Is this “Excessive” Biting?

[AbandonGups]

We have a 10 week old cocker spaniel here. Had him for 2 weeks. We have the help of a behaviourist in place for 1:1s and have been ensuring plenty of good quality naps and routine to try and help manage his behaviour and energy / stimulation levels. He’s doing very well with good in-crate naps. There is however NEVER any time he’s awake that he’s not running at me and biting me. I’m now in panic mode. I wouldn’t leave him with the children (10 & 8), but equally I feel I can’t even turn my back - I’m constantly calling him off them. I feel like we never have any “nice” time with him. The children are pretty much now staying away as they’re scared. They can’t even stay in same room as puppy often charges at their feet when sitting on the sofa or clothes when they’re walking past.
He’s great with toileting, over night sleeping, a few basic commands etc, but the biting feel excessive and aggressive (while I know it’s probably isn’t).
We’re doing everything the trainer says, but I don’t think it’s changing anything and she says she feels this is excessive.
I can’t take months of this. I’m now back on anxiety meds as worry the puppy blues are going to be v damaging.
I feel like an utter failure. Not q sure why I’m posting…. at the moment I’m just so scared that this has all gone wrong and the best thing all round would be to ask breeder to take him back and find a home ASAP who can manage him (with no children). What a fuck up I’ve made.
The breeder is excellent btw - v experienced and provided a wonderful environment and did a great job socialising him before he came home to us. It’s us who’ve got it wrong.

You sound like you are frightened of him @AbandonGups . This is a phase and you need to see it as a phase , convince yourself that his teeth whilst they hurt won’t do any serious damage and crack on , not be scared of picking him up / dealing with him .

We have a 15 week old cocker.

The biting is getting better but has been intense. The worst time was when we would try to sit together on the sofa as a family with him on the floor.

What seems to work with us (through a lot of trial and error)

Distracting with toys only works before they bite, otherwise he starts biting to get us to play with him.

Leaving the room didn't work as his intention seemed to be disrupting us on the sofa which worked.

Yelping didn't work.

Plenty of chews has worked, as has making sure he's not too tired.

He seems to respond to body language and expressions. So saying no and pulling a very very cross face at him seems to have an effect. We have patio doors in our lounge so I have put him outside, so he can see us all indoors.

About a minute later I bring him back in with a big smile and we try again.

Cross face, happy face.

It's not perfect but it's better.

And shoes. We wrap ourselves in blankets on the sofa so he can't get at us.

You haven't messed up.

The puppy stage is HARD and there's a reason why so many get the puppy blues and end up rehoming. Getting a puppy is tough and it's a huge life-changing commitment. Don't underestimate that.

Just push through. The manic bitey phase won't last forever - once he can go outside and explore, he should start to calm down a little bit, especially when he can start getting down on the ground and exploring properly.

OP sorry your going through this I know how you feel. I havnt got a successful story for you unfortunately but we did have a cocker years ago. They are very active breeds and nothing prepared me for what was coming. For the first couple of months he was a good pup and we did everything possible with him and was in touch with a trainer too. He was so easy to train. Around 7 months the biting started and we put this down to teething because weve always had dogs so knew this stage was coming. We did everything we normally do toys, lots of exercise and brain games. I'd walk him 2-4 times a day on long walks and as soon as we got home he was still bouncing off walls. Then the biting got worse he chewed everything and started to nip me. The trainer said he didnt see me as above him and to him he was boss. I'm not sure how this was because we did everything we were told. He started to get really nasty with me and the chewing also got out of control. When I went out I'd come back to a complete mess. I've never known a dog to chew and nip like him. I was scared he was going to hurt my DC. The trainer was also stumped. In the end as heartbreaking as it was we had to rehome to someone with experience with spaniels. When the lady game to get him he even started nipping her constantly. Do what's best for you and DC. This certainly wasn't an easy decision for me and I was gutted but the lady who came said I had a very very active one. Hes now doing ok with the other spaniels she has had but has said hes still quite a handful.

Working cockers are incredibly active dogs. Mad as a box of frogs and very smart! We have one and she is always on the go! Brilliant dogs but so need a lot of stimulation and activity. How did you settle on that breed?

He's still a tiny baby and yes it's normal and a phase. Puppy biting doesn't mean they will bite as an adult - it's their way of playing, like they would do with their littermates, so it will take them time to understand that they have to play different with their human family. Consistency, turning back, ignoring, distracting with toys, rewarding and praising for good behaviour, and it won't last forever! Just don't listen to any dominance or being the alpha garbage.

There's lots of resources for positive reinforcement dog training if you look online! You also might find there is somewhere near you that does training for gun dog puppies. Even though you aren't going to work him, some of the activities there will be really good for him as they will appeal to his natural instincts.

It gets easier when you can take them out for actual walks.

