Antlers for puppy biting

[susan198130]

I have a cockapoo who is almost 19 weeks old. He's been a pretty easy pup, apart from the biting. It's starting to drive me a bit nuts. I feel like I've tried so many tactics, but none seem to work. I tried bite inhibition, he doesn't let go no matter what tone of voice I use to say "ouch", so I end up having to pull away before he bites my arm clean off, which makes him come at me harder. I then just give him a time out.

He has chew toys, he has chew bones, he has plenty of toys. I try to distract him, but when he wants to bite an arm or a leg, that's what he's going for, no toy will distract him, which is why it always ends in a timeout.

I've tried turning my back on him when he does this and walking away, which I just did, it resulted in him biting the back of my ankle which is now bleeding. His biting can be quite hard, he's made me bleed several times, and my kids and husband, so it's not just me. He jumped up at my 7 year old the other day and bit his eyebrow and made him bleed.

I keep hearing "he'll grow out of it," but you know when something feels like it's been going on for so long (I know in reality it hasn't been -it's just over 10 weeks) that it will never end, that's how I feel.

Bitter apple spray seems to work, but I've had a few people tell me antlers are great to stop the biting. Just wondering if anyone has had any success with this or maybe some other strategy that might, or if I just need to wait and hope that he grows out of this?

Mine wasn't remotely interested in antlers.

Popular chews at that age were:

Stuffed trachea.
Stuffed cows hooves.
Pizzle sticks.
Yakkers chews.
Frozen kongs.
Stuffed buffalo horns.
Camel skin.

Basically, anything natural and long-lasting. JRPets has some fantastic natural chews and they're pretty much all suitable for puppies over 12 weeks of age. Once you get past the "ick" factor, they're fantastic.

Read up on slab fractures related to antler chewing and then decide.
We don’t. I think it’s too risky. Many do. It’s a known problem

That will be mine at Christmas

Please, please don’t give antlers to dogs.
They have no nutritional value and studies show they are stronger than thigh bone.
They cause classic slab fractures of upper adult carnassial teeth resulting in painful open pulp cavities. Treatment is usually surgical extraction .

Rabbits ears, cows ears or frozen carrots.

@MrsGhastlyCrumb

We were advised not to give antlers to our pup until she was fully grown. Not sure of the exact reason, but think the idea was it would damage her teeth? Instead, she has destroyed half the furniture...

Full antlers would be to hard for a puppy but you can give them split antlers!

Ours love antlers but I would only ever give the split ones as I think the solid ones are too hard for their teeth. He's also a very gentle chewer so less chance of damage. He spends more time licking it.

But they aren't going to stop a puppy biting entirely, it's kind of what they do and hands and ankles are much more exciting!

A friend of mine has a cockapoo who is still very mouthy at 2 years old - she jumps up and bites to get attention.
TBF I know more nervy anxious grumpy bitey cockapoo type crosses than I do good ones. I'd certainly never trust my kids near any, as people seem to get them thinking they are good family dogs and then don't put in the training necessary.

I'd second some material rags - old jeans tied up or something? Try to pre-empt the bite, get used to their body language, see when they are getting that bit too excited. Hopefully they are giving you advance warning by gradually ramping it up, and not just going straight in with a jump and bite to the face, or I would be separating the dog and the child. A facial bite, one that bleeds, is very serious IMO.

We buy lots of natural chews like cow ears, deer legs etc and they go down well. It will get better. It just feels never ending at the moment. When they get to the stage where all they do is mouth and bite, it’s probably over stimulated and over tired. Agree with PP who says about problems with the cocker and cavapoos. All the people I know with them have biting or resource guarding issues.

I have no advice but I definitely share your pain!
All the advice about turning your back and ignoring doesn't work with our pup... He just sees that as consent to bite the back of our legs.
Mine is a big breed still with his razor sharp puppy teeth... He has plough through any chew in such a short space of time.

Try making rings by twisting thin willow whips - it's a natural source of aspirin so it helps sooth the teething pain as well as giving them something to chew on. They go through them fairly quick but they're free and this is what sorted this for me (as well as a good bit of shouting and time out as you say)

Here - like this.

That may just be genius!!!

Can't take credit for the idea - i got it from a green wood person years ago but they really work! I think the structure of them really helps with itchy teeth - they can get their gums in well!

@AuxiliaryFanbelt

Try making rings by twisting thin willow whips - it's a natural source of aspirin so it helps sooth the teething pain as well as giving them something to chew on. They go through them fairly quick but they're free and this is what sorted this for me (as well as a good bit of shouting and time out as you say)

Will give this a go as well. I put a flannel in the freezer and he seems to like this.

We are putting a lot of training in with him and he is also going to puppy training. He's a super friendly dog when he's not biting, I know, a complete contradiction, but when we're out, with strangers, he never bites and just behaves like the perfect dog there. I'm regularly told what a calm and well-behaved dog he is when I'm out with him, it's just indoors where the trouble is haha.

If we run into real problems with him once he's out of the puppy phase, we would of course get a professional in to help us, but I think he's just an overly bitey puppy. Although I do think my kids don't help and training them is proving harder than training the dog. They love to rough play with him and they love to lay on the floor and aren't particularly fussed when they get bitten. If you lay on the floor, this is when he goes into full on play mode. So I'm trying to train my 7 year old to stop all this. Maybe I need Super Nanny to pop round and sort him out