Biting puppy

[mushforbrain]

Hi, our English bull terrier puppy is 10 weeks old, we’ve had her for two weeks. She started mouthing and biting, we were expecting that obviously, however over the two weeks it has gotten progressively worse, she is basically either asleep or biting. I have a 7 and 4 year old and am constantly having to defend them from her teeth. Sometimes she appears quite aggressive with the biting, she is growling and ears pinned back.
We are being firm, consistent with hand spread out, a firm NO, standing up to try and appear bigger. If it continues, we put her in the conservatory briefly, to show that we won’t tolerate it but also so that I can actually breathe and make sure the children are ok and / or make their lunch etc! It’s totally exhausting and very painful. I appreciate she’s teething, probably bored (I get her out in the garden but tbh she’s never that keen) but am really truly fed up. She obviously has lots of chew toys we redirect her to. She will be allowed out in two weeks. Training booked for then. Any help please?

All puppies bite and can appear aggressive if play biting. I don't think you would be able to detect aggression at only 10 weeks. Having said that I would not have got an English bull terrier with 4 and 7 year old DC. That's going to be a lot of round the clock supervising.

just provide biting toys
all the time
give her something

Frozen chews like a frozen carrot to keep her teeth occupied. Why a bull terrier?

also scent games
lots of rest time

a bull terrier demands training and experienced owners

Thanks all, yes she’s getting lots of sleep time as well as lots of attention when awake. My husband grew up with staffies and close family with bull terriers so that’s why the breed.

Ah, yes, I remember when our dog was a landshark, I’m afraid the biting will likely get worse before it gets better.

A few things, why say no? Have you taught no as a command? If not you may as well say hocus pocus. We found our puppy bit more when he was either over stimulated or over tired, every single time he bit we put him in his pen (if you don’t have a pen, use another room). For him it took a good four weeks for the biting to start reducing, by six months he was biting, but his bite inhibition was much better and he was by then able to listen to the comman “leave” when he bit us. I would say he completely stopped by about eight months.

We also had a lot of toys available, he liked rubbery toys, so we made sure they were essentially everywhere so he could be redirected when he wasn’t overstimulated. He had plenty play sessions with us each day, and after about three weeks we would put him in his pen when the play session was over, otherwise he would fight sleep and turn into an actual demon.

If your puppy is bored you need to make sure puppy is getting more play, training etc. A bored puppy is guaranteed to be a nightmare .

Sorry was just having a low moment this morning with it. I appreciate consistency and patience is the key and I know bull terriers can be stubborn and challenging. Just having a whinge! Thanks for the advice given.

Cross post @Simonjt thank you for that advice

We need a pic of the shark!

I don't think there is anything wrong with choosing an English Bull Terrier, provided you are able to put the time and committment into training. They aren't viewed as an aggressive breed: They just have the standard terrier issues of high energy and a need for consistent traiining.

Hope it works out well for you, OP. It is such a tough time - that period when the dog can't have the stimulation and routine of regular walks. I'm sure it will get easier. Meanwhile, just keep on doing the things you are doing. But also, it might be helpful to develop games that encourage a lower level of arousal and essentially reward calmness.

It is so easy to get into a routine of playing the simplest possible games - essentially variations of tugging and grabbing games, which ramp up very excited and mouthy behaviour. A wonderful breakthrough with my parson russell puppy (currently about 14 weeks) was when I was sittingon the floor and repeatedly throwing toys for him, and he suddenly worked out that letting go of a toy was the prelude to having it thrown for him.

After that I made a point of withdrawing my hand from a toy as soon as he grabbed it, and only reaching for it when he let go. It is teaching him that grabbing and clasping aren't always the most fun things to do.

Hopefully by watching your dog closely you can spot situations that can be exploited to make calmer more thoughtful behaviour more rewarding than riotousness.

We have a 10 week old lab who has been doing quite a lot of biting. I'm REALLY no expert but from my own experience so far discipline doesn't really work at this stage. It's normal behaviour for a pup... they're playing, exploring and probably teething a bit too.

For me, they're just babies so standing up making yourself look big and raising your voice is only going to result in fear surely? And scared dogs are probably more likely to act aggressively.

