At the end of my rope with puppy biting.

[ChocLotus]

I have a 13 weeks old sheepdog pup, got her when she was

Ah, have no idea what happened there.

Going to type my long post out again…

I found you just have to distract, distract, distract ... I'm not an expert though. Give them a toy right away, puppy chew toy or whatever. Also say no but I found the distracting best.
At around 4 months they seem to grow out of it?

Think of it like a baby teething.

She’s 13 weeks old now and I’ve had her for a month.

I love her, she’s very affection but insanely stubborn and will not stop biting. As I type this, I’m bleeding from cuts in both arms. My legs are destroyed with bruises when she’s dived at me, and cuts where she’s bitten me. She’s big and very strong and has bitten holes through loads of my clothes.

I’m an experienced dog owner and understand that biting is part of life with a puppy but I’ve never seen it to this extent.

I prefer force-free training. I reward good behaviour and distract from bad, but it’s not working with her at all and she’s getting worse. I always have toys and tug-toys because I know biting means she wants to play with me but the second I stop, she’s lunging for me. If I hold a piece of chicken or turkey in my hand to get her used to gentle mouthing, she’s fine but the second it’s gone, she’s back to biting.

If I sit on the couch, she launches herself from the floor with her mouth open and basically sinks her teeth into whichever part of me she lands on. It’s very, very painful.

A friend is a dog trainer overseas and recommended trying a water spray bottle. I wasn’t keen on the idea but was desperate. The dog loves the spray bottle. Literally barks until she gets another spray, and then bites my hand to try to get the bottle off of me.

I’ve tried making a sharp yelp and removing my arm/hand/leg, but this seems to excite her even more and she bites again.

When she bites, I immediately stop what we’re doing, and move her into another room for a time-put but when I let her out, she just seems even more energized.

She’s not aggressive or vicious in other ways, she just loves biting and I’m very favourite chew toy.

I’ve tried all the toys. She has tug ropes, soft toys, harder toys, rubber rings, Kongs, balls, gel teething rings from the freezer. She doesn’t bite furniture or anything else. She’s happy with her toys until she sees me.

She gets a good mix of exercise, stimulation, and rest during the day. We’re still working on her lead training and she’s too young for big walks but we have a big garden so there’s lots of outdoor play (during which she jumps up and bites me), some short lead walks (which she spends biting my ankles), plus training and playing.

I spoke to the vet about it a few days ago and he was very dismissive and said that biting is normal in a puppy. I know it is, but I’ve never seen a puppy bite to this extent.

Can anyone offer me any advice of other things I can try?

I had it suggested to keep massive big fluffy toys. Keep out of reach. When puppy starts throw the toy away from you to savage. Once the mad spell is over remove and put up high ready for the next mad spell.
Also ensure pup gets enough quiet rest. Tired pups are bitey pups.

If you're a very experienced dog owner I'm not sure I have any other help to offer sorry!
I have pups but have found distracting works. One of my dogs, a husky, is crazy like you describe & I actually took her on full walks from a week after her 2nd jab as soon as I was allowed it was the only thing that tires her out.
Sorry it sounds so hard!

Also making a yelping was useless for me too because then my dog thought nipping was even more fun too.

I agree with your vet. This is just puppy being a puppy. You should have been expecting thus phase.

Tips:
Don't wear flappy clothes. Leggings are your frudnd. Flappy trousers, skirts, dressing gowns will all have a dig hanging off them and end up with holes.

Separate puppy and enforce sleep, ovettiredness will make matters worse.

Squeeling, yelping, spraying, toys - all high energy things. The opposite of what you want. Be calm, dull and quiet in order to discourage behaviour.

Then keep repeating

I was you a couple of months ago. I also wrote a post saying pretty much the same thing. My English bull terrier was a NIGHTMARE. Like you said, I don’t believe it was ‘normal’ puppy biting, it was so so painful, constant lunging at me, DH and most stressfully my DD8, and DS4. I was in actual despair and felt like she would never stop. Couldn’t leave the kids alone with her for a minute, working from home was awful.
She did. About 5 months old? She still gives it a go sometimes (she just six months) but only with me and DH, never ever the children. I think the turning point really was when she replaced her puppy teeth (there was a week where I kept finding them on our rug!)
Anyway, honestly you just have to keep on going, keep doing what you’re doing, and she will get there. I think all those techniques do really help, but the only thing that will actually solve it is time.