You have my sympathies tho, we had similarly with our puppy. It's getting a bit better now he can go for walks.
But we tried so many different things, toys, turning away and ignoring him, etc. Nothing seemed to work (no toy in the world is more interesting than or calves apparently, turning our backs on him just gives him easier access to our calves). But between going out for walks and bitter apple spray is starting to get better now. You just need to hang in there!

Please don’t panic. I went through the same with my cocker who is now 9 months. I couldn’t leave him alone with my children. He slowly improved with age and post teething. He is still mouthy when excited but doesn’t lunge at our clothing/the kids legs any more. Teething being over has helped, we also used a pen or just put him in the other room for a nap. Lots of long walks once he can get out and firm boundaries. But it will get better. We’ve still got a long way to go but our pup has become much more affectionate. He wasn’t at all interested in cuddles at the start. Just the nipping and playing!

Thanks so much everyone. We got into a pickle because of conflicting advice from breeder (dominance theories) and behaviourist (positive methods).
We’ll ride it out, but yes, as a PP said - I am really q frightened of him and worried for the DCs. I’ll have a sleep and crack on. Dark thoughts take over in the middle of a sleepless night!

They’re called cockerdiles for a reason!

Get 2 bum bags, cut up a block of cheese into treat size bits and put in your bumbags, you wear one bumbag, DH wears the other all the time.

Use cheese to reinforce response to name every single time.

Use cheese to train leave it, down, sit, get your toy. Constantly.

This will have two results- it will exhaust the dog so he has no energy to mouth. It will also mean you have a set of commands he knows extremely well that you can dish out as soon as he tries to mouth. You redirect redirect redirect every time. Give command and treat as soon as he does it. Be consistent.

Cheese could be chicken or beef or anything he loves. My girl just loves cheese.

I find it very concerning that your breeder follows dominance theory.

It's been thoroughly debunked and should be totally ignored.

Being constantly nipped is part of life with a young spaniel puppy. My arms were covered in nips (I was glad it was winter time and could wear long sleeves to hide them when I went out!). My clothes were torn by the nipping. The only thing to do is distract the puppy and at around 6 months they grow out of it.

I would recommend you read the Easy Peasy Puppy Squeezy book. There's really not much in there that doesn't cover the early days (including biting!).

I'm having this problem with my 14.5 week old cockapoo. A few weeks back, it was getting me down because I just felt like I didn't enjoy being around him because he was so bitey. Then last week, we had this period of time where I felt we were coming through it. He was biting much less frequently. Fast-forward 5 days, he's back to being bitey again.

I feel I've tried every tactic in the book, but then I'm wondering if I just haven't stuck the same tactic out long enough to see it work. I tried the bite inhibition. Watched the youtube video where the guy said the most important part is to let them bite you, to say ouch and wait for the dog to release. I fear I'd be waiting until the end of time for mine to release. It wasn't happening.

So now we are sticking with turning our back on him if he's getting bitey and if he's still in crazy mode, we give him a timeout.

I think it's not helped in my house cos the kids are still on school holidays and seem to enjoy being bitten by him so continuously lay on the floor where they know he'll go into attack mode.

My brother has a labrador that he's had since a puppy. He said his biting was really quite bad in the puppy phase, and he took him to puppy training. He said nothing really worked, he just grew out of it and now he's 2 and doesn't bite at all. I look forward to that time.

I highly recommend the Facebook group Dog Training Advice and Support too.

Our puppy is nearly a year old now but we had a similar time with her. She would particularly seem to aim her behaviour at my daughter which was very frustrating for all of us. In the end my daughter didn’t come downstairs without leggings tucked into thick football socks. As soon as the nipping started my daughter left the room. We had the sofa problem too and what worked for us was immediately standing up and turning our back. I had a huge tub of frozen carrot sticks in the freezer which also helped. It was awful at the time but really looking back now I can barely remember it.

I've got a 10 week old sproodle OP and she nips so much when she gets excited. Just know you're not alone in this world currently being nipped by a new puppy!

I've got 2 small boys who seem to love winding her up and inevitably gets nipped in the process, so feel like any training I do is erased by the ever helpful DCs. Evenings from 6ish are the worst. What seems to be helping overall is constant positive reinforcement if she doesn't bite.Even the smallest act, if she allows me to pet her etc, she gets praised enthusiastically. I also desensitise her by stroking her legs, her head, her back. Holding cheese in the palm of my hand while saying 'gently, no biting' also seems to give her the message. I get nipped a lot in this though, just have to tell myself it's unlikely to cause me any real damage (and wear jeans and thick socks).

I came across a helpful message when I frantically googled what to do about this biting puppy and how to deal with it- and the trainer basically said you can do all these things and it will end quicker, or you can do nothing and it will still end - it's purely instinctive at this stage - it will just take a little bit longer.

Puppies mouth, it's their teething. This is your chance to start teaching some manners. Saying a firm no, turning away and not playing whilst this happens. They soon learn.