Ours still only has access to the back sitting room leading straight to the garden which has all been puppy proofed and closed off with a baby gate. We supervise ours almost constantly when she is awake, playing with her, providing new toys and doing lots of simple training. As soon as she bites, it's a firm no and quickly provide toys and play. Best thing to do is distract distract distract. She goes into the crate as soon as she's over excited or showing signs of being tired. She's now learning to do this of her own accord too.

Do you have a similar up to this? That way your children are fully supervised when they are in the room with your pup, which is a small safe environment and you're able to model the right behaviours. It's a lot of hard work, but sending your dog off to the conservatory when he's biting isn't really doing much to help him socialise and develop and learn the good behaviours your looking for.

Like I said, I'm no expert but we're getting on well with our pup and the opportunity for biting is minimal. I have to say, I don't envy you juggling a terrier pup with 2 small children. The pup is worse than a newborn!

Hopefully you can see this - she is super gorgeous

@mushforbrain

Hopefully you can see this - she is super gorgeous

Oh my, I may have to steal her

Sorry, cross-post. Glad you are feeling more positive at the moment OP. It is a tough time! I know those low moments myself!

Thank you @Random789 and @dexterdexter really helpful.

at the lovely pic.

I forgot to say as well, hand feed, if you’re the pups only source of food it can really help, our puppy had to earn all of his food, we still handfeed his afternoon meal.

We have a Shiba Inu, so a breed known for being stubborn, he is very obedient, knows tricks, can be let of the lead in crowded areas etc.

A great online resource is obsidiank9, so great training advice.

She is beautiful OP!

Hang in there, it's not easy! Like I said - worse than a newborn baby Good luck

squeal/yelp very loudly like a mother dog every time your dog bites you. It has to be loud, and immediate. It works a treat! the biting will stop very rapidly. And treat all biting the same - playbiting, mouthing, it's all biting to a puppy, they don't know the difference.

so gorgeous, love a bull terrier

Bull terriers are particularly bitey puppies...but most puppies are hard work.

You get loads of advice from places about things like not tolerating it and trying to discipline it out of them or squealing like a dog would... I’ve never found those effective tbh, I suspect people advising that just did it till their puppies grew out of it anyway.

Puppies bite because they don’t have hands or words, they want to play, they do that by biting, they want attention, they get that by biting, they’re overtired or overexcited... they bite.

If you can redirect the biting on to a toy, do that, if she’s too hyped up, then remove attention and ignore her, if she’s too hyped up for that then a 30 second time out.

And then loads of praise and attention for engaging in an appropriate way.

And bear in mind that - a negative reaction is still attention and most puppies will quite happy take that.

Eventually they work out it’s not getting them the interaction they wanted.

We have a terrier - not a bull terrier but even so know about the stubbornness!

We're now at 13 months old and the bitey puppy stage is a distant memory. But it was so, so bad. I remember standing in the rain in my socks crying with the puppy inside running around like a crocodile. It was relentless.

For us, yelping didn't work. The only thing that eventually worked (and it took weeks of consistency) was quietly but immediately stopping play and removing yourself. Baby Gates are key for this! We also ensured the toys we played with meant her teeth were well away from hands, so look for long tug toys - tug e nuff are great. Ensure they have lots to chew, different textures helps.

Good luck!

It's awful isn't it? Unfortunately will last a good while but eventually they grow out of it. I know this won't make you feel much better but I'm not convinced anything quite 'works' except time. But consistency will probably help as it least he won't be confused in the process!

There's a great Facebook group called Dog Training Advice and Support run by positive reinforcement trainers. Their puppy group was invaluable for the first few months, as we're the guides on the main group.

We didn't use "no" or squealing or anything like that. Just always had a toy or chew to hand - and became very quick at putting that into AwkwardPup's mouth when he was bitey (cocker spaniel aka cockerdile, so a pretty bitey pup!). A frozen muslin cloth or teatowel was great for teething. He soon learnt that toys were for chewing, not hands.

Standing over a puppy and dominating it is a bit of an old school way of thinking in training. I'd recommend having a look into more modern positive methods.

Puppy and young children will need to be kept separate most of the time, only together when you can closely supervise for now, so invest in some baby gates / a play pen to make your life easier