Stern no,
If she comes back, remove her. It’s just repetition unfortunately. Even if that’s all you do all day for a few days is remove her, get bitten and then remove her again.

Wear tight non flappy/exciting clothes.
My puppy liked to bite bare skin more than clothing, she was rabid if she saw a bare foot it was the summer and no one in the house would wear a t-shirt or shorts because it wasn’t worth it. It was a sweaty few weeks figure out if there’s something that gets her more excited! …then avoid that!
Are there other people in the house she’s not biting? What’s different about how you act / your clothes?

Is she definitely getting enough sleep and also enough down / settle time.

Are there any commands that would help (drop/stop/settle something like that?) presumably from her breed she will be a fast learner.

Is it a particular texture she’s into - do you have chews that match?

They’re just little monsters, she’ll grow out of it
I always think it’s good for them to bite you a bit, we always let ours mouth a bit, I know some people have a no bites at all policy
But once they’re bigger they seem to be a bit more delicate with their teeth than the ones that weren’t allowed to bite at all

“I’ve tried making a sharp yelp and removing my arm/hand/leg, but this seems to excite her even more and she bites again.” I was told this is very bad advice, the dog thinks it’s fun.

You have to be consistent. My Lab was still bitey at six months, it’s hard and it hurts like hell.
The dog bites because it gets a reaction from you, whether positive or negative- dog doesn’t care, don’t make it a game.

You say a loud, firm NO and you walk away and ignore the pup no matter what. Even if pup nips again. It might take weeks to stop the biting…good luck.

A work colleague used tobasco sauce as a deterrent, admittedly not on her body- the dog was biting /chewing household items, shoe laces etc.

Personally I’d wear jeans, fabric is a bit thicker!

It will stop, about 5/6 months. In the meantime the thing that worked for us was going out the room and closing the door, just for 30 seconds. Quietly and calmly. It reset her.

Also she was at her worst when tired, she really wasn’t getting enough sleep, they need hours and hours.

Don't distract with toys your just rewarding the behaviour really like you bite the human you get the toy

Is there a time of day they are more likely to behave this way? We used to have bites and zoomies before bed so we had playtime in the garden around that time lots of food hunting games balls etc then tea then bed

Sleep. Sleep. And more sleep.

13 week old puppies should be sleeping for around 20 hours per day but they won't do it naturally - you need to enforce naps and be really strict with it.

If she's crate trained, get her into a routine of going in her crate at regular intervals throughout the day. If she's not crate trained, she needs a space she can go for sleep - her bed, a playpen or just a spot on the sofa where she will lie down and settle (you'll obviously need to train this at first).

With mine, giving him a chew or stuffed kong helped him massively. Chewing is calming for dogs and something they need to do, so lots of available chew toys/teething toys.

@Theunamedcat biting is a normal behaviour for puppies. It’s not something we should aim to stop. Just redirect.
And yes to thick clothing. The only good thing about having a winter pup!!

We had a border collie who was a nightmare for bitting as a pup. Thankfully she grew out of it by 6 months but we got a compressed air spray from pets at home that really worked. She hated the noise it made as soon as she did it we sprayed it and got the message. We gave her loads of praise and treats for playing nicely

I much prefer positive training but with regards to teeth on humans I am really 0 tolerance with it.
From day one I would give a very strong no and leave the situation ignoring the pup. If the puppy continued I would remove it from the room until it was calm and then allow back in. There are very few things I would negatively tell off a pup for but mouthing is the one thing puppies generally know I am really unhappy about.

I would do my best to make sure the puppy didn’t mouth in the first place of course, toys/things to bite and chew on but ultimately I prefer to be very black and white about skin and teeth

I don’t know if it came across from my OP but she’s literally biting 90% of the time she awake. Today I was reading on the couch and she was asleep on her bed. The second she woke up, she lunged at me and bit my breast really hard. She gets plenty of sleep but her all her waking hours are spent trying to bite.

