty depending on how bad he’d been, then going back. If he tried to bite again we walked straight back out and waited longer. But we did try the yelping (excited him = more biting), giving him a toy/chew (bit that then bit us), enforced naps (howled and bit everything in crate before crashing asleep), turning our backs (bit back of your legs instead), saying ‘sit’ or ‘bed’ (he’d do the command and then bite again when he got up). I used to wear shoes all the time to stop him chewing my toes. My mum said he was like a dragon and her two retrievers were nothing like it as puppies. I have anecdotally decided that wcs pups are the worst biters but they do learn not to do it eventually. He had me in tears, and he drew blood, and he used to get a naughty look in his eye and just bite frenziedly - it perfectly matched the look of my then 5-y-o nephew when he wanted to do something he knew he wasn’t allowed. His instinct is always to pick things up and carry them about. I’d say not long after 6 months he’d stopped the biting, though. Does your pup have bite inhibition? Can you ever put your hand near or in their mouth and not be bitten? Mine was still at the horrendous biting stage when I learned he would avoid biting me - he liked to bite the corner of a kitchen chair but if I put my hands over it while he was trying to chew it he’d never just bite my hands. He could take your hand gently in his mouth if you held it out, too. All that points to knowing quite well that he shouldn’t bite you, but getting too excited/frustrated/ornery to control himself. He grew out of that.