She’s literally torn through thick jeans. She ripped the arm of a really thick hoodie last week. I would be terrified of wearing leggings around her as I’d just have zero protection.

She’s not my first puppy of this breed, but she’s the only one I’ve ever seen to bite to this extent.

It’s me and my husband in the house. She does the same with him but he’s a lot taller than me so she can’t reach his arms and hands as easily. His ankles are destroyed with bites too.

I really hope she grows out of it soon. I’ve had to avoid having people visit the house because I’m terrified she’ll bite a child or my elderly parent.

It just doesn’t feel normal. It’s not mouthing and nipping, it proper biting and breaking skin.

That does sound a bit much. If someone visits can you put him on a lead or in a crate so he doesn’t get a chance to bite them?

Could you get a behavioural therapist to call to your home and see what they think?

Our 7 month old dog bites but not to that extent. I have puppy treats that I throw a handful of when he starts so he has to snuffle around and find them all. My DH struggles with him a lot more but often he’s not very good at spotting when the dog is about to dive on him and it escalates very quickly.

What if you threw a treat away from you and immediately tell her to sit when she turns around? So that she doesn’t get the chance to practice the behaviour and the frustration is also not getting the chance to build up

This sounds really rough. I sympathise as when they are in this phase it seems never ending and you don’t get any peace. I would agree with others who have said being overtired and over stimulated might contribute at times. My pup was always worse when tired and wired. I always knew when she started the biting stuff on a walk it was time to go home. It will get better, hang in there. But I know how you feel. It gets you down!

Puppies bite and nip
Some breeds more than others
Some dogs more than others

It is puppy biting and not the starting of aggression

Some dogs get over stimulated very quickly and some dogs are in a lot of pain from teeth coming through.

Youi need a calm a house as possible.

If you are touching your puppy be offering them treats as you do so , so they get used to your touch whilst nice things are happening.

Do not yelp
Do not tell them off
Do not move quickly when they nip you
Calm calm and more calm will help this pass quicker

If the nip quietly and calmly walk away from your puppy. No interaction at all. If when you return to the puppy and they nip again walk away.

Cues to put on command are "go Sniff so put s0me treats on the ground and show you dog say go sniff and let your dog sniff and eat the treats. DO NOT throw the treats as this is high energy and will just add to your puppies over threshold mood.

The sniffing command can be used as a distraction from the biting and also it slows the puppy heartrate down and slows their breathing which can help short term to stop a crazy puppy attack.

If it is safe to do so have her on a harness with a house line on it so it is easier to remove her if she is biting you. (but beware of the dangers of harness and collar wearing in the house with dogs - so this is a judgement call - never leave unsupervised with one on)

Get loads and loads and loads of chew toys and food. She will be in agony with her teeth which is creating a lot of the issues. She has 42 teeth to come through and it hurts - a lot for many dogs.

Knotted frozen t towels, frozen carrots may give a short amount of relief.

However this stage will pass I promise.

I think your dog has already learnt that biting/ nipping gets her what she wants: attention & playtime.

I would give her a firm No and introduce a finished/ all gone command with corresponding hand signal when you want to stop play or the treat is gone.
This works well for my ball and anything fetchable obsessed cookerpoo.

If you are really struggling then see a trainer, but one who specialises in working dog breeds.
You already know that Collies are incredibly clever, and that this needs channelling without too much activity, which will just damage her young joints.
I would do lots of brain games. As soon as she starts to bite then don't react, just stand, turn you back and cross your arms across your chest. Make sure she has plenty of old tea towels knotted for her to use for teething, and if she mouths your arm very gently push your arm further back into her mouth. Be very careful that you don't do this too quickly or sharply, as you don't want to hurt her, you just want to make it uncomfortable for her for a second or two to discourage.
Make sure she gets lot of sleep, if she gets over excited then she goes in her crate for a rest. Make sure her crate is nice and cozy and she isn't disturbed when she is in it.
Lots of socialisation, but with older dogs who will teach manners, not puppies.
You might find with a dog this energetic she would suit agility or flyback, which will be amazing for both of you.

How about having the dog sleep in the kitchen, with a safety gate on the door?

When dog wakes up, wait 5-10 mins until interacting and only when calm.